Immigration Advocates Fight Against Tough Talk
Immigration Advocates Fight Against Tough Talk
Despite heated rethoric at the national level, some U.S. cities are embracing immigrants by developing programs and services, according to a new report by AS/COA, Welcoming America, and USC's CSII.
Despite harsh commentary on immigration in the presidential race, some US cities are embracing immigrants by developing programs and services to help them assimilate according to David Lubell, executive director of Welcoming America.
"This is part of what I call a welcoming wave tied to immigration, despite the heated rhetoric on the national level," Lubell said. "It was already strong in New York and San Francisco, but is now evident in new gateway cities like Nashville and Atlanta and in older cities like Pittsburgh."
He was speaking at a forum sponsored by the Americas Society/Council of the Americas in New York on Dec 15 titled: Local Action, National Change: City-Level Efforts to Welcome Immigrants.
Serving as the foundation for the forum was a report on how some cities in the US are encouraging immigration by establishing offices that help immigrants integrate into society. The report was prepared by the University of Southern California Center for the Study of Immigration and backed by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Knight Foundation.
Lubell noted how prevalent immigration is in the US now. "In 1965, one in 20 in the US was foreign born. Now, one in seven is foreign born, so immigration is much more prevalent," he said.
New York has long been identified as a city that not only welcomes immigrants but takes pride in its historical ties to immigration. Nisha Agarwal is the current commissioner of the New York City Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs....
