A majority of Californians believe immigration is a benefit to their state. DP
Public Policy Institute of California
Excerpt from page 5 of Californians and Their Government, PPIC Statewide Survey
mexidata.com: “Despite all the economic and political negativity, Californians are basically positive on immigration. A majority of state residents (59%) believe immigrants are a benefit to California because of their hard work and job skills, compared to 34 percent who say they are a burden because they use public services. Belief that immigrants benefit the state has increased substantially over the past decade: In 1998, only 46 percent of Californians held this view. 'Conventional wisdom would predict that attitudes about immigrants would deteriorate as economic conditions worsen, but that hasn’t happened recently,' says Baldassare.
“What about attitudes toward illegal immigrants? Here again, state residents take a positive view. Two-thirds (66%) think illegal immigrants should be allowed to apply for work permits that would let them stay and work in the United States, about the same percentage as one year ago (64%). Strong majorities of
Democrats (73%), independents (62%), and likely voters (60%) believe that illegal immigrants should be allowed to apply for work permits, while Republicans are divided (48% should be allowed, 50% should not). Taking it a step further, seven in 10 Californians (72%) think most illegal immigrants who have lived and worked in the United States for at least two years should be given a chance to keep their jobs and apply for legal status; only one-quarter (25%) believe these immigrants should be deported. This supportive attitude is shared by majorities across all political parties (Democrats 80%, independents 72%, Republicans 52%) and among likely voters (65%) and is unchanged since December (72%).”
Full report is at http://www.ppic.org/content/pubs/survey/S_308MBS.pdf
1 comment:
Qiara Ramirez
History, A Band
Blog 1
“Bright spot? Positive attitude about immigrants”
http://immigrantsinusa.blogspot.com/
I agree with 59% of Californians in that the flow of immigration is in fact necessary and beneficial. Although there are several concerns accounting for the downfalls that immigration may have caused, it is overall very positive for the people and development of the United States. With the influx of Mexican immigrants in California, America has been able to prosper ethnically, but even more so, economically. Sprouting from the 1883, a year after the Chinese Exclusion Act was introduced, Mexican immigration was encouraged because of the fact that they agreed to work for very low wages, and construct many railroads. During this time, Mexicans earned a level of respect as Dating from the 1900s, when many Mexicans worked on railroads and agriculture, several were affected with wars, which forced Mexican woman to take their places and earn the income. This was one of the ways that the initial tensions of immigrants replacing the spots of American born citizens arose. The competition for work transformed into hatred, and racial tension. Immigrants have always been part of American history, despite the fact that it’s not always taught in school, or stated in textbooks. Over the years, several acts have been passed in order to mend the standards for naturalization in the United States. After WWI, in 1921 and 1924, acts were passed which made it more difficult for illegal immigrants to maintain a residency in the United States because the downfalls in the economy. The Great Depression also played a huge factor in this, and therefore Mexicans were caught in a bad situation and as they expressed that, Americans reacted in ways where the fears of foreigners were introduced. More recently, in 1996, the Clinton Administration made the decision to increase the amount of money to 2.6 billion dollars spent on border patrol, and implement a 40 mile 14 foot fence. Mexico ranks at number 1 with a total of 972,250 of documented immigrants from 1971-1985. With all of the controversies and relations between Mexico and the United States, a relationship has formed. In 1965 the Brasero program emerged, which permitted Mexicans to work legally and 4.3 million Mexicans entered. This program gave Mexicans more value and separated Mexicans from other immigrants as people with driven work ethics, and collectively drew a realization for people to notice that like people, and nonetheless, they were simply striving for better opportunities. More recently, in 1997 President Clinton made a promise with President Ernesto Zedillo a promise to avoid “mass deportations” under the U.S. immigration policy. Nevertheless, there have been numerous times where interactions concerning Mexican immigration have been made. For those that are strongly opposed to immigration, and have great concerns for the economic aspect of our nation’s development, I think it is important to consider why there are so many immigrants in California, specifically Mexican immigrants. Perhaps it is necessary for the United States to direct our money and interests, not in complaining about the immigrants or spending time deporting them, but rather by getting to the root of the problem, and venture out in Mexico’s issues.
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