Posted on 09/10/2009 11:50:44 AM PDT by AuntB
Congress and the Bush administration tried to reform immigration policy in 2006, and failed. A year later, they tried again, with no more success. Now President Barack Obama and congressional leaders say they'll try once more. Political leaders are speaking of it in just those terms: one last chance, one last try.
"We've got one more chance to do this," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., after a White House meeting in June. "If we fail this time around, no politician is going to take this up in a generation."[1]
Perhaps that's hyperbole, but whether it is or not, the stakes remain high. It’s a cliché to say that America is a nation of immigrants, but like most clichés, this one began as a statement of simple truth. Another truth is that if we're going to overhaul immigration policy, it only makes sense to listen to the people who will be most affected by it: immigrants. To craft a just and practical policy, we need to see America through the immigrants' eyes. That’s true whether you favor an open door or a higher fence. You can’t hope to implement sound strategies unless you understand what brings people to the United States and what they think about the nation once they get here.
That’s what Public Agenda hopes to accomplish with A Place to Call Home: What Immigrants Say Now About Life in America, the follow-up to our pioneering 2002 survey of immigrants, Now That I'm Here. In A Place to Call Home, we've extended our sampling to gain a more detailed view of Hispanics and Muslims. Because we surveyed both cell phone owners and landline households, we were able to capture the perspectives of undocumented immigrants as well. Just as importantly, we can now see trend data on how immigrants view a tumultuous period in history.
Public Agenda has identified five key findings compared to immigrants' viewpoints in 2002:
1. Concerns about discrimination have held stable and views of federal immigration services have improved. 2. Since 2002, there's been essentially no change in those who say there's discrimination against immigrants in the U.S. (62 percent say "some" or "a great deal"). -- But far fewer immigrants overall say they've experienced much discrimination personally, with 25 percent reporting they've run into "some" or "a great deal." (a small but significant 5-point drop since 2002). 3. Mexican and other Latin American immigrants are more likely than any other groups to say there's some or "a great deal" of discrimination against immigrants in the United States (75 percent of Mexicans and 72 percent of Central and South Americans). But they're no more likely to experience discrimination personally. 4. Muslim immigrants are less likely to say there's much discrimination against immigrants. Some 64 percent of Muslim immigrants say there is little or no discrimination against immigrants, compared to 32 percent of other immigrants.
5. Since 2002, the number of people giving positive ratings to federal immigration officials rose to 58 percent from 48 percent and 58 percent of immigrants say it is easy to get information about immigration and naturalization issues from the government, with 21 percent who say it's "very easy."
1. While economic worries may be taking a toll on overall satisfaction, economic and practical concerns are much more important reasons to become a citizen than they were in 2002. 2. Among legal residents who are not U.S. citizens, the top reasons to become a citizen are "having equal rights and responsibilities" (80 percent) and the right to vote (78 percent). 3. Yet there were significant increases in those who cite making it easier to get certain jobs (69 percent, up 14 points), to make it easier to travel (65 percent, up 14 points) and to qualify for government programs like Medicaid and food stamps (only 36 percent, the lowest on the scale, but still a 14-point increase from 2002). 4. Half (52 percent) say it's "very hard" to get a job without knowing English, and a sizable number of immigrants (45 percent) came here without knowing the language. But they're aggressively trying to learn. Seven in 10 immigrants who knew very little or no English when they came to the United States say they've taken English classes, up 23 points from 2002.
5. Dissatisfaction with the economy may be driving one significant change from 2002. While an overwhelming 87 percent say they're happy with life in the U.S., the number who are "extremely happy" fell from 55 percent to 34 percent.
1. Strong majorities of immigrants surveyed said they made the right choice in coming to the United States. 2. Majorities rated the U.S. as better than their birth country for earning a good living (88 percent), having a trusted legal system (70 percent), making good health care available (67 percent), having a good education system (62 percent), being a good place to raise children (55 percent) and on free speech (55 percent).
3. Seven in 10 say they intend to make the U.S. their permanent home, and that given the chance they'd do it all over again (a nine point decline from 2002).
1. Even as ties to their birth country have grown stronger, immigrants say they can quickly adapt to the United States. 2. 77 percent say they felt comfortable in the U.S. within five years, and nearly half said it took less than two years. 3. The number of immigrants who say they call home at least once a week rose from 28 percent to 40 percent, perhaps due to improved telecommunications.
