Latino Voters Blame Both Parties for Lack of Progress on Immigration Reform

 

The general election is November 2 - Photo: Rob Boudon/flickr

Election Day. (Photo: Rob Boudon/flickr)

A newly released poll of Latino voters shows dissatisfaction with both Republicans and Democrats over the lack of progress on immigration reform.

While Latinos faulted Republicans for blocking immigration legislation (50 percent), respondents also express disapproval at Democrats for “ignoring or avoiding” the issue (43 percent), and at President Barack Obama who “did not push hard enough” to get a law passed (33 percent),  according to the impreMedia/Latino Decisions poll released on Monday, June 13.

“It’s clear that Latino voters are holding the [Democratic] party responsible for not making too much of an effort on immigration, but also the Republicans for preventing it,” said Gabriel Sánchez, a political science professor at the University of New Mexico.

Respondents believed the GOP is using border security as a reason to “block” (55 percent) the passage of a law that would pave the way for citizenship to millions of undocumented immigrants, instead of using it as a “legitimate concern” (30 percent).

“One of the principal errors made by GOP strategists for the last 20 years is the perception they could demonize the topic of immigration without necessarily alienating Hispanic voters,” said Latino Decisions demographer Gary Segura during a June 13 teleconference call with journalists. “All of us felt this was a foolish claim.”

500 Latino registered voters were polled between May 24 and June 4 in the 21 states with the largest Hispanic populations. They were interviewed on cell phones and land line telephones in English or Spanish.

The issue of immigration is a topic of intense interest among the Hispanics in the U.S.  “Not because we’re obsessed with it, but because people’s lives are affected,” explained Pilar Marrero, a senior political writer for impreMedia and a former contributor to Feet in Two Worlds. “It’s the whole enchilada.”

Pedro Rojas, the executive editor of La Opinion, the Spanish-language newspaper in Los Angeles, said there are “50 million reasons” for commissioning the survey, an apparent reference to the Latino immigrant population in the United States.

Seventy-six percent of respondents decried “anti- immigration/anti-Hispanic” attitudes, with 18 percent denying such attitudes existed.

Immigration may have pole vaulted to the national agenda in 2006 with the filing of the controversial Sensenbrenner bill, said Latino Decisions’ Matt Barreto. The bill, authored by Wisconsin Congressman James Sensenbrenner, sought to make it illegal to provide assistance and aid to undocumented immigrants. It met with strong resistance and protests from the immigrant community.

Barreto said the passage last year of Arizona’s controversial immigration law SB 1070 raised the specter of immigration policy being legislated by the states instead of having it remain a federal concern.

The Secure Communities program, a state and federal partnership to share the immigration status of people who are arrested, heightens anxiety in an already sensitive environment, said Segura. He said S-Comm increases the potential for racial profiling.

“That’s how law enforcement officials are identifying undocumented persons,” said Segura. “As a consequence, Latinos, whether as legal residents or legal immigrants, are just as likely to be stopped and harassed as part of this policy. These laws directly affect their well being.”

In an indication that immigration has become personal to most, if not all, Latino voters,  53 percent of respondents to the survey acknowledge they know of undocumented immigrants within their circle of friends, family and co-workers. However, 73 percent denied knowing anyone who has faced detention or deportation as opposed to 25 percent who said they know someone who is in removal proceedings.

Immigration continues to resonate among generations of Latinos “even among people with higher income and higher level of education,” said Segura.

Even in the absence of federal immigration reform legislation, the survey shows Latinos want to see an end to raids and deportations.

They “strongly support” stopping the deportation of undocumented youth who have not committed any crime (57 percent); stopping the deportation of parents who have not committed a crime (49 percent); and stopping the deportation of undocumented immigrants who are married to a U.S. citizen or legal resident who has not committed a crime (57 percent).

Despite disappointment with both political parties, those surveyed were “very enthusiastic” (48 percent) about the November 2012 presidential election. Those “certain” to vote for President Obama registered at 49 percent, with those leaning toward him but could “change mind” at 12 percent. Obama enjoyed a strong approval rating at 41 percent, with the U.S. Congress’ strong approval rating hobbling at 5 percent.

Click here for the complete poll results.

