Comparing two Midwest new destination communities, we identify key ways that local residents actively make sense of, and enact, community response for Latino immigrant newcomers. Our findings show that, over time, local actors privilege preexisting institutional ideals in ways that justify waning support for ongoing newcomer needs. We conclude with discussion of how empirical work in the "inhabited institutions" framework can help specify the sense-making processes of local actors that can serve to reaffirm the legitimacy of prevailing institutions and limit the long-term sustainability of integrative effort. We also discuss the potential that the inhabited institutions framework offers our understanding of newcomer incorporation into new destination communities.