Editorial: Americans to be

Hispanics comprise 6 percent of Virginia's population -- not a huge percentage, as the nation goes, but enough to stir fears.

Virginia's Hispanic population tripled from 1990 to 2006. A newly published demographic snapshot of this wave of immigrants offers a reassuring picture to those who see in the numbers a threat to American culture.

A study by the University of Virginia's Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service finds that about 60 percent of Hispanics living in the commonwealth are U.S. citizens; in fact, almost half -- 47 percent -- are native born. And the adult citizens are better educated and have higher household incomes than the state's population overall.

This is the classic picture of the American immigrant experience.

And success, Michel Zajur, president and CEO of the Virginia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce tells The Washington Post, is rooted in values that sound like those old-fashioned American values that so many cultural critics bemoan as lacking in society today: a strong work ethic and "family values."

The other side of this story is the 40 percent of the Hispanic population who are noncitizen immigrants. They generally are poorer, less educated and more likely to lack health insurance. What proportion of these entered the country illegally is unknown. The study analyzed U.S. Census Bureau data, and the bureau didn't ask the question.

But the analysis revealed that 69 percent of Hispanic immigrants do not speak English or do not speak it well, and 57 percent had no health insurance, compared to 27 percent of Hispanic citizens and 14 percent of all Virginians.

And people who identified themselves as Hispanic -- citizens and immigrants -- were more likely than the general population to use some social programs: job training, federal nutrition programs, rent subsidies, and free and reduced-price school lunches.

They also were less likely to use others, such as public housing and food stamps. Still, the impression that new Americans and immigrants are more likely than the overall population to use some taxpayer-supported services is not mere prejudice.

Rick Hendershot, chairman of the Prince William County-Greater Manassas Chamber of Commerce, acknowledged to The Post, "The legal Hispanic community contributes." Illegal immigrants, though, he contended, strain education and health care resources.

Illegal immigrants are barred from enrolling in Medicaid, but not from public schools. Hispanic families, who do have more than the average number of children, undoubtedly have an impact on the schools.

But the 40 percent of Virginia's Hispanic population who are not citizens -- the ones who, as a group, are poorer, less educated -- fit the classic American immigration narrative, as well.

Many of them are, as the Hispanic Chamber's Zajur said, the "new Americans of tomorrow." Expect the Americans of tomorrow to be much like the Americans of today.
http://www.roanoke.com/editorials/wb/152854