Excerpts from the poll:

Would you say the Democratic party is currently doing a good job of reaching out to Hispanics, that they don’t care too much about Hispanics, or they are being hostile towards Hispanics?
o Good Job: 48% (52% U.S. born/43% foreign born)
o Don’t care too much: 31% (26% U.S. born/36% foreign born)
o Being Hostile: 7% (6% U.S. born/6% foreign born)
o Don’t know: 13% (13% U.S. born/14% foreign born)
o Refused: 2% (3% U.S. born/0% foreign born)
Would you say the Republican party is currently doing a good job of reaching out to Hispanics, that they don’t care too much about Hispanics, or they are being hostile towards Hispanics?
o Good Job: 12% (13% U.S. born/11% foreign born)
o Don’t care too much: 49% (50% U.S. born/46% foreign born)
o Being Hostile: 23% (26% U.S. born/22% foreign born)
o Don’t know: 14% (10% U.S. born/20% foreign born)

 

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    • Citizenship Lawyer Los Angeles

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    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Arrchie-Bunker/100002458145605 Arrchie Bunker

       
      MYTH: Immigrants take jobs from Americans.
      FACT: Immigrants create new jobs, and complement the skills of theU.S. native workforce.

      MYTH: Immigrants drive down the wages of American workers.
      FACT: Immigrants increase overall economic productivity and have no significant effect on overall wages for American workers.

      MYTH: Immigrants will cause massive, unnecessary population growth
      in the United States.
      FACT: As the baby boomer generation begins to retire and the U.S.fertility rate declines, it will be necessary to replace our aging workforce with immigrants to maintain economic growth.

      MYTH: Undocumented immigrants do not pay taxes.
      FACT: Undocumented immigrants pay billions of dollars in taxes each year, often for services they will never receive.

      MYTH: Immigrants come to the United States for welfare benefits.
      FACT: The law forbids immigrants from using welfare services.

      MYTH: The Government should just enforce the law to solve our
      immigration problems.
      FACT: Enforcement alone will not solve our immigration problems. The cost would be prohibitive, it would have a detrimental effect on
      the U.S. economy, and it would simply push certain immigrantsfurther into the underground economy.

      MYTH: Immigrants are not assimilating.
      FACT: Immigrants are assimilating at much the same rate as pastwaves of immigrants.

      MYTH: Immigrants are more likely to commit crimes than
      U.S. natives.
      FACT: Immigrants have a much lower incarceration rate than U.S. natives.

      MYTH: Workers that come to the United States as temporary workers
      will stay in the country once their visas expire.
      FACT: Historically, migrants from Mexico worked in the United States for a few months or years, but then returned home. Border enforcement has made that pattern much more difficult.
       

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Arrchie-Bunker/100002458145605 Arrchie Bunker

       I AM NOT SAYING DONT CLOSE THE BORDERS. I AM SAYING STOP THE IGNORANCE & HATE.

      Read this whos to blame for our economy, its NOT the POOR MIGRANTS.

      300 BILLION$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ are not paid in taxes by USA CITIZENS, WHO CHEAT ON THEIR TAXES THAT’s A TRILLION$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ EVERY 3.3YEARS.
       DONT BLAME THE POOR, STOP CHEATING AND OUR NATION IS OK. :) :)

      What the hell happened???  Lets BLAME THE FOOD PICKING, , DISH WASHING, LAWN MOWING UNDOCUMENTED MIGRANTS. YEAHHHHHH

      Before you Scream and show Ignorance and Hate at least read the Immigration Law regarding Undocumented Immigrants.   

      UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS ARE NOT CRIMINALS. Its a Civil Matter.

      The whole thing is perplexing to people who don’t understand that being an illegal immigrant in and of itself is not a crime. The most pervasive comments made in news stories about Secure Communities go a little like this: “Illegal immigrants are what they’re called — they’re considered criminals by mere definition. Illegals who broke a bunch of laws to enter and live here should be subjected to immediate arrest and deportation — that’s fair for everyone.”

      That’s not accurate, but a lot of people have that same misunderstanding — even law enforcement professionals.

      During a teleconference last month on the troubles that Secure Communities is bringing to local law enforcement agencies, a few sheriffs on the call commiserated about their misunderstanding of immigration violations.

      “I was always told it was a felony federal violation of law and was always under the impression that turning over any illegal immigrants (to ICE) was mandated by federal law — and so did my employees,” said Sheriff Ed Prieto of Yolo County, Calif. “But after we met with the Mexican consulate in Sacramento we learned it’s not. Then I started looking into how many of our people are being deported before trial and I became very uncomfortable contacting ICE for nonviolent offenders.”

