OUTCASTS UNITED
A Refugee Soccer Team, an American Town
By Warren St. John
Spiegel & Grau. 307 pp. $24.95
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April 18, 2009
by Steven Roberts
New York Times
...The foreign-born population of the United States stood at 12.6 percent in 2007, up from 7.9 percent in 1990. One in four Californians and one in five New Yorkers come from other countries. Immigration is closely related to race, and today four states (Hawaii, New Mexico, California and Texas) are majority non-white, and six others -- including Swaney's Georgia -- are close behind. As Jon Huntsman Jr., the Republican governor of Utah put it, "We're fundamentally staring down a demographic shift that we've never seen before in America."
That shift is not just about cassava powder; it's about political power. The entire electorate last year was 74 percent white, down from 88 percent in 1980. John McCain handily won white guys, 57 to 41, but three in five Asians and two in three Hispanics backed Obama. No wonder Karl Rove calls the Republican Party's anti-immigrant attitude "suicidal."
That death wish is not just political, it's economic. The xenophobes and protectionists who argue that immigrants cost jobs have it exactly wrong. Newcomers create jobs and they always have. A report by the Center for an Urban Future recently described immigrants as "entrepreneurial sparkplugs," and the reason is obvious. If they weren't risk-takers, they wouldn't be here. The single stupidest measure enacted since Obama became president was a provision in the stimulus package that makes it harder for companies that receive federal funds to hire employees holding temporary work permits called H-1B visas. One-third of Microsoft's patent applications last year were filed by immigrant innovators, and general counsel Brad Smith is right when he writes, "The future success of Microsoft and every other U.S. technology company depends on our ability to recruit the world's best talents."...link to complete article
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