Immigration Extremely Important To Tennesseans
Poll: Immigration Extremely Important To Tennesseans
Posted: Feb 27, 2008 07:47 PM PST
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A new poll released Wednesday reveals how some Tennesseans feel about the illegal immigration issue.
Researchers at Middle Tennessee State University polled hundreds of Tennesseans.
The poll found that almost 60 percent of people across the state believe that immigration issues are very, even extremely, important to Tennesseans.
The poll also discovered 50 percent of people believe immigrants take the jobs that nobody wants. But, 35 percent believe immigrants are taking the jobs that Americans need.
Confusion abounds about the illegal immigration issue. Among the common beliefs is undocumented immigrants take jobs away from Americans.
But unemployment is around 5 percent in Tennessee. Economists believe for the most part the people who want to work are working. Plus, if an illegal immigrant did take the job of a Tennessean, state labor officials said there's no way to track it.
"The data may not be systematically collected, but ordinary people see the evidence of the eye every day and that affects how they feel about the issue," said Carol Swain, who teaches political science and law at Vanderbilt University.
Some people also believe illegal immigrants strain healthcare systems.
"(They) don't seek medical care, and they won't seek medical care until they are almost on their death bed," said Gregg Ramos, an attorney.
But how big of an issue is it? Existing federal laws make it impossible to tell.
"There's a federal law you can't turn anyone away from the emergency room," said state Rep. Debra Maggart.
So hospitals such as Vanderbilt University Medical Center follow the law and treat everyone. Officials do not ask about a patient's immigration status. Vanderbilt officials said they can only estimate they spent millions of dollars last year on healthcare for illegal immigrants.
Another area people examine the impact of immigration is education.
"It is causing a lot of monies to be spent, that haven't expected to be spent, said Kathryn Garcia, a teacher.
Thousands of foreign-born students have entered the Tennessee school system. It roughly costs $9,000 per student to educate them.
"That shows you right there what a burden it is on our taxpayers," Maggart said.
But just how big of a burden? Once again, because of federal law, educators don't ask about immigration status so no one is certain how many children are being educated.
"We don't know who is legal and illegal," Garcia said.
"There is more contributed to our economy by the immigrant population than is actually taken by the immigrant population," Ramos said.
The belief is undocumented workers provide a much-needed workforce that contributes to the local tax base.
Springfield City Manager Paul Nutting would disagree.
His city has been at the forefront of the illegal workforce issue in Tennessee. After immigration raids there, it's estimated hundreds of illegal immigrants left the area. Well-populated neighborhoods now sit empty. The past five years, the city's tax base has risen.
Nutting doubts immigrants in low-paying jobs, with little disposable income, had much to do with it.
Now that they're gone, Nutting said, "I don't think we are going to see much of a dent in the tax base. Most of the places where these people were living at, obviously were not paying a lot in property taxes anyway."
The research found people on both sides of the issue believe illegal immigrants are an exploited workforce. They contend companies that hire them are a big part of the problem.
There is also agreement that there needs to be comprehensive immigration reform at the federal level.
The Hispanic population in Tennessee has grown 55 percent since 2000.
http://www.newschannel5.com/global/story.asp?s=7937169
