Who “cares” about immigration

After watching the documentary, Farmingville, I was shocked to see such a harsh pushback against immigration by average citizens. What really stood out to me was the disparity between these conservative opinions with the proximity of Farmingville to the biggest city in the country. As someone who is from New York City, I always pictured the majority of Long Island and New York as extremely liberal. But, clearly, immigration is a divisive subject throughout the entire country.

Political attitude varies greatly depending on certain demographics. There have been countless studies tracking public opinion on immigration. For the past 20 years, the Pew Research Center has conducted a study where it asked participants whether immigrants “strengthen our country because of their hard work and talents,” or whether they “are a burden on our country because they take our jobs, housing and health care.” In 1994, 63% said they were a burden, but in 2017 only 33% of people felt the same. I find it extremely interesting how there has been such a major shift toward accepting immigration, yet the topic feels as divisive as ever. Views on immigration also vary greatly depending on demographics. While only 34% of people favor building Trump’s infamous border wall, the people who do favor it share many similar traits. For example, whites are twice as likely to favor the construction of the wall than blacks or hispanics- 43% of whites vs. just 14% of blacks. In another study conducted by the migration policy institute, they were able to figure out the “type” of person that opposes immigration: “65+ years old, white, male, conservative, republican, and lacking a college degree.” These information points really stand out to me because they are clear exemplifications of how much information we can gain from polling and seeking out public opinion.

After learning this information, I started to apply it to the context of the documentary we watched in class. Throughout the film, the people who opposed the migrants were almost entirely old and white. This clearly correlates with the information I presented before from the various studies. The racial makeup of Farmingville is almost entirely white- nearly 80% according to the 2000 census. Thus, it is not surprising that this town went against these immigrants in such an extremist way; they are the exact people one would expect to act this way. If one thing is clear, it is that the same people people feel the same way on the subject of immigration. This has and will continue to be extremely divisive for our country because our differences coincide. In addition, the immigrants and minorities will continue to feel threatened until the majority of people make a conscious decision to reevaluate their views on immigration.

The last piece of immigration information I found interesting was how little Americans prioritize it as a problem. Prior to the 2008 election, the Pew Research Center asked citizens to rank 6 issues the president should worry about in order of importance. Surprisingly, only 4% of people said immigration was the most important issue in their minds. This stood out to me because it is a topic that seemingly plagues conversation and political debate about our country. Yet, the polls show that it may not be as important as it appears. To me, this is a clear example of the importance of collecting information on public opinion. While we may assume our country feels a certain way, the only true insight we have is through asking and polling our citizens.

Sources:

http://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/americas-views-immigration-evidence-public-opinion-surveys

https://www.forbes.com/sites/bowmanmarsico/2017/02/14/reading-the-polls-welcome-to-america-what-americans-say-about-immigration/#374276e624e6

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/04/15/americans-views-of-immigrants-marked-by-widening-partisan-generational-divides/

http://www.city-data.com/city/Farmingville-New-York.html

4 Responses to "Who “cares” about immigration"

Montgomery Thornburn says:

October 9, 2017 at 8:51 pm

I really appreciate your post and thoughts of immigration as I come from an entire family of immigrants. My family emigrated to the U.S. in 1998 and became full citizens in 2008. I care now and perhaps I always will care about immigration because of my upbringing and personal knowledge about immigration. Maybe that puts me in the minority of individuals who think immigration is an important issue but it gives me a different perspective than if I was born into an American family. Personally, I’m pro immigration because I recognize the numerous benefits that immigrants have to offer this country, but I am very against illegal immigration for several reasons, the first being that I think having a large number of undocumented individuals roaming around the country is a terrible idea. I think that we should increase the number of legal immigrants we allow in every year to boost tax revenue which could be used to tighten security on illegal immigrants who often work and get paid “under the table” and avoid paying taxes. In the case of Farmingville, I believe there was a racial component to the issue but I also understand that families and individuals don’t want large numbers of undocumented and disenfranchised males crowding houses and streets in their towns. Without meaning to, these individuals can have serious effects on a community by driving down property value and becoming a tax burden for the individuals already there. At the end of the day, almost every immigrant legal or illegal coming to the United States is doing so in search of a better life and we should be receptive to that as a nation, however, we must also be receptive to the local people and communities that deal with immigrants on a day to day basis to insure domestic tranquility and promote the general welfare as promised by the Constitution.
Declan Horrigan says:

October 9, 2017 at 9:39 pm

I find it very interesting how people’s views on the topic of immigration have shifted as well as how demographically divided these views are. Also, I agree with your view that “immigration is a divisive subject throughout the entire country” and how just because you think because someone is from a certain place, such as a generally more liberal Long Island, you should never assume someone’s stance on immigration because it is highly possible people will not believe what you expect them to. I would like to add on to your post with many statistics about people’s views on immigration and say that on top of all of that, many people have certain opinions that have absolutely no reasoning behind it, or no actually true reasoning behind it, because they simply have no idea the effect that immigrants actually have on our community. In fact, according to our textbook, immigration “has added to our rich linguistic, cultural, and religious traditions; it has also helped revitalize formerly poverty-stricken neighborhoods… Immigrants from Asia and Europe especially have also made a mark in science and technology, earning a disproportionate share of PhDs in the sciences as well as technology patents, and are responsible for creating some of the hottest high technology companies.” I can see how many people are upset about potential jobs being taken by immigrants however it is essential to understand that there are many benefits that immigration has on our society and many people do not know how much our economy relies on the work that immigrants do.
Esteban Lara says:

October 10, 2017 at 1:45 am

You make a very interesting point in this blog post, particularly in the beginning when you point out the fact that New York is usually seen as a liberal state but the polling of Farmingville shows something entirely different. It’s true that polling is very important in determining the opinions of the country, but people often fail to realize that even those who are close to them might have much different views on issues. We usually don’t know the real views and opinions of the communities we live in and sometimes polling can help bring these truths to light. It’s also important to note the correlation in the demographics of people. We don’t normally pay much attention to this (perhaps as a way to avoid profiling anyone) but it’s much more accurate than people seem to realize.
Jackson Krase says:

October 11, 2017 at 4:49 pm

I think the topic of immigration is one of the most important discussions in modern American society and will have a large impact on America’s relationship with the phenomenon of globalization. The 2016 election between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton was a striking example of the divisiveness of the immigration debate and no doubt magnified the loaded language that so often follows this discourse. While I do agree with the statistics from the Pew Research Center that show that the importance of immigration might be exaggerated in the minds of American citizens, I find trouble with your argument that few people view immigration as a major issue on their minds. In my opinion, immigration has become one of the most polarized and partisan issues in our society and will have future influence for many elections to come.
Compared to the election of 2008, data from a Gallup poll taken in 2015 shows that in the 2016 election, 60% of registered voters viewed immigration as an “important consideration” in the choosing of a candidate. Figures from a Pew Research Poll from 2016 further shows that in the 2016 election, 70% of registered voters recorded that “immigration” was “very important” to their vote. Therefore, I posit that the issue of immigration has not only increased as a major influence for voters but also has changed in nature. Starting with the United Kingdom’s vote to leave the European Union in June of 2016, a populist tide has been sweeping over the West and has dramatically altered the way in which citizens view cornerstone issues such as immigration. Trump’s nationalist and xenophobic rhetoric was based on popular sentiments from white working-class voters who viewed the political system as overlooking their interests. Thus, it is possible that for many of these specific voters, opinion polls disproportionality underrepresented their views and opinions on immigration. This produces many concerns for me regarding what information opinion polls are actually presenting as well as the overall status of immigration in the future.

Comments are closed.