Thread: The immigrant next door

The Florida Times-Union

March 25, 2007

The immigrant next door




By DAVID HUNT
The Times-Union

From the dismissive looks he got working in a Georgia convenience store to the respect he's earned building a hotel empire in Jacksonville, Sonny Bhikha has seen the good and the bad of a foreigner's career path in the United States.


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Naturalized, clear English skills, white collar - the 39-year-old Zambia, Africa, native isn't the typical face in the immigration debate. But such success stories are representative of a melting pot some experts think deserves closer attention, especially in growing Northeast Florida.

While the region saw its overall population rise 11 percent in the first half of the decade, the foreign-born population, legal and illegal, grew by 42 percent, according to a Times-Union analysis of U.S. Census figures. On the other side of the state line, a similar situation is shaping up with Georgia seeing a 38 percent increase in its number of foreign-born compared to an 8 percent increase in the overall population.

Of the 7 million people added to the U.S. population between 2000 and 2005, 4.5 million were born elsewhere. They come from all over the world. Some are wealthy. Some are poor. Some educated. Some not.

While some say the foreign-born population will recharge a workforce shrinking because of the aging of the baby boomer generation, others are wary that more foreign-born workers could mean fewer jobs - from minimum wage to white collar - for native-born citizens.

Paul Fadil, an international business professor at the University of North Florida, said he sees a great transformation coming to the region's work force during the next 20 to 25 years.

By sheer numbers, immigrants, often coming to America with a strong work ethic and fresh viewpoints, will persevere more and more in professional positions in the First Coast. Fadil, an immigrant himself who arrived from Jamaica in the 1970s, said now is the time for employers to launch integration strategies and for workers to prepare for change.

The trick will be keeping cultural differences from snowballing into social tensions among employees. Fadil said this isn't just important for the workplace itself, but to service a growing number of immigrants in the customer base.


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Quality Inn Oceanfront manager Sonny Bhikha stays busy with the daily operations of his hotel in Jacksonville Beach. Bhikha emigrated from Africa in the early 1980s. --------------------------------------------------

"With diversity over the short-run, there are a tremendous amount of issues that need to be overcome to get people to work together," he said. "But you have tremendous benefits if you can get over that in the long run. ... When you bring a bunch of people together, there's always the possibility of an explosion."


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Changing workforce

Ashley Flannery, a staffing manager at Vision HR in Daytona Beach, said she expects more prominent numbers of naturalized immigrants to begin surfacing in the applicant pool for the middle- and upper-salaried jobs she fills.

She'll be evaluating them just like any other hire, she said, adding that native workers might want to start thinking about learning second languages if they want an edge.

"Be prepared. Absolutely. Be prepared," Flannery said.

By 2050, the nation's workforce will be 65 percent foreign-born, according to a study released by the Americans for Immigration Control, an activist group based in Virginia, its membership made up of a quarter-million people. In 2005, the number was 15 percent, according to the study, which is based on Census estimates.

The group states on its Web site it wants to deport all illegal immigrants and opposes any amnesty or guest worker program legislation.

John Vinson, editor of the group's newsletter, said his organization does not stand against immigration but advocates stricter controls. Wage reduction and unemployment for American-born workers are two of the greater concerns.

"By the law of supply and demand, the more workers you have the lower the wages are going to go," he said. "If you keep the gates wide open, the people coming here are going to be in situations just as bad as the ones they were trying to leave."

Jacksonville attorney Stephen H. Davis doesn't agree. For 30 years, he's specialized in helping immigrants gain and maintain their citizenship and employment. He said his clientele is made up of 175 nationalities.

One problem in Davis' eyes is a work visa program controlled by politicians instead of marketplace needs. Qualified workers are waiting at least four years to be approved for jobs that Davis said are often tough to fill with native workers, giving the personal care field as an example.

A control mechanism, yes, but one that Davis said backfires, inspiring foreigners to sneak into the country looking for work.

"You got all these hoops and hurdles people have to go through," he said. "The system needs to be fixed."


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Doug Applewhite, vice president of Internet strategy for Jacksonville-based Interchanges.com, is originally from Venezuela. BRUCE LIPSKY/The Times-Union --------------------------------------------------

Sonny's story

Bhikha, one of five children in a middle-class family, left Zambia at 9 years old. His parents scraped together the money, pushing the importance of a good education their children likely wouldn't receive in their impoverished homeland. He enrolled in high school in Georgia at 15 after studying in India and England.

At the University of Georgia, he earned a degree in chemistry, a field he said he's passionate about even though he ultimately decided to go into business with his brother Bobby. He said they own four hotels by the Beaches and the airport. They also own four convenience stores.


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"I'm definitely glad I'm here. I've made this my home," Bhikha said.

According to information published by the Central Intelligence Agency, Zambia has made gains, but poverty remains a problem. Further, 16.5 percent of the adult population is infected with HIV and 85 of every 1,000 infants die at birth.

