March 2008 No. 12Table of Contents |
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While waiting to learn what bills from the 2008 General Assembly that Governor Daniels will or will not sign—and then report on them next week—let’s take a look at an issue that didn’t get resolved this session—illegal immigration. The Indpls Star reported that there are upwards of 300,000 Hispanics in Indiana today, with estimates that as many as 28% of them are here without legal work permits. Across the USA, states had 350 pieces of legislation focused on illegal immigration with 30 states aiming at penalties for employers who hire illegal aliens.
For a disclaimer, I must admit that my ancestors came to the USA in the mid-18th century before it was called the USA. They got on a boat in Rotterdam and ended up in New Amsterdam (aka New York City). There were no immigration laws then, just the ability to pay for passage, unless your ancestors had come across the Bering straits or were brought in chains or crossed the “Mesoamerican biodiversity hotspot” or came some other way.
Planned European migration started at Plymouth Rock. The new USA’s 1790 “naturalization” act says “any alien, being a free white person, may be admitted to become a citizen of the United States.” It took the Civil War and the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to broaden citizenship to all.
From 1875 on, federal law prohibited and then allowed immigrant labor, created a new immigrant receiving station on Ellis Island, began dealing with Mexican border issues (1903 & 1907), set quotas for post-World War I immigrants, controlled visa allocation by national origin, required “alien” registration (1940) and “green cards” (1950), created modern immigration policies (1952), eliminated US immigration discrimination based on race, birth nationality, and sex (1968), codified refugee treatment, gave illegal immigrants amnesty (1986), favored “skilled” immigrants (1990), and put immigration control into post-9/11 Dept of Homeland Security.
What’s next? As of February 1, you can no longer drive across our border with Canada or Mexico and simply declare your nationality; proof of citizenship is required. Six in 10 Americans gave “protecting our borders from illegal immigration” a grade of “D” or “F” in the latest U.S. Foreign Policy Index, along with keeping illegal drugs out of the country (56% D or F). Presidential aspirants are debating options. IN lawmakers failed to pass any new immigration laws. A newly-elected Statehouse faces the issue next year.
UW of America has no immigration policy position, though it is sounding out its local leaders right now. The IN Humanities Council will focus its 2008 grants program and community forums on immigration.
Immigration is not only an American issue; it is the “most important” issue facing Great Britain, a HarrisInteractive poll found last October, topping “the economy” by 29% to 19%. Most Americans (80%) and Brits (83%) think immigrants must learn English to stay in the country. Only Germans (86%) feel stronger about newcomers speaking the “native” tongue, compared to Spaniards (50%), Italians (61%), and the French (61%). Stay tuned.
In 2005, 4% of Indiana’s population was foreign born, compared to 12.4% nationwide. Yet, of those Hoosiers, 34% had come into Indiana since 2000, compared to 22% nationwide.
By 2050, the population of the USA is expected to grow 48% to 438 million, and most (82%) of that will be from immigration—67 million immigrants and 50 million of their U.S.-born children and grandchildren, according to the Pew Research Center. Thus the immigrant portion of Americans will expand from 12% today to one-fifth by mid-century. Latinos—America’s largest minority group—will triple in size, making up 39% of US population.
The number of children and elderly compared to working-age Americans—the “dependency ratio”—will also grow from 59 per 100 today to 72 in 2050. See http://pewhispanic.org/files/reports/85.pdf.
A Sagamore Institute report says schools have inadequate staff and resources to deal with the special needs of immigrants’ children. Many of these kids are in a funk, thinking they’ll never attend college.
A new voice in the immigration emphasis is the Indiana Commission on Hispanic/Latino Affairs. It is a bi-partisan group comprised of legislators, state agency reps, and Governor’s appointees. It has a 2007-2008 strategic plan focused on promoting adult English as a Second Language education programs; monitoring K-12 education gaps; compiling minority business statistics; recruiting Hispanic/Latino workers in state government; and informing the legislature about Hispanic/Latino employment, home-ownership, and demographics. Learn more about it atwww.in.gov/ichla.
“Few issues garner as much vitriol as the debate over illegal immigration,” IndianaBusiness magazine says. Illegal immigrant workers add $3.5 Billion to the state’s economy, it calculates, even though their wages are “undoubtedly lower” than those of their age among native workers.
“The very best evidence concludes that illegal immigration has not affected domestic wages, even at the low end of the scale.” On one hand, illegal immigrants use public schools, health care, and other public services; on the other, they also pay income and sales taxes and public service fees.
They’re also paying federal income and payroll taxes and cannot claim Social Security or income tax refunds, like the Earned Income Tax Credit. The conclusion: “illegal immigrants are not very costly.” See the magazine’s March 2008 issue.
The Indpls Star went a step further and urged readers to support an “in-depth study of how Indiana is truly affected by illegal immigration and what fair, constitutional, legal remedies are available.” If done this summer by a legislative study committee, then we’ll have solid data for next session’s debate.
The 2008 presidential nomination contest has opened up the crazy quilt of American attitudes about race and ethnicity. States with few minorities have voted for Obama, while states with large urban areas with a diverse mix of peoples are more reticent. Opinions of one racial/ethnic group about the “others” were probed by the Pew Research Center, and they found that blacks, whites, and Latinos have more favorable opinions about folks of their own background than others but that even 77+% approve of the others. Ratings of inter-group relations are lower, with opinions about black/Hispanic relations the lowest when competition for jobs is the focus. All groups say they have friends among the “others,” but not many. http://pewresearch.org/pubs/694/race-ethnicity-and-campaign-08
You may want to check out the Pew Hispanic Center’s Web site for a more in-depth look at issues, opinions, and factors affecting this growing segment of Americana. See http://pewhispanic.org.
“Brown-black” relations is a more recent example of newcomer-old guard tensions. Back in 1991, Time magazine focused an issue on brown/black dynamics. For the lead story and related articles, see www.time.com/time/magazine/article/
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