Kamala Harris, Daughter of Immigrants, Is the Face of America’s Demographic Shift

New York Times logo

Her parents’ arrival to Berkeley as young graduate students was the beginning of a historic wave of immigration from outside Europe that would change the United States in ways its leaders never imagined.

When Kamala Harris’s mother left India for California in 1958, the percentage of Americans who were immigrants was at its lowest point in over a century.

That was about to change.

Her arrival at Berkeley as a young graduate student — and that of another student, an immigrant from Jamaica whom she would marry — was the beginning of a historic wave of immigration from outside Europe that would transform the United States in ways its leaders never imagined. Now, the American-born children of these immigrants — people like Ms. Harris — are the face of this country’s demographic future.

Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s choice of Ms. Harris as his running mate has been celebrated as a milestone because she is the first Black woman and the first of Indian descent in American history to be on a major party’s presidential ticket. But her selection also highlights a remarkable shift in this country: the rise of a new wave of children of immigrants, or second-generation Americans, as a growing political and cultural force, different from any that has come before. Continue reading.

Immigrants: Traits and Contributions

In 2015, President Barack Obama attended a ceremony of naturalization and said, “…we don’t simply welcome new immigrants, we don’t simply welcome new arrivals — we are born of immigrants. That is who we are.…”

So who are the immigrants, why do they leave their homeland, and what do they bring with them to the new homeland? Once we understand the quote, it may become easy to find the answers as it will be less about “them” and more about “us” with the exception that today immigrants do not come only to run from persecution whether social, economic, and political. They leave their homes for higher studies, research, and professional development.

Leaving the homeland is not easy. There is very strong pull and bond with the land. Just like a rocket needs boosters to drive it against the gravitational pull to the new unknown land, immigrants are required to have a drive to break their living norms. Let us review some basic traits that make an immigrant. Continue reading.

Farmworkers, Mostly Undocumented, Become ‘Essential’ During Pandemic

New York Times logoImmigrant field workers have been told to keep working despite stay-at-home directives, and given letters attesting to their “critical” role in feeding the country.

LOS ANGELES — Like legions of immigrant farmworkers, Nancy Silva for years has done the grueling work of picking fresh fruit that Americans savor, all the while afraid that one day she could lose her livelihood because she is in the country illegally.

But the widening coronavirus pandemic has brought an unusual kind of recognition: Her job as a field worker has been deemed by the federal government as “essential” to the country.

Ms. Silva, who has spent much of her life in the United States evading law enforcement, now carries a letter from her employer in her wallet, declaring that the Department of Homeland Security considers her “critical to the food supply chain.” Continue reading.

They’re the refugees that Trump tried to stop. But now they’re here, and they’re ‘becoming Americans.’

Washington Post logoGRAPEVINE, Tex. — On the day that President Trump slashed refugee admissions to their lowest level in four decades, the arrival of a dazed traveler at Dallas’s international airport last month offered a quiet rebuke.

The newcomer was walking the final steps of an improbable 15,000-mile odyssey. There to greet him were four others who had followed the same epic path to an American life, along with a native-born citizen clutching a hand-drawn, red-and-blue sign: “Welcome to Texas!”

None would have been there had Trump had his way.

View the complete October 12 article by Griff Witte on The Washington Post website here.

Trump administration reaches deal to send asylum seekers to El Salvador in an effort to deter migrants from entering the United States

Washington Post logoThe Trump administration announced an accord Friday that will allow the United States to divert asylum seekers from the U.S. border to El Salvador, pushing migrants into one of the most dangerous countries in the world. The deal between the two governments is the latest measure aimed at creating new layers of deterrents to the influx of migrants applying for protection on U.S. soil.

Kevin McAleenan, the acting homeland security secretary, signed a “memorandum of understanding” with Salvadoran Foreign Minister Alexandra Hill in front of television cameras in Washington, but the two officials gave few details and no indication when their accord would take effect.

McAleenan, who traveled to El Salvador for talks last month with President Nayib Bukele, praised a “shared responsibility” on migration that was part of a broader deal to accelerate economic development in Central America with the goal of keeping migrants in their home countries.

View the complete September 20 article by Nick Miroff on The Washington Post website here.

