California's Got a Heavy Stake in Integrating Immigrants

Immigrant voters can be very important in this election and all future elections. It is good that they are interested and understand the importance of voting. DP

In California, potential new voters from immigrant families could have a large electoral voice in both Republican and Democratic districts.

By Daranee Petzod, New American Media

alternet.org: Editor's Note: Immigrants and their children will radically alter future elections in California, says a new study. The imperative now is a good integration policy, says Daranee Petzod, Executive Director of Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees (GCIR). Immigration Matters regularly features the views of the nation's leading immigrant rights advocates.

Immigrants and their children could play a pivotal role in future California elections. Despite public misconceptions to the contrary, the overwhelming majority of California's 6.5 million foreign-born residents are either already citizens, or eligible to naturalize and vote. These immigrants and their 1.2 million U.S.-citizen children could represent close to a third of the state's potential voters by 2012.

These are the findings of a recently released demographic study commissioned by Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees (GCIR). One of the most striking findings of the GCIR study is that nearly half of California's youth who will become eligible to vote by 2012 have at least one immigrant parent. These young people have close ties to the immigrant experience and their natural interest in issues affecting immigrant families will likely shape their vote.

Huber Trenado, a 19-year-old East Oakland native, is one such young voter. Huber currently attends UC Berkeley on a Fulbright Scholarship funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. His parents can't vote, and only some of his adult siblings are registered. Huber told me, "I vote because it's important to me, my family and my community. Not all of us can vote, so I do it for them."
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