USA Green Card Immigration Blog

Latino Immigration to the U.S. Could End This Year – Shannon K. O’Neil – International – The Atlantic.

Looking ahead to the new year ahead of us, these next two weeks I want to look at important developments affecting Latin America that are worth keeping a close eye on in 2012. The first is the changing nature of immigration.

The flow of immigrants from Latin America to the United States, a constant and often accelerating trend of the last three decades, slowed in 2011. The most prominent was the change from Mexico. New arrivals fell off a cliff, with apprehensions at the border hitting their lowest levels in seventeen years. The drop is so great that Doug Massey, head of the Mexican Migration Project (a long term survey of Mexican emigration at Princeton University), claims that for the first time in sixty years, Mexican migration to the United States has hit a net zero.

Though Mexico is the single largest source of migrants to the United States, providing roughly a third of all newcomers, they weren’t the only change. Anecdotal evidence at least suggests that many Brazilian migrants – which once numbered around one million – started heading home as well. Unemployment fell to all time lows, and numerous articles pointed out the labor scarcities both for high and low skilled workers.

There are many reasons behind these trends, some general, some country specific. Many point to the Obama administration’s rather tough immigration policy as one reason for the decline. A record-breaking 400,000 immigrants were deported last year, and immigration prosecutions increased almost eighty percent along the U.S-Mexico border in the last four years. For Mexico, others speculate that the rise of organized crime and violence along the border may deter some from contemplating the journey (though studies, such as that done by Jezmin Fuentes et al., suggest this may be less of a deterrent than many claim).

An important factor is the weak U.S. economy. With unemployment rates hovering at just over eight percent, there are fewer jobs for natives and migrants alike. This has occurred at a time when many of their home countries are growing steadily – at a decent 4 percent regional average clip, and much more in particular countries and economic strongholds. Better job opportunities in the region broadly — but particularly in Brazil — encouraged many to return home, and kept others from leaving at all.

Looking ahead, a U.S. economic recovery would recreate the pull north for Latin Americans seeking to improve their lot. If the Chinese economy stumbles this too could slow returns, or push more migrants north (especially from Brazil, which counts China as its largest trading partner). Meanwhile, flows from Central America are likely to continue as long as economic opportunities there remain scarce. The real question is Mexico. There, demographics have already shifted, with fewer Mexicans coming of age and entering the work force each year. As a result, the Mexican immigration boom of the 1990s and early 2000s is unlikely to be repeated ever again.

Illegal immigration down sharply; immigration hysteria up sharply

Arizona immigration law heads to court, with $1.2 million war chest – CSMonitor.com.

First of seven lawsuits against tough Arizona immigration law is heard Thursday in federal court in Phoenix. Money from private donors across the US has flowed into a defense fund for the statute.

By Lourdes Medrano, Contributor / July 15, 2010

Tucson, Ariz.

As Arizona heads to court Thursday to defend its tough new immigration law in the first of several legal challenges, it has the backing of many Americans who have opened their wallets to show support for the border state.

Contributions to Gov. Jan Brewer’s special legal defense fund now top $1 million, mostly in website donations of less than $100 pouring in from all over the country. Arizona, California, Texas, and Florida are the states with the most online donors.

As of Tuesday, website contributions totaled $1,104934.63 from 23,955 donors, according to the governor’s office. Additional mail-in donations totaled $93,084, with contributions still coming in, says Tasya Peterson, a Brewer spokeswoman. The average donation is about $46.

The Republican governor set up the fund by executive order in late May to help the state defend its right to enforce the law, which requires local and state authorities to determine the status of suspects they believe to be in the country illegally. The law, which the governor signed in April, has spawned economic boycotts and seven lawsuits – including one by the US Department of Justice filed July 6 – that seek to stop law, known locally as Senate Bill 1070, from going into effect July 29.

The financial contributions surged after the Obama administration its suit, reflecting opinion polls that show strong support for Arizona. In a Christian Science Monitor/TIPP poll released Monday, 51 percent of Americans favor the state’s immigration law. Thirty four percent support the federal government’s case against the state.

Phoenix resident Carlie Murphy, a retiree who has lived in Arizona for five years, says she contributed $20 because the state is trying to address what the federal government has neglected. “Our federal government has not fulfilled its responsibility for a long, long time when it comes to illegal immigration.”

