So are we surprised that immigration reform did not make the list of questions during tonight’s third and final presidential debate? The only mention came when Sen. John McCain said his immigration stance had been distorted by Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign.

Given the state of the economy, I can’t say I’m surprised that the issue didn’t come up. But it certainly could have freshened up the discussion, in which the candidates repeated a lot of lines from their previous debates. And did we really learn anything from all that air time about the negative tone of the campaign?

The New York Immigration Coalition is asking CBS to include a question on immigration reform in tomorrow night’s presidential debate. Yes, the economy and foreign policy and health care are bigger issues, but the statewide coalition wants at least one mention before the debates end. Chung-Wha Hong, the executive director, said there’s a strange disconnect: The candidates are courting the immigrant vote, but also avoiding discussion about the immigration issue.

“The American people are crying out for a solution on immigration reform. And the presidential candidates really owe it to the voters to articulate their vision and plan instead of this complete blackout and silence on immigration reform,” she said.

“It’s an important issue, not only for immigrants but for all Americans who care about family values, security and the economic prosperity of this nation,” she said.

I asked during a press conference in NYC today what particular question they would ask, in order to get some specifics, rather than the usual immigrants-make-this-country-great type of answer. Pat Young, an attorney with the Central American Refugee Center and the Westchester Hispanic Coalition, suggested asking for a timetable for immigration reform. Some Democrats have talked about putting that issue on the back burner until 2011.

So, what can we expect from the “immigrant vote” in Election ‘08? Or the ever-intriguing Hispanic vote? This is no swing state, but there does seem to be an unprecedented interest in the presidential race, even in the smallest corners of Westchester. Perhaps this grocery store window in New Rochelle is an indication.

The store is Tostadas Quitupan, owned by former New Rochelle council member Roberto Lopez. He and his wife are keeping registration forms on hand and delivering them to the county Board of Elections. Alida Yoguez also keeps a stack of forms at her store across the street, Union Ave. Liquors. I spoke to them last week for a story about how recent immigrants are being affected by the economic downturn. Yoguez said she regularly asks her customers whether their children have turned 18, and if so, gives the customer a form and follows up afterward. (Public service announcement: the New York registration deadline for the Nov. 4 election is Friday.)

It’s hard to tell in advance whether turnout will be higher than in previous elections, but a whole lot of people seem to think so. Remember the slogan from those immigration marches around the country? “Today we march, tomorrow we vote.”

I attended a “Feet in Two Worlds” discussion at the New School in NYC about the immigrant vote in ‘08. Here are some highlights:

• Given the climate on immigration this year, voting is “an act of self defense” for Hispanics, said Arturo Vargas of the National Association of Latino Elected Officials. He said naturalized citizens tend to outperform native-born citizens in voter turnout.


• Glenn Magpantay of the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund said voter registration was the key, particularly for immigrants who didn’t have a history of voting in their country of origin. “Once our community actually does register to vote, they turn out in high numbers,” he said.


• Research has shown that Hispanics have shifted farther away from the Republican Party. Among Asian-Americans, 59 percent are Democrats, 12 percent are Republicans and 27 percent are unaffiliated, Magpantay said.


• The immigration issue has received little attention in the presidential race compared to the economy, Iraq, Afghanistan, health care, etc. Then again, it depends on the audience, said Pilar Marrero of La Opinion newspaper. Both John McCain and Barack Obama are focusing on immigration in their Spanish-language ads. Marrero said she’s making a point of informing her readers that the messages are sometimes quite different in English vs. Spanish. At the GOP convention, for example, the Spanish-language media was told not to look at the platform, but at McCain’s statements. “It’s kind of a schizophrenic approach to the issue,” she said.

For the first time in a decade, the influx of undocumented immigrants to the United States fell below that of legal permanent residents, according to another Pew Hispanic Center report out today.

The undocumented population is still growing — it’s up by 40 percent since 2000. But new estimates put the yearly influx at about 500,000 a year, as opposed to 800,000 a year during the early part of the decade. The arrivals of legal permanent residents, or green-card holders, has held steady. (These figures reflect a net gain new arrivals only, because people can move in and out of legal status. Those with pending asylum claims or temporary protected status are counted as undocumented.)

You can link to the Pew report here. It puts the “unauthorized” population in the United States at 11.9 million, down from 12.4 million in 2007. The economic slowdown, increased immigration enforcement and stable growth in Mexico could be factors, according to the report.

Other findings:

• Undocumented immigrants are 30 percent of the United States’ foreign-born population. They make up 4 percent of the entire U.S. population.


• Most of the undocumented are from Mexico — 58 percent — and another 22 percent come from other Latin American countries. Twelve percent come from Asia, and the remaining 8 percent are from Europe, Canada, Africa and elsewhere.

A new report from the Pew Hispanic Center charts the impact of the economic downturn on immigrants — specifically non-citizens, who are traditionally more vulnerable to changes in the job market.

The median U.S. household income inched up just 1.3 percent between 2006 and 2007, but for non-citizen households, incomes fell 7.3 percent.

“Less-skilled workers in blue-collar occupations can benefit tremendously from tight labor markets but are also the most susceptible to economic downturns,” the report says.

Other findings:

• The worst income drops seen among non-citizens in 2006-07 were among Hispanics, construction workers and those with less education and fewer years in the United States.


• The main cause of the drop seems to be the decline in construction. The industry lost more than 700,000 jobs in 2007.


• Nearly half of non-citizen immigrant households are headed by an undocumented immigrant.

UPDATE: Here’s my story about the Pew findings, and the local angle:

Oct. 6, 2008

Leah Rae

The Journal News

Marisol Guadian works on the proverbial Main Street, and says she’s seen Wall Street’s troubles trickling down for months now.
Her clients are mostly immigrants who come into the TelePort-Chester agency in Port Chester for money transfers and plane tickets. Customers still wire money home to family members in Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador, Colombia and Peru, but only in half the amounts they once did. And most travelers have a new request.
“The people come in and say, ‘I’m looking for only one way,” she said. “This year is terrible.”
Whether immigrants are returning to their countries of origin in any large numbers remains a topic of speculation. But studies are beginning to document a slowdown of illegal immigration into the United States and a drop in the amount of money being sent back to countries in Latin America.

Read more of this entry »

The Organization of Chinese Americans, Westchester and Hudson Valley Chapter, is holding a “Meet the Candidates” event Oct. 15 at Pace University.

OCA says: “The “Meet the Candidates” forum is a presentation of candidates for elective offices and an opportunity for all Asian Americans and all individuals interested in politics to meet the candidates in person to have a meaningful dialogue. We will invite all the candidates running for office this Fall, and listen to them address issues affecting our community.”

The event runs from 5:30 to 9 p.m. at the Kessell Campus Center, Butcher Suites, at the Pleasantville Campus.

How will the U.S. economic crisis affect immigration? We’re starting to see some indicators. The Bank of Mexico has been tracking remittances by migrants for more than a decade, and last month it saw the largest drop ever, reports AP.

Mexicans abroad (mostly in the United States) sent back $2.2 billion in August 2007. Last month that figure was down 12 percent, to $1.9 billion.

Economic turmoil in the United States, increased deportations are among the factors.

In New York, the advocacy group Asociación Tepeyac is calling for support programs in Mexico that would help returning migrants re-establish themselves. “Given the difficult economic conditions in which many immigrants are living in the US, during this time of economic recession, thousands of Mexican immigrants will be returning to their home towns,” the organization said in a release today.