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.
