Thread: N.J.: Immigration a challenge to Mercer

Immigration a challenge to Mercer
Forum cites education needs
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
BY CARMEN CUSIDO
TRENTON -- Using yesterday's stifling heat as a metaphor, Princeton University sociology and public affairs professor Paul Starr said immigration is a "hot issue" to introduce a report funded by his Lawrence-based Sandra Starr Foundation that examines the surge of immigration in Mercer County.

The New Jersey Policy Perspective report -- discussed by a panel yesterday -- concludes that there is a need for more comprehensive English language instruction, such as ESL or bilingual classes in Mercer schools, whose students speak almost 90 languages.

The study said nearly 30 percent of the foreign-born residents of Mercer are in the country illegally. It said they are far less likely to have access to health care and are often afraid to seek help from police when they are victimized by criminals. But the report also indicates most municipalities within the county have welcoming attitudes toward immigrants, and that immigrants make a valuable contribution to the local economy.

"This was a fact-finding report; it was meant to provide information to policy-makers at the local, county and state levels," said Starr.

Following an overview of the report yesterday, a panel of four immigration experts and advocates discussed offering in-state tuition for undocumented students, access to health care for undocumented immigrants and language education, as 55 people in the audience at Thomas Edison State College listened.

The report cites Hightstown, Trenton and Princeton Township as areas within Mercer that have been "especially welcoming" to undocumented and legal immigrants because of outreach programs and cooperation from local authorities. Even so, attitudes toward undocumented residents are becoming increasingly harsh, panelists said.

"What I have seen since 1996, in part exacerbated post-September 11, is the rapid criminalization of immigrants," said panelist Patricia Fernandez-Kelly, a sociology professor at Princeton University.

Emphasizing education and the need for immigrant children to pay in-state tuition fees, Fernandez-Kelly said foreign-born children who grow up in the United States "cannot get a good education or find jobs because they are -- as (TV and radio commentator) Lou Dobbs sensitively puts it -- illegal."

Princeton immigration lawyer Ryan Stark Lilienthal said there are conflicting views about immigration -- with some viewing the increase of undocumented immigrants as a "crisis" and others viewing them as essential to the economy.

"I hope that we think more about what we want for our communities and less on the rhetoric about an immigrant's status in the United States," he said.

"The federal government's failure to enact comprehensive legislation is placing an enormous burden on states and municipalities. In absence of that, we have ad hoc legislating that is done town by town, county by county, state by state. It opens the door for those who view immigrants as criminals, for those who miss the big picture about where our community should be heading, but are so focused about who's breaking the rules," Lilienthal said.

Among the report's findings, almost 20 percent of county residents were born outside the United States, and as many as 29 percent of the county's 71,000 immigrants are estimated to live in the country illegally.

New Jersey Policy Perspective's report paints a picture of a wider scope of nationalities, occupations and income levels than the stereotypes that often abound, said Jon Shure, executive director of the Trenton-based think tank.

www.nj.com

"The federal government's failure to enforce immigration laws is placing an enormous burden on states and municipalities. In absence of that, we have ad hoc legislating that is done town by town, county by county, state by state. It opens the door for those who view illegal aliens as victims, for those who miss the big picture about where our community should be heading, but are so focused on ignoring who's breaking the laws," Lilienthal said.

I thought I'd change the wording to reflect what it should be.

The study said nearly 30 percent of the foreign-born residents of Mercer are in the country illegally. It said they are far less likely to have access to health care and are often afraid to seek help from police when they are victimized by criminals. But the report also indicates most municipalities within the county have welcoming attitudes toward immigrants, and that immigrants make a valuable contribution to the local economy.

Ok, first off, illegal invaders are not "immigrants!" They are criminals who do not deserve any special considerations whatsoever!

No wonder Mercer finds this issue to be so "challenging!" They cannot even make the distinction between legal and illegal.

I would bet that enforcing the law and not pandering to the illegals would go along way in simplifying this issue. Your desire to create a utopia that is inclusive to "illegals" is what's creating the so called "challenge."