Monday, August 15, 2005
Editorial: Turning immigrants into Virginians
Their presence benefits the economy. Their assimilation would benefit the republic.
From the RoundTable blog
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Virginia is still far from the "majority minority" demographics created in California by the flood of Mexican immigrants. But with 8 percent of the commonwealth now foreign-born, and 2 million members of minority groups among its 7.5 million residents, it has plenty of reason to respond to an important problem associated with immigration.
Politicians exploiting an easy target for votes suggest the key issue is parasitism: Foreigners supposedly take jobs from natives and raise social service costs. For Virginia, however, the key issue is that immigrants become Virginians -- assimilated into the broader community, fluent in English, respectful of their new society's institutions and committed participants in the political system.
The General Assembly's Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission reported in 2004 that foreign immigrants were an economic boon that more than offset their costs. Hispanic workers are crucial to tourism and other service industries and to agriculture. Foreigners in general provide a key source of high-tech talent.
Economists also typically agree on the net benefit, citing the boost immigrants give the aging U.S. labor force, the taxes they funnel into Social Security and Medicare, their purchasing power and the revitalization that often accompanies their move into declining urban areas.
Oh, and then there's the 3.5 million U.S. jobs created by Asian- and Hispanic-owned businesses.
Virginia and the United States need immigrants. But for the sake of national unity, a healthy democracy and community harmony, the nation also needs to draw them into the mainstream. Previous waves of Italian, German, Irish and other newcomers emerged, with official encouragement, to become full-blown Americans. This wave should, too -- also with official encouragement.
JLARC offered practical recommendations: better outreach to immigrants, language services (for 11 percent of Virginians, English is not their primary language), better access to necessities such as health care. These are important, but they should accompany a broader educational effort to transform Mexicans, Haitians, Indians, Pakistanis and Salvadorans into self-identified, participating Americans whose stake in the nation reaches into their hearts as well as their wallets.
