Immigration

Tomás Jiménez on Nightly News with Brian Williams | 'As U.S. Economy Slows, So Do Border Crossings'

Communications — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 08:52:00 -0400

New America in the News:

Tomás Jiménez , New America Foundation: [on employment for undocumented workers] "When those economic opportunities decline, the number of immigrants that come here are also likely to decline..." LINK to video

Rootless To a Fault

Ron Tang — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 07:25:00 -0400

In the 20th century, the color line was the primary challenge. In the 21st century, the problem is the border line. Today, there are more people living outside their countries of birth than at any time in history, and international migrants now make up the equivalent of the world's fifth most-populous country -- just after China, India, the United States and Indonesia.

As a result, migrant-receiving nations, particularly those in the First World, are scrambling to devise strategies to incorporate and integrate newcomers and their families into their adopted societies. From Germany to the United States, policymakers and the public alike… more

Tomás Jiménez in TIME | 'Recession May Be Driving Off Illegals'

Communications — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 05:33:00 -0400

New America in the News:

...Tomás Jiménez, a fellow at the New America Foundation, says that the vast majority of municipalities around the country haven't enacted any anti-immigration laws or seen any raids. So it's unlikely that most workers are leaving out of fear. "This happens a lot," he says. "DHS and border patrol taking credit for things that are actually driven by other forces."

Jiménez worries that the government will just pour more recession dollars into immigration raids and border enforcement at a time when it can least afford it... LINK

The Fear Of White Decline

Ron Tang — Mon, 19 May 2008 07:28:00 -0400

Hillary Rodham Clinton is right. She has the broader and whiter political coalition, so she should, by all rights, be the Democratic presidential nominee.

After all, in other realms of the political process, we routinely refer to "black districts" or "Latino districts" and speak of the necessity of those jurisdictions to be represented by black or Latino elected officials. Well, then, because the American population is 66% white, maybe the United States is a de facto white district that should be represented accordingly.

Don't scoff at the idea. Ethnic and racial self-determination have been underlying factors in the formation of modern nations.… more

Switch To Español

Ron Tang — Sun, 11 May 2008 04:52:00 -0400

Amid all the national debate over immigration, at least one firm consensus has emerged: Newcomers to the United States should learn English because it remains the lingua franca of our civic life. All three remaining presidential contenders say that the ability to speak English should be a requirement of U.S. citizenship. And last year, the immigrant governor of California told a convention of Latino journalists that immigrants should watch only English-language TV so they can understand the language and news of their home state. "You've got to turn off the Spanish television set," Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger advised the… more

Absolut Canard

Ron Tang — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 04:01:00 -0400

If I didn't already prefer Ketel One vodka in my martinis, I might very well call for my own boycott against Absolut.

Not because I agree with the knuckleheads who fear that the Swedish company's advertisement featuring a map of the American Southwest as Mexican territory is fueling ethnic secessionism, but because, in its attempt to lure upper-middle-class consumers in Mexico, the company played on an age-old canard that has historically been used to justify discrimination against Mexican immigrants and Mexican Americans here in the United States.

Last week I was in Las Vegas, and I found myself having a depressing… more

Automatic Americans

Ron Tang — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 08:42:00 -0400

Ending birthright citizenship is a placebo, not a solution to illegal immigration.

The debate over immigration is fundamentally about who we are as a nation,who we are not, and who we want to be.

It is thus no surprise that those most afraid of who we are becoming have moved to redraw the rules of inclusion by proposing to do away with birthright citizenship. Such a move is not only legally dubious, it is a threat to American prosperity.

Opponents of birthright citizenship assert that we have it wrong when we interpret the 14th Amendment as granting citizenship to anyone born here. They… more

A 670-Mile-Long Shrine To American Insecurity

Ron Tang — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 08:51:00 -0400

Last February, I found myself in the difficult position of explaining American insecurity to a group of Mexican undergraduates at a college in Matamoros, Mexico, just south of the border at Brownsville, Texas. I was taking questions after delivering a lecture on the long-term prospects of Mexican immigrants being accepted into U.S. society. A neatly dressed young man in the back stood up to ask a pointed question. "How," he said politely in Spanish, "could such a rich and powerful country be so self-centered as to build a wall on its border to keep people out?"

For a moment, I figured… more

Tomas Jimenez on the Pat Morrison Show | 'Mexican Americans, Assimilations, and Race'

Communications — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 08:22:00 -0400

New America in the News:

Mexican Americans, Assimilations, and Race (KPCC Radio, Los Angeles)

Mexican Americans have not fully integrated into U.S. society, even by the third and fourth generation, according to a new UCLA study covering 40 years. Although many speak English fluently, prefer American music, and sometimes vote Republican, they continue to live in majority Hispanic neighborhoods and think of themselves as "Mexican" or "Mexican-American." Patt looks at the findings, both encouraging and troubling, and the reasons behind them.

New America Fellow Tomas Jimenez joins the discussion. Tomas is an assistant professor of sociology at U.C. San Diego, and a research fellow at the Center for U.S.-Mexico Studies. To listen to the discussion, click here. Please visit KPCC Radio's website.

Gregory Rodriguez on The Colbert Report | Interview

Communications — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 12:56:00 -0500

New America in the News:

Gregory Rodriguez Interviews with Steven Colbert (The Colbert Report)

New America Foundation's Gregory Rodriguez appeared on The Colbert Report to promote his new book, Mongrels, Bastards, Orphans and Vagabonds.

Video of the interview is posted here: