Debating Immigration: Next Steps?
Jul. 18, 2007
Last year, America passed the 300 million mark, and with current immigration and population trends it is anticipated that the 400 million mark will be reached in less than forty years. Future immigration may address such problems as the scarcity of labor, but it will also pose challenges — significant challenges — to the environment, transportation, education, and other government services. Just as importantly, immigration will mean different things to different people. There are many voices and concerns that need to be heard in the immigration debate.
While the Senate earlier this month failed to break a deadlock over immigration reform, the national debate is still very much alive. Debating Immigration, a new book edited by Carol M. Swain, a professor at the Vanderbilt School of Law, looks at immigration issues from the perspectives of philosophy, religion, law, economics, race, and ethnicity. The contributors to her book explore the political and socioeconomic implications of current immigration trends.
On July 18, 2007, PRC and the Center for Immigration Studies cosponsored a panel discussion featuring three of the contributors to Debating Immigration. They identified and examined some of the critical issues in the immigration debate, talked about next steps, and discussed ways of moving the debate forward.
National Press Club, Holeman Lounge
Washington, DC
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
WELCOME: Robert J. Walker, President, Population Resource Center
INTRODUCTION: Mark Krikorian, President, Center for Immigration Studies
PANELISTS:
“Immigration and Race: What is the impact?”
Carol M. Swain, Professor of Political Science and Professor of Law, Vanderbilt University
“Economic and Demographic Impact: The Nation’s Growth, the Nation’s Work”
Steven A. Camarota, Director of Research, Center for Immigration Reform
“Past and Future Debate: The Contours of Reform”
Jonathan Tilove, Reporter, Newhouse News Service
CO-SPONSOR: Center for Immigration Studies
ATTENDEES: (partial list)
• The Reform Institute
• Vanderbilt University
• Accuracy on Media
• Embassy of Ireland
• Boston College News
• University of California Irvine
• Scripps Howard Foundation
• Coalition for Comprehensive Immigration Reform
• Congressional Quarterly
• Cox Newspapers
• Office of Representative Todd Akin (D-MI, 2nd)
• Dallas Morning News
• Hispanic Outlook Magazine
• Polish American Congress
• National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council
BACKGROUND:
Immigration is changing America’s size and demographic profile. In 1900, there were 76 million Americans, including 500,000 Hispanics. Last year, America crossed the 300 million mark, with an estimated 43 million people of Hispanic origin. Hispanics are now the largest minority group in America. While the U.S. fertility rate has declined sharply in recent decades, immigration continues to propel U.S. population growth. U.S. population is expected to cross the 400 million mark in less than 40 years, and if current birth rate and immigration rates remain unchanged, U.S. population could double, exceeding 600 million people, in another 60 to 70 years. And, by 2100, the Bureau of the Census projects that there could be as many as one billion Americans. Illegal immigration is central to the debate over future immigration policy. The Pew Hispanic Center reported that in March of 2006 there were between 11.5 and 12 million unauthorized migrants in the U.S. Against that backdrop, Congress and the nation are debating immigration reforms.
PANEL DISCUSSION:
Carol M. Swain, the editor of Debating Immigration, and two contributors to her book-- Steven A. Camarota, and Jonathan Tilove-- reviewed their contributions to the book and concluded with some policy recommendations and solutions to the immigration conundrum.
In discussing her book, Debating Immigration, Carol Swain talked about the need to look at the immigration debate from a multitude of perspectives. She said her book is organized around several themes: philosophy and religion; law and public policy; economics and demographics, race, and cosmopolitanism. In noting the need for more voices and perspectives in the immigration debate, she said she was frustrated that very few people were talking about race and the impact of immigration on African Americans. She said too many mainstream voices in the immigration debate were not being heard, and that this was creating an opportunity for extremist groups to distort the debate. In talking about next steps, she made several recommendations, including the creation of a bipartisan commission similar to the one that was set up by the Clinton Administration in 1993 and chaired by Barbara Jordan. Such a commission, she said, could put together a package of immigration reforms that would be more effective and more insulated from politics.
As a reporter for Newhouse News Service, Mr. Tilove has written about race and immigration since 1991. In his contribution to Debating Immigration and in his panel presentation, Tilove argued that immigration is “transforming America, especially racially.” He suggested, based upon his travels across America, that a new pattern of “white flight” is emerging, one in which whites are moving out of communities with high concentrations of new immigrants. He noted that his observation has stirred controversy; with many Americans denying that “white flight” is happening or insisting that it is not happening because of rising immigration. He suggested, however, that rising levels of immigration in some communities may be contributing to a “socio-psychological overload.” Many of the people he interviewed were moving “to be with other people like they used to live with.” Tilove warned that there may an inverse relationship between immigration and diversity and social trust and social capital.
Mr. Camarota focused on immigration’s effect on the labor market; especially the impact illegal immigration is having on less educated and younger Americans for whom the unemployment rate is often double the national unemployment rate. Camarota suggested that rising levels of immigration may be forcing these potential workers out of the labor force. He said that there are 23 million adult natives between the ages 18 to 64 who do not have a high school diploma. Their labor force participation rate, he noted, fell from
59 percent to 56 percent between 2000 and 2006. He also pointed out that in 2006 there were about 10 million teenagers, ages 15 to 17, who were either unemployed or not in the labor force. He said their labor force participation rates had declined dramatically in the last six years as well. He dismissed the arguments that new immigrants are filling jobs that native-born Americans are unwilling to fill, noting that native-born Americans continue to comprise a majority of low-wage professions, including jobs like cleaning hotel rooms or working on construction.