EDUCATORS: NEWSFEED

Will Too Much Debt Fuel A Double-Dip Recession?

Francie Grace — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:33:22 -0500

That was the question raised by President Obama during an interview in China (one of our biggest creditors), as cartoonists seized the opportunity to comment on America's looming national debt. "It is important," said Mr. Obama, "to recognize that if we keep on adding to the debt, even in the midst of this recovery, that at some point, people could lose confidence in the U.S. economy in a way that could actually lead to a double-dip recession."

More pressure on this issue is coming from the newly unveiled $848 billion Senate health care bill, which includes a number of tax increases, and is estimated by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office to have the potential to slash federal deficits by $130 billion over the next decade.

Some lawmakers aren't so sure. The Washington Post quotes Sen. Judd Gregg (R, NH) as saying the bill "may claim to be deficit-neutral, [but] it uses sleight-of-hand budgetary tricks by assuming unrealistic tax increases and Medicare cuts that members of Congress will not be willing to follow through on."

Where do you stand? There's never been a more important time to keep up with the issues and let policymakers know your views on which options they should pursue. To learn more, compare the health care proposals and check out the Citizen's Survival Kit and FacingUp.org, our web site and curriculum dedicated to helping citizens get the facts and participate in solutions to America's federal budget deficit and national debt problem.

College and high school students have yet another opportunity to get involved and have their voices heard, by participating in our Students Face Up to the Nation's Finances contest for essays and video presentations on the deficit and national debt. There are prizes of $500 each for the best entries, which are due by December 11th; click here for details.

Students Face Up to the Nation's Finances is made possible by a grant from the Peter G. Peterson Foundation.

Listening To Young Americans On The Deficit

Francie Grace — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:12:12 -0500

You wouldn't think the bottom line on the $1.6 trillion federal budget deficit and $11.9 trillion national debt crisis could be summed up in a single sentence, but when the right words whizzed by, the Wall Street Journal's David Wessel was quick to point them out. Words to remember, in a speech by Douglas Elmendorf, director of the Congressional Budget Office: "The country faces a fundamental disconnect between the services the people expect the government to provide, particularly in the form of benefits for older Americans, and the tax revenues that people are willing to send to the government to finance those services."

These words underscore the fact that no matter how complicated and increasingly urgent this problem is, it is one which can be understood by most Americans – who can then consider, debate, and decide on options for the best way to reduce the deficit before its sheer weight makes many decisions for us.

Through PublicAgenda.org, FacingUp.org and our Students Face Up to the Nation's Finances interactive curriculum for college students, we've been helping people understand the problem, why it matters, and how to get involved in the process of charting a path to fiscal health. This fall, we extended the reach of the Facing Up curriculum to include high school and middle school students, who have been using our learning materials as part of the University of Virginia's Youth Leadership Initiative program.

Through that partnership, we also got a chance to hear more about how young people feel about the fiscal crisis which is shaping all of our futures. In a mock election held to give students a chance to speak out on a range of issues, 77 percent favored a balanced budget; an increase in the age for Social Security eligibility was supported by 64 percent; and increasing payroll taxes was favored by 53 percent. Reducing Social Security benefits was opposed by 69 percent.

We'll be hearing a lot more about these issues beginning on Monday, when we start accepting entries for the Students Face Up to the Nation's Finances contest for students, with $500 prizes for the best essays and best multimedia presentations on the federal budget deficit and national debt and what ought to be done about it. The contest has two divisions - one for college students, and another for high school students – and all will have a chance to comment on and discuss each other's ideas.

December 11 is the entry deadline; click here to see the full contest rules. Students Face Up to the Nation's Finances, a nonpartisan curriculum available at FacingUp.org, is available to users free of charge thanks to a grant from the Peter G. Peterson Foundation.

Choices for the Future

Scott Bittle — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 10:35:00 -0500

You know you're in for a bout of grim reading when the international agency charged with worrying about how we power the planet starts off its fact sheet with a question like this: "Why is our current energy pathway unsustainable?"

That's the message from the International Energy Agency, which issued its World Energy Outlook report, the organization's annual examination of the big picture. That picture itself hasn't changed all that much. The fundamental challenge is still to meet surging worldwide demand for energy while at the same time coming up with ways to avoid global warming and keep energy relatively affordable.

Basically, the IEA says everything depends on whether or not world leaders get serious about climate change, very soon.

If we do nothing, then worldwide energy demand is projected to soar by 40 percent by 2030. The vast majority of that increase is going to come in the developing world, as people in China, India and throughout Asia see their standard of living rise. Even keeping up with that demand would require investing another $26 trillion. And unless things change, most of that energy is going to come from fossil fuels, which means "dire consequences for climate change" and air pollution, the IEA said.

On the other hand, if world leaders committed to fighting climate change with cap-and-trade policies, increased energy efficiency, and greater use of renewable energy, that would cost another $10.5 trillion (on top of the $26 trillion). But energy demand growth could be cut in half, and greenhouse gases would decline.

Not that the prospects for this look particularly good right now. Most observers say hopes for a real deal out of next month's Copenhagen climate conference are fading, one major reason being that the United States still hasn't figured out what it wants to do. There's a chance the Obama administration will put something in place on its own even if Congress doesn't act, but in any case, it's unlikely a deal with be struck without American leadership.

Chances are you've never heard of the IEA. While the agency has enormous influence among policymakers, and while there are bitter disputes over its estimates, it barely registers with the public. But despite the IEA's wonky tone and elite audience, the report has one great strength when it comes to getting the public involved: it focuses on choices and alternatives.

The world has decisions to make about energy. Everything we've learned about how people get engaged in making policy decisions shows that choices are essential. Nothing's perfect, and there are always tradeoffs to everything. Setting those options out fairly to the public is critical to building public support for change.

The IEA actually lays out the cost of those alternatives for policymakers. We can only hope that policymakers will turn around and do the same for the public.

Still Number One

Scott Bittle — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:30:36 -0500

As if anyone needed proof that immigration will remain a major issue, a new international survey reports that some 700 million people worldwide say they would move to another country if they could. Not surprisingly, the largest single group, one-quarter, say their first choice would be to come to the United States.

We can't speak to the view of those overseas, but we can certainly talk about the immigrants who are already here. In our survey of immigrants, A Place to Call Home, we found a powerful endorsement of life in America. More than seven in 10 say that if they could do it all over again, they'd still come to the United States. Just as many say they intend to make the United States their permanent home.

The reasons are simple enough: immigrants buy into American society. Three-quarters say the United States is "a unique country that stands for something special." Strong majorities also rate the U.S. as better than their birth country on a range of dimensions, including making a good living, having a trustworthy legal system and providing education and health care.

With all the ups and downs of our international reputation, with all the challenges we face, people still want to come to America. And the ones who have already come here, want to stay. That's a powerful endorsement – and in fact, you couldn't ask for a better one.

The "Awkward Age" – America's Human Resources Challenge

Francie Grace — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:41:25 -0500

The term used to be applied to early adolescence, but there's a new tricky phase of life: people from their late 50s to late 60s: healthier and longer-lived than previous generations, and many wanting or needing to stay in the workforce. So says Public Agenda's Andrew Yarrow, in a Baltimore Sun Op Ed with a lot of great links to organizations that are helping both older workers and the economy, with job training programs and opportunities for those who'd like to share their experience with others a few years behind them in their careers. Click here to check out the full article.

Supporting Teacher Talent

Peiting Chen — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:40:10 -0500

At the same time, only ten percent say student performance on standardized tests would be an "excellent" measure of teacher success.

The findings, which include an exploration of attitudes toward unions, are part of a national study designed to provide a comprehensive and nuanced look at the question of whether different generations bring different aspirations, concerns and perspectives to teaching.

Supporting Teacher Talent: The View From Generation Y is the second in a series of three reports funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Joyce Foundation.

Click here to see the first report in this series, Teaching For A Living: How Teachers See The Profession Today, released on Oct. 19, 2009.

Chilly Reception for Climate Change Bill?

Scott Bittle — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:47:56 -0500

The Senate environment committee is supposed to vote on a landmark bill to fight climate change this week. But the legislation's fate is in doubt as Democrats remain divided and Republicans may not even show up. The core of the struggle comes over the crucial part of any proposal to deal with energy and global warming: making tradeoffs. We've got resources to help you work through the choices senators are wrestling with, including Who Turned Out the Lights? Your Guided Tour to the Energy Crisis, the new book by Public Agenda's Scott Bittle and Jean Johnson. Click here to learn more.

Supporting Teacher Talent: The View From Generation Y

Francie Grace — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 09:55:25 -0500

New research by Public Agenda and Learning Point Associates examining the views of Generation Y teachers shows that 71 percent are open to financial incentives for teachers who consistently work harder and put in more time and effort. Just ten percent say student performance on standardized tests would be an "excellent" measure of teacher success. The study, examining whether different generations bring different aspirations, concerns and perspectives to teaching, is the second in a series of three reports funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Joyce Foundation.

Young Teachers Assess Old Views and Traditional Methods

Peiting Chen — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:57:52 -0400

Inflation On Campus

Francie Grace — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 12:54:20 -0400

Dig deeper! Tuition and fees are up by about 6.5 percent at public four-year colleges, which are struggling with state budget cuts, and by about 4.4 percent at private colleges, hit by stock market losses in their endowments. The report from the College Board comes as our research shows a majority believes a college degree is both an indispensable ticket to the middle class and increasing numbers of people believe college is financially out of reach for many qualified students. To learn more, see our studies on this issue: Squeeze Play, Campus Commons, The Iron Triangle and Sharing The Dream.

Teaching for a Living

Peiting Chen — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 13:59:00 -0400

Two out of five of American K-12 teachers appear disheartened and disappointed about their jobs, according to Public Agenda's Teaching for a Living study, conducted with Learning Point Associates and released in association with Education Week.

The research, designed to learn more about how to support and retain the most promising teachers, focuses on questions like why people become teachers, what are their frustrations, and what reforms they think would improve their work.

Our findings include a cluster analysis revealing three distinct groups of teachers: the “Disheartened,” the “Contented,” and the “Idealists.”

This is the first in a series of three reports funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Joyce Foundation.

Click here to see the second report, Supporting Teacher Talent: The View From Generation Y, released Nov. 2, 2009. For more information, please contact Public Agenda communications manager Melissa Feldsher at mfeldsher@publicagenda.org or 212-686-6610, extension 50.

Teaching for a Living: Voices From The Classroom

Scott Bittle — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:28:49 -0400

Two out of five of America’s teachers appear disheartened and disappointed about their jobs, according to new research released by Public Agenda and Learning Point Associates in association with Education Week. The new report probes why people become teachers, their frustrations, and what reforms they favor. We find teachers fall into three groups: the Disheartened, the Contented and the Idealists. Find out more about what this may mean for our schools in Teaching for a Living, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and The Joyce Foundation.

Beyond the Plateau on Math Scores

Scott Bittle — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:52:56 -0400

The latest edition of the "nation's report card" shows that math scores failed to improve for the first time since 1990, and you don't have to have great math skills to know that isn't good enough. But how do we move skills forward?

The National Assessment of Educational Progress reported this week that fourth-grade math skills have been flat since 2007, after more than 17 years of steady if limited progress. That's prompted a lot of debate over whether this means the federal No Child Left Behind law has stalled, what this may mean for the standards movement in general, and how we teach math in the public schools.

Those are all critical points. Based on Public Agenda's research, we'd suggest one more factor to think about: parents.

Overall, we've found that parents see standards as "necessary, but not sufficient" in raising student achievement. But we've also found a troubling complacency among parents about math and science achievement, in particular. Parents say they're generally satisfied with the math education their children get, and their concern about math and science achievement declined since the mid-1990s. To be fair, that was during a period when NAEP math scores were rising. But parents certainly didn't share the urgency of business and academic leaders, who worry that the U.S. has a lot further to do, and is in danger of losing its edge in math and science.

