Demographics
Immigrants are a vital, dynamic part of the U.S. population—especially when it comes to the workforce. 77.1% of immigrants are of working age (16–64), compared to just 62.0% of U.S.-born residents, making them key contributors to the economy as both taxpayers and consumers.
- 22.9 million immigrants are active in the U.S. workforce
- 74% of foreign-born residents are proficient in English
- 89.4% of all undocumented immigrants are of working age
- 5.2 million U.S. citizen children living with at least one undocumented family member
- Only 4.9% of immigrants are under 15, compared to 20.3% of U.S.-born residents
- 18% of immigrants are 65+, nearly identical to the 17.7% of U.S.-born seniors
Task Force Calls for Federal Immigrant Integration Effort
While some fear that demographic shifts threaten American identity, yet another piece of research has come out showing that today's immigrants want to and are integrating into American society just like generations of immigrants before them. After more than two years of collaboration and initiatives among 20 federal agencies and a variety of stakeholders, the Task Force on New Americans delivered a report this past Monday. The Task Force was assembled in 2006 with a call to "strengthen the efforts of the Department of Homeland Security and federal, state, and local agencies to help legal immigrants embrace the common core of American civic culture, learn our common language, and fully become Americans." The Task Force's recommendations are based in the belief that immigrants can and do integrate into U.S. society and that integration is also a federal responsibility. Read More
Immigration May Make or Break NY Senate Seat Contenders
Caroline Kennedy's interest in taking over Hillary Clinton's U.S. Senate seat for the state of New York is no secret. Her policy positions have been less obvious. However, this past weekend she began revealing "hints" of a platform-including immigration. On Saturday, Ms. Kennedy's spokesman provided written answers to 15 questions posed by The New York Times. On the topic of immigration, Ms. Kennedy shares the views of her uncle, Senator Edward Kennedy-supporting a path to citizenship for the undocumented. In fact, Kennedy's positions on immigration also line up pretty well with those of her potential predecessor, Hillary Clinton herself. According to Ms. Kennedy's aide: Read More
CIS and NumbersUSA Twist Truth Again
Numbers USA and the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) are at it again, completely misrepresenting the number of employment based work visas issued each year and tying it to the loss of jobs in the United States as yet another way to stir up anti-immigrant fervor. Beck writes, "Non-farm employers in the U.S. eliminated 533,000 jobs in November. At the same time, in a typical month the feds give out approximately 140,000 new work permits and green cards to foreign workers. That adds up to an astounding rate of 1,657,266 foreign workers per year, and that doesn't count renewals on foreign work permits or the flow of illegal workers." Read More
Republicans Rethinking Hispanic Strategy
Photo by AP. Yesterday a research group in Texas released extensive polling data among registered Lone Star voters, Beyond Bush, Texas Republicans in an Obama era. The report warns the Texas GOP that, "Hispanic voters won't affiliate with the GOP simply because we insist they really have nothing to complain about and ‘should' since they are socially conservative too; we need to actually listen to their concerns, tone down the rhetoric and attitude, find common ground on immigration/assimilation, and take concrete steps to make them feel welcome." Read More
Neo-Nazis Join Anti-Immigrant Movement
USA Today is reporting that “…the white-power movement is changing its marketing strategy to broaden its appeal.” And immigrants are at the core of its new business model. Skinheads, neo-Nazis, and Ku Klux Klan members are all joining the anti-immigrant bandwagon in an attempt to better “market” themselves to “middle America.” Jeff Schoep, head of the largest neo-Nazi group in the U.S.—The National Socialist Movement—disturbingly explained: “Historically, when times get tough in our nation, that's how movements like ours gain a foothold…When the economy suffers, people are looking for answers…We are the answer for white people…And now this immigrant thing in the past couple of years has been the biggest boon to us…The immigration issue is the biggest problem we're facing because it's changing the face of our country. We see stuff in English and Spanish. … They are turning our country into a Third World ghetto." Read More
Worried About the Mortgage Market? Don’t Blame an Immigrant
