Colorado: Immigration issues and trends locally and in the West

[Harold F. Schiffman]

NOTE: Following is a compilation of stories outlining issues and trends in
immigration for Colorado and the Western states.

Message 1: Immigration an integral issue in 6th-district race

By PERRY SWANSON - THE GAZETTE

Colorado Republican Congressman Tom Tancredo, a fierce critic of illegal
immigration, likely will face an opponent in the August primary election
for the first time since he won the office eight years ago. Many political
observers are reserving judgment on whether Republican Juan Botero is a
viable challenger. Tancredo, after all, is a four-term congressman who won
election in 2004 with nearly 73,000 votes to spare. But a lively contest
between Tancredo and Botero could shed light on how deeply the Republican
Party is divided over illegal immigration.

Both men say their position reflects that of most Americans. Tancredo
argues for aggressive law enforcement to stop people from illegally
entering the United States, including building a wall along the border
with Mexico. Botero favors giving legal status to illegal immigrants who
pay a fine. National opinion polls on the issue provide no slam-dunk win
for either side. A Zogby International poll released March 19, for
example, found 62 percent of respondents would prefer that their
congressional delegate support tougher immigration rules. In the same
poll, 69 percent of respondents said they oppose building a wall on the
border.

Botero points to another poll, conducted in October for the Manhattan
Institute think tank. That poll found 72 percent of likely Republican
voters favor letting illegal immigrants register with authorities, pay a
fine and receive temporary worker permits. I know for a fact, based on my
conversations with prominent members of the Republican Party, that many
people strongly disagree with Congressman Tancredos rhetoric, and they
want to see him gone, Botero said.  Officially, many Republican figures
will give him lip service, but in private they detest his xenophobic
rhetoric. Botero declined to identify the Republican leaders.

The only Republicans who matter in the primary election, however, are
those who live in the 6th Congressional District, one of seven positions
representing Colorado in the U.S. House of Representatives. The 6th
district includes Douglas and Elbert counties, most of Arapahoe and
Jefferson counties, plus a small part of Park County. In research
conducted in July 2005, Denver-based pollster Floyd Ciruli asked 350
registered voters in Douglas County their opinions of Tancredos efforts to
combat illegal immigration. More than half 52 percent said they support
Tancredo, and 37 percent were opposed. The poll did not distinguish
Republican and Democratic voters. The results dont mean its impossible for
Botero to win, but Ciruli said Botero might have trouble attracting voters
who disagree with Tancredo on illegal immigration.

Botero is a public relations and marketing consultant. He has never held
elective office but is active in Republican politics, including a stint on
the re-election campaign of Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo. Tancredo is a
former schoolteacher, member of the Colorado Legislature and director of
the Golden-based Independence Institute. Botero does not officially have a
place on the primary ballot. He said hell try to get a spot by working
through the party process, where he must receive the votes of at least 30
percent of delegates to a 6th district assembly. Failing that, Botero said
hell collect the required 1,000 voter signatures to guarantee a place on
the ballot.

Republican voters decide whom to nominate for the Aug. 8 primary election,
and the winner will face candidates from other parties in the Nov. 7
general election. A contest between Tancredo and Botero could reverberate
beyond Colorado.  Tancredo, who did not respond to requests for comment
for this article, has built a national reputation as an opponent of
illegal immigration. He has introduced measures to crack down on groups
that harbor illegal immigrants, reduce the number of legal immigrants
allowed into the country and designate English as the countrys official
language.

Tancredos approach has drawn praise, even from Democrats, said Mike
McGarry, director of the Colorado Alliance for Immigration Reform. But the
congressmans agenda often has run counter to the ideas President Bush is
advancing, which include a mix of increased law enforcement and an
expanded guest worker program.

In one widely reported incident in 2002, Bushs senior political adviser,
Karl Rove, spent 40 minutes on the phone scolding Tancredo for his
statements about immigration. Tancredo recounted the exchange to The New
Republic magazine and said Rove told him never again to darken the
doorstep of the White House.

Botero said the episode with Rove was a serious political blunder.

Having the support of the most powerful office on the face of the Earth
might come in handy in order to benefit the people youre trying to
represent, he said.



Message 2: Banking 101 targets Hispanic

By PERRY SWANSON - THE GAZETTE

The American banking system, with its myriad layers of debt, money
transfers and accounts, is a mystery to some Hispanic people, especially
those who dont speak English.

Among the nations 40 million Hispanics, 22 percent of the households dont
have a bank account, according to the Federal Reserves 2001 Survey of
Consumer Finances. Five percent of non-Hispanic white households dont use
banks.

Thats not to mention lines of credit and other financial tools that
experts say are key to building wealth.

Most Hispanics are eager to learn about financial management, said Merced
Garza Beattie, a personal and business banking officer at U.S. Bank in
Colorado Springs. But reaching them often requires bypassing conventional
channels that might appeal to other ethnic groups.

I have had customers that have had like $10,000 in a secret hiding place
in their house because theyre afraid to put it in the bank, she said. They
dont trust anybody.