Our work also suggests ways of closing that urgency gap. In Kansas City, where our public engagement team has worked with local groups on math and science education, we found it helps to"speak the language of opportunity," pointing out the connection between math skills and getting ahead in life.

The other question the new scores raise is how well teachers are performing when it comes to math. NAEP did an intriguing analysis this time based on the training of math teachers: whether they had an undergraduate degree in math or in education.

According to NAEP's analysis, fourth-graders whose teachers reported having an undergraduate major in education scored higher than those with teachers who reported having a minor or not having a degree in education. Eighth-graders with teachers who had an undergraduate major or minor in math scored higher than students whose teachers did not have a major or minor in math.

Our 2007 Lessons Learned survey of first-year teachers had an interesting counterpoint to this. We asked elementary school teachers if they felt "confident and well-prepared" to teach different subjects. This isn't a measure of how well teachers are actually trained – just where they feel confident and where they feel shaky.

There wasn't much difference in reading and math, with 64 percent saying they were "very confident" teaching reading and writing and 61 percent very confident in math. In math, there wasn't any statistically significant difference between alternative certification teachers and those who were traditionally trained (although the alternative certification teachers had unique concerns in other areas, like not getting enough support overall).

For more elementary school teachers, the weak area turned out to be not math, but science, where only 38 percent said they were very confident.

Q14. (From Lessons Learned) How confident and well-prepared are you in each of the following subject areas. (First,) How confident and well-prepared are you in ...?

READ FOR FIRST ITEM, THEN AS NECESSARY: Are you very confident and well-prepared, somewhat confident and well-prepared, not too confident and well-prepared, or not at all confident and well-prepared?

		Very	Somewhat	Not too	Not at all	DK/Ref.	(N)
a. Math	Total	61%	31%	4%	1%	2%	(440)
b. Science	Total	38%	48%	10%	1%	3%	(440)
c. Reading and Writing	Total	64%	30%	4%	*	2%	(440)

School Days, School Years

Scott Bittle — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 11:53:06 -0400

The Obama administration has been making noises about a longer school year, and the Associated Press takes the opportunity to examine whether American students need to spend more time in class. We can't say whether or not that will improve student achievement, but we can say it goes to one of American parents' big concerns about their children.

The president called on school systems to hold longer school days and extend school into the summer as well. It's not a new idea, and students in many countries have longer school years than Americans (although American students have a longer school day than many).

When we examined parents' attitudes about out of school time, however, academics proved to be only part of the picture. The summer months proved to be the most difficult time for parents to find things for their kids to do, and low-income and minority parents were even more worried about this. Low-income and minority parents were also more interested in academics during summer and after-school work than other parents.

Climate Change, Act I: Huddle At The U.N.

Scott Bittle — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 10:40:44 -0400

This has been "Climate Week" at the United Nations, bringing world leaders, experts, advocates and celebrities together to help set the stage for negotiations later this year on a new treaty for greenhouse gas reduction. But with the deadline for the Copenhagen conference drawing near, are leaders and the public anywhere near each other in discussing this problem?

Kind of. But there's a long way to go.

One of the issues for the public is that energy is a "triple threat" problem. Climate change is certainly part of the challenge, but so are energy prices and energy security. Naturally enough during "climate week" there's been a lot of focus on public opinion about global warming, and in Public Agenda's Energy Learning Curve™ study, seven in 10 survey participants said that they worry about global warming at least "somewhat."

But even more were worried about price (89 percent) and that we're too dependent on oil (83 percent). Even more telling is the intensity of their concern. Some 57 percent worry "a lot" about prices and 47 percent worry a lot about oil dependence, but only 32 percent say they worry a lot about global warming. That's 25 points behind prices.

But there's good news for leaders on climate change, because while the public may be more worried about other things, they end up backing many of the same solutions. There's broad consensus that the country should pursue, especially alternative energy, conservation and incentives to become more efficient. There's a lot of support for solutions – it's just that the public's reasons may be different those of the climate activists.

For more on this subject, check out Facing The Challenges Of Climate Change: A Guide For Citizen Thought And Action and Climate Change: Is It Getting Hot In Here? in our Citizen's Survival Kit.

A Sign Of Hope On HIV/AIDS

Francie Grace — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 10:29:08 -0400

There's a potential milestone in the fight against HIV, with word that for the very first time, a vaccine has been found to provide a small but measurable protective effect against the disease.

The results in the vaccine study are said to be barely significant on statistical grounds, and their real importance may be as a basis for further research on the way the immune system works in connection with HIV.

Participants in Public Agenda's recent study, Impressions Of HIV/AIDS In America: Building Public Support For Workable Solutions To End The Epidemic, voiced a lot of support for putting more resources behind the search for a vaccine.

Jonathan Rochkind, lead author of the report, says that similar to what we have seen in research on other topics – for example, energy – this focus group study also suggests the public puts a lot of faith in science and technology as a solution to many problems, including disease.

But in our focus groups, we also heard more than a few participants voicing skepticism about the search for a vaccine, saying that if a vaccine isn't on the way, it must be because of either lack of funds, or reluctance from drug companies.

Another important point was voiced by most of the experts – scientists, activists, community leaders, directors of public health organizations and state lawmakers – who were interviewed for our study. While nearly all supported ramping up efforts to develop a vaccine, most also cautioned against an "all eggs in one basket" single-minded emphasis on the race for a vaccine and advocated for a focus on the groups which have been found to be most at risk.

The consensus among the experts was that the greatest impact right now in the war against HIV/AIDS would be found by delivering more access to health care, more information about the spread of disease and more testing for HIV/AIDS in those high-risk communities, all adding up to a better score on prevention.

Click here to take a look at our report.

The Recession's Imprint On Immigration

Scott Bittle — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 10:00:22 -0400

New census data suggests the recession is deterring new immigrants from coming to the United States – but Public Agenda's research shows it isn't shaking those who are already here.

The percentage of foreign-born people in the United States dipped slightly in 2008, the first time that's happened this decade. The foreign-born population fell from 12.6 percent in 2007 to 12.5 percent in 2008. The total number of non-citizens fell from 21.9 million to 21.6 million.

Experts said fewer people are emigrating to the United States because of the recession, and the census data picked up other recession-related changes, too. Homeownership rates and median home values both fell, for example. And not only are fewer people moving to America, but fewer Americans are moving anywhere, as the number who changed residences dropped from 16 percent to 15 percent.

Our new survey of immigrants, A Place to Call Home, also picked up indications of economic strain. Six in 10 said the economy was the biggest problem facing the nation, and there were significant increases in those who cite economic concerns, like getting a job, as major reasons to pursue citizenship. If anything, newer immigrants – those who have come here since 2002 – are even more likely to cite getting a job (82 percent versus 65 percent) and being eligible for government aid (46 percent versus 31 percent) as major reasons to become citizens.

Yet the recession doesn't seem to have shaken fundamental perceptions: seven in 10 immigrants say they plan to make the United States their permanent home, comparable with the last time we asked in 2002.

We found the Mexican immigrants we surveyed are even more concerned about the economy than others, yet also even more likely to say the U.S. will be their permanent home – 80 percent compared to 68 percent of all other immigrants.

School Of Hard Shocks: Should Everyone Go To College?

Francie Grace — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 18:13:34 -0400

Jean Johnson, director of Public Agenda's Education Insights research unit, was among those discussing this question at a September Urban Institute forum in Washington, D.C. Click here to read our story on this event and here to listen to the audio webcast of the diverse perspectives on this topic. National Public Radio education correspondent Claudio Sanchez is the moderator and subjects on the agenda include the availability of alternative paths for students who don't go to college; the prospects for public colleges, with battered budgets and overflowing applicant lists, and concerns about students who do not graduate.

A Place to Call Home

Peiting Chen — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 18:03:58 -0400

Immigrants are holding fast to their belief that America remains the land of opportunity, according to a new Public Agenda study. Majorities of immigrants report they become comfortable in the United States quickly, even as ties to their birth country have become stronger since we last surveyed immigrants in 2002.

Concerns about discrimination have remained stable, but the economy is taking a toll on immigrants' satisfaction in the United States, and increasing numbers say practical concerns are important reasons to pursue citizenship. The report also includes special examinations of the attitudes of Hispanic and Muslim immigrants.

This report was prepared for the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Immigration 2009 Topline

Peiting Chen — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 13:31:55 -0400

Introduction: Views On Immigration

Part One: The Right Move

Part Two: Fitting In

Part Three: Common Threads,
Different Voices

In Their Own Words

Survey Questions & Answers

Views of the U.S.

Life as an immigrant

Parents and children

Interactions with the government

Views on discrimination

Legal status and citizenship

Immigration policy

Charts & Graphs

Methodology

Funding & Acknowledgments

Download Full Report (PDF)

News Releases

Full Survey Results

A Place To Call Home: What Immigrants Say Now About Life In America is based on a telephone survey, utilizing both landline and cellular telephones (click here for more on the methodology of this study and the characteristics of our sample). Respondents include a representative sample of 1,138 foreign-born adults, 18 years and older who currently live in the United States and came to the United States at the age of five or older. The study employed a hybrid, stratified design that combined random digit dialing and listed sample to increase the incidence of households with foreign-born adults from South Asian, East Asian, Middle Eastern and Central/South American heritage. Interviews were conducted between April 23 and June 7, 2009.

Results of less than 0.5 percent are signified by an asterisk. Results of zero are signified by a dash. Responses may not always total 100 percent due to rounding. Combining answer categories may produce slight discrepancies between numbers in these survey results and numbers in the report.

Participants in "A Place To Call Home"	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries

	1138	202	194	158	269	140	175

1. Overall, would you say that you are extremely happy, somewhat happy or generally disappointed with life in the United States?
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%


Extremely happy	34	40	35	45	32	40	24
Somewhat happy	53	53	50	38	56	52	54
Generally disappointed	10	5	12	14	6	7	18
Don’t know	1	1	2	2	1	*	*

2. What do you think is the most important problem facing the United States today? [BASE: Open-ended.]	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Aspects of the economy	42	48	40	38	43	45	37
Unemployment	20	16	14	11	21	29	15
Decaying social values /other social problems	6	4	12	11	4	2	8
Government/legislation	5	4	2	4	7	1	11
Health care /insurance affordability/availability	3	1	6	*	1	1	7
War/want peace	2	1	1	2	1	4	*
Aspects of foreign relations	3	1	*	2	1	2	4
Immigration problems/policies	2	-	*	8	4	2	3
Discrimination/racism	2	*	5	3	2	2	*
Terrorism	2	4	*	*	4	-	3
Education	1	2	2	6	*	1	*
Language	1	-	2	-	1	*	-
Other	2	5	5	1	1	1	2
None/no problems	4	12	5	6	1	2	5
Don't know	5	2	6	6	7	6	2

3. As things stand now, is it MOST likely:	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

That the United States will be your permanent home?	70	77	71	81	63	68	71

That someday you will go back to live in the country where you were born?	17	16	11	15	21	19	16

That you will move someplace else to live?	3	3	1	2	3	6	3

Don’t know	10	4	15	3	13	7	10

4. If you could do it again, would you choose:	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

To come to the United States	71	75	74	82	68	75	65
To stay in the country where you were born	19	16	14	4	26	18	25
To pick a different country to live in	6	5	5	9	4	6	8
Don’t know	3	4	8	4	2	1	3

5. When you arrived in the United States, how long did it take before you felt comfortable here and a part of the community?	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

1 to just under 2 years	47	56	33	50	57	48	46
2 to just under 5 years	30	24	37	35	23	31	30
5 to just under 10 years	9	5	11	4	10	10	8
10 years or more	5	9	11	4	2	4	3
I have never felt like I fit in	5	2	7	5	4	4	6
Don’t know	3	4	1	1	2	2	4

6. When you first came to this country, did you have a good amount of money to get you started or did you come with very little money in your pocket?	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

