Thread: Most Hispanics: Immigration Debate Hurt

Dec 13, 1:04 PM EST
Most Hispanics: Immigration Debate Hurt

By ALAN FRAM
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Most Hispanics say the immigration debate and Congress' failure to overhaul immigration laws has hurt them, and many fear deportation for themselves, a relative or close friend, a poll showed Thursday.

The survey, conducted by the nonpartisan Pew Hispanic Center, found that Hispanics in the United States are generally satisfied with their own lives and optimistic about the future. Yet many are wary of negative reactions prompted by heightened attention to illegal immigration in Congress and the presidential campaign trail, and they increasingly cite discrimination as a problem.

Sixty-four percent said the immigration debate and Congress' failure to enact bills revamping immigration laws has made life harder for Hispanics. Just more than half said the increased attention to immigration has hurt them personally, ranging from 12 percent who said they are having more trouble keeping a job to 24 percent who said they are less likely to travel outside the U.S.

A minority - 41 percent - said they or someone close has experienced discrimination in the past five years. That proportion has grown since 31 percent said so in a 2002 poll by Pew and the Kaiser Family Foundation. Roughly eight in 10 say they think discrimination against Hispanics is a problem in schools, the workplace and when it comes to success in the United States, with an increase in those citing school discrimination since 2002 and the other numbers changing little.

"Hispanics in this country are feeling vulnerable in the current political and policy environment," said Paul Taylor, acting director of the center.

There are about 47 million Hispanics in the U.S., about 16 percent of the country's population. President Bush and Congress have flopped in their efforts to enact legislation dealing with the country's 12 million illegal immigrants - which include many Hispanics - but increased deportations and tighter limits on government benefits have put pressure on the Hispanic community.

The issue has also become a major one in the 2008 presidential campaign, particularly with Republican candidates who have stressed how they would crack down on a problem widely cited by GOP voters as a top concern.

The poll found 53 percent of Hispanics said they worry about deportation for themselves, a relative or close friend, including 33 percent who said they worry about it a lot. While foreign-born Hispanics were most anxious, even one in three native-born Hispanics - who are all U.S. citizens - expressed worry.

Seven in 10 Hispanics say their own quality of life is either good or excellent, yet they are widely divided over the status of the nation's Hispanics overall. One in three say that nationally, the situation for Hispanics has worsened over the past year, a quarter say it has improved and nearly four in 10 say it has stayed the same.

Even so, the survey found, more than three-fourths are confident that Hispanic children will do better economically than Hispanics are doing today.

The study also found that 75 percent of Hispanics said illegal immigrants help the economy by providing low-cost workers, while 17 percent said they hurt by driving down wages. By 48 percent to 40 percent, more non-Hispanics said illegal immigration has hurt the economy.

Large numbers of Hispanics opposed steps taken to crack down on illegal immigration, including 75 percent who oppose workplace raids and 55 percent who object to states checking immigration status before providing driver's licenses.

The poll was conducted from Oct. 3 through Nov. 9 and involved telephone interviews with 2,003 Hispanics adults. It had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.7 percentage points.

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Even so, the survey found, more than three-fourths are confident that Hispanic children will do better economically than Hispanics are doing today.

The American Dream, en espanol.

Large numbers of Hispanics opposed steps taken to crack down on illegal immigration, including 75 percent who oppose workplace raids and 55 percent who object to states checking immigration status before providing driver's licenses.

"55 percent who object to states checking immigration status before providing driver's licenses" Right once they get the drivers license nobody will check their immigration status...HELLLOOO do we look that dumb. They don't think to highly of Americans do they.

These polls are getting sickening - aren't they?

They poll a bunch of people who are breaking the law and ask them if enforcing of those laws would hurt them?

And the answer is news????

Most Hispanics say the immigration debate and Congress' failure to overhaul immigration laws has hurt them, and many fear deportation for themselves, a relative or close friend, a poll showed Thursday.

Oh Darn...

The poll found 53 percent of Hispanics said they worry about deportation for themselves, a relative or close friend, including 33 percent who said they worry about it a lot. While foreign-born Hispanics were most anxious, even one in three native-born Hispanics - who are all U.S. citizens - expressed worry.

Worry for what! Are the US citizens in that community THAT DUMB. No wonder we have sound-bite voters and people led around like sheep with racists information put out there by race baiting OBL's.

THey polled 2003 "Hispanics" out of 47 million allegedly in our country. How is that "most" Hispanics? None that I know of have family that are illegal aliens, nor do they favor amnesty, open borders or special privileges based on ethnicity of any kind.

The American of Mexican heritage my husband talks with are pretty upset about the illegal problem.

They are Americans - and never thought of themselves otherwise. They are as upset as an American at what is being done to this country.

Also, it possible, they feel as my husband does, shame for the people who come here and behave so badly.

When my husband began seeing the ones I would tell him about stealing and having their kids steal, he kept saying, 'These are not the Mexican people I know.'

What is the purpose of this poll? To drive a wedge between races ? NewsFlash Not all IA's are Hispanic and the fight to stop IA's includes everyone who comes here and stays without permission to do so.

I have many hispanic very close friends and they are as much or more adamantly opposed to IA's then I am.

