Declining Cities Look to Immigrants to Revitalize Economies and Increase University Enrollment

Originally posted at Immigration Impact.  Immigration Impact is a project of the American Immigration Council whose mission is to strengthen America by honoring our immigrant history and shaping how Americans think about and act towards immigration now and in the future.

Declining Cities Look to Immigrants to Revitalize Economies and Increase University Enrollment

In a recent speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg highlighted the vital role immigrants play in stimulating economic growth. Bloomberg called for immigration policies that “spur innovation, increase the number of entrepreneurs who start businesses here, and create jobs for Americans on every rung of the economic ladder.” With U.S. unemployment still hovering around 9%, some declining U.S. cities are also looking to harness the economic and entrepreneurial power of immigrants. Small towns, particularly in America’s rust belt, are contemplating programs that attract immigrant growth in hopes of revitalizing their towns and universities.

Take Dayton, Ohio, which is facing its lowest population level since 1920. State legislators are voting this week on whether to pursue the “Welcome Dayton Plan”—a new campaign designed to encourage immigration and economic growth. The plan includes the expansion of integration services, like interpretation services at city departments, as well as public events geared toward immigrants. Tom Wahlrab of Dayton’s Human Relations Department believes the city should welcome such a campaign.

“I believe the city of Dayton is at a crossroads,” said Wahlrab, according to the Dayton Daily News. “We can either welcome them, help integrate them, help them on the path to citizenship, or we can let old stereotypes and fears and preconceptions hinder our success.”

Ohio isn’t alone. Over a decade ago, Iowa faced a declining population and passed proposals to make Iowa an “immigration enterprise zone.” According to the New York Times, “in recent years, immigrants from Bosnia, Sudan, and especially Mexico have been the only reason Iowa’s population has had any net growth.”

These new immigration initiatives also focus on increasing college and university enrollment. In early 2011, Michigan’s governor organized a program called “Global Michigan,” an effort to target international students and skilled immigrants in response to population decline. And for good reason. Back in 2002, the struggling mill town of Lewiston, Maine saw the influx of roughly 3,500 Somali immigrants—a population who not only opened new businesses and contributed to the local economy and job growth, but increased university enrollment by nearly 16% from 2002 to 2007.

As small towns across America continue to face high unemployment rates, sluggish economies and decreasing populations, campaigns that welcome and integrate immigrants rather than drive them away may result in the new business, job and economic growth these declining cities so desperately need.

Photo by Brandon Florkey.

LINK: http://immigrationimpact.com/2011/10/03/declining-cities-look-to-immigrants-to-revitalize-economies-and-increase-university-enrollment/

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What do Relief, Reform & Respect mean to you?

Originally posted at the Reform Immigration For American Blog

Right now, 1,100 people are deported every day under the Obama administration – an all time high for deportations in the past 10 years.

Each person deported represents a family separated, a community suffering and a dream deferred.

On September 15th people of faith and community leaders will gather in DC to carry with them the stories of these families and of their own communities suffering. That day, they will call for Relief, Reform and Respect.

We deserve RESPECT as human beings.

We demand RELIEF from immoral deportation policies

We are determined to achieve real immigration REFORM for America.

We want to represent YOU in Washington, DC on September 15th. What does Relief, Reform and Respect mean to you? Tell us in the comments.

And then share this with your friends on Facebook and Twitter to see what Relief, Reform and Respect mean to them too.

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Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Intersection of Immigration and Civil Rights

Originally posted at Immigration Impact

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Intersection of Immigration and Civil Rights

By Seth Hoy

Today, we celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a man whose dream of equality and human rights changed the course of history. His legacy will be remembered this week by people of all colors and creeds who still believe in the American dream and who continue to fight for equality, civil rights and the basic human dignity they deserve. Over the weekend, thousands of human rights activists took to the street in Phoenix, Arizona, to march for civil rights and for “long-overdue federal action on immigration.”So how is immigration a civil rights issue? In a recent editorial, Rev. Harvey Clemons Jr., the pastor of Pleasant Hill Baptist Church in Houston, connects Dr. King’s fight for equality with the struggle many immigrants face today.

Immigration is about human dignity and the nobility of parents of different tribes and nations facing the risk of coming to a foreign land, a land of opportunity, to work for a better tomorrow for their children…Dr. King invoked the truth, the truth being that all humans ought to be treated with a certain dignity. It would be natural for us to look to him as an example for fighting for a just cause.

Gerald Lenoir, director of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration, also draws parallels between the struggles of African Americans and the struggles of recent immigrants:

Even some of the migration experiences of African-Americans, coming from the South, leaving conditions of economic injustice and terrorism from both legal authorities and groups like the Ku Klux Klan, we see that same kind of movement in people across borders.

Leaders within the civil rights movement have long been outspoken supporters of immigration reform—especially when it comes to speaking out against broken immigration enforcement policies and racial profiling. Last March, House Judiciary Chair John Conyers, Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox as well as a bevy of civil rights leaders, presented a petition to the Department of Justice and Homeland Security signed by more than 38,000 Arizona residents calling for an investigation of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio—a man whose abuse of power, racial profiling and egregious immigration enforcement tactics have earned him numerous law suits, an FBI investigation and a summons to appear before a Grand Jury. At a press conference introducing the petition, Congressman Conyers called for unity in the fight to end racial profiling.

We think, in a lot of ways, our Hispanics brothers and sisters are becoming the new targets of discrimination and profiling that used to occur to African Americans. We’re saying it together—African Americans, Hispanic Americans and everyone else—no more racial profiling.

Similarly, Rev. Al Sharpton, also an outspoken advocate in the fight to end racial profiling, noted that defending civil rights should be an “everybody issue”:

We need to stop comparing disparities and start finding solutions. It is imperative for the African American community to stand together with the Latino community and for the Latino community to stand with the Asian community. You cannot have human rights for some—we need it for all. We must stand together with all our brothers and sisters against this national outrage.

A recent poll conducted by the Pew Research Center reveals that one year after the election of President Barack Obama, “black optimism about America has surged, while Hispanics have become more skeptical about race relation.” According to the poll, Hispanics are now seen as the ethnic group facing the most discrimination—which is not surprising, as America’s Voice blogger Jackie Mahendra says, given the “racially-charged immigration rhetoric that flows from talk radio to nightly news to the halls of Congress.”

Now, more than ever, it’s important to remember Dr. King’s message that all men are created equal—not just for Hispanics and African Americans, but for all people who come to this country in search of the American Dream.

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New Study reveals the economic benefits of Immigration Reform

On Thursday, the Immigration Policy Center and the Center for American Progress released a groundbreaking report on the economic benefits of Immigration Reform.

According to an article at Immigration Impact, the report contrasts the economic benefits of comprehensive reform with the damage that would be done to the U.S. economy by a “mass deportation” campaign to remove all unauthorized immigrants from the country and effectively “seal the border” to future unauthorized immigration.

The report, Raising the Floor for American Workers, claims that immigration reform will raise the GDP in the United States by over $1.5 trillion over the next 10 years. In contrast, if the federal government were to actually attempt the implementation of a "fanciful, deportation-only scenario", the likely result would be “$2.6 trillion in lost GDP over 10 years, not including the actual cost of deportation,” as well as "widespread job losses throughout the U.S. economy".

The results from the study send a clear message to Congress that in order for the U.S. economy to recover, passage of comprehensive immigration reform legislation needs to be part of the strategy.

To read the full report link here or go to http://tinyurl.com/ydxrjxa

Related News:
CNN: Legalizing unauthorized immigrants would help economy, study says

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