A new report shares little-known facts about New Haven’s immigrants: They are more likely than native-born citizens to be employed; an increasingly large number come from Asia; and only a small percentage is undocumented.
The Community for Greater New Haven (CFGNH) and DataHaven released data and survey results in this report, intended to clear up common misconceptions and provide an informed snapshot of the immigrant community in New Haven and Connecticut as a whole.
Report authors discussed future steps with local immigrant advocates Tuesday afternoon, including how to inform the undocumented about President Barack Obama’s recent executive action on immigration.
New Haven is the fastest-growing city in the state, even as it loses native-born residents. That’s primarily due to immigration, according to the report.
Aliyya Swaby Photo
“We definitely want to see immigration woven into the narrative of our region,” said Mark Abraham (pictured), the report’s author and executive director of DataHaven. The community should understand “immigration as an asset” and support policies for “inclusive growth,” he said.
The reported numbers came from government agencies, such as the Census Bureau, he said. About 600 people on the foundation’s mailing list responded to an email survey to give qualitative information on their assumptions about and attitudes towards immigrants.
DataHaven will conduct a larger statewide survey this summer.
Local advocates offered praise and suggestions for future steps Tuesday afternoon.
Sandra Trevino, executive director of Junta, said the report was unique in detailing the historical trends of immigration — depicting its decline in the 1970s and steep uptrend in the 1990s. She said she is “excited” at having a document to refute claims that a significant percentage of immigrants are in the country illegally. Half surveyed thought that 15 percent of all Connecticut residents are undocumented; in reality only an estimated 3.4 percent are.
“The reasons why we think that immigration is so essential to this community … applies every bit as much to those without legal status under federal law as it does to those with legal status under federal law,” said Will Ginsberg, the foundation’s CEO. He said the foundation will continue to support groups that “help eliminate obstacles in the way of immigration” and “help immigrants take advantage of opportunities.
To a large extent, immigrants are doing better than expected. For example, more naturalized citizens own homes than U.S.-born citizens. And there are more than three high-skilled workers for every two low-skilled foreign workers in the city of New Haven, according to the report.
Nancy Yao Maasbach, of the Fund for Women and Girls, pointed out that “immigrants are not just people of color. There’s clearly a large non-Hispanic white population.” She suggested that that group may be responsible for the higher trend in income and education.
Ginsberg added that the native-born population also includes many poor people and people of color.
The data show a shifting landscape: Fewer non-English-speaking students enrolled in New Haven Public Schools speak Spanish. The number of students speaking other languages such as Arabic and Mandarin is increasing.
Lucas Codognolla, of CT Students for a Dream, suggested the creation of a supplementary document with stories from local immigrants and naturalized citizens, to increase empathy past facts and figures. He also said the foundation should translate the document into different languages.
At the end of the discussion, Trevino handed out fliers about President Obama’s newest executive action on immigration, which will allow millions more undocumented immigrations to stay in the U.S. for three years. Immigrants are vulnerable to being scammed if not properly educated on how the policy will work, a current problem for those people applying for Drive Only licenses.
“What can community foundations around the country do to help guard against fraud and people purporting to provide valuable services?” asked Ginsberg (pictured).
Abraham said that immigrants, even under the executive action, will not have access to affordable health care. He cited the report’s statistics that 91 percent of native-born citizens in New Haven are enrolled in health plans, while just 63 percent of foreign-born are.
Undocumented immigrants often have “so much fear” about taking advantage of new policies, since often in politics, “people’s lives are made into a game,” said Kenneth Reveiz of New Haven Rising. Immigrants “have to vote to protect these victories,” he said.
But there is “no monolithic Latino voting block,” Junta organizer Nick Torres said. He said the real question in upcoming elections is: “How will a candidate address [immigration reform], and will it be in a real, genuine way?”