Immigration summit urges unity for upcoming election

The Fifth Annual Immigration Summit took place on July 11 and 12, bringing together community members interested in participating in the discourse regarding immigration issues on the local, state and national levels. 

“If one candidate wins, we are going to have to be very defensive and protect the gains we’ve made to protect our fellow immigrant brothers and sisters,” said Miguel Santana, president and Chief Executive Officer at the California Community Foundation. “If the other candidate wins, we’re going to make sure we don’t go another four years without comprehensive immigration reform.” 

The summit’s purpose is to gather community activists, elected officials, academics, philanthropists and advocates to discuss the findings of the latest annual State of Immigrants in Los Angeles (SOILA) report released by the USC Equity Research Institute, spearheaded by Manuel Pastor, Ph.D. 

The report includes a survey of over 800 immigrant households in Los Angeles and highlights issues accessing resources, barriers to meeting basic needs and the greater picture of how these facts and figures have changed over time. Pastor says that the biggest takeaway from this research is that immigrant inclusion is really everyone’s business in Los Angeles. 

“Following the 2008-09 Great Recession, a study was conducted that asked the question: ‘Did having immigrants shield white male workers from layoffs?’” said Pastor. 

The study he is referring to points out that immigrant labor actually saved many white men from losing their jobs to mass layoffs because immigrants supplemented the labor shortage and many companies were saved from the financial burden of losing cheap labor.

“What you hear right now in politics is the Trump phenomenon trying to tap into white male anxiety about immigrants taking their jobs,” said Pastor. “The Congressional Budget Office estimates that if there weren’t any immigrants coming into the country right now, our economy would slow down, making prices go up and creating supply-chain problems.” 

According to the USC Equity Research Institute, 60% of children in Los Angeles County have at least one immigrant parent. That means their financial wellness determines generational success or failure to stabilize. This impacts the overall success of the county in numbers. 

Pastor stressed that this report looks profoundly into the entire diversity of the immigrant experience, rather than just focusing on Latin American communities. 

“In Los Angeles, U.S-born Latinos outnumber foreign-born Latinos and that’s a different experience for Asians, so we’ve tried to include the entire population of immigrants,” said Pastor. 

Much of the polarization on immigration issues is based on the negative discourse regarding job security, safety and resource acquisition. In the most recent political debate for the 2024 Election, immigrants were scapegoated for many issues regarding the economy, such as job losses for natural-born citizens. The debate also focused heavily on crime brought on by immigrants, which a Northwestern University report points out is inaccurate. 

“One bit of good news is that there has been pretty good progress for both green card holders and undocumented immigrants and that’s in part most likely due to labor efforts to unionize hotel workers and restaurant workers, and also the increase in the minimum wage” said Pastor. 

Key findings of the SOILA report: 

Linguistic Isolation

• 43% of over 800 immigrants surveyed require translation services and have trouble connecting with others due to language barriers.

• Asian American and Latino immigrant households experience the highest rates of linguistic isolation at 27% and 22% respectively.

• From 2020 to 2021, Black immigrant households that experienced linguistic isolation more than doubled from 4% to 10%.

Naturalization

• As of 2021, the rate of naturalization for those above the 150% Federal Poverty Level was 75%, compared to 65% who are below the FPL. This means that more higher wage immigrants are becoming legal citizens than those who require public assistance programs such as Medi-Cal and food stamps through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. 

• 21% of immigrants feel they do not have enough access to information on how to apply for citizenship. This means that many of the people who aim to gain legal status hit roadblocks along the way that prevent them from gaining citizenship lawfully. 

Digital Divide

• Since 2017, undocumented households have experienced the highest levels of digital inaccessibility at 42% in 2021, compared to 24% of U.S-born households.

• 26% of immigrant respondents do not have reliable access to the internet.

• 68% of immigrants say they use social media as their method to get voting information. Immigrants are then more likely to come across misinformation that targets them through algorithms and other analytics. 

Economic mobility is an immigration issue that affects everyone at local, state and national levels. Immigrants need accessibility to economic opportunity to contribute to the economy on all levels. The report suggests that greater accessibility to information on how to start small businesses and embark on other entrepreneurial endeavors is critical for immigrants who face barriers to employment opportunities, and who then resort to self-employment and other informal work that in turn lowers contribution to the economy. 

Economic key findings: 

Income

• 26% of immigrants surveyed say they cannot comfortably afford their daily needs. 

• 35% of immigrants surveyed feel their income has not gone up enough to keep up with the cost of living.

Housing

• As of 2021, 67% of undocumented immigrants are living in overcrowded housing.

• 25% of immigrants who responded to the survey feel as though they cannot build a secure future in L.A County. 

According to the most recent report by the United Nations, 2023 was a record-breaking year for displaced people all over the world, with a concentration of displaced people in Sudan and Gaza. The report estimates that a record 75.9 million people are living in internal displacement, with 47 million of those cases being new. The push for immigration reform is a polarizing issue that can only begin to be solved with a comprehensive approach that considers the casualties of war, displacement, economic opportunity and basic need factors such as food and shelter. 

“Immigration is not just a special interest, it’s a common good kind of thing,” said Pastor. “We need to come up with more ways to reach people who are not initially with us.” 

Among the many courses of action toward solving this issue, Pastor recommends taking old, white people to naturalization ceremonies. 

“What they might begin to realize is that you don’t become an American by some dint of race or ethnicity. You become American because you agree to a set of principles about democracy, contributing and [upholding] values.” 

Mayor Karen Bass closed out the event with a final fireside chat regarding immigration in the upcoming Presidential election. 

“We will not recognize our country if we have another four years with [Trump],” said Mayor Bass. “I know a lot of people are not enthusiastic about seeing Biden on the ballot, but I just hope we can all get a grip as to what would happen to our country if [Trump] gets back in again.”