For those who do survive, life expectancy is just a hair longer than 40 years, compared to 78 in the United States.

Bhikha became a U.S. citizen 15 years ago. He's married with two American-born children who he's happy to keep close during their school years.

"It wasn't clear when I was younger the sacrifice that my parents were making," he said. "If I was there right now, I would be doing the same thing. I don't like that."

Open market

More than 500 economists, including Nobel laureates, released an open letter to President Bush and Congress last June stressing several points the group said are often obscured by "misguided commentary" about immigration. It's published on the Web site of The Independent Institute, an Oakland, Calif., think tank.

The letter, backed up by a handful of research papers, said immigrants do not take jobs away from native workers as long as the U.S. labor market remains free and open. It also said immigration has provided a net gain for the U.S. economy, with a spotlight on lower consumer prices.

But cheaper prices often come at the expense of human dignity, said Ana Avendano, assistant general counsel for the AFL-CIO national union headquarters in the nation's capital. She said immigration practices in the workplace are creating a second class of citizens paid lower wages under a looming threat of deportation.

Avendano said high-tech firms have cashed in using guest worker laws to fill full-time positions for a temp's salary with no benefits. Aside from dehumanizing foreign workers, she said this is lowering salaries throughout the industry.

"It's not happening by accident. It's a well-planned transformation of the workplace," she said. "It used to be that computer programmers had not just good salaries, but stock options and good benefits."

She said the union is pushing for English classes in foreign worker contracts to better ensure the workers understand their rights.


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BY THE NUMBERS Duval County's immigrant population on rise

From 2000 to 2005, the number of foreign-born residents in Duval County showed gains:

35% Foreign-born residents
Legal or illegal, their ranks have increased from 45,651 to 61,600

36% Foreign-born become citizens
Foreign-born residents who became naturalized citizens rose from 21,813 to 29,589

Their homeland

The top 10 countries where foreign-born Duval County residents are from:

1. Philippines 10,179 2. Cuba 3,301 3. Germany 2,272 4. Mexico 1,874 5. India 1,861 6. Russia 1,614 7. China 1,607 8 Colombia 1,517 9. Canada 1,337 10. Jamaica 1,284 ONLINE Still curious?

Find out about immigrating to the U.S. at www.uscis.gov

For information about the number of people coming into the U.S. at www.dhs.gov/ximgtn/statistics/ --------------------------------------------------

Getting control

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, at least 84 laws pertaining to immigration were enacted among 32 states in 2006. That's more than twice the number of new laws on the subject recorded the previous year.

Two of the laws were passed in Florida, cracking down on human trafficking and tightening the documentation requirements for immigrants to obtain drivers' licenses. Georgia passed two laws as well, but also adopted a resolution paying tribute to immigration's value throughout the state.

Florida, according to Census numbers generated in 2005, is home to 3.2 million foreign-born people, four times the 795,000 living throughout Georgia.

The number also has Florida ranking fourth in the nation, behind California, Texas and New York.

Of Florida's immigrant population, more than 1.7 million are not naturalized citizens. Jacksonville is considered a target for immigration much for the same reason that draws people to relocate from other states: Jobs, climate and a low cost of living.

At scattered counties throughout Georgia, the population has shifted in different ways. Chatham County, home to Savannah, between 2000 and 2005 dropped by 4,133 people while gaining 1,400 immigrants. Glynn County in the southeast gained 536 immigrants among an overall boost of 2,805 people. Lowndes County, home to Valdosta, shrunk by 2,391 people, but its immigrant population grew by 586.

Job market

"The bulk of our employees have been Hispanic for the last 15 years. I wouldn't say it has changed much," said J.R. Newbold, president of Timco Inc., a farm in Putnam County. "It's always an issue of legal status. We have to do our due diligence."

He's right, especially these days.

While the 2005 Census snapshot recorded 3,597 foreign-born people among the county's 72,148 residents, only 478 of them are naturalized citizens. That's a drop from the 986 naturalized residents recorded in 2000, when the total number of foreign born was 2,371.

Opinions vary on immigration's workforce impact. Some point to the U.S. housing boom in recent years, theorizing more readily available, cheaper labor made it possible.

Davis, the Jacksonville immigration attorney, said helping illegal workers become legal would boost income tax revenues.

A 2004 report released by the Center for Immigration Studies, a nonprofit, non-partisan research group in Washington, D.C., throws some raw numbers into the debate.

The report said that, from 2000 to 2004, the number of employed adult U.S. natives decreased by 2.3 million while the number of employed adult immigrants increased by the same amount.

Half of those immigrants were expected to be in the country illegally, the report said.

"This is national suicide. We're importing poverty," said Glenn Spencer, leader of the Arizona-based watchdog group American Border Patrol.

He's one of the most outspoken immigration opponents nationwide, with a concentrated effort to keep illegals from stowing across the border.

