Immigration study ties strains on communities to reform gridlock
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BY ART HOVEY / Lincoln Journal Star
The continuing failure of the federal government to adopt immigration reforms has left communities struggling with stopgap solutions to problems associated with rising immigrant populations.
That’s one of the major conclusions of a study from the New York-based Century Foundation that focuses on Nebraska and four other “emerging gateway states” favored by immigrants.
Lourdes Gouveia, director of Latino/Latin American Studies at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, joined Katherine Fennelly of the University of Minnesota and Mark Grey of the University of Northern Iowa Tuesday to elaborate on findings expected to be released in book form by Friday.
* Gouveia said her research on the strains on immigrant families and on the places where they live in Nebraska underscores “the distance between economic reality and a very broken immigration system.”
* More research also confirms a conflict in which the state’s native-born residents are aging, most growth in Nebraska’s population is among Latinos, and worries abound about having enough workers to support economic growth.
* Meanwhile, said Gouveia, the dialogue on immigration issues in the state is taking on increasingly racial overtones.
* And people don’t forget what they’ve heard from politicians after elections are over.
“Who we are hurting with all this is our own kids,” she said, “and we’re hurting a state that clearly needs this generation to be up and ready” to take its place in communities and in the workplace.
Also a professor of sociology at UNO, Gouveia wrote one of the chapters for “Immigration’s New Frontiers: Experiences from the Emerging Gateway States.”
Co-authors Grey, a professor of anthropology, and Fennelly, a professor of public affairs, highlighted similar research results in their states. The study also looks at immigration patterns in Georgia and North Carolina through the eyes of other contributors.
In the absence of immigration reform, said Fennelly, Minnesota has been trying to cope with cuts in social services, including adult education. “That’s ironic at a time when there’s such a cry for immigrants to learn English,” she said.
In the absence of immigration reform, said Grey, highly skilled workers in India, for example, perceive Iowa as an unfriendly environment.
And so, at a time when “a number of large corporations are absolutely desperate for highly skilled workers,” one of Iowa’s largest financial services businesses is moving major parts of its operations to India.
Gouveia, Grey and Fennelly all called attention to a pattern of the last decade in which thousands of immigrants from Mexico and Central America are fleeing poverty and coming to the Midwest to take low-paying jobs in meatpacking and other labor-intensive industries.
Nebraska’s foreign-born population, for example, grew the fastest of 10 Midwestern states between 1990 and 2000. Percentage growth in that same category from 2000-2005 was the eighth highest of any state in the United States.
The Century Foundation study emerges in the wake of congressional gridlock in which Nebraska’s Chuck Hagel and others in the Senate have called for a pathway to citizenship for immigrants who crossed the border illegally. The House has taken a more punitive stance.
Some see reform as more likely now, with Democrats in control of the House and Senate and President Bush continuing to favor changes that will meet employment needs as he reaches the mid-point of his second term.
“If there’s going to be legislation,” Gouveia said during a conference call with more than 20 news reporters, “it will happen in the early part of 2007. The closer we get to the next presidential election, the lower the probability of major reform.”
Gouveia gathered much of her research by interviewing professionals in such areas as employment, health and housing and by sifting through government, media and academic archives.
Her efforts “to take stock in a very systematic way” included a comprehensive look at actions of the Nebraska Legislature in the area of immigration policy.
“I was surprised to the extent that everyone, almost everyone I interviewed — no matter at what level, public service or in what field — agreed that the state had essentially acted out of neglect at the top level. I was surprised at the level of consensus.”
Neglect means “a real lack of consistent effort and contradictory signals” in decisions by state lawmakers.
Gouveia said her interviewing turned up no praise for the leadership of Gov. Dave Heineman in the area of immigration policy.
She quoted one “particularly knowledgeable” respondent to her survey questions this way: “This governor has done nothing except willfully seek out political gain by beating up on new immigrants.”
Aaron Sanderford, spokesman for Heineman, responded: “The governor takes his positions based on the laws of the land and what policies he believes are in the best interest of the people of Nebraska.”
“The professor has every right to disagree.”
Gouveia said she’s especially concerned about what will happen to second-generation immigrants in the state, many of whom want to go to college.
“You interview at the college level and only those who really have support from parent finances or access to scholarships and so forth are showing up at college.”
Still, she cited “all kinds of favorable conditions” for positive change, including good schools, plenty of jobs, at least at the entry level, and the absence of long-term immigration conflict that has plagued states along the Mexican border.
Grey sees similar pluses in Iowa.
“I think, in general, we’re turning a corner toward making this work,” he said, “and I remain deeply optimistic about it.”
Reach Art Hovey at (402) 523-4949 or ahovey@alltel.net.
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