Thread: Did Arizona Immigration Policies Deprive State of Federal Do

Did Arizona Immigration Policies Deprive State of Federal Dollars?
Dec 29, 2010 – 3:40 PM

Andrea Stone Senior Washington Correspondent
Arizona came out a winner last week when the Census Bureau released 2010 population figures.

Or did it?

The Grand Canyon State will gain a House seat to bring its total to nine when Congress is reapportioned before the 2012 election. But in the competition for billions in federal funding for Medicaid, education, transportation and other services, Arizona may turn out a loser.

In a Huffington Post piece titled "Did Arizona Shoot Itself in the Foot?," political scientist Michael McDonald writes that Arizona may lose as much as $775 million in federal grants per year over the next decade because of what many see as its unwelcoming attitude toward immigrants.
demonstrators supports Arizona's immigration law SB1070
Ross D. Franklin, AP
Judy Schulz, front, and her husband Richard Schulz, left, join hundreds supporting Arizona's new law on illegal immigration in Phoenix this summer.

An expert on redistricting at George Mason University in Virginia, McDonald notes that Census demographers over the past decade projected Arizona's population to be 6,668,079. When the decennial count was conducted April 1, the actual number was 6,392,017. That was 276,062 fewer people than expected.

"This was the largest shortfall of any state in absolute numbers," McDonald writes. "Since Arizona is a mid-sized state, as a percentage of the population this shortfall was nearly twice that of the next nearest state, Georgia." It also was larger than New York, Illinois and Massachusetts.

The Census Bureau won't begin releasing detailed data on ethnicity until February, but McDonald says it is "not unreasonable to surmise" that the shortfall in Arizona is related to its Hispanic population.

"Either Arizona's undocumented population did not want to stick around in the state or they did not think it was wise to fill out a government form -- even if their confidentiality is strictly guarded by the U.S. Census Bureau," he writes.

Demographer Jeff Passell of the Pew Hispanic Center said monthly data from the Current Population Survey used to gauge employment earlier this year showed a decrease in foreign-born population in Arizona "consistent with people moving out." But until more data is released, "all we know is the count."

The economy has walloped other once-booming states such as Nevada and Florida, eliminating thousands of low-skill jobs in construction and tourism that immigrants have traditionally filled. It also has contributed to lower birthrates -- no more so than in Arizona, which had the largest decline in a recent study.

But Arizona may also have produced a perfect political storm to keep its population count down.

In 2007, the state passed a law to penalize employers who hire illegal immigrants. Then, weeks after the 2010 census count began, Gov. Jan Brewer signed the toughest immigration law in the country.

The crackdown spawned calls by some Hispanic groups to boycott the census. Legal and undocumented immigrants alike may have opted not to fill out the form. Others likely ignored census workers who knocked at their door to follow up.

Arizona ranked near the bottom of states in the percentage of residents who mailed back their census form. Just 69 percent of households responded compared to 74 percent nationwide.

Lisa Magana, a professor at Arizona State University's School of Transborder Studies, said she wasn't surprised by the lower response rate. She said Arizona school principals had already noticed a dropoff in enrollment that could be due not only to fewer students but to fears by parents that they will be deported if they send their children to class.

Arizona would still have fallen short of gaining a second congressional seat had the expected population turned up.

The main impact of the shortfall will be in federal funding. According to McDonald's calculations, Arizona will lose federal grants worth $2,708 a person annually.

In a state whose $2.6 billion deficit has prompted it to deny lifesaving organ transplants to the needy and basic health care coverage for low-income children, that's hardly pocket change.

As Jill Lawrence of Politics Daily recently wrote, Arizona may be the new California when it comes to setting national trends, but it also is a loss leader on many measures of economic well-being. One in five residents lacks health insurance. The state ranks near the top on home foreclosures, student loan defaults and "food insecurity" among children.

Arizona officials have suspected for years that their population estimates were inflated because they relied too heavily on inaccurate housing estimates as developers overbuilt for residents who weren't there.

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"During the housing boom, many immigrants were drawn to Arizona for work. So it should be no surprise that when the bubble burst, there was less work to draw people here and also created an incentive for individuals to move elsewhere for work," said Rodolfo Espino, who also teaches at ASU's School of Transborder Studies.

In Arizona, though, more than economics may be at work.

Espino cited a recent poll in which one in three Hispanic registered voters in Arizona said they would consider moving to another state "if they felt police were profiling them" because of the new immigration law.

"It could be the climate of fear that exists within the Latino community and/or it could be the state of the economy," he said. Certainly, he added, there is "a heightened sense of concern and frustration toward Arizona's elected officials."
Filed under: Nation, Politics, Immigration
Tagged: 2010 census, arizona, arizona immigration law, arizona state university, arziona congressional representation, census data, federal funding, gov jan brewer, hispanic immigrants, illegal immigrants, immigration, jan brewer, lisa magana, michael mcdonald, pew hispanic center, rodolfo espino, school of transborder studies
Related Searches: census population for 2010, jan brewer governor arizona, united states census for 2010, hispanic population,

http://www.aolnews.com/2010/12/29/did-a ... al-dollar/

RB this post has the words illegal immigrants in it!

"unwelcoming attitude toward immigrants"

Let me get this right

I have heard NOTHING about Arizona not welcoming LEGAL immigrants

More idiot double speak
Arizona is hostile to ILLEGAL ALIEN FOREIGN NATIONALS ,

Have we got it right now?