IMMIGRANTS ARE A NET GAIN FOR THE COUNTRY

By Victor Escalante

If Latino was a food brand, it would be a premium product on the shelf right now till the November elections. Past that point it’s anyone’s guess where the discourse will go. With the Supreme Court ruling last week on health care, we can be certain that the noise level will once again increase pro and con Latinos.

While it’s still too early to tell the definitive net gains and losses for Latinos with healthcare, overall it’s a good thing. According to census figures Latinos have contributed to the recovery of the country by creating the largest number of start-up businesses.

The Latinization of America is now on fast track and expected to reach the tipping point in the next two decades. According to Rice University Professor Stephen Klineberg Phd., if the borders were closed today to any more immigrants, Latinos will be the majority by 2050.

For nearly three decades, Mr. Klineberg and his research team have studied the immigration trends and attitudes in the Greater Houston Metropolitan Area. He is blunt about egalitarian beliefs on which the current immigration law code is based upon and the hierarchy that existed when it was written. “…..Northern Europeans are a superior subspecies of the white race. The Nordics were superior to the Alpines, who in turn were superior to the Mediterranean’s, and all of them were superior to the Jews and the Asians.”   

Latinos can play a key role is this election and capitalize on the brand equity by shifting the narrative to what it should be. If given the opportunity Latinos have the intellectual capacity to fill the management level jobs that are now in demand from the acculturation of the U.S.  There is no question that we need a sensible and systemic overhaul of immigration. Some organizations such as MATT are trying to create bi-partisan dialogue and awareness to get the facts to policy makers and industry.

So are immigrants good or bad for the country?  Sociologist Klineberg has concluded that they end up being an overall contributing force.  They have been an economic engine for our economy.The whole debate that they are a deficit drain on social services is not true.