A good amount of money	20	38	22	37	12	6	34
Very little money	76	60	75	60	81	91	62
Don’t know	2	2	2	3	4	1	3

7. Which of these two statements comes closer to your own view?	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

The United States is a unique country that stands for something special in the world	76	87	76	82	80	70	76

The United States is just another country that is no better or worse than any other	20	8	17	13	19	29	18

Don’t know	3	4	7	4	*	1	4

8. How much do you think America’s elected officials care about the issues facing immigrants—do you think they care a lot, a little or not at all?	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Care a lot	26	40	37	44	15	13	37
A little	53	37	47	36	66	65	40
Not at all	15	17	3	6	16	19	18
Don’t know	6	6	13	13	3	3	6

9. Which comes closer to your view, even if neither is exactly right:	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

It is possible to be successful in the United States if you work hard, even if you do not have connections to help you	63	73	58	63	63	63	63

In order to be successful in the United States you need to have connections to people who can help you	35	26	38	36	35	36	37

Don’t know	1	2	4	*	2	1	*

10. Different countries have their own advantages and disadvantages. For each of the following items that I read, please tell me if you think the United States or your home country does a better job when it comes to that item, or if they are about the same?¹	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Having more opportunity to earn a good living…

The United States	88	91	80	85	87	96	82
Home country/the country where you were born	2	2	5	1	4	*	3
They’re about the same	9	6	13	14	8	2	15
Don’t know	1	1	2	*	*	2	*

Having a legal system you can trust…	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

The United States	70	83	68	67	77	70	61
Home country/the country where you were born	5	*	11	13	1	-	11
They’re about the same	23	15	18	16	19	28	28
Don’t know	2	1	3	4	3	2	1

Making good health care available…	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

The United States	67	72	64	64	70	76	54
Home country/the country where you were born	15	9	16	26	15	4	28
They’re about the same	16	18	15	7	12	19	16
Don’t know	2	1	4	2	3	1	1

Having a good education system	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

The United States	62	67	71	63	54	63	60
Home country/the country where you were born	14	11	14	18	21	5	18
They’re about the same	23	21	13	18	23	31	21
Don’t know	1	*	2	1	2	*	*

Being a good place to raise children…	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

The United States	55	40	69	61	47	66	43
Home country/the country where you were born	18	18	10	25	19	8	34
They’re about the same	25	38	20	10	29	26	22
Don’t know	2	4	1	3	5	-	1

Having a free and independent media as well as forms of free expression…	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

The United States	55	65	87	70	54	41	45
Home country/the country where you were born	9	7	4	9	7	9	15
They’re about the same	34	27	7	20	36	47	40
Don’t know	2	1	2	1	2	3	*

Having a higher standard of morality…	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

The United States	49	49	58	52	45	47	47
Home country/the country where you were born	16	22	10	14	17	11	25
They’re about the same	31	25	25	25	32	40	25
Don’t know	4	4	5	9	5	1	4

Letting people practice the religion they choose…	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

The United States	44	43	68	69	35	36	41
Home country/the country where you were born	5	5	2	6	5	-	14
They’re about the same	50	51	26	24	58	64	44
Don’t know	1	1	3	1	2	1	1

11. On this list of items, please tell me how important each thing is for immigrants to do:	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

To respect people from different racial or ethnic backgrounds…

Extremely important	83	86	74	78	84	89	81
Somewhat important	13	6	19	18	14	10	16
Not important	2	7	3	3	1	*	3
Don’t know	1	1	4	1	-	*	*

To work and stay off welfare…	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Extremely important	63	62	61	74	70	56	66
Somewhat important	25	19	24	20	16	29	30
Not important	7	14	4	3	10	10	1
Don’t know	5	5	10	3	3	4	3

To volunteer some time to community services…	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Extremely important	50	63	32	50	56	58	42
Somewhat important	42	32	60	38	39	37	43
Not important	6	4	3	11	5	3	13
Don’t know	2	1	6	1	1	1	2

12. Thinking about the people you know and spend time with, how many would you say come from your home country—a lot, some, very few or none?	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

A lot	51	45	46	29	44	72	38
Some	21	28	26	32	21	12	25
Very few	24	24	26	24	30	14	31
None	3	3	2	10	1	1	6
Don’t know	1	*	*	5	3	1	*

13. In the past year, about how often have you telephoned family or friends in your home country—at least once a week, a few times a month, a few times a year or less than that?	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

At least once a week	40	50	25	28	40	53	31
A few times a month	28	31	36	22	24	24	34
A few times a year	15	9	22	22	22	15	6
Less than that	15	8	18	21	14	7	30
Don’t know	1	1	-	*	-	2	*

14. How often do you send money to family living in your home country? Do you do this regularly, once in a while or not at all?	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Regularly	18	14	9	1	24	23	16
Once in a while	44	55	41	20	47	52	31
Not at all	37	31	46	78	28	24	53
Don’t know	1	-	3	1	1	*	*

15. In your view, is it easy or hard for new immigrants to get a good job or do well in this country without learning English?	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Very easy	4	3	3	1	3	4	6
Somewhat easy	10	13	8	10	6	6	18
Somewhat hard	32	37	30	39	32	39	19
Very hard	52	44	55	46	58	51	52
Don’t know	2	2	4	3	1	*	5

16. When you first came to the United States to live, did you already know how to speak English well, did you know a little, or did you not speak English at all?	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Already knew how to speak English well	24	61	19	37	6	-	55
Knew a little	31	33	60	34	21	25	24
Did not speak English at all	45	4	21	27	73	75	21
Don’t knowl	*	1	*	2	-	-	-

17. Which do you speak MOST of the time in your home—English or your native language, or do you speak them both about the same? [BASE: Asked of those who knew a little English or did not speak English at all when they came to the United States.]	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

English	14	16	14	35	13	5	39
Native language	64	46	58	23	67	81	34
Both about the same	21	38	28	42	19	15	27
Some other language	*	-	-	-	*	-	-

18. Have you ever taken classes to improve your English skills or not? [BASE: Asked of those who knew a little English or did not speak English at all when they came to United States.]	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Yes, have taken English classes	70	72	81	81	66	66	72
No, have never taken English classes	30	28	19	19	34	34	28

19. How well would you say you speak English now? Do you think it is excellent, good, fair or poor? [BASE: Asked of those who knew a little English or did not speak English at all when they came to United States.]	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Excellent	13	28	9	28	15	5	25
Good	22	42	33	49	15	15	31
Fair	38	29	42	20	36	42	28
Poor	26	*	14	3	31	36	15
Don’t know	*	*	1	-	1	-	*

20. Would you say you can read a newspaper or book in English very well, pretty well, just a little or not at all? [BASE: Asked of those who knew a little English or did not speak English at all when they came to United States.]	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Very well	28	62	20	58	27	17	51
Pretty well	20	19	39	17	18	13	21
Just a little	39	18	41	23	38	49	21
Not at all	13	-	*	1	16	20	7
Don’t know	*	-	-	-	-	-	*

21. Do you think that the United States should expect all immigrants who don’t speak English to learn it, or should this be left up to each individual to decide for themselves?	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

United States should expect all immigrants to learn English	56	65	52	86	52	44	70

Should be left up to each individual to decide	40	30	41	12	46	52	28

Don’t know	3	3	8	1	1	4	2

23. When it comes to students who are new immigrants, is it more important for the public schools:	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

To teach them English as quickly as possible, even if this means they fall behind in other subjects	74	74	74	88	72	75	70

To teach them other subjects in their native language even if this means it takes them longer to learn English	21	19	21	10	22	21	25

Don’t know	5	7	5	2	6	5	5

24. Are you the parent of any of these children who are under 18 years old or not? [BASE: Asked of those who have children under age 18 in household.]	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Yes, parent of child/children under 18 years old	74	74	89	84	66	72	74

No, not a parent of child/children under 18 years old	26	25	11	16	33	28	26

24a. Do you have any children who went to elementary, middle and/or high school in the United States? [BASE: Asked of those who live alone or who have no children under the age of 18 in their household.]	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Yes	38	20	32	56	42	36	47
No	62	80	68	44	58	64	53

25. Were any of these children born in the United States or not? [BASE: Asked of those who have children under age 18 in households or who have children who went to elementary, middle or high school in the United States.]	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Yes, children born in the United States	79	79	70	61	80	86	78

No, children not born in the United States	20	21	30	39	20	14	20

Don’t know	1	-	-	-	-	-	3

26. How likely do you think it is that any of these children would want to live in your home country? [BASE: Asked of those who have children under age 18 in household.]	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Very likely	7	16	3	5	1	8	7
Somewhat likely	16	19	5	17	17	20	10
Somewhat unlikely	16	19	10	28	20	13	19
Very unlikely	58	44	72	43	54	57	62
Don’t know	4	2	11	7	4	2	2

27. Overall, how well would you say your child speaks English? [BASE: Asked of all parents of children under the age of 18 in household]	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Excellent	67	82	72	82	57	57	78
Good	21	14	20	7	25	24	21
Fair	8	1	7	-	13	15	-
Poor	1	2	-	6	2	-	1
Don’t know	2	2	1	5	2	4	*

27a. Overall, how well would you say your child speaks English? [BASE: Total respondents who have children who went to elementary, middle, or high school in the U.S.]	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Excellent	84	82	78	88	77	89	89
Good	14	18	22	12	22	7	9
Fair	1	-	-	-	1	4	1
Poor	*	-	-	-	-	-	1
Don’t know	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

28. Would you say that overall, your child’s friends are more likely to be children of immigrants, children whose parents are from the United States or both about equally? [BASE: parents of children under the age of 18 in household]	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Children of immigrants	8	4	7	2	18	5	11
Children whose parents are from the United States	14	26	18	30	4	1	34
Both about equally	76	70	67	64	76	94	55
Don’t know	1	*	8	3	-	-	-

29. Would you say that overall, your child tends to associate with other children from your home country or not? [BASE: Asked of parents whose child’s friends are more likely to be children of immigrants]	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Yes	68	82	92	58	47	64	82
No	26	18	8	42	53	7	18
Don’t know	6	-	-	-	-	29	-

30. Is your child currently enrolled in elementary, middle or high school? [BASE: Asked of parents of children under the age of 18 in household]	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Elementary	30	42	34	18	50	24	22
Middle	33	34	26	34	16	47	24
High school	28	17	33	32	27	25	36
Not applicable/in day care/not in school	9	7	6	16	8	5	18
Don’t know	*	1	-	-	-	-	-

31. Thinking about the education your child is getting, do you think it is better, worse or about the same as the education you got at his/her age? [BASE: Asked of parents of children under the age of 18 in household who are currently enrolled in elementary, middle, or high school.]	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Better	75	72	80	66	63	85	65
Worse	8	13	6	10	21	4	5
The same	16	14	12	23	16	11	30
Don’t know	1	-	2	-	-	1	*

31a. Thinking about the education your child got at his/her elementary, middle or high school, do you think it was better, worse or about the same as the education you got at his/her age? [BASE: Total Respondents who have children who went to elementary, middle, or high school in the U.S.]	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Better	65	80	69	52	81	75	43
Worse	10	5	3	8	7	6	18
The same	21	13	28	13	8	11	37
Don’t know	2	2	-	27	2	-	1

32. Do you think public schools today do an excellent, good, fair or poor job of teaching your child to speak English as quickly as possible, or don’t you know enough to say? [BASE: Total parents of children under 18 in household whose child is currently enrolled in elementary, middle, or high school]	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Excellent	26	37	23	43	16	37	2
Good	35	26	47	24	33	35	38
Fair	11	7	10	4	28	11	2
Poor	2	1	*	20	2	1	*
Child born here/already spoke English	8	11	3	4	3	6	20
Don’t know enough to say	18	19	17	5	18	12	38