Beattie is among a growing number of business people who are reaching out
to Hispanics and, particularly, Spanish speakers. She led a class about
personal finance in October, and about 65 people attended, most of them
Hispanic.

The class wasnt part of her job duties, but U.S. Bank has offered its
support. The class offered Spanish speakers the opportunity to ask
questions they might otherwise be embarrassed to ask, she said.

Ive been in those shoes before, too, because I lived in France, and at
first I couldnt speak French, Beattie said.

She is planning to teach a similar class in February.

Some people who attended the first class were looking for basic skills,
such as how to write a check. Others wanted to know about building credit
or buying a house.

Some banking services are available to illegal immigrants, but Beattie
said shes careful to comply with laws. People who dont want to set up a
traditional checking account, for example, can use a secure money transfer
card. The card allows people here to deposit money in an account that can
be accessed by someone in their home country.

One-on-one counseling such as Beattie provides is crucial to help poor
Hispanics, the National Council of La Raza said in a research paper
released in December. The paper recommended new programs to provide
financial counseling at tax-preparation centers for low-income people and
tax-funded vouchers to encourage families with low incomes to buy
financial counseling.

For the Latino community, sound financial planning does more than just
help people move into the middle class; it also prevents them from being
targets of predatory lenders, financial scams and even thieves, Luis
Barajas, president of Wealth and Business Planning in Los Angeles, said in
a statement accompanying the paper.

For Alfredo Baeza, who moved to this country from Mexico seven years ago,
increasing financial sophistication was part of the success of his
business. Baeza owns AB Remodeling, a company that remodels homes and
businesses in the Colorado Springs area.

Before he met Beattie, Baeza said, he ran his business using only a
personal checking account. Beattie helped him set up a business checking
account, which made it easier to obtain materials and credit, he said.

Many Spanish speakers are recent immigrants and dont have time to learn
financial management, he said. Another problem is finding a trustworthy
adviser, he said.

For most people, most of the time its work and work, he said in Spanish.
Many people know how to work, but they dont know how to do business.



A question of numbers

By PERRY SWANSON - THE GAZETTE

Colorados immigration debate is awash in assertions, but few hard facts,
about the effects of illegal immigration.

Experts cant even nail down the numbers.

Estimates of the national illegal immigrant population, for example, range
from 10 million to 20 million.

Estimates of the number of illegal immigrants are fundamentally related to
ones perception of the acuity of the problem, said Juan Lindau, a
professor at Colorado College and immigration expert. This is one of the
most slippery and politicized statistics.

Figures on the population in each state also vary widely. The Pew Hispanic
Center reported last year that 200,000 to 250,000 illegal immigrants live
in Colorado. Research by the Urban Institute Immigration Studies Program
indicates the Pew Centers estimate might overstate the number by up to
75,000.

Thats a big difference for anyone trying to measure the effects of illegal
immigrants on the economy and government services.

Experts can only guess at the services illegal immigrants use or how much
they pay in taxes because most government agencies do not ask clients to
prove citizenship.

But theres little doubt the effect is substantial. Even under the Pew
Hispanic Centers most conservative estimate, the illegal immigrant
population in Colorado includes 67,600 children, including citizen
children of parents who are illegal immigrants.

The state tax money used to send those children to public schools for one
year would run roughly $439 million.

Economists say assessing the effects of immigration is tricky because it
involves tradeoffs between the national scene and local areas. Immigrants
usually pay more in federal taxes than they use in federal services, and
they often take low-wage jobs, which reduces the cost of goods sold
nationally. But a flood of immigrants could harm a local community by
depressing wages and straining local services.

Its at the local level that data on illegal immigrants gets even murkier.
Among dozens of private research and government agencies The Gazette
consulted, none could say how many illegal immigrants live in El Paso
County or Colorado Springs.

Activists on all sides say illegal immigrants are difficult to track  many
move frequently within the country, some cross the border several times
each year and some fool the system with fake citizenship documents.
Additionally, those who live here without permission probably want to stay
below the governments radar.

All of this has been made worse historically because the figure has always
been used as a political football, Lindau said.

The U.S. Census Bureau doesnt distinguish between legal and illegal
immigrants in its national surveys.

Other groups have used census data to estimate the number of illegal
immigrants. The groups take the number of foreign-born residents reported
by the census and subtract the number of people who immigrated here
legally. The remainder, with several adjustments, is thought to
approximate the population of illegal immigrants.

The federal government is responsible for enforcing immigration laws, but
federal agencies have no recent numbers on how many illegal immigrants are
here.

A report by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, or INS, said
Colorado had the nations 10th-largest population of illegal immigrants in
2000. It said 144,000 illegal immigrants lived here six years ago, a more
than four-fold increase from 10 years earlier.

The INS has since been absorbed into the Department of Homeland Security.
A spokesman for that agency said additional estimates of illegal
immigrants are planned in 2010.

