Restrictionists
Powerful New American Vote Trumps Nativist Dogma
FBI reports don't get a lot of attention, especially in the final days of a Presidential election season, but this week's release reporting on a 40% increase in anti-Latino hate crimes should at least give us pause. 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. The nativists, ranging from skinhead extremists to your everyday politician or cable news anchor, and fueled by an administration myopic in its pursuit of deportation only proposals, are taking its toll on the immigrant and Latino community. A September survey by the Pew Hispanic Center shows half of all Latinos, immigrant and non-immigrant, say that their situation in this country is deteriorating and is worse now than it was a year ago. One in ten Hispanic adults -- native-born U.S. citizens and immigrants alike -- report that, in the past year, the police or other authorities have stopped them and asked them about their immigration status. Read More
NC Candidate for Governor Trashes Immigrant Voting Bloc
Last week, North Carolina's candidate for governor, Pat McCrory, potentially isolated upwards of 83,000 New American voters in his state when his emails viciously attacking immigrants were leaked online. According to the Daily Kos, McCrory--citing the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR)--a fiercely anti-immigrant hate group that is known for its direct ties to John Tanton, a pioneer of the anti-immigrant movement and avid supporter of eugenics--wrote, How would you like to be one of these kids who doesn't get pregnant, works hard in school, doesn't join a gang, goes to church on Sunday, but when they go down to the fast food restaurant, they are told we can't hire you because we need bi-lingual employees. Read More
Immigration Stunts in Face of Faltering Economy
Several reports including the Pew Hispanic Research Center's new study have come out over the past few months showing that the undocumented population is shrinking. However, while some restrictionists continue to hold on to the notion that the decrease in immigration is primarily due to remarkably harsh stepped-up enforcement measures, Jeffrey Passel of Pew told the New York Times that "the trend was the result of a combination of factors, led primarily by a weakening economy and rising rates of unemployment in the construction and service industries, which rely heavily on immigrant labor." Most researchers agree: "The drop reflects the weakness of the economy, particularly the sectors that employ undocumented workers like construction," said Harley Shaiken, a professor at UC Berkeley specializing in labor issues. Shaiken also said that there are a number of powerful forces reducing the numbers of undocumented immigrants. "People are less likely to risk everything to get here if they can't get a job." "They don't migrate if they are not assured a job when they get to the United States," said Wayne Cornelius, Director of the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies at the University of California at San Diego. "For unattached males with no economic base in the U.S. and no prospects for stable employment, it may make sense to go home and try their luck again when the U.S. economy improves," he added. USA Today reported: "William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution, a centrist think tank in Washington, warns against giving too much credit to enforcement. He believes fewer illegal immigrants are coming because jobs are disappearing in fields such as construction." Read More
Restrictionists Use Immigrants as Scapegoat for Economic Crisis
As the U.S. rumbles through a recession, some restrictionists are exploiting the current economic crisis to mislead Americans into thinking that immigrants -- not the utter lack of financial market government oversight or the irresponsible behavior of brokerage firms -- are to blame for the current state of our economy. The Center for American Progress recently published a report highlighting comments made by ultra-Conservative journalist Michele Malkin claiming that "The Mother of All Bailouts has many fathers...But there's one giant paternal elephant in the room that has slipped notice: how illegal immigration, crime-enabling banks, and open-borders Bush policies fueled the mortgage crisis." Yet Malkin's arguemnent is based on a loose and virtually non-existent connection. First she makes the claim that half of all mortgage loans to Latinos are subprime loans and then proceeds to draw her conclusion by tying in an unrelated and incorrect statistic that 25% of subprime loans are in default (the figure is actually about 19%). Read More
One in Ten Latinos Asked for Papers for LWL: Living While Latino
The current climate of undeterred public immigrant-bashing along with an immigration policy of "attrition through enforcement" has cultivated unfettered hatred and bigotry against an entire ethnic population. A recent survey by the Pew Hispanic Center shows its toll: half of all Latinos, immigrant and non-immigrant, say that their situation in this country is deteriorating and is worse now than it was a year ago. One in seven Latinos are reporting ethnic discrimination in finding or keeping a job and 10% said the same thing about housing. But the most stunning finding is that nearly one-in-ten Hispanic adults--native-born US citizens and immigrants alike--report that, in the past year, the police or other authorities have stopped them and asked them about their immigration status. One in ten Latinos were stopped and asked for "papers." What can that