32a. Do you think your child’s elementary, middle or high school did an excellent, good, fair or poor job of teaching your child to speak English as quickly as possible, or don’t you know enough to say? [BASE: Total Respondents who have children who went to elementary, middle, or high school in the U.S.]	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Excellent	40	64	42	38	60	57	12
Good	22	3	33	21	29	18	18
Fair	6	-	17	2	1	15	1
Poor	*	-	-	-	*	-	-
Child born here/already spoke English	17	23	6	8	3	6	39
Don’t know enough to say	14	10	2	30	6	4	30

34. About how many years has it been since you had to deal with the U.S. Immigration Services directly—has it been less than a year, between 1 and 10 years or more than 10 years?	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Less than a year	15	26	16	6	12	7	24
Between 1 and 10 years	32	39	34	30	45	30	17
More than 10 years	38	30	38	49	26	43	43
I have no experience with the USCIS or another government agency	9	3	7	8	14	12	5
Don’t know	5	2	5	7	3	6	9

35. As far as you remember, was your experience dealing with government immigration services an overall positive one, an overall negative one, or somewhere in the middle? [BASE: Asked of those who have dealt with government immigration services.]	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Overall positive experience	58	51	34	58	66	67	60
Overall negative experience	7	17	10	6	5	3	6
Somewhere in the middle	31	31	44	34	27	27	30
Don’t know	4	1	11	2	2	3	3

36. In general, do you think that government immigration workers: [BASE: Asked of those who have dealt with government immigration services 10 years ago or less.]	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Are usually respectful and do their best to help new immigrants	68	87	72	56	64	61	68

Are usually disrespectful and don’t go out of their way to help new immigrants	20	9	13	24	31	23	18

Don’t know	9	4	14	19	5	9	14

37. In your experience, how hard is it to get information and answers about immigration and naturalization issues from the government? [BASE: Asked of those who have dealt with government immigration services 10 years ago or less.]	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Very easy	21	26	14	22	10	16	45
Somewhat easy	36	42	47	42	41	32	23
Somewhat hard	26	21	18	25	21	46	18
Very hard	13	8	15	10	22	6	15
Don’t know	3	3	7	1	6	1	*
Refused	*	*	-	-	-	-	-

38. Would you say there is a great deal of discrimination against immigrants in the United States today, some, only a little or none at all?	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

A great deal of discrimination	22	4	4	8	31	32	25
Some	40	41	45	43	41	43	33
Only a little	22	30	28	12	15	21	25
None at all	11	23	14	28	8	3	15
Don’t knowl	4	2	8	8	6	1	3

39. And now thinking only of immigrants from your home country, would you say that there is a great deal of discrimination against people from your home country in the United States today, some, only a little or none at all?	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

A great deal of discrimination against people from your home country	15	2	1	7	11	34	9
Some	28	30	30	22	23	39	18
A little	28	43	35	17	25	22	27
None at all	22	21	22	43	25	3	44
Don’t know	6	4	11	10	14	1	2

40. And how much discrimination have you personally experienced simply because you are an immigrant—a great deal of discrimination, some, only a little or none at all?	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

A great deal of discrimination	9	10	9	7	11	7	12
Some	16	15	27	25	15	16	9
Only a little	35	36	35	15	34	39	33
None at all	38	37	25	47	39	37	46
Don’t know	1	2	3	5	*	-	-

41. And in the past five years, would you say you have been discriminated against more, less or about the same as before? [BASE: Asked of those who came to the United States to live five years ago or earlier and have personally experienced any discrimination.]	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

More	17	16	7	12	16	32	8
Less	44	49	51	39	39	46	36
The same	37	32	39	37	43	22	55
Don’t know	1	1	2	12	2	-	*

42. Thinking about the last time you were discriminated against, where did it happen? [BASE: Asked of those who have personally experienced any discrimination.] [BASE: Answers are open ended.]	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

At work	37	49	22	37	41	49	24
In your community	20	14	20	17	10	20	32
Don’t know	11	22	31	6	5	3	8
At school	8	5	10	7	8	6	13
Other	5	*	6	2	7	2	10
On the street	4	*	1	-	1	9	4
At someone’s house	3	1	2	13	2	5	*
At a store (mall, market, gas station, etc.)	3	5	2	9	3	5	*
Restaurant	2	-	1	*	6	*	3
Government office (welfare office, Social Security office, etc.)	1	-	1	6	3	*	-
Looking for a job/during an interview	1	-	1	1	2	-	3
Medical provider (doctor’s office, clinic, hospital, etc.)	1	-	1	-	2	1	-
Public transportation (bus, subway, train, etc.)	1	1	*	1	*	-	4
Airport	*	3	-	*	*	-	-
Immigration offices/center/courts	*	-	*	*	*	*	-
In a park	*	*	*	-	-	-	-
Don’t Know	11	22	31	6	5	3	8

43. In the past five years, have you been stopped by police or other authorities and asked about your immigration status? [BASE: Asked of those who came to the United States to live five years ago or earlier.]	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Yes	5	2	1	1	2	9	7
No	95	98	99	94	97	91	93
Don’t know	*	-	-	5	-	-	-

44. Regardless of your immigration or citizenship status, have you had more difficulty finding or keeping housing, or has it been about the same?	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

More difficulty	7	4	15	3	5	7	8
About the same	84	94	76	85	85	85	83
Don’t know	7	2	10	8	6	7	9

45. Have you ever had trouble getting a job because you did not have the correct papers or a valid visa?	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Yes	22	14	19	6	15	31	22
No	77	83	76	89	84	69	78
Don’t know	1	2	4	2	1	-	*

46. Think about immigrants who obey the laws and are here LEGALLY. Since September 11th, do you feel that [BASE: Asked of those who came to the United States to live in 2000 or earlier] :	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

The government has not changed how it treats legal immigrants?	37	53	22	50	33	31	49

The government is giving legal immigrants a harder time?	51	36	54	41	53	64	40

Don’t know	12	11	23	9	14	5	11

47. Do you feel that the government has become a lot stricter about enforcing immigration laws since September 11th, a little stricter, has there been no change, or don’t you know enough to say [BASE: Asked of those who came to the United States to live in 2000 or earlier] ?	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

A lot stricter	55	47	40	39	74	62	47
A little stricter	21	15	21	26	15	28	21
No change	8	23	14	20	2	3	6
Don’t know enough to say	16	15	24	15	9	7	27

48. Some immigrants have gotten all of their documents together and become legal residents. Other immigrants are still preparing their documents and are considered undocumented. Are you a legal resident, or are you an undocumented immigrant?	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Legal resident	81	93	98	94	82	59	91
Undocumented immigrant	15	6	1	2	14	33	6
Don’t know	3	*	1	4	3	6	3

49. Are you currently a U.S. citizen or not? [BASE: Asked of those who said they are a legal resident.]	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Yes, U.S. citizen	56	59	60	80	45	47	66
No, not a citizen	44	41	40	20	55	53	34
Don’t know	*	-	-	-	-	-	*

50. What year did you become a U.S. citizen?	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

1980 or earlier	17	6	6	22	10	3	38
1981-1990	16	13	37	7	24	5	8
1991-1999	25	34	16	35	21	30	24
2000-2004	16	29	19	14	12	20	9
2005-2009	15	15	9	17	15	23	13
Don't know	11	2	11	5	17	19	8

51. Are you also a citizen of another country or not, or are you not sure? [BASE: Asked of U.S. Citizens.]	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Yes, also a citizen of another country	33	8	10	51	36	50	43
No, not a citizen of another country	54	78	71	36	56	25	51
Not sure	13	13	19	10	5	25	5
Don’t know	1	-	-	3	3	-	-

52. Are you currently in the process of becoming a U.S. citizen, is it something you plan to do in the future, or is it something you do not plan to do? [BASE: Asked of non-citizens]	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

In the process of becoming a U.S. citizen	18	26	9	66	14	9	30
Plan to do in the future	69	48	71	21	73	83	60
Do not plan to do	10	21	10	4	11	8	4
Don’t know	4	5	10	9	1	-	6

53. Which of these best describes what becoming a U.S. citizen (meant/means) to you? [BASE: Asked of citizens, those in the process of becoming a citizen, and those who are planning to become a citizen in the future.]	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

A dream come true	33	31	35	36	30	31	38
Something necessary	46	40	38	40	53	56	43
Something practical	17	27	17	21	14	12	18
Something not so important	1	1	3	*	1	*	1
Don’t know	2	1	7	3	1	*	1

54. There are many reasons that people choose to become citizens. For each reason I read, please tell me if it (was/is) a major reason, a minor reason or not something you (thought about when you were becoming a citizen/would think about if you thought about becoming a citizen).	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

To have equal rights and responsibilities…

Major reason	80	66	68	81	82	87	81
Minor reason	8	18	16	8	5	3	5
Not a reason at all	9	11	9	7	7	9	9
Do not want to be a citizen	*	2	1	-	-	-	-
Don’t know	2	2	4	3	*	*	5

To get the right to vote…	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Major reason	78	62	59	77	84	85	84
Minor reason	12	25	30	10	8	7	4
Not a reason at all	9	11	10	8	7	6	11
Do not want to be a citizen	1	2	1	-	-	-	1
Don’t know	1	1	*	5	*	2	*

To have better legal rights and protections in the United States…	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Major reason	78	64	69	80	72	92	75
Minor reason	10	23	15	6	12	3	12
Not a reason at all	9	9	10	7	13	5	11
Do not want to be a citizen	1	2	1	-	-	-	1
Don’t know	2	2	5	6	3	1	2

To show a commitment and pride in being an American…	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Major reason	71	66	56	68	70	76	77
Minor reason	14	22	24	11	14	8	11
Not a reason at all	13	9	14	15	14	15	9
Do not want to be a citizen	*	2	1	-	-	-	-
Don’t know	3	2	5	5	2	1	4

So you would not have to worry about your immigration status…	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Major reason	69	60	49	67	72	87	63
Minor reason	13	20	22	17	10	6	16
Not a reason at all	14	16	22	11	13	7	19
Do not want to be a citizen	*	2	1	-	-	-	-
Don’t know	3	2	6	5	5	-	3

To make it easier to get certain jobs…	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Major reason	69	46	59	70	69	86	62
Minor reason	13	28	18	15	10	7	14
Not a reason at all	15	23	18	11	18	6	21
Do not want to be a citizen	*	2	1	-	1	-	-
Don’t know	2	2	4	3	2	*	2

To make it easier to travel in and out of the United States…	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Major reason	65	55	48	68	68	78	60
Minor reason	17	23	23	16	13	12	20
Not a reason at all	15	20	22	11	13	8	18
Do not want to be a citizen	*	2	1	-	-	-	-
Don’t know	2	1	4	4	1	1	2

To make it easier to bring other family members to this country…	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Major reason	49	28	38	35	56	69	38
Minor reason	17	27	24	24	15	11	15
Not a reason at all	32	41	33	37	27	19	46
Do not want to be a citizen	*	2	1	-	-	-	-
Don’t know	2	2	4	4	2	1	*

To qualify for government programs like Medicaid or food stamps…	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Major reason	36	28	36	19	35	48	28
Minor reason	20	23	21	22	20	19	19
Not a reason at all	41	46	36	54	42	32	50
Do not want to be a citizen	1	2	1	-	-	-	1
Don’t know	3	2	7	4	3	1	2

55. Please tell me if you agree or disagree with each of the following:	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Immigrants who speak English well have a much easier time in the United States…

Strongly agree	81	81	77	84	84	80	80
Somewhat agree	14	15	16	12	13	14	14
Somewhat disagree	3	3	5	3	1	3	3
Strongly disagree	1	1	*	-	1	1	3
Don’t know	1	*	-	1	1	2	-

A person has to work very hard in this country to make it—nobody gives you anything for free…	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Strongly agree	76	82	58	79	80	79	77
Somewhat agree	12	7	22	15	10	9	12
Somewhat disagree	6	8	10	4	3	8	2
Strongly disagree	5	1	8	2	4	4	6
Don’t know	1	1	2	*	2	*	2