Some immigration activists say a detailed accounting of people here
illegally would be only marginally relevant. El Paso County Commissioner
Douglas Bruce, who has spoken out against illegal immigration, said that
knowing the number of illegal immigrants is not important to forming
public policy.

I have a one-word public policy: Deportation, Bruce said. I dont want to
know how often Im being ripped off. I want to reduce the number of times
Im being ripped off.

Even conservative estimates indicate illegal immigrants make up 4 percent
of the national population, said Will Adams, a spokesman for U.S. Rep. Tom
Tancredo, R-Colo.

That is a huge population that is making a huge impact, Adams said. In
some ways it matters because you want to know how much theyre costing you.

Tancredo represents Colorados 6th Congressional District, which includes
parts of Arapahoe, Douglas, Elbert, Jefferson and Park counties. He is a
leading advocate nationally for tighter immigration controls. He has
introduced measures to dramatically reduce the number of people who come
here legally and prevent automatic citizenship for people born here.

Colorado voters will likely decide whether to deny most government
services to people who are here without permission. A citizen group is
gathering petition signatures to put that measure on the November ballot.

The Bell Policy Center think tank issued a report in December arguing that
enforcing the ballot measures rules would cost more than the savings from
denying services to illegal immigrants. The measures backers dispute that
assertion.

Underlying the arguments about illegal immigration are conflicting beliefs
about how immigrants affect the places they move.

Advocates say illegal immigrants pay their share of taxes, take jobs that
citizens wont and continue the countrys tradition as a nation of
immigrants.

Opponents say illegal immigrants are committing a crime just by being
here; they drain government budgets and steal jobs from citizens.

There is an enormous amount of contrary data on this question, again
driven ideologically, said Lindau, the Colorado College professor. But it
clearly is the case that immigration provides economic benefits in some
areas, and it has economic costs in others.

As usual in a country this big, the people accruing the benefits may not
be the same people accruing the costs.

Message 3: Hispanics moving out of enclaves

By LISA MARTNEZ - THE GAZETTE

Hispanics who tended to live in ethnic enclaves in the past are
increasingly dispersing throughout communities, a new report shows.

And Hispanics in Colorado Springs are following the trend, experts say.

The Pew Hispanic Center recently reported that 20 million Hispanics in the
United States  57 percent of the total  live in neighborhoods mostly
populated by non-Hispanics. In these areas, the average population is 7
percent Hispanic, the report said.

Its good news for Colorado Springs, said Jose Barrera, who has taught
ethnic studies and southwest history classes at local colleges and at
Colorado Springs School District 11. That means theyre buying houses,
renting apartments, starting businesses here. Theyre feeding the local
economy.

The Pew Hispanic Center is a national research organization that studies
Hispanic issues and trends. Data in the new report came from analysis of
the 2000 Census.

In Colorado, that census showed significant demographic changes during the
past 10 years. The states foreign-born population grew 160 percent during
the past decade. In El Paso County, the population grew by 81 percent,
census figures show.

Hispanics make up 12 percent of Colorado Springs population.

The Pew Hispanic Centers report is indicative of the immigration pattern
in Colorado Springs, Barrera said.

A wave of immigrants arrived in the city 10 to 15 years ago, Barrera said.

When those immigrants arrived  mostly from Mexico and other Latin-American
countries  they tended to move into low-income neighborhoods where other
foreign-born Hispanics lived, Barrera said.

Those homes were typically found in the South Circle corridor and other
southern parts of the city. Immigrants liked living near Our Lady Of
Guadalupe Church, 2715 E. Pikes Peak Ave., which serves the largest
Hispanic congregation in Colorado Springs, Barrera said.

Gradually, they saved their hard-earned dollars, learned English and moved
to other neighborhoods. Hispanic-owned stores began popping up all over
town.

Today, theyre moving north: More Hispanic students are attending District
20 schools, and more Hispanic families are living near the Chapel Hills
Mall and east of Powers.

Its a valid trend, Peter Marky, president of the Hispanic Chamber of
Commerce, said of the report. The mortgage rates are getting lower. Its
easier for people, including Hispanics, to move up and buy homes in nicer
neighborhoods.

The downside to Hispanics dispersing into non-Hispanic neighborhoods is
they begin to lose their culture and language, Barrera said.

Thats how it is with every immigrant group, Barrera said.

They lose their stability, their family network when they come here, and
it takes some time to climb the ladder of success. Then, its another
immigrant group that starts at the bottom.

Other findings in the national report: The mostly Hispanic areas that are
home to the 43 percent of the Hispanic population that havent dispersed
are large and growing.

Thats especially true in major metropolitan areas with long-standing
Hispanic populations.

Immigrant and native-born Hispanics have dispersed to states other than
those with longstanding Hispanic populations, the report said. Eight
states were described as new-settlement states, where Hispanic populations
grew by at least 130 percent from 1990 and 2000. These are Massachusetts,
Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.

For more information on the Pew Hispanic Center report, go to
www.pewhispanic.org.

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