4. Those who send money to the birth country "once in a while" increased 14 points, to 44 percent, while those who say they never send money fell from 55 percent to 37 percent.
1. Immigrants support a range of reform proposals, although support can change by age and ethnic group. 2. Seven in ten (72 percent) say that the government should offer a path to citizenship, i.e. a way for illegal immigrants with no criminal record and who have shown a commitment to the United States to become citizens. 3. Some 84 percent support a guest worker program, and 61 percent strongly favor it.
4. Mexicans are more likely to support a path to citizenship (84 percent), compared to only 62 percent of Middle Easterners, 54 percent of East Asians, and 48 percent of South Asians in favor. Support also declines as people grow older: 85 percent of 18 to 29-year-olds favor the path to citizenship, but only 56 percent of those 65 and older do.
Facing Economic Crisis, Bitter Debate, Survey Finds Immigrants Hold Fast to American Dream
Note this item about healthcare....USA healthcare looks a LOT better than their home lands!
"1. Strong majorities of immigrants surveyed said they made the right choice in coming to the United States. 2. Majorities rated the U.S. as better than their birth country for earning a good living (88 percent), having a trusted legal system (70 percent), making good health care available (67 percent)"
Let's commit to making Lindsay's worst dreams come true.
Is our immigration policy supposed to be to the benefit of immigrants, or for America? That’w the question to ask.
Go to h*ll Lindsay Graham you little sissy boy.
I want Joe as Senator in SC. Let Lindsay Graham go to Argentina with Sanford. Sanford goes to his girl and Lindsay can find a gaucho. A gaucho is a plum ahh...woman. yeah.
“Go to h*ll Lindsay Graham you little sissy boy.
I want Joe as Senator in SC”
Amen, and Amen! I thought that line by little lindsey would get some excited.
Oh please...let this be so!
sw
“Is our immigration policy supposed to be to the benefit of immigrants, or for America? That’w the question to ask.”
The answer is it benefits neither...it benefits votes for democrats and cheap labor for the globalists. The immigrants, especially illegal ones are just pawns.
“Let’s commit to making Lindsay’s worst dreams come true.”
Agreed!!!
IMO The silver lining to this recession. I think we have enough for now.
What it really is is blather used by immigrant advocates to create the general assumption that we must have high immigration on and on. And, if all human life originated in Africa, then what we actually are is a world of immigrants.
But we are not really nation of immigrants, as immigrants have rarely been even 10% of our population, and immigration was very low, around 200,000 or less per year from the 1920s until the changes in 1965, and subsequent increases in annual immigration (and our general failure to enforce the law especially in the part 25 or so years).
The real truth about the health care is there is no problem without illegals, but the doctors, who oppose health care reform want you to keep paying then to treat illegals.
“It’s a cliché to say that America is a nation of immigrants, but like most clichés, this one began as a statement of simple truth.”
Agree with your comments and it is total BS, Will88. Only 4 or 5 of the ‘founding fathers’ were ‘immigrants’...the rest were ALL born here! When we had too much immigration for a time, we also put a stop to it, and it’s time we did again while there are places left in this nation that you can recognize and speak English in.
I missed tha part where they said they had learned or were learning English.
The old adage that immigrants learn English by second generation is no longer true. Now they don’t have to, we cater to them
It’s also a simple truth that America is not a nation of unassimilable economic refugees!
My question concerned how we go about remaking immigration policy.
My opinion is that it should benefit America. Unless someone has something to contribute, he should not be allowed to immigrate. And I don’t mean child care, construction, or yard work.
ping
Our challenge is to continue to attract those in the first category while keeping those in the second category out.
3. Mexican and other Latin American immigrants are more likely than any other groups to say there’s some or “a great deal” of discrimination against immigrants in the United States
...this flyer right here from LaRaza says that I’m the victim of a great deal of discrimination in the United States
“
3. Mexican and other Latin American immigrants are more likely than any other groups to say there’s some or “a great deal” of discrimination against immigrants in the United States
...this flyer right here from LaRaza says that I’m the victim of a great deal of discrimination in the United States”
They ought to try being a white USA citizen! We print everything in spanish for them, hire them lawyers and translators, give them free education and healthcare and THEY feel discriminated against....we’re importing whiners!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.