I can trust the police to protect me and my family…	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Strongly agree	61	75	45	68	59	65	62
Somewhat agree	23	14	30	14	30	24	17
Somewhat disagree	10	6	20	6	4	5	15
Strongly disagree	4	4	4	4	4	4	6
Don’t know	1	1	2	8	1	2	*

It’s easy for me to hold on to my culture and traditions in the United States…	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Strongly agree	57	61	45	66	56	59	60
Somewhat agree	27	26	33	20	36	25	17
Somewhat disagree	10	6	17	7	2	12	12
Strongly disagree	5	6	4	5	3	3	8
Don’t know	2	1	1	2	2	1	3

Most politicians are pretty much willing to say whatever it takes in order to get themselves elected…	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Strongly agree	52	43	31	53	52	53	71
Somewhat agree	24	34	30	21	21	30	10
Somewhat disagree	10	15	9	4	11	8	9
Strongly disagree	8	2	18	8	7	7	3
Don’t know	6	6	12	13	8	2	6

The United States needs new immigrants to do the jobs that people born in the United States can’t or won’t do…	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Strongly agree	48	38	27	29	56	66	37
Somewhat agree	22	30	30	23	20	18	20
Somewhat disagree	10	12	13	17	5	6	16
Strongly disagree	14	14	16	24	15	6	23
Don’t know	5	3	13	7	2	4	3

There’s a lot more discrimination and prejudice against immigrants who are not white than against immigrants who are white…	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Strongly agree	33	27	20	13	40	41	33
Somewhat agree	26	31	29	34	16	29	25
Somewhat disagree	19	17	24	20	17	18	18
Strongly disagree	11	13	11	22	15	8	11
Don’t know	9	8	14	11	10	3	13

It’s easy for immigrants to come to the United States illegally and live here without getting caught…	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Strongly agree	21	18	15	26	13	25	27
Somewhat agree	16	9	20	7	23	10	20
Somewhat disagree	19	21	22	13	16	22	16
Strongly disagree	34	39	34	39	36	37	27
Don’t know	8	8	9	15	11	3	10

56. In your experience, would you say that MOST of the immigrants you know in the United States are here legally or illegally?	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Most are here legally	64	87	81	81	69	38	68
Most are here illegally	27	6	11	13	18	52	23
Don’t know	9	7	8	6	12	10	7

57. Which comes closer to your point of view—illegal immigrants in the long run become productive citizens and pay their fair share of taxes, or illegal immigrants cost the taxpayers too much by using government services like public education and medical services?	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Illegal immigrants in the long run become productive citizens and pay their fair share of taxes	57	48	39	48	58	72	53

Illegal immigrants cost the taxpayers too much by using government services like public education and medical services	31	43	39	42	27	19	38

Don’t know	11	8	20	10	9	8	9

58. Do you think that recent immigrants have the same respect for American laws and customs as immigrants like you, or do they have less respect for American laws and customs?	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Same respect	57	55	54	44	59	65	49
Less respect	32	30	32	36	32	27	39
More respect	3	3	2	7	2	7	1
Don’t know	7	12	12	13	5	1	11

59. When it comes to immigration in the United States do you think that our country is too open to immigrants from other countries, too closed to immigrants from other countries, or does our country strike the right balance in accepting immigrants from other countries?	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Too open to immigrants from other countries	25	33	32	35	19	16	33

Too closed to immigrants from other countries	17	4	14	13	23	21	14

Strikes the right balance in accepting immigrants from other countries	50	58	42	42	47	58	44

Don’t know	8	5	12	10	10	4	9

60. When it comes to immigration in your community, do you think that people in your community are too open to immigrants from other countries, too closed to immigrants from other countries, or do they strike the right balance in accepting immigrants from other countries?	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Too open to immigrants from other countries	22	26	31	35	18	17	23

Too closed to immigrants from other countries	13	5	14	7	16	20	6

Strike the right balance in accepting immigrants from other countries	54	61	43	48	54	55	56

Don’t know	11	8	12	10	11	7	16

61. Do you agree or disagree with the proposal to create a “guest worker” program that would give a temporary visa to non-citizens who want to work legally in the United States?	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Strongly agree	61	43	42	48	68	73	63
Somewhat agree	23	32	27	28	20	20	23
Somewhat disagree	3	3	8	2	2	2	1
Strongly disagree	7	14	15	14	6	2	6
Don’t know	5	7	8	8	3	4	7

62. Which comes closer to your view even if neither is exactly right?	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

The government should provide a way for illegal immigrants who don’t have a criminal record and have shown a strong commitment to the United States to become citizens	72	48	54	62	81	84	73

The government should not pursue such a policy since that sort of program would reward people who broke the law	21	45	34	29	12	9	22

Don’t know	7	7	12	9	6	6	5

S3. How old were you when you came to the United States to live? *	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

5-17 years	28	17	19	34	23	36	29
18-29 years	43	41	43	42	50	41	42
30 or older	28	41	36	23	27	20	29
Don't know	1	1	0	1	1	3	0

D2. Including yourself, how many people are there living in your household?*	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

1	7	6	4	4	10	3	13
2	24	20	35	22	22	17	31
3	20	13	21	14	22	22	21
4	21	28	24	28	16	17	22
5	14	23	11	22	19	16	4
6	7	7	3	3	5	12	4
7	4	2	1	1	4	8	3
8	2	0	1	-	2	5	-
9	1	0	1	5	0	0	2
Don't know	0	-	0	-	-	-	-

D4. Are you married, LIVING as married, divorced, separated, widowed, or have you never been married?*	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries

	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Married	58	76	72	72	44	56	53
Living as married	5	1	4	0	5	7	7
Divorced	5	0	4	7	6	4	6
Separated	6	1	1	1	5	9	7
Widowed	5	7	0	8	8	3	7
Never married/Single	20	14	19	12	29	20	17

D5. Are you NOW employed full-time, part-time, are you retired, or are you not employed for pay?*	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Full-time	46	57	53	56	40	42	45
Part-time	16	8	18	14	17	19	12
Retired	11	5	12	12	8	8	18
Not employed	23	26	12	13	26	27	21
Homemaker	1	2	2	-	2	0	0
Student	1	1	2	4	2	0	1
Disabled	1	1	1	1	3	1	0
Don't Know	0	0	-	-	1	-	-

D6. Generally speaking, do you usually think of yourself as a Republican, Democrat, Independent or something else?*	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Republican	13	10	14	18	8	12	18
Democrat	44	54	42	40	39	39	51
Independent	24	14	24	25	31	24	22
Something else	8	8	10	4	10	12	1
Don't Know	9	10	9	12	9	10	8

D7. Do you lean toward the Republican or Democratic Party, or do you not lean either way?*	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Republican	9	6	10	8	9	3	24
Democrat	23	50	21	30	17	14	42
Don't lean either way	61	44	57	42	68	80	25
Don't Know	6	0	12	20	3	3	9

D9. What is your religion, if any?*	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Baptist	1	1	-	0	1	-	4
Buddhist	4	-	25	-	0	-	1
Catholic/Roman Catholic	46	23	11	19	51	77	41
Christian/Non Denominational Christian	14	7	14	8	23	12	15
Episcopalian	0	-	-	-	-	-	1
Evangelical	1	-	-	-	4	1	-
Hindu	4	33	0	-	1	1	2
Jehovah's Witness	1	-	-	-	2	1	1
Jewish/Judaism	1	-	-	13	0	-	2
Lutheran	0	-	-	-	-	-	1
Methodist/Wesleyan	1	-	5	-	0	-	1
Mormon/Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints	0	-	-	-	0	1	-
Muslim/Islamic	5	28	0	42	1	-	1
Orthodox (Eastern, Greek, Russian, Armenian, etc)	1	-	-	4	-	-	6
Pentecostal	1	-	-	-	1	-	2
Presbyterian	0	-	-	0	0	-	-
Protestant	0	-	1	-	1	-	1
Seventh Day Adventist	0	-	-	-	-	-	2
Sikhism	0	4	-	-	-	-	-
Zorasterian	0	0	-	1	-	-	-
No Religion/none, not a believer, atheist, agnostic	13	2	38	9	12	6	14
Other	2	1	3	2	1	-	5
Don't Know	1	-	3	-	2	-	0

D11. I’m going to read some ranges of annual household income. Please stop me when I read the one that describes your total household income in 2008.*	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

$15,000 or Under	21	11	17	18	32	27	11
$15,001 to $25,000	20	14	14	11	21	32	11
$25,001 to $35,000	12	6	15	9	8	16	11
$35,001 to $50,000	10	8	14	21	7	6	12
$50,001 to $75,000	10	13	16	7	7	5	12
Over $75,000	15	40	13	27	10	4	23
Don't Know	7	5	6	4	9	7	7

D12. Some people live from paycheck to paycheck, which means just being able to pay regular bills and other expenses with money from each paycheck, with almost nothing left over for savings. How often, if ever, do you and your family live from paycheck to paycheck?*	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Always	21	6	11	21	29	22	26
Most of the time	19	18	18	9	21	23	17
Sometimes	30	29	27	19	29	36	25
Hardly ever	10	10	11	20	7	12	9
Never	15	31	25	27	5	4	23
Don't Know	4	6	8	4	4	3	0

D13. When it comes to health insurance, which of these best describes you:*	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

I have private health insurance	46	66	67	56	31	32	51
I have no health insurance	27	21	10	15	32	45	17
I have health insurance through Medicare	10	6	18	9	11	10	9
I have health insurance through Medicaid	11	4	3	10	18	10	13
I have both Medicare and private health insurance	3	3	1	6	3	0	7
Don't Know	2	1	2	3	1	2	4

D14. Since you’ve been in the United States, have you or has any member of your family living with you ever received money from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as SNAP or food stamps, or not?*	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Yes, have received food stamps	21	10	14	25	26	33	9
No, have not received food stamps	77	90	84	75	71	64	91
Don't Know	1	1	1	-	1	3	-

D15. Have you or has any member of your family living with you ever received any kind of donations or free services from a charity or church in the United States, or not?*	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Yes...	5	1	12	2	7	3	3
No...	94	99	87	97	89	96	97
Don't Know	1	0	1	1	2	1	-

D16. Have you ever volunteered your time or contributed money to an organization or church in your community, or not?*	Total	Immigrants from South Asia	Immigrants from East Asia	Immigrants from the Middle East	Immigrants from Central and South America	Immigrants from Mexico	Immigrants from other countries
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Yes, have volunteered time or contributed money	64	76	75	54	57	55	70
No, have not	35	23	25	45	40	45	30
Don't Know	0	-	0	0	1	0	-

[1]. In the survey, respondents were asked specifically about the country in which they were born unless they declined to specify their home country (six respondents, or 0.5 percent of those surveyed), in which case they were asked to refer to their “home country.” The technique used in “Now That I’m Here” was slightly different—all survey respondents were asked to think about the “country where you were born.” For example, someone from France would be asked the question: “If you could do it again, would you choose to come to the United States, stay in France or pick a different country to live in?”

* For more on the demographics of the participants in this survey, please see Characteristics of the Sample.

Funding & Acknowledgments

Peiting Chen — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 13:28:42 -0400

Introduction: Views On Immigration

Part One: The Right Move

Part Two: Fitting In

Part Three: Common Threads,
Different Voices

In Their Own Words

Survey Questions & Answers

Views of the U.S.

Life as an immigrant

Parents and children

Interactions with the government

Views on discrimination

Legal status and citizenship

Immigration policy

Charts & Graphs

Methodology

Funding & Acknowledgments

Download Full Report (PDF)

News Releases

Funding

Funding for A Place To Call Home: What Immigrants Say Now About Life In America was provided by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, as a follow-up to our groundbreaking 2002 study on this subject, "Now That I'm Here," also funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

The Carnegie Corporation of New York was created by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 to promote “the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding.” For over 95 years the Corporation has carried out Carnegie’s vision of philanthropy by building on this two major concerns: international peace and advancing education and knowledge.

