Welcome to CSII’s Immigrant Integration Wire

Originally published on October 24, 2016

On the eve of this extremely polarizing presidential election, immigration continues to be a major flashpoint. Donald Trump, the republican nominee, has consistently and erroneously claimed that undocumented immigrants are pouring over the U.S./Mexico border, that immigrants are overwhelmingly criminals, and that the native-born descendants of immigrants are a threat to our democracy. These assertions couldn’t be further from the truth. Undocumented immigration into the U.S., especially from Mexico, is at record lows. Research shows that immigration actually makes communities safer. And the children and grandchildren of immigrants are making social and economic contributions that are essential to the functioning of our nation.

Trump’s claims are easy to debunk with data. But, as I have argued, they pose consequences long after the battle for the presidency ends, regardless of the victor. Immigrants and their children are fashioning their sense of belonging, and navigating their mobility, in a broader social context, spurred by Trump’s incendiary political rhetoric, that incites fear and justifies discrimination and exclusion at multiple levels of society. Anti-immigrant rhetoric also has long-lasting political consequences as it is unifying Latino and Asian American voters against the Republican Party. Finally, Trump’s claims reveal how easy it is for long-standing myths and fears about immigrants and their descendants to persist and flourish, especially in an era of racial resentment and economic anxiety.

What’s the real story about today’s immigrants and their descendants? Who are they? Are they laying down roots and integrating into American society? How is immigration contributing to racial/ethnic demographic change and what do these changes mean socially and economically for communities, cities, regions, states, and the country? How can we work collectively and effectively to implement policies that integrate immigrants, strengthen our democracy, grow equitable economies, and that benefit our shared future?

These questions are germane for several reasons. Most critical is that the United States is rapidly changing due to the growth of Latinos and Asian Americans. U.S. Census demographers predict that by 2044 whites will lose numerical dominance and the U.S. will be a majority-minority country driven by this growth in tandem with an aging and shrinking white population. These transformational racial/ethnic demographic shifts make immigrants and their descendants critical to the present and future of our society. California is at the vanguard of this impending change, as Latinos have already surpassed whites to become the state’s largest ethnic group. Since 2000, six counties in California have become majority-minority, including Orange, San Diego, Riverside and Sacramento.

These racial/ethnic changes are driven by births among a native-born Latino population that is much younger on average than any other racial ethnic group and thus more likely to be in their childbearing years, not by extraordinarily high levels of immigration. In contrast, the Asian American population is growing because of immigration–today’s newest immigrants are more likely to hail from Asia than from Latin America.

Contrary to popular belief, today’s immigrants are rooted to American society. Almost half of immigrants are naturalized citizens, and rates of naturalization are increasing in the wake of Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric. As CSII’s Manuel Pastor, Justin Scoggins, and Magaly Lopez demonstrate in their recent research brief and interactive map, Rock the Naturalized Vote II, which provides estimates of the size of the recently naturalized by race/ethnicity and country of origin, applications to naturalize from March to June 2016 were up 32% compared to the same period last year. Newly naturalized voters are particularly sensitive to polarizing immigration debates, making them pivotal to the presidential election, especially in key battleground states like Nevada, where their share of the voting age population is more than 5%.

Our new blog, Immigrant Integration Wire (IIW), will investigate pressing questions centered on immigrant integration by disseminating cutting-edge research conducted by scholars studying these issues in innovative ways. IIW will also highlight efforts made by our community partners and policy makers to incorporate immigrants and their children into the fabric of our society. Our mission is to provoke thought, provide clarity, correct common misperceptions about immigrants, and inspire action that will result in a more equitable future all.