At almost 48 million, Hispanics are 15 percent of the U.S. population. Though the largest minority, most Hispanics do not identify as such but rather by their national origins. Culturally and politically, African Americans remain the more-cohesive minority.
Mexican Americans constitute two-thirds of all Hispanics. Four in ten Mexicans in the United States are foreign born, a bit higher than Hispanics (38 percent) and much higher than the overall population (13 percent). About 63 percent of Mexican immigrants entered the United States after 1990.
Therein lie current controversies on immigration and border control: Mexicans account for 32 percent of all immigrants and for 62 percent of those here illegally — that is, 6.6. million. Most Mexicans in the United States, however, were born here and are full-blooded Americans. Still, the immigration debate starts at our southwestern border and won’t be quieted until there is comprehensive reform.
The next largest Hispanic group are the more than four million Puerto Ricans who are American citizens and have no bearing on the migration debate. Cubans follow with 1.6 million, but the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966 gave us preferential treatment for political reasons. More than four decades later, Cubans who enter the United States illegally almost always get to stand in the queue for permanent residency.
Hispanics accounted for nearly 75 percent of the undocumented population. Salvadorans, Guatemalans and Hondurans round out the approximately eight million Hispanics out of up to 12 million illegal migrants. That total, however, is now likely closer to, or even below, 11 million.
Since late 2007 when the great recession began, illegal immigration has declined by 45 percent while many of the undocumented are returning — voluntarily or otherwise — to Mexico and Central America. In 2009, the Obama administration deported nearly 400,000 unauthorized migrants, that’s 140,000 more than the Bush administration did in its last two years. Obama has also increased troops at the border and plans to ask Congress for an additional $500 million for border security.
Hispanics — the vast majority born here or here legally — live all over the country. Almost 65 percent work, pay taxes, send their kids to school, go to church and vote in five states: California, Texas, Florida, New York and Arizona. In seven states, Hispanics make up at least 20 percent of the population: New Mexico (45.1 percent), California (36.6 percent), Texas (36.3 percent), Arizona (30.2 percent), Nevada (25.9 percent), Florida (21 percent) and Colorado (20.1 percent).
Illegal immigration is a hot-button issue. No doubt the problem has been compounded since the mid-1980s. The undocumented population has increased eight-fold. Recessions always exacerbate anti-immigration sentiments. Federal efforts to curb illegal crossings and border violence have fallen short. Arizona is at the frontline of both problems so, in that sense, the frustrations of Arizonans are understandable.
Twice the United States took drastic measures against undocumented Mexican immigrants. In the 1930s and then again in the mid-1950s, the federal government deported tens of thousands from California, Texas and Arizona, while hundreds of thousands returned to Mexico voluntarily.
Similar measures would be impossible today. Washington would not find a partner in the Mexican government as it did in the 1950s. Then, few spoke up in defense of those having a “Mexican-looking appearance.” Today our sensibilities on civil liberties are thankfully sharper. Sheer numbers stand in the way of anything like those earlier efforts. The geographic spread of the undocumented population, moreover, would require a military mobilization of unthinkable dimensions.
That’s why immigration reform — offering a path to legalization that includes fines and a guest-worker program — cannot be decoupled from border security. Securing the border first is a political slogan that fails to address the complexities we face.
The November elections will likely cost the Democrats plenty. Republicans may well win in the short run but lose the long haul. Comprehensive reform should be a top priority for the next Congress, but it will require compromise. The business community would applaud it if, indeed, it happens.