Founded in 1975 by social scientist and author Daniel Yankelovich and former U.S. Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, Public Agenda works to help the nation’s leaders better understand the public’s point of view and to help average citizens better understand critical policy issues.

Our in-depth research on how citizens think about policy has been praised for its credibility and fairness, by elected officials, experts and decision makers from across the political spectrum. Our citizen education materials and award-winning website, PublicAgenda.org, offer unbiased information about the challenges the country faces on a wide range of policy issues.

Acknowledgments

The authors of A Place to Call Home: What Immigrants Say Now About Life in America would like to thank the following people for their support and assistance during the preparation of this report:

Our partners at the Carnegie Corporation of New York, especially Geri Mannion and Susan King, for providing us the opportunity to conduct this research and the freedom to explore the issues without constraint or bias;

Jean Johnson, for her direction and assistance;

Steve Farkas and Ann Duffett, of the Farkas Duffett Research Group, for their consultation and guidance at the beginning stages of this research;

Samantha DuPont and Liz Swinehart, who also contributed to this effort;

Shaheen Hasan and Melissa Feldsher, for bringing our work to the attention of a broad audience;

Francie Grace, David White, Peiting Chen and Allison Rizzolo, of PublicAgenda.org, for producing a distinctive and highly informative online version of this report;

And Public Agenda President Ruth A. Wooden, for her vision, insight and guidance.

Immigration 2009 In Their Own Words

Peiting Chen — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 13:24:08 -0400

Introduction: Views On Immigration

Part One: The Right Move

Part Two: Fitting In

Part Three: Common Threads,
Different Voices

In Their Own Words

Survey Questions & Answers

Views of the U.S.

Life as an immigrant

Parents and children

Interactions with the government

Views on discrimination

Legal status and citizenship

Immigration policy

Charts & Graphs

Methodology

Funding & Acknowledgments

Download Full Report (PDF)

News Releases

In Their Own Words: Immigrants Interviewed For This Study Talk About Their Beliefs, Observations And Experiences

We held focus groups around the nation (click here for more on the methodology for this study) and talked to both legal and illegal immigrants from a variety of ethnic backgrounds. Of the men and women who answered our researchers' questions, 56 percent were legal immigrants.

Here are some quotes, organized according to topic, excerpted from the many things immigrants told us as part of the research for this report. It is our hope that these voices will provide a useful dimension to the current debate over immigration policy.

Overall immigrants are quite satisfied with life in the United States - for themselves and their children.

"People all over the world are looking - this is human nature - you want to find a better lifestyle for you and your children and your family."

- Lebanese immigrant, Detroit

"Some people say 'Why don't you go to Canada?' I said, 'No, we want to come to the United States.'"

- Mexican immigrant, Los Angeles

"We get by fine, more or less. It is better than over there... In practically in every sense, we're better here financially. My husband has a stable job and we get on pretty good."

- Mexican immigrant, Los Angeles

"I love America because... it's less dangerous... [In my native country] It's bad if you have money and bad if you don't have money. Because if you have money, you could have a wonderful life, but... they can kill you for your money. If you don't have money, it's bad, because you don't have a comfortable life."

- Guatamalan immigrant, Boston

Seventy percent of the immigrants we interviewed said it is likely the U.S. will be their permanent home; just 17 percent thought that someday they'll again live in the country where they were born.

"There's no work in Mexico. Any way you look at it, no matter how bad it is here... you can get things like clothing and shoes and stuff. In Mexico, you can't do that, and so if you buy shoes, you can't eat, so there's more access to material things."

- Mexican immigrant, Los Angeles

"For an average person, it's more difficult in Korea than it is here. You don't have as much opportunity. You get stuck in a class or even a name. Certain names in Korea if you have that family name, good luck."

- South Korean immigrant, San Francisco

"It's all pretty good for me... I wish that they would raise the wages, and there'd be more work, and lower the rent a little bit, because it's so difficult. Aside from that, everything is fine."

- Mexican immigrant, Los Angeles

"I am from Mexico City... You never use the gold necklaces. You lock the car. Roll the windows up. Protection, security, because anything that you leave there, you blink and it's gone. If you come here - we come here to have a better life, better jobs."

- Mexican immigrant, Atlanta

"You have opportunities here to work and earn money, so you send back to the less fortunate relatives who can't work, or whatever, to support them."

- Filipino immigrant, San Francisco

Over three-quarters say the United States is a unique country that stands for something.

"I think [the choice to come to America has] proven itself because I really believe things are merit-based here."

- Israeli immigrant, New York City

"If our young people worked in our country as hard as they [are] working here, they would be much better off over there than here. I've seen students who were doing job[s] where back home they would never, never in a million years do it, because pride and ego is very, very strong back home. I've seen them doing work and I say, 'Where is your mother to see what you're doing?' They would like look at me and say, 'Mrs. H____, this is America. Hey, we can do whatever we want to do.' It's a land of opportunity, a land of equality, everybody is treated the same. Everybody has a chance here to make what they want out of themselves.

- Lebanese immigrant, Detroit

"If you're determined to be a brain surgeon, you can. You get that opportunity here. In other countries, you do not."

- South Korean immigrant, San Francisco

"In many countries, you cannot get citizenship... We live [in the United States] mostly like Americans. I don't feel like I'm different. While in Europe, they are more racist toward foreigners."

- Lebanese immigrant, New York City

"The motto of this country is 'Out of many, one.' This country is made up from every section of the world, and we all come together and we make one country. This is really heaven on earth, because where else on earth can all these people come together and become as one?"

- Lebanese immigrant, Detroit

"That's what made this country so great: that we all, each individual that came to this country, contributed of themselves, of their heritage, of their knowledge to make this country what it is today."

- Iraqi immigrant, Detroit

"If you work hard, and you have a dream, you can always achieve that dream in America. You want something, anyone from any class... like Barack Obama. He was with nothing. He went to the best schools in the whole world and he achieved something. Had he been in any other country, none of this would have happened."

- Lebanese immigrant, Detroit

Strong majorities (88 percent) say that the United States does a better job than their home country when it comes to having more opportunity to earn a good living.

"When I think of America, there are opportunities and there are resources that you have access to that you don't have back in your country."

- Jordanian immigrant, Detroit

"Here in the United States you can, out of obscurity, you can make something of yourself if you work hard. I've seen it. I've seen it happen a thousand times over. I've seen it with immigrants, boat people. I have neighbors who were boat people came over, and they were drifted for about a month, month and a half before they got picked up and sent to Philippines. They lived in Australia and ended up here in the United States, and they're doing quite well. Where else can you hear that?"

- South Korean immigrant, San Francisco

"You learn occupations that I never would have tried in Mexico... You would have part-time jobs or other work over there, but over here you would learn things which would help you find another job or a better job."

- Mexican immigrant, Los Angeles

"Absolutely there are a lot more opportunities that are offered here. Living standard is much higher. Whatever job you do, you got to earn much more money in absolute value-wise, compared with what you're making at home."

- Chinese immigrant, Boston

"You're just in a better place to pick up from—and, especially, if you're somewhat well off. You can just come here and get rich instead of just being okay. I know a few people who've come to New York and become (inaudible), meaning real estate brokers, without having any qualifications whatsoever."

- Israeli immigrant, New York City

"After the situation started in Lebanon, I think we might've helped most of our family members come here.,, Every single one of them lived with me, one year, two years, some of them even five years, until they were able to stand on their feet. I'm very proud to say most of them had educations. We've got attorneys. We've got doctors. We've got CPAs. We've even got a judge in our family."

- Lebanese immigrant, Detroit

Sixty-two percent of the immigrants we surveyed said the U.S. does a better job than their home country when it comes to our education system.

"The American degree works anywhere all over the world. It gets you up there somewhere."

- African immigrant, Boston

"Here you can go for like any master degrees, anything you want, you can do. You have like many choices here, so that's the main reason I came here."

- Burmese immigrant, San Francisco

"Once I started school, like second grade, I picked up English like in an instant."

- Ukranian immigrant, New York City

"In Mexico... they would leave the work on the teacher. Over here, they have meetings with the parents and teachers... Everyone gets involved and they help the teachers a lot here. They're more involved with the children. I like it better here because of the way the schools are here."

- Mexican immigrant, Los Angeles

They say, We say: Immigrants on life in America, and how they are viewed.

"American people see our country as camel jockeys and people living in the desert. Just recently, they're starting to see like Dubai, and Qatar, and all these countries that are evolving. Now they're starting to see the reality of it."

- Lebanese immigrant, Detroit

"I think that things are not so good for the immigrants, because you think about how are things going to be? It's going to be like living in the dark."

- Mexican immigrant, Los Angeles

"That's the word, legal. I think the Mexicans have a right to come to this country like any other immigrant, but do it legally."

- Lebanese immigrant, Detroit

"Most of my friends are Asian, but I have Korean friends. I have Filipino friends. I have Chinese friends, and, of course, Caucasian friends. When we're like hanging out, we don't talk about our culture much. Just have a drink, watch the game, whatever."

- Filipino immigrant, San Francisco

"Life is very rushed here. The neighbors don't have the time, and sometimes we're either coming and going, and so we don't see each other as often like we do in Mexico."

- Mexican immigrant, Los Angeles

"Over here, you have to be working to pay the rent. Over in Mexico, you don't have to do that so much. The days were longer for me in Mexico, and over here, they're shorter."

- Mexican immigrant, Los Angeles

"If you come over here, it's to improve. That improvement has to involve certain things that you have to do."

- Mexican immigrant, Los Angeles

"You can get a lot of things from the United States... but you have to work hard."

- Guatemalan immigrant, Boston

Immigration 2009 Methodology

Peiting Chen — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 12:40:49 -0400

Introduction: Views On Immigration

Part One: The Right Move

Part Two: Fitting In

Part Three: Common Threads,
Different Voices

In Their Own Words

Survey Questions & Answers

Views of the U.S.

Life as an immigrant

Parents and children

Interactions with the government

Views on discrimination

Legal status and citizenship

Immigration policy

Charts & Graphs

Methodology

Funding & Acknowledgments

Download Full Report (PDF)

News Releases

Methodology

A Place To Call Home: What Immigrants Say Now About Life In America is based on a telephone survey utilizing both landline and cellular telephones. Respondents include a representative sample of 1,138 foreign-born adults, 18 years and older who currently live in the United States and came to the United States at the age of five or older. The survey was preceded by six focus groups conducted in sites across the country as well as 12 in-depth interviews with immigration experts in academia, public policy, law and community outreach.

Telephone Survey

Telephone interviews were conducted from April 23 – June 7, 2009. The interviews averaged 31 minutes in length. The response rate for the study was 25 percent.

The survey was offered in both English and Spanish. Four-hundred-seventy-one interviews were conducted with Spanish-speaking respondents.

Throughout the survey, special efforts were taken to make the interview process comfortable for immigrants for whom English is, at best, a second language. Interviewers received enhanced training in order to sensitize them to the particular challenges of speaking with non-native English speakers regarding potentially anxiety-provoking issues. Survey questions were extensively pre-tested to reduce the overall wordiness of the instrument and improve question clarity. In addition, language was used to assure respondents that their information and responses would be kept confidential.

The margin of error for the report is plus or minus 5.4 percentage points. However, it is higher when comparing subgroups or question items that weren’t asked of all respondents.

Sample Design

The study employed a dual-frame landline/cell phone telephone design. According to both the 2009 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) and the General Social Survey (GSS), 22 percent of foreign-born residents of the United States do not own a landline telephone but do own a cell phone. Consequently, the cell phone portion of the sample was included to better represent immigrant households. A total of 159 interviews were completed via cell phone.

