Thread: Survey finds Hispanics split on immigration

Survey finds Hispanics split on immigration

Cubans, Puerto Ricans more likely to think illegal immigration hurts economy

Victor Manuel Ramos | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted July 14, 2006









Cubans and Puerto Ricans are more likely than other Hispanics to think that illegal immigration hurts the economy and are more skeptical that the recent rallies will help the immigrant cause, a national survey released Thursday shows.

Most Puerto Ricans also oppose an increase in the number of immigrants who are admitted to the United States and may even support a reduction.

Overall, however, the findings from the Pew Hispanic Center showed that immigration is an issue on which most Hispanics share some common ground.

"You see Puerto Ricans and Cubans diverge from Mexicans and in some extent from Central and South Americans. . . . But it's not on everything," said Roberto Suro, study co-author and director of the Pew center.

Most U.S. Hispanics agree that they have been energized and united by the debate -- an issue that has divided Congress and mobilized tens of thousands to streets throughout the country. Most favor reform that would combine more border patrol coupled with a legalization program. And many think those issues will drive them to the polls on Election Day.

Pew, a Washington, D.C.-based research center, polled 2,000 Hispanics throughout the country after the months of grass-roots activism that culminated with large rallies in May.

Orlando's immigration march, one of several throughout the state, attracted more than 20,000 people -- bringing Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Colombians and others to the city's downtown in favor of legalization and a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants.

But the majority of Orlando's Hispanics happen to be U.S. citizens from Puerto Rico and are not directly affected by immigration legislation. Similarly, Miami's contingent of Cuban asylum-seekers benefits from legal residence as soon as they arrive on U.S. territory.

Puerto Ricans and Cubans, Florida's two largest Hispanic groups, are more than twice as likely as other Hispanics to think illegal immigrants hurt the economy. Only 28 percent of Puerto Ricans surveyed support an increased flow of immigrants to the United States. Some Hispanics in Orlando reflect the ambivalence that Puerto Ricans expressed in the national survey.

That's the case with Ilia Pacheco, a Buenaventura Lakes resident who moved here from Puerto Rico in 1986. She says she supports immigrants but does not like illegal immigration. She thought the Orlando march was impressive, but instead of joining it, she went to work that day.

"If there were no laws for them to follow, it would be a disaster," said Pacheco, an administrative assistant for an Orlando time-share company. "There are many opportunities here, but immigrants have to learn to come through legal channels."

Emilio Perez, a Puerto Rican business owner and community leader, said he also found it hard to support a march favoring illegal immigration. Puerto Ricans who are U.S. citizens, he said, have to compete with undocumented immigrants for low-wage jobs.

"I see that what happens with Puerto Ricans on this issue is that as Hispanics we feel for our brothers from other countries, but as American citizens we also see that immigrants come and work for less money, and they put pressure on those of us who would do the work legally."

Other findings in the Pew study included that:

Most Hispanics appeared to fault the Republican Party for lack of progress in the immigration debate, but Democrats have not benefited with growing numbers of Hispanic registrants. Hispanics seem dissatisfied with both parties.

Most Hispanics surveyed said discrimination is a problem in their lives. Of the 82 percent who said they experience discrimination, 58 percent think it has become a "major" problem, compared with 44 percent who shared that opinion in a 2002 survey.

"We have discrimination, and this is an issue that is going to be here for a while. You can't resolve anything in one day, or one week," said Juan Rivera, a summer-camp counselor at the Engelwood Neighborhood Center, in a predominantly Hispanic section of east Orlando.

Also, most foreign-born Hispanics think illegal immigrants should be allowed to stay permanently. But only 42 percent of Hispanics born in the U.S. share that opinion.

Tirso Moreno, general coordinator of the Farmworker Association of Florida, which spearheaded the Orlando rally, said the immigration movement has created more alliances than divisions in Central Florida's Hispanic community -- even if it's nearly impossible to get all Hispanic groups to agree on any one thing.

"As much unity as we had, it's never going to be 100 percent," said Moreno, a U.S. citizen who came here from Mexico. "Many Puerto Ricans came to support us. Many other Latinos joined us."

Victor Manuel Ramos can be reached at vramos@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-6186.

Not surprising.

Years ago Puerto Ricans comprised over three quarters-if not more-of the Hispanic population in this city. Now I think it's probably less than half, if that.

Sunset Park is a replica of a small Mexican city nowadays.

Puerto Rico has an illegal immigration problem of its own. There is a large Dominican born population which lives there with and without authoriztion.
For a long time Puerto Rico had a minimum wage lower than the Federal. It was in place there to encourage employment and due to the cost of in their local traditional manner being lower.

When the Puerto Rican wage rate was raised to Federal a lot of people lost their full time jobs and the demand for temps and part time workers went up. Many Puerto Ricans moved up to the States. This event created an opportunity for Dominicans who could increase their own income
by moving in even if they were just part timers, temps and day laborers. The Puerto Ricans who remained have to compete with Dominican illegals.

Originally Posted by Richard

Puerto Rico has an illegal immigration problem of its own. There is a large Dominican born population which lives there with and without authoriztion.
For a long time Puerto Rico had a minimum wage lower than the Federal. It was in place there to encourage employment and due to the cost of in their local traditional manner being lower.

When the Puerto Rican wage rate was raised to Federal a lot of people lost their full time jobs and the demand for temps and part time workers went up. Many Puerto Ricans moved up to the States. This event created an opportunity for Dominicans who could increase their own income
by moving in even if they were just part timers, temps and day laborers. The Puerto Ricans who remained have to compete with Dominican illegals.

Don't forget all of the Cubans fleeing El Hefe's tropical gulag.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/wn_repo ... 5337c.html

P.R. isle haven for Cuban refugees

MONA ISLAND, Puerto Rico - Taking the back door into the U.S., droves of Cubans are crossing some of the world's stormiest seas and clambering onto this rugged speck of an island belonging to Puerto Rico.

Forsaking the heavily patrolled Florida Strait, Cubans are increasingly reaching the U.S. by flying to the Dominican Republic and traveling about 40 miles by boat to Mona Island.

In the 2001 fiscal year, no more than five Cubans landed on Mona, which is just 6.7 square miles. But in the past nine months, 579 have arrived, according to a senior U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent.

Under the general U.S. "wet-foot, dry-foot" policy, Cubans who reach American soil get to stay, while those caught at sea are sent back. A Puerto Rican nature reserve inhabited by a few park rangers and lots of iguanas, Mona Island, like the rest of Puerto Rico, is as much a part of the U.S. as Florida is.

Cubans typically fly to the Dominican Republic on commercial planes, then pay between $1,500 and $2,000 each to be taken by boat to Mona.