Three pieces about immigration | Bytes in the Margin

Posted by Oscar on Thursday, Jun. 9, 2011 @10:59am

Three links today examine how the issue of immigration will affect politics in the US in the coming years. This country has to decide how, not if, to integrate immigrants into the political sphere. Republican's opposition to reform and generally anti-immigrant talking points are a short-sighted strategy which can only alienate most immigrants.

Joshua Green on Boston.com writes about The issue Washington ignores, but voters don't. While the growth of the immigrant population is fueled by legal immigration, most opponents believe the causes are illegal immigration and higher birth rates among immigrants. Not surprisingly, he observes that poor economic prospects are the primary cause of the division between natives (for lack of a better term) and immigrants.

And yet Americans are troubled by the growing number of minorities. For many Americans, the old division between blacks and whites has been replaced by a new division between native-born citizens and immigrants. This is most apparent in the stark difference in economic outlook between whites and minorities (particularly Asians and Hispanics). Whites are far more pessimistic about their prospects and their children?s prospects ? and many mistakenly believe that illegal immigrants are the primary culprit.

At the Atlantic Wire, Adam Martin speculates that the Obama administration may be trying to get in front of the issue ahead of 2012.?The Fortunate Timing of an Immigration Fraud Crackdown - National - The Atlantic Wire

These are the kinds of scams that target immigrants, legal and illegal, every day. And this is what the federal government says it wants to combat with a?new crackdown?on immigration scams. According to?The New York Times, immigration authorities, federal and state prosecutors, the Federal Trade Commission, lawyers' groups, and advocate groups are cooperating on a major new push to protect immigrants from those who would prey on?

Finally, California is set to pass its own DREM acts, which lets children who came to the US illegally pay in state tuition. Republicans in the state are cloaking their opposition to this legislation on budgetary terms, saying the state can't afford it. On May 5, the state Assembly approved AB 130, the other half of the California DREAM Act, which allows undocumented students access to scholarships offered by the UC and CSU system from their own reserves. However, AB 131, which would allow undocumented students to access state financial aid and cal grants and would have an estimated impact of $32.5 million on state coffers, has been on hold for nearly two months.

On May 5, the state Assembly approved AB 130, the other half of the California DREAM Act, which allows undocumented students access to scholarships offered by the UC and CSU system from their own reserves. However, AB 131, which would allow undocumented students to access state financial aid and cal grants and would have an estimated impact of $32.5 million on state coffers, has been on hold for nearly two months.

Source: http://oscarm.org/2011/6/three-pieces-about-immigration

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