statistic represent other than a gross abuse of power by federal and local authorities? Vicious public denunciations of undocumented, brown-skinned immigrants -- once limited to hard-core white supremacists and a handful of border-state extremists -- are increasingly common among supposedly mainstream anti-immigration activists, media pundits, and politicians and are surely fueling the problems that Latinos are facing. While their dehumanizing rhetoric typically stops short of openly sanctioning bloodshed, much of it implicitly encourages or even endorses violence by characterizing immigrants from Mexico and Central America as 'invaders,' 'criminal aliens,' and 'cockroaches.' In Virginia, a Prince William County and ardently anti-immigrant community task force appointee has suggested spending tax dollars to look into whether "illegal aliens have a preferred breeding season." He has also referred to undocumented immigrants as "scourge that's plaguing neighborhoods" and an "invasion of this country." Read More
America’s Voice Addresses CIS’ Ludicrous Claims
Last month, the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) published a ludicrous report blaming immigrations for extreme weather, rising sea levels, changing ecosystems, melting glaciers, and dying polar bears. In other words, CIS was claiming that immigrants are responsible for climate change. America's Voice--an immigrant advocacy organization--to address CIS' claims and "tell it like it is...a bunch of… well… watch the video." CIS isn’t the only group to blame immigrants for environmental problems–they join the ranks of hate and restrictionist groups like the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), the American Immigration Control Foundation, and the Social Contract Press. It doesn’t take a scientist to figure out that CIS’ primary concern isn’t the environment. Read More
CIS Warps Accuracy of Costly and Error-Ridden E-Verify
The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) released a new and highly misleading “report” claiming that E-Verify--a federal web-based employment verification program--is 99.5% accurate. This is yet another report in CIS’s long series of dubious “studies” issued to stall meaningful immigration reform and push its deportation-only agenda. By claiming that E-Verify is highly accurate, CIS believes it can convince the public and Congress that the program must be reauthorized and expanded so that it would be mandatory for every single employer. This would mean that every single U.S. worker would have to get permission from the government to work – and the impact of a single error could be devastating. CIS can continue to use statistics that make E-Verify attractive. However, nothing will change the fact that E-Verify is not a solution to our nation’s serious immigration problems, and that attempts to expand the program will harm lawful U.S. workers. The CIS report is based on misleading data coming from a small sample of 1,000 queries to the system coming from voluntary E-Verify users in 2007. Seeing as only about 1% of employers are currently using E-Verify, the results are not useful for predicting what would happen if all 7 million U.S. employers were forced to use the system. Read More
Voodoo Science Raises Specter of Immigration-Fueled “Overpopulation”
In a September 2 Washington Post op-ed, “How Many Americans?,” Steven Camarota of the Center for Immigration Studies presents a nightmare scenario in which immigrant-fueled population growth in the U.S. degrades the environment and strains infrastructure and the economy over the next half century. The arguments upon which Camarota builds his case are commonplace among immigration restrictionists, but they rely upon flawed logic and a highly selective reading of available evidence that does not withstand close scrutiny. At first glance, the restrictionist argument is attractive in its simplicity: stringent immigration controls, less immigration, fewer people, more resources, a better environment. However, as with so many simple arguments about complex topics, it misses the point. Over-population is not the primary cause of U.S. environmental woes. Read More
McCain Feels the Heat from Anti-Immigration Movement
John McCain was an early supporter of comprehensive immigration reform, but in this presidential campaign, McCain has changed his position to come down harder on the issue. Many political analysts say he did so to appease anti-immigration activists in key swing states-Arizona, Colorado, Florida, New Mexico, and Nevada. Read More
Congress Event Perpetuates Myth that Immigrants are Criminals
This morning, Republican members of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration perpetuated the persistent myth of immigrant criminality with their event on “The Toll of Illegal Alien Criminals on American Families.” The event was spearheaded by Lamar Smith (R-Texas), Steve King (R-Iowa) and Howard Coble (R-NC). Tensions ran high as witnesses ranging from bereaved family members to the President of the Houston, Texas, Police Officers’ Union, to the Chairman of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors made the case that the loss of innocent citizens is a direct result of not cracking down on “illegals” in the US. The witnesses demanded policies that would make life so miserable for immigrants, that they would be driven to self-deport. One witness even received enthusiastic applause after suggesting birth-right citizenship be repealed. Read More
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No one should face the immigration system alone