Anti-immigrant zealots, as part of their never-ending crusade to blame immigration for virtually every economic and social problem in the United States, continue to insist that the collapse of the subprime mortgage market was rooted in nefarious home purchases by undocumented immigrants. On November 18, a rambling post to the “Political Awareness and Responsibility” blog managed to blame the 1965 Immigration Act, Senator Ted Kennedy, and ACORN for unleashing hordes of undocumented home buyers with subprime mortgages upon an unsuspecting American public. The author follows in the footsteps of anti-immigrant columnist and commentator Michele Malkin, who helped kicked off this round of subprime immigrant blame-gaming back in September. Read More
Philadelphia: A Reemerging Gateway for Immigrants
Throughout America, freedom fries are meeting samosas. A report released by the Brookings Institution yesterday calls Philadelphia a “remerging gateway” and home to one of the fastest growing immigrant populations in America. The quickly growing immigrant communities of metro Philadelphia, which now make up 75% of their labor market growth, include burgeoning South East Asian, Hispanic, Vietnamese and Ukrainian communities. The reason? The healthcare and pharmaceutical industries. According to the report, immigrants have “moderated population loss in the city” and are “breathing life into declining commercial areas, reopening storefronts, creating local jobs…repopulating neighborhoods on the wane and reviving and sustaining housing markets.” Read More
Data Shows Americans Support CIR, Discredits Restrictionist’s Claims
Immigration restrictionists don’t know what to do with themselves. First off, none of the vehemently anti-immigrant candidates for president got their party’s nomination (or a great deal of public support), and both presidential candidates agreed on the need for comprehensive immigration reform – including a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Restrictionist poster child Lou Barletta failed to win his election for Congress in Pennsylvania and Libby Dole in North Carolina along with other enforcement-only candidates across the country lost to candidates who supported enforcement PLUS some kind of immigration reform. In the National Review Online, Mark Krikorian--Director of restrictionist organzation Center for Immigration Studies, apparently unable to find any other light at the end of the tunnel, hopes that President Obama will continue the heavy handed enforcement measures initiated by the Bush Administration, including a vast expansion of the flawed E-Verify employment verification system. Without doing so, Krikorian claims, Obama will lose his credibility in the eyes of Americans. Read More
Latinos a Reason to Hold Your Breath for Immigration Reform
One can only hope that columnist Ruben Navarrette Jr. of the San Diego Union-Tribune is just being pessimistic when he tells readers “don’t hold your breath” waiting for President-elect Barack Obama to pursue comprehensive immigration reform. In July, Obama pledged at the National Council of La Raza’s annual conference to make immigration reform “a top priority” of his administration during his first year in the White House. But Navarrette suspects this pledge will be sacrificed upon the altar of realpolitik as the electoral debt that Obama owes to Latino voters collides with the debt he owes to organized labor. In previous years, proponents of immigration reform have proposed the creation of a new temporary worker program as part of the comprehensive reform effort, but labor leaders have opposed the idea. Navarrette fears that, if Obama is forced to choose between Latinos and labor, Latinos will lose. Read More
Long Island Immigrant Dies from Brutal Hate Crime
After living in the U.S. for 16 years, Marcello Lucero, an Ecuadoran immigrant living in Long Island, was senselessly stabbed to death by a group of seven teenagers, who Police say were looking to kill a Hispanic - any Hispanic. According to the blog Long Island Wins, [The assailants] said that they were on patrol to go "Beaner jumping". "Beaner" is a derogatory word for Mexican. The attackers told police that they said 'Let's go find some Mexicans to -- -- up,' Marcello Lucero fell victim to a startling rise in anti-Latino and anti-immigrant hate crimes in the U.S. Just last month, the FBI released a report showing a 40% increase in anti-Latino hate crimes. The report's findings are consistent with the swelling nativist movement that has become larger and more vitriolic in recent years and its impact undeniable as anti-Latino hate crime incidents reach unprecedented levels. Read More
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