Jeanne Kurucz and her husband, Andrew, of Garden Grove, Calif., donated $25 because they don’t think the federal government should be suing Arizona. “We stand behind Jan Brewer and we think that the government should close the borders,” Ms. Kurucz says.

Brewer and her backers say Arizona had to act because the federal government has failed to secure the border, but critics say the law will encourage racial profiling and is unconstitutional because enforcing immigration laws is a federal duty, not a state responsibility.

It is difficult to accurately estimate how much legal costs will total, says Paul Senseman, Brewer’s communications director. “It depends on many variables including the outcome of the cases, possible appeals, if new cases are filed, if the federal government continues to sue the state, etc.”

Arizona’s defense rests in the hands of private lawyers. Attorney General Terry Goddard, a Democrat who opposes the law, withdrew from representing the state in court after continuing clashes with Brewer, a Republican. Both are running for governor.

Brewer hired Snell & Wilmer LLC, a corporate law firm based in Phoenix, to defend the state. Chairman John Bouma says attorneys are working long hours on behalf of the state. Adjusted hourly rates for the state’s primary attorneys vary from $225 to $450 per hour, according to the firm’s contract with the state.

Thursday’s lawsuit before US District Judge Susan Bolton was filed by Tucson police officer Martin Escobar. Various organizations, including immigrant-advocacy groups and the ACLU, filed subsequent legal challenges. The Justice Department suit contends that the law interferes with federal authority, and attorneys for both sides will argue that case before Judge Bolton on July 22.

Governor of Texas, Rick Perry issued a statement expressing concern over certain provisions in the Arizona immigration law. According to him, the tough immigration law would not be the right one for Texas. However, he chose to reserve his comment, when questioned if he would veto a similar legislation.

The Arizona law, that authorizes the local and state officers to question any person about their immigration status whom they suspect unlawful, has sparked uproar nationwide questioning its constitutionality. The law also states that if the immigrants do not possess the necessary documents to prove their status it would be registered as a crime of illegal immigration under the Arizona state law. It means that they were liable to serve a jail term of up to six months along with a fine.

Taking all this into account, Perry stated that some features of the Arizona immigration law would allow law enforcement officers to act as immigration officials. He felt that the act could divert the enforcement officers from their existing law enforcement duties necessary to keep the citizens safe, especially in a situation that requires questioning an unauthorized immigrant. Such events could only pose a serious threat to the society.

According to him, guarding the national borders should be a top priority. In his endeavor to keep the border secure, he had even requested for 1,000 National Guard troops to support civilian law enforcement efforts.

The Arizona law has reopened the debate over the US immigration reform. Supporters of the law feel that only such tough laws can assure the safety and security of U.S. citizens, especially when the federal government’s inability to guard the U.S’s border with the Mexico is taken into account. Whereas, critics believe that this law is biased and would only pose people with brown skin as suspects.

In spite of recession, there has been a constant rise in Massachusetts’s immigrant population. The rise in immigrants in this state is in contrast to the national trend, which shows a decrease in foreign-born residents after so many decades.

According to the 2008 American Community Survey conducted by the Census Bureau on 3 million households nationwide, the number of immigrants rose to 937,200 last year from 913,957 the previous year, States such as California, Florida, and Rhode Island on the other hand, have seen a decrease in the immigrant population.

So the increase in the immigrant population in the Bay State, though a modest 2.5%, has bewildered researchers and advocates. In Framingham alone, the rise in immigrants was almost a quarter of the total town’s population, much to the surprise of researchers.

Researchers have put across various theories to explain this trend. The performance of the state’s economy than other states and the exclusion of the departures from Massachusetts by the survey are some of the reasons cited. Some point out that, immigrants in Massachusetts who account for 14 percent of the state’s population are highly educated and are less likely to leave as they have an advantage even if the economy is not faring well.

Moreover, the population of illegal immigrants is also very less when compared to other states. Only one in five Massachusetts immigrants is here illegally. This is well below the national average of one in three.

Other reason for the immigrant influx in Massachusetts is the welcoming environment. For instance, Governor Deval Patrick has ordered a yearlong study on ways to integrate immigrants.

Andrew Sum, director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University is of the opinion that the availability of work was one of the main reasons that immigrants stayed in Massachusetts.