Dec. 13, 2007, 11:30PM
Hispanics feeling hurt by immigration debate
Many are living with anxiety and fear, survey finds


By SUSAN CARROLL
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle


The Pew survey was conducted by telephone from Oct. 3 through Nov. 9 among 2,003 Hispanic adults, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.7 percentage points. A companion survey of 1,009 non-Hispanics was conducted by the Opinion Research Center and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
Hispanics are the largest minority group in the U.S., numbering more than 47 million and accounting for more than 15 percent of the total population, according to the Pew Hispanic Center. The center estimates about one-fourth of Hispanic adults to be in the country illegally.
More than half of Hispanic adults in the U.S. worry they or someone close to them could face deportation, reflecting a growing anxiety over expanded enforcement efforts, according to a new nationwide survey by the Pew Hispanic Center.

Nearly two-thirds of those surveyed said the debate over immigration reform and Congress' failure to pass legislation have made life more difficult for Hispanics.

"Our findings suggest Hispanics in this country are feeling vulnerable in the current political and policy environment," said Paul Taylor, acting director of the Pew Hispanic Center, which released the report Thursday. "They are feeling a range of negative effects from the increased public attention and the stepped up enforcement measures that have accompanied the growing national debate over illegal immigration."

The survey also found a wide gap between Hispanics and non-Hispanics' attitudes on immigration enforcement, which is emerging as a key issue in the 2008 presidential race. The survey findings show strong opposition among Hispanics to workplace raids and the involvement of local police in immigration enforcement — measures that have gained popularity among politicians aiming to crack down on illegal immigration.

The Pew study is especially important locally. Roughly 38.2 percent of Harris County residents are Hispanic, according to 2006 U.S. Census data.

Cesar Espinosa, a legal permanent resident who was born in Mexico and has lived in Houston more than 18 years, said the results highlight fear that has spread through many of the city's immigrant communities.

"With this increase in deportations, the fear and the paranoia about getting picked up (by immigration) has really increased," said Espinosa, a 22-year-old political science major at the University of Houston. "A lot of people are really afraid to even leave their homes, to go to work or to get jobs because they fear that at any time and place they can be picked up by immigration.

"It's something that's really fresh in people's minds," he said.


Record number of arrests
The survey found a general anxiety among many Hispanics over the issue of deportations, with 51 percent reporting concern that they, a family member or friend could be deported. The fears seem to coincide with an increase in arrests of illegal immigrants in the country's interior and growing publicity of workplace raids.

According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the number of illegal immigrants arrested by "fugitive operations teams" in the U.S. set a record this year nationally, with 30,408 arrests. That's nearly double the 15,462 arrests made in fiscal year 2006, according to ICE. In Houston, ICE's fugitive operations teams picked up 1,236 illegal immigrants in fiscal year 2007, up from 842 in 2006.

Workplace arrests grew nearly tenfold in the past five years, to 4,940 in 2007 from 510 in 2002, according to ICE.

Roughly half of Hispanics surveyed said increased public attention to immigration has negatively impacted their own lives.

Twelve percent said they have had more trouble getting or keeping a job; 15 percent said they have had more trouble finding or keeping housing; 19 percent said they have been asked for immigration paperwork more frequently.

John Ochoa, who grew up in a Southwest Houston neighborhood near Beltway 8 and Interstate 45, said he worries daily that someone he cares about could be deported.

The 23-year-old from Venezuela said he's applying for a green card and many of his close friends are undocumented.

The other day, he said, he heard a rumor that ICE agents were near a Home Depot near Beltway 8 and Bellaire Boulevard and called a friend who drives that route daily to warn him.

"I said, 'Be careful. Find another route,' " Ochoa said.

"It's sad," he said. "I know people that have created a little bubble in their lives; they don't go to certain places."


What others say
The center conducted a companion survey of non-Hispanics, and found widely divergent opinions on enforcement issues.

Only 20 percent of Hispanics surveyed approved of workplace raids to discourage employers from hiring illegal immigrants, compared with more than half of non-Hispanics. Even fewer Hispanics — 14 percent — approved of local police taking a role in identifying illegal immigrants, while 45 percent of non-Hispanics supported the idea.

Eighty-five percent of non-Hispanics approve of states checking immigration status before issuing driver's licenses, compared with 40 percent of Hispanics.

Dot Hollis of Kingwood said she can easily explain the wide gap in opinions between Hispanics and non-Hispanics on enforcement.

"The federal government is not doing its job," the 63-year-old retired real estate agent said. "Taxpayers are fed up to their eyeballs with the tab to support illegal immigrants."


Reflects reality
Nestor Rodriguez, director of the Center for Immigration Research at the University of Houston, said the study "reflects a demographic reality."

In many Hispanic and Asian communities, he said, there is often a strong sociological link between the legal and illegal populations, since they are more likely to have a relative or a friend in the country illegally.

"They're very sensitive to immigrant issues — raids, border enforcement, driver's licenses — more so than the non-immigrant general population," he said.

Despite the negative feelings on some issues, more than 70 percent of Hispanics positively assessed their overall quality of life, and an even greater percentage predicted Hispanic children will have greater opportunities in the future.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/hea ... 77950.html