A disproportionate stratified sample design that combined random-digit dial (RDD) sample with listed sample (supplied by Ethnic Technologies, or E-Tech ,a leading provider of multicultural marketing lists, ethnic identification software, and ethnic data appending services) was used in this study to increase the incidence of households with foreign-born adults from specified heritages and oversample persons of South Asian, East Asian, Middle Eastern and Central/South American heritage. Thirty-eight percent of interviews completed came from this sample. The RDD sample utilized strata of areas known to have a high incidence of individuals of South Asian, East Asian, Middle Eastern and Central/South American heritage, but no strata was excluded from the sample design. The landline portion of the study employed an open design, meaning that, as long as their heritage quota was open, anyone who was eligible would be asked to complete the study regardless of the strata in which they reside. Cell phone completes were not subject to heritage quotas.

Questionnaire

The questionnaire was designed by Public Agenda, and all interpretation of the data reflected in this report was done by Public Agenda. As in all surveys, question order effects and other non-sampling sources of error can sometimes affect results. Steps were taken to minimize these, including pre-testing the survey instrument and randomizing the order in which some question and answer categories were read.

The interviewing was conducted by ICR/International Communications Research in conjunction with SSRS/Social Science Research Solutions in Media, PA.

Weighting Procedures

Survey data were weighted to (1) adjust for the fact that not all survey respondents were selected with the same probability and (2) account for gaps in coverage and non-response biases in the survey frame. Weights were applied to balance heritage, age, years in the United States, education, region and gender. The overall design effect of the weighting procedure is 3.46.

Focus Groups

Focus groups allow for an in-depth, qualitative exploration of the dynamics underlying the public’s attitudes toward complex issues. Insights from participants in these focus groups were important to the survey design, and actual quotes were drawn from the focus groups to give voice to attitudes captured statistically through the surveys. Six focus groups were conducted as follows:

A mix of immigrants from different countries and backgrounds in New York, NY;

Hispanic immigrants in Atlanta, GA, conducted in Spanish;

Hispanic immigrants in Los Angeles, CA, conducted in Spanish;

Asian immigrants in San Francisco, CA;

Immigrants from Middle Eastern countries in the greater Detroit, MI area; and

Immigrants making more than $75,000 a year in Boston, MA.

The Experts

Prior to conducting the focus groups and the telephone survey, Public Agenda interviewed 12 immigration experts to obtain grounding in the current substantive issues concerning immigrants in the United States. Experts were guaranteed anonymity to ensure their complete cooperation with the study.

Characteristics of the Sample

	Sample
	%

Gender*
Male	51
Female	49

Age*
18-29	19
30-49	46
50-64	19
65 or older	13

Marital Status
Married	58
Living as married	5
Divorced	5
Separated	6
Widowed	5
Single	20

Region*
Northeast	23
Midwest	9
South	30
West	38

Decade of entry*
2001-2009	26
1991-2000	24
1981-1990	18
1980 or before	26

Place of Birth*
South Asia	10
East Asia	15
Middle Eastern	4
Central/South American [not including Mexicans]	19
Mexican	30

Race / Ethnicity*
White	12
Black	8
Hispanic	49
Asian	26

Citizen
U.S. citizen	46
Legal resident, not a citizen	35
Undocumented immigrant	15

Education*
Less than high school	29
High school graduate	27
Some college or trade school, no degree	11
Associate’s or two-year degree	7
Bachelor’s or four-year degree	14
Graduate/professional degree	11

Employment Status
Employed full-time	46
Employed part-time	16
Retired	11
Not Employed	23

Income
$15,000 or under	21
$15,001 to $25,000	20
$25,001 to $35,000	12
$35,001 to $50,000	10
$50,001 to $75,000	10
Over $75,000	15

Religious Affliation
Buddist	4
Catholic	46
Hindu	4
Judaism	1
Muslim	5
Other Christian	22
No religion	13

Party Affiliation
Republican	13
Democrat	44
Independent	24

* Survey data was weighted by heritage, age, years in the United States, education, region and gender in order to match current census data. For the analysis, these demographic characteristics were balanced to reflect the proportion of these groups naturally occurring in the U.S. population.

Immigration 2009 Part Three

Peiting Chen — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 12:39:38 -0400

Introduction: Views On Immigration

Part One: The Right Move

Part Two: Fitting In

Part Three: Common Threads,
Different Voices

In Their Own Words

Survey Questions & Answers

Views of the U.S.

Life as an immigrant

Parents and children

Interactions with the government

Views on discrimination

Legal status and citizenship

Immigration policy

Charts & Graphs

Methodology

Funding & Acknowledgments

Download Full Report (PDF)

News Releases

Part Three: Common Threads, Different Voices

Although there are common themes among immigrants, certain groups do have unique perspectives. We chose to look at two groups, immigrants from Mexico and immigrants who identify themselves as Muslims, as these groups are at the forefront of immigration policy and perceptions.

Mexican immigrants are more likely to say they’re happy in the United States, but are also significantly more likely to perceive discrimination against immigrants. They’re also more likely to be lower-income and perhaps face more language barriers. Muslims, by contrast, are less likely to report discrimination and are overwhelmingly more likely to say the United States will be their permanent home.

When it comes to immigration policy, majorities believe that illegal immigrants will become productive citizens, and strong majorities favor a "guest worker" program and a “path to citizenship” for undocumented immigrants. But some immigrants, particularly older ones and those from certain groups, have reservations.

Mexican Participants In This
Study: By The Numbers

Based on the survey sample:

Three out of ten Mexicans came to the United States after 2001 (comparable to other immigrants).

Twenty-seven percent of Mexicans are citizens, a smaller number than other groups.

Thirty-three percent of Mexicans are undocumented, a greater number than other groups.

Mexicans break down by political party affiliation much as other immigrants do: 12 percent Republican, 39 percent Democrat, 24 percent Independent.

Fifty-six percent of Mexicans report not having a high school diploma, compared with 17 percent of other immigrants

Fifty-nine percent of Mexicans report having incomes under $25,000. Twenty-seven percent report incomes under $15,000. Compare this with 33 percent of other immigrants reporting under $25,000 and 18 percent under 15,000.

Forty-five percent of Mexicans report having no health insurance, compared to 20 percent of other immigrants.

Thirty-three percent have received food stamps, compared with 16 percent of all other immigrants.

Mexican immigrants are more likely to say the United States is a better place to raise children, and are less likely to speak English when they arrive. Overwhelming numbers say that the United States is a better place to make a living than their birth country.

Like other immigrants, Mexicans are generally happy with their life in the United States. Seven in ten say the United States is a unique country that stands for something special, and they're just as likely as other immigrants to say they'd do it all over again.

Mexicans are more likely to believe that the United States is a good place to raise children (66 percent compared to 50 percent of all other immigrants), and are just as skeptical as other immigrantsthat their children will go back to the country where they were born.. An overwhelming 96 percent say that the United States is a better place to earn a good living than is their birth country.

That's particularly noteworthy, because Mexican immigrants tend to be lower income. and more concerned about the economy. A staggering 9 in 10 say that they came to the United States with "very little money," and they are more likely to cite the economy as a problem than are other groups — important, considering the extremely high anxiety across the board.

Mexican immigrants are different in other ways, some of which are likely to pose challenges in American society. (See "Mexican Participants In This Study: By The Numbers.") For one, the language problem among Mexican immigrants is a significant one. They are far more likely to say that they could not speak English when they first came to the United States. Fully 75 percent say they did not speak English at all, compared to 33 percent of other, non-Mexican immigrants.

Those who came here without knowing English were also much more likely to say they speak their native language at home (81 percent versus 54 percent among other immigrants) and more likely to say they speak fair or poor English (78 percent compared to 54 percent). They're significantly less likely to say that the United States should require immigrants to learn English (44 percent compared to 61 percent). We conducted interviews in English as well as Spanish (the respondent chose the language) and did not interview in any other language, so it is not surprising that many survey respondents say that their English is only fair or poor.

Yet Mexicans who knew little or no English when they arrived are also about as likely as other immigrants to have taken an English course, and Mexican immigrants overall are just as likely to say that schools should teach immigrant children English as quickly as possible.

Mexican immigrants express particularly strong concerns about discrimination.

The most dramatic difference between Mexican immigrants and other groups, whether in the survey or in focus groups, is in the level of discrimination they perceive around them and against them.

Three-quarters of Mexicans say that there is at least some discrimination towards immigrants, 18 points higher than other immigrants. The difference is even more dramatic when asked about discrimination towards people from their birth country. Some 73 percent of Mexicans say that there is at least some discrimination towards people from their birth country, 42 percentage points higher than other immigrants.

In the focus groups, particularly in an Atlanta group that was conducted in Spanish with recent Mexican immigrants, participants offered many stories about police harassment. No wonder, perhaps, that Mexicans who have been in the United States since at least 2000 are more likely to say that immigration laws have become stricter since the September 11 terrorist attacks (90 percent) and that elected officials don't care about them much (84 percent)

Yet Mexicans are no more likely to report experiencing discrimination themselves than are other immigrants. Nearly a quarter, 24 percent, say they have personally experienced either a great deal or some discrimination simply because they are an immigrant (7 percent say “a great deal").

Even though greater numbers of Mexicans are undocumented compared with other immigration groups, and even greater numbers report that most of the immigrants they know are illegal, their perception of personal discrimination is virtually the same as for other groups.

Mexican immigrants are even more likely to cite the practical side of citizenship.

Fewer Mexican immigrants are citizens, and though seeking citizenship carries strong elements of commitment and pride, practical concerns were even stronger among Mexicans than they were among other immigrants. This is less a question of attitudes than one of intensity. More Mexicans cite a number of practical issues as "major reasons" to become a citizen than do other immigrants:

More Mexicans, 92 percent, cite the attainment of better legal rights as a major reason to become a citizen, compared with 72 percent of other immigrants. Some 87 percent of Mexicans cite equal rights and responsibilities as a major reason.

Nearly as many, 87 percent, cite not having to worry about immigration status as a major reason, compared with 62 percent of all other immigrants.

Eighty-six percent of Mexicans say cite the ease with which they are able to obtain certain jobs as a major reason, compared with 62 percent of other immigrants.

Seventy-eight percent cite easier travel in and out of the United States, compared with 59 percent of other immigrants.

Sixty-nine percent of Mexicans say that the ability to bring other family members to the United States is a major reason, compared with 41 percent of other immigrants.

Compared to Mexicans, other Latin American immigrants are more likely to speak English, less likely to be undocumented, and ties to their birth countries aren't as strong.

If you compare Mexican immigrants to those from Central and South America, there are several significant differences. For one thing, Central and South American immigrants are more likely to say their English is "excellent" (15 percent compared with 5 percent for Mexicans) and twice as likely to speak English at home (13 percent compared with 5 percent). The other Central and South American immigrants are also much less likely to say they are undocumented (only 14 percent compared to 33 percent of Mexicans) and dramatically more likely to say that most of the immigrants they know are here legally (69 percent, compared to only 38 percent of Mexicans). In addition, they are less likely to say that there is at least some discrimination against people from their birth country (34 percent compared with 73 percent of Mexicans).

While other Latin Americans are just as likely as Mexicans to send money home regularly, they're less likely than Mexicans to phone home weekly (40 percent compared with 53 percent of Mexicans) and to spend a lot of time with people from their home country (44 percent compared with 72 percent of Mexicans).

Muslim Participants In This
Study: By The Numbers

Based upon on the survey sample:

Three out of four Muslims immigrated before 2001.

Fifty-seven percent of the Muslim sample came from South Asia; 35 percent came from the Middle East.

Sixty-eight percent of Muslims are citizens; an additional 26 percent are legal residents.

Political affiliation: over half (55 percent) are Democrats, slightly more than other immigrants (43 percent).

Muslim education is comparable to the total immigrant sample. Twenty-four percent have at least a two-year degree, while 77 percent have graduated from high school.

Fifty-seven percent of Muslims made less than $25,000 a year. That’s 17 percent more in this bracket than other immigrants.

Muslim immigrants in America do not feel disaffection with the nation—far from it. If anything, their embrace of the United States and their expressions of patriotism are stronger than those of other groups.