Investigators believe five poultry companies violated immigration law, search warrants say

Washington Post logoUnsealed documents detail trove of evidence, including videotaped statements by managers.

Federal immigration officials say they have probable cause that all five companies operating poultry plants raided by authorities in Mississippi last week violated immigration law by knowingly hiring undocumented immigrants, according to search warrant affidavits that cite videotaped statements of managers.

There were clear signs that the companies were hiring people who could not legally work in the country, the search warrants allege. Some workers wore ankle monitors as they awaited deportation hearings, gave Social Security numbers belonging to the deceased or were hired twice by the same manager even though the worker used different names on each occasion.

Since 2002, federal officials have reported more than 350 encounters or arrests of undocumented people who said they worked at two of the plants, Koch Foods and Peco Foods.

View the complete August 15 article by Hannah Denham on The Washington Post website here.

Even if he isn’t encouraging violent attacks on immigrants, Trump may be uniquely unwilling to curtail them

Washington Post logoThis article has been updated.

All of the following statements are true.

  • President Trump condemns racist language and actions when pressed to do so, but often backtracksfrom that condemnation. He has echoed white supremacist rhetoric in the past and made racistcomments.
  • Trump frequently attacks immigrants to the United States from Mexico, Central America or predominantly Muslim countries in terms that suggest they are dangerous criminals or undeservingof being here.
  • Trump supports the ability of civilians to buy weapons such as the AR-15 that are largely similar to the rifles carried by American combat troops.

There is no reason these three things should necessarily blend together into a scenario where someone echoing Trump’s rhetoric commits an act of violence targeting an immigrant community. But it’s not hard to see how they could.

The motive of Saturday’s mass shooting in El Paso which left 20 people dead has not yet been confirmed by law enforcement. There is reason to believe, however, that before opening fire the shooting suspect published a short screed disparaging immigrants to the United States and warning of an “invasion” of Hispanics. That term is one that Trump himself has used to describe migrants seeking entry to the United States from Mexico.

View the complete August 4 article by Philip Bump on The Washington Post website here.

The Bible says to welcome refugees

The Trump administration will stop accepting asylum applications from migrants who could have claimed asylum in a different country before entering the U.S., it announced on July 15.

The new interim immigration rule upends a 60-year-old policy that protects refugees from war, political persecution and targeted violence. Central Americans – hundreds of thousands of whom cross Mexico each year – will now be barred from applying for asylum when they reach the U.S.

Only refugees who applied for and were denied asylum in a “safe third country” – in practice, Mexico – may then apply to the U.S. for protection.

View the complete July 17 article by Mathew Schmalz, Professor of Religious Studies at the College of the Holy Cross on the Conversation website here.

In Minnesota counties losing population, immigrants slow the decline

New arrivals are helping slow, halt or even reverse falling census counts in 15 Minnesota counties.

MORRIS, MINNESOTA – Juan Cid opened his downtown restaurant, Mi Mexico, five years ago after noticing that many residents of this western Minnesota city were willing to drive 25 miles to eat at another Mexican restaurant he owned.

He imported brightly colored tables and chairs from Guadalajara and took over the ethnic grocery store downstairs, stocking it with piñatas, Mexican breads and sweets, and a medley of beans, chiles and spices. Cid advertised long-distance mailing and packing services for customers who hail from Mexico and Central America. Now he’s looking at expanding his business further.

“I saw the Hispanic community was going to be growing,” said Cid, who came to the U.S. from Mexico in 2002.

View the complete May 12 article by Maya Rao on The Star Tribune website here.

How the Supreme Court’s Decision on the Census Could Alter American Politics

HOUSTON — Studded with taquerias and Catholic churches on street after street, the 29th Congressional District of Texas has among the highest proportions of Hispanics in the country.

But the fact that the district — which traces a jagged semicircle around Houston’s east side — is three-quarters Hispanic may not be its most defining statistic. These days, the most important number may be the estimated share of its residents who are not American citizens: one in four.

A battle is brewing over the way the nation tallies its population, especially in immigrant-dense places like Texas’s 29th District, that could permanently alter the American political landscape. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority appeared ready to allow the next census in 2020 to ask respondents if they are American citizens — a question that has never been asked of all the nation’s residents in the census’s

View the complete April 23 article by Michael Wines on The New York Times website here.