Immigration not new, but is a growing trend

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September 24, 2008

By Lorie Love The Richmond Register Wed Sep 24, 2008, 01:27 PM EDT

Many Hispanics often say they do not understand why Americans find their trek to the United States any different from the migration of Germans, Irish, Japanese and other ethnicities to America in the early 1900s.

�This country was made by immigrants coming from Europe when Europe was poor and people lacked opportunities there,� said Alberto Sanz, a Hispanic business owner in Madison County. �Worldwide immigration movements are about looking for opportunities, jobs and better quality life.�

Sanz, who operates a Spanish newspaper called Siete Dias de Kentucky, said it is only natural for Hispanics from Mexico and Central America to migrate to the USA because �a big portion of the actual United States used to be part of Mexico prior to the 1800s.�

�Immigration in states like California, New Mexico, Texas, Arizona, etc., was a natural social movement,� Sanz said. �Let�s not forget that last names like Lopez and Gonzalez formed part of the beginning of this nation in these states.�

Sandra Anez Powell, an immigrant from Venezuela, said Hispanics come to the United States to fulfill their most basic needs.

�If you are poor, like many of the ancestors of people who live here in Richmond � Irish, German � all these people came here for the same reason that the Hispanics are coming here,� she said. �You hope to have a better future for your children and your family.�

Powell said she does not understand why some people don�t see Hispanic immigration in the same light as earlier migrations.

�It�s very interesting how easy it is to assume that the reasons why Hispanics are coming to the United States are different,� she said. �Many people focus their energy on making it look like it is so different. The only difference is that this particular group is not European or Anglo-Saxon.�

�It is easy to forget where your roots come from,� she added. �And it is easy to forget that you are also children of immigrants.�

But opponents say migrating to the United States without permission is illegal and should be stopped.

�Can I go downtown and break laws and not get prosecuted? They�re breaking the law. They shouldn�t be here,� said Hubert Green, a Richmond resident.

Green said early immigrants to the United States came through Ellis Island and were invited to America. He said most of them followed the proper channels.

�I�ve got nothing against Mexicans. If they�re here legally, more power to them,� he said. �I�m against breaking the law for anybody.�

Green said illegal immigration is negatively impacting public schools, the health care system and all of the country�s social services.

�It�s a shame. Our schools are overcrowded, our hospital emergency rooms � they just accept that as loss,� he said. �This is an easy problem. They�re illegal. Why don�t we enforce our laws?�

Securing the 700-mile border and enforcing America�s laws is the solution, Green said.

�Not one person should cross our border that we�re not aware of,� he said.

Population growing

If current trends continue, the population of the United States will increase to 438 million in 2050 from 296 million in 2005, according to projections by the Pew Hispanic Center. About 82 percent of that increase will be because of immigrants arriving from 2005 to 2050 and their U.S.-born descendants.

Released in February, the projections show that nearly one in five Americans � or 19 percent � will be an immigrant in 2050, compared with one in eight � 12 percent � in 2005.

The Latino population, already the nation�s largest minority group, will triple in size and will account for most of the nation�s population growth from 2005 through 2050. Hispanics will make up 29 percent of the U.S. population in 2050, compared with 14 percent in 2005.

The report also projects that the non-Hispanic white population will increase more slowly than other racial and ethnic groups. Whites will make up 47 percent of the population in 2050.

Why America?

Hispanic migration is the result of economical differences between the countries, Sanz said.

�Nobody risks their life, time and money to go to a place if they cannot find a job, but the real fact is that they come here and they find jobs,� he said. �The United States needs to fulfill at least a million jobs every year in areas such as agriculture, construction and other various services that rank at the same level. In Latin America, thousands of individuals cannot find a job.�

Sanz said Hispanic workers have gained a reputation as reliable, honest and hardworking and that�s why employers continue to hire them.

The issue is not as simple as �Hispanics taking jobs from Americans,� said Socorro Zaragoza, professor of Spanish at Eastern Kentucky University.

�There�s more to it,� said Zaragoza, a native of Mexico. �We are taking those jobs because employers have a demand for those jobs. So why don�t we start first with employers that are hiring Hispanics because they know that they could pay less and that they don�t have to offer any benefits � medical or any type of insurance.�

She said she tries to avoid generalization, but in her experience, it seems there are Americans willing to work at jobs that Hispanics are doing, but they typically do not like the fact that the employer does not offer benefits.

�Then there is a Hispanic who is willing to because there is nothing else that they can find,� she said.

Lorie Love can be reached at llove@richmond

register.com or 624-6690.

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