by Ruth Gened
An interim Immigrant Justice Report Card released this month by the National Latino Congreso reveals several strong disassociations between Congress members’ sponsorship and voting records on comprehensive immigration reform-related issues and the desires of their constituents.
A recent Benenson Strategy Group poll showed that 68 percent of likely voters support pro-immigrant reforms such as legislation which would allow undocumented immigrants to apply for citizenship after satisfying certain requirements.
In contrast, only 37 percent of all pro-immigrant measures were supported by their elected representatives.
While three-quarters or more of Democratic members backed pro-immigrant proposals, Republican members rejected them overwhelmingly. (See shaded chart above.) The NLC graded members based on their records of co-sponsoring bills or casting votes on others’ proposals.
Despite the fact that the majority of Democrat, Republican and Independent voters favored legislation to facilitate acquisition of citizenship, the overall majority of members supported bills that would actually impede immigrants on the path toward legalization.
In releasing its survey, the National Latino Congreso stated, “It is important for members of Congress to know that Latino voters and other important immigrant groups will be studying their records to determine whether or not they are truly voting in their best interest of their families and constituents.”
Additionally, the NLC evaluated members of Congress in terms of their positions with respect to immigration law. The outcome of these evaluations may be important to the electorate during the November elections, it noted. An American Community Survey showed that 225 House districts had more than 50,000 immigrant-profile constituents during 2007- 2009, but only 120 House members received pro-immigrant scores.
Within the House, 68.4 percent of representatives in districts with more than 50,000 Asian- American residents favored reform. This contrasts to 51.9 percent of representatives in districts with 50,000 or more Latino members and to 58.2 percent of repre sentatives of districts with
more than 50,000 foreign-born members.
These data should invite inquiries into the factors that create the differences between the relative strengths of non-white voices. The NLC also recorded signifi cant proimmigrant legislation support variation between regions; 28 percent of senators from the South received pro-immigrant scores greater than 70 percent compared to 77 percent from the Northeast, 56 percent from the North-west, and 50 percent from the Midwest. However, the Southitself is far from homogenous in terms of proimmigrant support among representatives.
The South Atlantic region shows the highest levels of support with more than 50 percent of representatives achieving scores of 70 percent or better compared to 13 percent of the West South Central region and 0 percent of the East South Central region.
The statistical representation of these southern areas, which contain large numbers of Latinos, heavily contribute to the overall disconnect between the general population and members of congress.
The NLC report concludes by reiterating the mismatch between representatives’ records of support and the views of their respective constituencies. The Congreso warns “The NLC strongly believes that the failure to enact progressive immigration reform legislation is contrary to good policy for the nation…this failure to act is also bad politics. The IJRC Interim Progress Report provides an advance indication of the need for many current legislators to adjust their voting to match their current and future constituencies.”
MALDEF president Thomas Sainz commented: ”Continued federal in action is not only bad policy, it’s bad politics.”
Angela Sanbrano, board president of the National Alliance of Latin American and Caribbean Communities, said it “is resulting in a human tragedy at the grassroots levels as raids, deportations, and racial profi ling have become the rule, not the exception.
Heavy-handed federal enforcement and right wing state and local policies gone amok are dividing families and abusing entire communities.”
SAMPLE SENATE BILL (‘NO’ vote regarded as proimmigrant) Senate Vote 220 – HR 2892: Fiscal 2010 Homeland Security Appropriations – Border Fence Construction July 08, 2009 – DeMint, R-S.C., amendment no. 1399 to the Reid, D-Nev., substitute amendment no. 1373. The DeMint amendment would require that a fence be built along the US-Mexican border by Dec. 31, 2010. The substitute would provide $44.3 billion excluding mandatory spending; $1.5 billion for the Secret Service and $7 billion fo FEMA. It also would prohibit funding after Jan. 4, 2010, for Loran-C, a land-based radio navigation system. (continues with general budget breakdown) Adopted 54-44: R 33-7; D 21-35; I 0-2. Hispanic Link.
