Thread: Immigration Fears Up in Area Survey

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Immigration Fears Up in Area Survey: And Residents See Crime As a Top Problem for the 2nd Year in a Row

Source: Houston Chronicle
March 31, 2007

By Mike Snyder, Houston Chronicle
Mar. 31--As the size of Harris County's young Latino population overtakes its aging Anglos, anti-immigration sentiment is increasing among area residents while admiration for ethnic diversity diminishes, the 2007 Houston Area Survey shows.

The survey, released Friday, also shows that crime has eclipsed traffic and the economy as the perceived greatest problem in the area for the second consecutive year. While Houston's overall crime rate fell more than 5 percent last year compared with 2005, the city experienced a 5 percent spike in its homicide rate.

The findings about immigration, the value of ethnic diversity and relations among ethnic groups should concern the leaders of a city that has proudly billed itself as a place where different cultures flourish, said Dr. Stephen Klineberg, the Rice University sociology professor who directs the survey.

"It's a troubling trend," Klineberg said. "The hallmark of Houston is ethnic diversity."

The Census Bureau estimates that in 2005, 37.5 percent of Harris County residents were Hispanic, barely below the 38.2 percent Anglo population and far more than the 18.4 percent represented by non-Hispanic blacks.

And area Hispanics are much younger than their Anglo counterparts, Klineberg said.

"Houston's future is a multiethnic future," he said. "The past was an Anglo past."

The 2007 Houston Area Survey of 656 randomly chosen Harris County residents was conducted Feb. 13 through Feb. 27 by the University of Houston Center for Public Policy. The margin of error for the survey, which Klineberg has overseen annually since 1982, is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

While most respondents this year continued to say that Houston's multiethnic character would be an asset, the percentage holding that view dropped from 67 percent in 2005 to 62 percent in 2007. This question, like many in the survey, is asked in alternating years.

Other findings this year and last showed that Harris County residents increasingly see current immigration trends as a threat to American culture, and most support further restricting the flow of immigrants.

According to the survey, such beliefs increased to 43 percent this year, up 12 percentage points from 2005, the last year the question was asked.

The survey also suggests area residents are especially concerned about the increasing numbers of undocumented immigrants who have moved to Houston in recent years. The survey said 72 percent believed it was at least a somewhat serious problem, and 45 percent of those were mainly concerned about strains on public services like hospitals and schools.

Yet heavy majorities also favor providing illegal immigrants' children access to public schools and providing a path to citizenship to illegal immigrants who abide by U.S. laws and learn English.

This suggests that area residents feel less threatened by immigrants who try to assimilate, Klineberg said. Images of protesters carrying Mexican flags at local immigration marches last year may have stoked fears of ethnic newcomers trying to supplant American culture with their own, he said.

"There is this fear that they're not going to assimilate, that they're going to turn America into a satellite of Mexico," Klineberg said.

In the survey's only open-ended question, 38 percent this year ranked crime as the most serious problem, up from 31 percent in 2006. Last year was the first since 1999 when an issue other than traffic was identified by more respondents as the area's greatest problem.

Two years ago, 13 percent of the respondents rated crime as their top concern.

Klineberg noted that despite the increased general concern about crime, only 27 percent this year said they were "very worried" about personally being a crime victim. This figure has been level in the last three surveys, but is far lower than the 41 percent who said they were "very worried" in 1995, at the height of crime fears.

"There's no question that a pervasive, personal fear of crime is a deeply negative factor in building a sense of community," he said.

Concerns about crime probably contributed to negative attitudes detected in the past two surveys about the impact of Hurricane Katrina evacuees in Houston, he said. Evacuees were linked to a handful of violent crimes in Houston, and police officials said the sudden influx of about 150,000 new residents taxed the resources of law enforcement agencies.

This year, 65 percent of respondents said the impact of the evacuees has been generally bad for the city, compared with 11 percent who thought the new Houstonians have had a positive effect. The remainder expressed no opinion or didn't answer.

mike.snyder@chron.com

As the size of Harris County's young Latino population overtakes its aging Anglos, anti-immigration sentiment is increasing among area residents while admiration for ethnic diversity diminishes, the 2007 Houston Area Survey shows

It not Anti-Immigrants. People like Immigrants. It is Illegal Aliens. Every Reporter that try's to bunch the two together should be fired never to write again.

Crime is crime regardless of who is doing. If one group tends to commit crime, then people are going to be anti them. If illegals wanted to be part of america and citizenship they should have policed themselves instead of allowing gangs and criminals to live among them. Illegals know who are the criminals and should have turned them in instead of claiming racism every time one was arrested.