"We're exporting our jobs," he said. "Where does this leave us?"

Success path

Paul Mason, chair of University of North Florida's economics and geography department, said naturalized immigrants tend to shoot low in the job market before gaining a few years of experience and finding something better.

"Maybe their language skills aren't up to par, but they're physicians and high-skilled people," he said.

The issue is nothing new, Mason said, discussing immigration patterns that built the country over more than 200 years and the prejudice that followed.

While the flow of immigration may inspire some employers to pay less, Mason said that is not necessarily race-driven.

"Employers pay the lowest wage they can get away with," he said. "That's never going to change."

In Jacksonville, the number of foreign-born people took a 35 percent jump, to 61,600, in the first half of the decade. In Clay County, the increase was 37 percent. St. Johns County saw a 60 percent gain.

Within that statistic is Doug Applewhite, 30, a Venezuelan naturalized at 18 with his sights set on being as successful as possible, a path that began with stints as a bus boy, valet and bartender while also serving in the U.S. military. He moved to St. Augustine in mid-2001 while studying at Flagler College and working a corporate aviation job.

Two years ago, he became vice president of Internet strategy for Jacksonville-based Interchanges.com.

"Obviously, nothing came easy, but nothing worth having comes without hard work," he said.

david.hunt@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4025


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Audrey SingerImmigration Fellow in the Metropolitan Policy Program of The Brookings Institution, Washington, D.C. --------------------------------------------------


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Katherine Fennelly Immigration and public policy professor, Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota. --------------------------------------------------

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

Immigration: What the experts say

Two scholars weigh in on America's changing workforce

Q: What effects do you think immigration will have in the United States over the next 50 years?

Singer: With the trends we're seeing now, I think the population will continue to change. The next generation, the next two generations are going to look very different, not just racially but culturally. One issue is intermarriages going up. More and more children who are non-white. Demographics are a key way to look at it because it's one of the things we're not really looking at.

Fennelly: As a demographer I know that the No. 1 issue facing the United States over the next 50 years is our aging population. Immigrants bring a much-needed younger workforce and young families to maintain the economy and to keep our schools from consolidating or closing.

Q: One figure we're examining in the story comes from Americans for Immigration Control. Using Census materials, the Virginia-based group projects the American workforce will be 65 percent foreign-born by the year 2050. In your opinion, how likely is this and what implications would this have for the nation?

Singer: I don't know about the math there. Maybe it includes the children of immigrants as well. Maybe, without commenting on that number, I think the trend they're pointing out is that population compares to the aging of the native population. Baby boomers are starting to age out. They're starting to retire. That's going to have an impact. That rate assumes immigration will continue. We don't know whether that will continue or not. In 20 years, if immigration didn't continue, our labor force may not grow at all.

Fennelly: The reason for projections of high percentages of foreign-born workers are again the result of the aging of the general populace in the U.S. Without these new workers our economy would suffer greatly. The terms "foreign-born" or "immigrant" encompass an enormous diversity of individuals. This diversity is what has made the United States strong, and will continue to do so in the next century.

Q: Why is immigration good for the U.S.?

Singer: This is a nation of immigrants. It's part of our identity. It's part of our ideology to a certain extent, part of our mythology even. You could be from any number of countries and still be American.

Fennelly: We live in a globalized world where the flow of ideas and commerce do not stop at our borders. The U.S. has enormous influence in other regions and has benefited from the energy, ideas and creativity of immigrants since the foundation of the country.

Q: Why is immigration bad for the U.S.?

Singer: On the downside, we don't have the tensions. Are we controlling borders? Do we know who's coming into this country and do we have control of who's coming into this country? There are high-skilled immigrants. There are low-skilled workers also contributing. I think change is hard, but human beings are incredibly adaptable.

Fennelly: Immigration is only "bad for the United States" if we continue to have federal policies that fail to protect or integrate foreign-born residents. If we live up to the promise of the United States as a welcoming country with a foundation of human rights, and institute laws that recognize the rights of immigrants, then immigration can only be positive. As part of a reform of federal policies we need to create a path to legal permanent residency and citizenship for the millions of individuals who are living and working in the U.S. and supporting crucial industries. Once these reforms are in place we will be in a position to more effectively admit needed workers, scientists, students, visitors and refugees, while screening out individuals who have illegitimate motives for entry.




This story can be found on Jacksonville.com at http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/s ... 2170.shtml.




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I couldn't even finish that screed, I got about half way through

Ditto, first three lines in and I got off. SO tired of hearing about diversity, blah, blah, blah, WHITE NOISE

Of the 7 million people added to the U.S. population between 2000 and 2005, 4.5 million were born elsewhere. They come from all over the world. Some are wealthy. Some are poor. Some educated. Some not.

I stopped there---should have read;

4.5 million were Illegals. They come to take what's ours. Most are poor, most are dropouts. The wealthy and educated know better---they are staying away!