BY MIKE CETERA
A fascinating new survey by the Pew Hispanic Center reveals some very interesting findings, namely that more than half of all Latino adults living in the U.S. "worry that they, a family member or a close friend could be deported." But there's also significant differences of opinion when it comes to immigration reform between native-born Hispanics and immigrants.
Read the full report here.
Three quarters (75%) disapprove of workplace raids; some 79% prefer that local police not take an active role in identifying illegal immigrants; and some 55% disapprove of states checking for immigration status before issuing driver's licenses. By contrast, non-Hispanics are much more supportive of all these policies, with a slight majority favoring workplace raids and a heavy majority favoring driver's license checks.
In addition to this wide variance in views between Hispanics and non-Hispanics, the survey finds less pronounced--but still significant--gaps within the Hispanic community on a range of matters, from perceptions about discrimination to attitudes about illegal immigration to support for tougher enforcement measures. For example, on questions about enforcement policies, native-born Hispanics take positions that are closer to those of the rest of the U.S. population than do foreign-born Hispanics. Also, the native born are less likely than the foreign born to report a negative personal impact from the heightened attention to immigration issues.
The media is guilty, I think, of often painting Latinos with a broad brush. This report clearly debunks that practice, and shows the calls for immigration reform aren't simply a white versus brown debate.
Some more interesting tidbits from the survey:
* Non-citizens account for 44 percent of the total adult Hispanic population.
* Three-quarters of Hispanics say illegal immigrants help the economy.
* Fifty-four percent say discrimination "is a major problem that is keeping Latinos from succeeding in this country."
* What causes discrimination? Fourty-six percent say language; 22 percent say immigration status; 16 percent say income and education; 11 percent say skin color.
* Just 22 percent of Latinos say they have followed news of the immigration debate closely.
Know if only the government would step and do more raids we wouldnt have this issue. I'm glad that they are scared. Being scared means they are here illegally and they should be sent back. There are plenty of people here from all over the world that are illegal too. I bet if you asked some illegal Polish people they would feel the same way. So what does this survey reveal? Must be that illegal immigrants fear deportation. Wow, such a useful and groundbreaking study.
We are SWAMPED with illegals in Maricopa County, Az! There are construction sites here where English is not
spoken! The good news is the 500,000 illegals in the Phoenix are are leaving at a reported rate of 400 to 500 a
day because "We The People" Voted in a new law that goes into effect Jan 1, 2008 that will take the business
licenses from employers who are caught hiring illegals! Check out some of the action going on here at http://www.deadfacts.com Wonder why Taco Bell gave up that Ad "Run for the Border" ?
Thanks Mike for the enlightening comments and link. The way this subject has been portrayed, it is mindblowing that only 53% of Latinos fear that ANYONE CLOSE TO THEM may be deported. The numbers in this report are even more amazing if you take the non-citizens out of the picture. I made the assumption that this report represents those 44% who are non-citizens since I didn't really dig into the full report and here's what I get if I take those 44% out of the picture:
16% fear ANYONE CLOSE TO THEM will be deported
20% oppose requiring proof of citizenship to get a driver's license
55% oppose workplace raids
62.5% oppose local cops looking into immigration status
55% say illegals help the economy
0% say discrimination is a major problem preventing success
Now obviously these calculations aren't 100% accurate due to assumptions, but they do paint a very interesting picture. Aside from the workplace raids (which seem to largely originate from the use of fraudulent social security numbers, a felony) and local cops looking into immigration, the opinions of Latinos who are citizens seem to mesh pretty closely with those of all other citizens.
Just some food for thought.
I would speculate that 99% of the individuals in the process of immigrating to the country legally are neither in favor of the existing de factor amnesty, nor the proposed special paths to citizenship for individuals who illegally immigrated into the country. No empirical proof to offer, just speculation.
How is the status quo allowed in a country that claims to be a "land of laws"?