      Kane County, Ill., Sheriff Patrick Perez said that “90 percent of law enforcement officers believe (just being an illegal immigrant) is a crime, but I learned after talking to an immigration judge that it is just a civil offense.”

      Sara Dill, a member of the American Bar Association’s Commission on Immigration and a member of the ABA’s Criminal Justice Council, explained it to me this way: “States are seeking to criminalize what is only a civil violation in federal law.” Dill said that failing to get a permit for home construction is one example of a civil, not criminal, violation. “Putting illegal immigrants in a criminal context confuses merely being present in the United States without authorization with crimes such as falsely claiming citizenship or identity theft, which are crimes under federal law.”

      Everyone knows that of the universe of illegal immigrants, some have committed nonviolent and violent crimes — and everyone believes these should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

      But believers of following “the letter of the law” cannot continue equating all illegal immigrants living in this country with criminals, who have plenty of civil rights of their own. That’s not the American way.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Arrchie-Bunker/100002458145605 Arrchie Bunker

      THE UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS ARE PAYING MORE TAXES THAN YOU THINK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

      IMMIGRANTS AND TAXES:
      Q: “Is it true that illegal immigrants don’t pay taxes and drain our economy?”
      A: As Ben Franklin said, “Nothing is certain but death and taxes.” Like the rest of us, unauthorized immigrants pay taxes on their property and anything they buy. More than half of them have taxes taken out of their paychecks, but because our immigration system is dysfunctional, these taxes are paid under false Social Security numbers. We need a new regimen in which we know who is paying taxes and can ensure that no one is getting a free ride. The only way to do that is to pull unauthorized immigrants out of the shadows and get them on the right side of the law.
      Three state-level studies have found that unauthorized immigrants pay more in taxes than they use in benefits. In Iowa, unauthorized immigrants pay an estimated $40 to $62 million in state taxes, while they and their employers contribute an additional $50 million to $77.8 million in federal, Social Security, and Medicare taxes from which they will never benefit. In Oregon, unauthorized immigrants—who are not eligible for any state benefits—pay between $134 million and $187 million in taxes each year. Finally, in Texas, the State Comptroller found that, without unauthorized residents, the gross state product in 2005 would have been $17.7 billion less. 

      THE BOTTOM LINE: Undocumented immigrants are an important component of the U.S. economy. They meet the labor demand in sectors in which they do not directly compete with U.S.-born workers. The great majority of migrant workers are taxpaying, hardworking, and law-abiding people who are integrating into U.S. society.

      The economics of immigration, Stephen C. Goss, the chief actuary of the Social Security Administration and someone who enjoys bipartisan support for his straightforwardness, said that by 2007, the Social Security trust fund had received a net benefit of somewhere between $120 billion and $240 billion from unauthorized immigrants.
      That represented an astounding 5.4 percent to 10.7 percent of the trust fund’s total assets of $2.24 trillion that year. The cumulative contribution is surely higher now. Unauthorized immigrants paid a net contribution of $12 billion in 2007 alone, Goss said.

      Previous estimates circulating publicly and in Congress had placed the annual contributions at roughly half of Goss’s 2007 figure and listed the cumulative benefit on the order of $50 billion.

      The Social Security trust fund faces a solvency crisis that would be even more pressing were it not for these payments.
      Adding to the Social Security irony is that the restrictionists are mostly OLDER AND RETIRED WHITES  from longtime American families. The very people, in other words, who benefit most from the Social Security payments by unauthorized immigrants.

      Comprehensive Immigration Reform Would Boost the Economy & Help ALL American Workers:  As opposed to the mass deportation, enforcement-only approach, addressing and fixing the immigration system in a wholesale manner will be a boon to the U.S. economy and all U.S. workers.  That is why both the AFL-CIO and Change to Win created The Labor Movement’s Joint Framework for Comprehensive Immigration Reform.  Dr. Raúl Hinojosa-Ojeda conducted a 2010 report for the Center for American Progress and the Immigration Policy Center that found that “Unlike the current enforcement-only strategy, comprehensive reform would raise the ‘wage floor’ for the entire U.S. economy—to the benefit of both immigrant and native-born workers.”  According to the study, granting legal status to undocumented immigrants and creating flexible legal limits on future immigration flows would generate enough consumer-spending to support 750,000-900,000 jobs.  The report also found that the mass deportation approach would reduce GDP by 1.46 percent annually, amounting to a loss of $2.6 trillion over 10 years.
       

    • IMMIGRATION

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