One of the most striking facts about our subsample of Muslim immigrants is what isn’t happening. There’s been enormous political debate over the collision of the West with radical Islam, punctuated by September 11, the war in Iraq and riots and turmoil in Europe. Some worry that prejudice and government policy might push Muslims into radicalism; others worry that we don’t do enough to protect the country from radicals hiding among the Muslim population.

Our research finds no signs that Muslim immigrants are disaffected or detached from the rest of the United States. In fact, our surveys suggest that Muslims grab onto American ideals even more firmly than other immigrants do — and that’s saying something.

Six in ten Muslim immigrants (61 percent) report that they’re "extremely happy" in the United States, compared with only 33 percent of other immigrants. A stunning 92 percent of Muslims say that the United States will be their permanent home, compared with 69 percent among other immigrants.

Muslims are more likely to give the United States higher ratings than their birth country on key questions, such as having a free and independent media (79 percent say the United States does a better job on this, compared to 54 percent of other immigrants).

Our focus group with Middle Eastern immigrants^[1] , including a majority of Muslims, conducted in Detroit, Michigan, was by far the most overtly patriotic.

“My personal experience with American people and with America, it’s very welcoming. I think America respects you if you are a good person and hard-working.”

- A man in the Detroit focus group

Perhaps most striking, given the debate over whether Muslims have been unfairly targeted in the "war on terror", Muslims are also more likely to say there is no (or only a little) discrimination against immigrants in general in the United States (63 percent of Muslims compared with 32 percent of others). Only 19 percent of Muslims say there is at least some discrimination against people from their birth country compared with 35 percent of all other immigrants, and 1 percent of Muslims say that they have experienced a great deal of personal discrimination while 25 percent say they've experienced some discrimination.

The Muslim sample in our survey overwhelmingly hailed from two regions of the world: South Asia and the Middle East, both of which, of course, have substantial non-Muslim populations.^[2]

Examined by region, there are some significant differences as well. South Asians and Middle Easterners are by far the most likely to come to the United States knowing how to speak English well, with 70 percent of South Asians and 76 percent of Middle Easterners who came here knowing little or no English saying their English is good or excellent. South Asians are also more likely than any group except Mexican immigrants to phone home regularly (50 percent, compared with 40 percent overall and 28 percent of Middle Easterners).

When it comes to plans for reform, most immigrants strongly support bringing illegal or undocumented immigrants into the mainstream, including a guest worker program and a "path to citizenship” for illegal immigrants with a clean record. But one size does not fit all. Older immigrants and those from certain regions of the world are more skeptical of these ideas.

We tend to have one, overarching debate about immigration in the United States, as if all immigrants came here for the same reasons and posed the same challenges. Obviously that's not the case. Our study reveals a lot of common ground in the immigrant experience, and deeply held values that cut across all kinds of people. But the tech worker isn't the same as the day laborer, and the political refugee may have quite different concerns than the family trying to reunite.

The immigrants in our survey reflect this: Certain values and reform proposals, like a guest worker program and a procedure to allow illegal immigrants to become citizens, have considerable support among immigrants overall. But immigrants aren’t monolithic when it comes to the immigration debate. What they think about government policy depends on who they are.

For example, one of the fiercest debates is over undocumented or illegal immigration. Surveys of the general public consistently find that Americans take a much harsher view of illegal immigration than the legal variety. For example, a Gallup survey in 2008 found that 64 percent of Americans believed that immigration is generally a "good thing" for the country. But only 31 percent in the same survey said illegal immigrants "in the long run become productive citizens and pay their fair share of taxes." Nearly two-thirds say they cost the government too much.^[3]

Immigrants overall, however, firmly take the opposite view. When we asked the same question in our survey, 57 percent replied that illegal immigrants do become productive citizens, a finding that may drive attitudes on other questions. But the results depend very much on the immigrant's own background.

Not surprisingly, of course, undocumented immigrants themselves are much more likely to believe this (74 percent). So do 72 percent of Mexican immigrants. It's perhaps significant that Mexicans report having more contact with undocumented immigrants, with more than half saying most of the immigrants they know are here illegally.

Fewer immigrants from other backgrounds share this positive view of illegal immigrants. For example, 48 percent of South Asian and Middle Eastern immigrants say that illegal immigrants become productive citizens, while only 39 percent of East Asian immigrants agree. Immigrants older than 50 are also less likely to say this.

Such attitudes tend to influence views on other questions of public policy. Immigrants in general strongly support a "path to citizenship" for illegal immigrants. Seven in ten (72 percent) say that the government should offer a way for illegal immigrants with no criminal record and have shown a commitment to the United States to become citizens. Only 21 percent oppose that policy, saying it would "reward people who broke the law." Mexicans and other Latin Americans are even more likely to support a path to citizenship, at 84 percent for Mexicans and 81 percent for other Latin Americans.

Support among other groups is lower, with 62 percent of Middle Easterners, 54 percent of East Asians, and 48 percent of South Asians in favor. Support also declines as people grow older: 85 percent of 18 to 29-year-olds favor the path to citizenship, but only 56 percent of those 65 and older do.

In our focus groups, we heard skepticism from a number of participants who'd been in the country for some time regarding recent immigrants. There was resistance to the idea of deporting illegal immigrants who were already here but also an interest in keeping "bad elements" out of the country.

Again, the survey found that these views were in some part determined by age. Indeed, the older immigrants get, the more skeptical they become. Immigrants under age 30 overwhelmingly (81 percent) say that recent immigrants have the same respect for American law and customs, but only 6 in 10 between the ages of 31 and 49 say this. That number falls to just more than 4 in 10 (43 percent) for those older than 65.

There's a similar pattern in survey questions on whether the United States is too open to immigration. In our survey, a quarter of all immigrants said that the United States is too open immigrants, while only 17 percent say the country is too closed. Fifty percent say the United States “strikes the right balance.” But immigrants over age 65 are significantly more likely to say that the United States is too open, at 37 percent.

Among the most fiercely debated policy proposals of the past few years has been that of a "guest worker" program, one that would allow temporary visas for foreign workers. Surveys of the general public suggest that majorities back the idea of guest workers, though the results shift considerably based on how the questions are worded—always indicative of uncertainty among the public.^[4]

Our survey found that immigrants overwhelmingly support a guest worker plan, with 84 percent agreeing (and 61 percent agreeing strongly with the proposal). But South Asians (75 percent), Middle Easterners (76 percent) and East Asians (69 percent) were less likely to favor this. Mexicans were even more supportive, with 92 percent in favor and 73 percent strongly in favor.

[1] In the survey, Middle Eastern countries include Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Yemen and Turkey.

[2] In the survey, South Asian countries include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, India, Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines and Sri Lanka.

[3] Visit PublicAgenda.org for more details http://publicagenda.org/charts/people-are-divided-whether-immigrants-become-productivecitizens-or-if-they-cost-taxpayers-too-much-using-government.

[4] For specific examples of survey questions about guest workers, visit Public Agenda’s Web site at: http://www.publicagenda.org/charts/majorities-americans-support-guest-worker-program-illegal-immigrants-results-vary-based-question-wording.

Immigration 2009 Part Two

Peiting Chen — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 12:32:40 -0400

Introduction: Views On Immigration

Part One: The Right Move

Part Two: Fitting In

Part Three: Common Threads,
Different Voices

In Their Own Words

Survey Questions & Answers

Views of the U.S.

Life as an immigrant

Parents and children

Interactions with the government

Views on discrimination

Legal status and citizenship

Immigration policy

Charts & Graphs

Methodology

Funding & Acknowledgments

Download Full Report (PDF)

News Releases

Part Two: Fitting In

Most immigrants say that they became comfortable in the United States quickly, yet ties to their birth countries have become stronger since 2002, particularly among recent immigrants. Most of the immigrants we surveyed either were citizens already or were in the process of being naturalized.

For most of them, citizenship is a practical step. So is learning to speak English, with most immigrants reporting that it is difficult to get ahead or keep a job without language skills.

Immigrants clearly buy into American values, but how long does it take them to feel comfortable in American society? Although immigrants clearly embrace what the United States stands for, this is no guarantee that they are able to fit in on a day-to-day basis.

The immigrants we surveyed don't seem to feel that fitting in is a major barrier, and in fact say the process moved quickly. More than three-quarters (77 percent) say that it takes fewer than five years to "feel comfortable here and part of the community," and nearly half (47 percent) said it took fewer than two.

Such easy comfort with their adopted home generally isn't being propelled by money or a common language. Just more than three quarters (76 percent) say that they came to the United States with "very little money," and only 20 percent say they had "a good amount of money to get started."

Some 45 percent say that they came to this country not speaking any English at all, an increase of 10 points since 2002. In general, we aren't talking about people who move freely between nations, so-called "citizens of the world." We're talking about people who say they're taking a big financial and cultural gamble when the emigrate to the United States.

In focus groups, immigrants often said life in the United States was not what they thought it would be.

In the focus groups we conducted as part of this study, one of the consistent themes was of immigrants being surprised by how much work it takes to succeed in the United States.

Even with all of its advantages over their birth countries, the reality for many immigrants is that it can be difficult to live in the United States and achieve a good standard of living:

"There’s the assumption that when you come here you will become wealthy very fast and very easily. I have to work 12, 16 hours a day to make a living. [In my birth country] . . . they work, like, from 9:00 until 2:00 and then go home."

- A woman in the Detroit, Michigan, focus group

Her sentiment is partly borne out by the survey, which also asked how often immigrants found themselves living "paycheck to paycheck." Some 70 percent of immigrants reported doing so "always," "most of the time," or "sometimes." When Newsweek asked the same question of the general public in January 2009, only 59 percent said they lived paycheck to paycheck. ^[1]

Among our focus groups, there was a general sense that America has no better publicist than Hollywood on this point — although movies and television often present a misleading picture:

"All the movies [are] just great propaganda . . . like it's a lot of fun and [you have] a lot of money and all that. You don't think about, like, you have to pay [the] mortgage. You don't know."

- A man, in New York

"When I came here, the first thing I imagined was I want to live la vida loca, the great life... I wound up in an area that was very bad, in a two-bedroom apartment where twelve people were living. They were sharing their rent, and I said, 'What have I gotten myself into?' With time, I wound up renting another apartment. I didn't imagine it would be like this."

- A woman, in the Los Angeles focus group

Immigrants report closer ties to their birth country than they did seven years ago. They spend more time with people from their birth country and are more likely to call home and send money.

There are some indications, however, that when it comes to being "comfortable" in communities, other immigrants play a critical role. Compared to 2002, more immigrants say that they spend time with people from their birth country and have closer ties there.

Half of the immigrants we surveyed (51 percent) say they spend "a lot" of time with people from their birth country, a jump of 14 points from 2002.

Other kinds of birth-country ties have strengthened as well. One is the simple act of telephoning. The number of immigrants who tell us that they call home at least once a week rose 12 points (40 percent from 28 percent). Granted, this may be partly because telecommunications is better and cheaper than even a few years ago. Cell phones are common, international calling is less expensive and innovations like Skype and instant messaging make it easier to keep in touch.

These strengthened ties are not merely emotional, either; they're financial. While there's been no real change in the number of immigrants who say they send money to their birth country regularly, the number who say they do so "once in a while" increased 14 points, to 44 percent. And the number who says they never send money fell from 55 percent to 37 percent.

About one-quarter of our sample was made up of more recent immigrants, those who arrived since 2001. On the whole, their ties to the United States aren't as strong. For example:

One-third say they will go back to live in their birth country some day.

Three in ten (32 percent) say it is likely that their children will one day want to live in their birth country (compared with 18 percent of those here before 2001).

One-third (34 percent) say that if they had it to do over, they would either stay where they were born (26 percent) or pick a different country (8 percent)..

Six in ten (61 percent) say that they spend a lot of time with people from their birth country, compared with 47 percent of immigrants here before 2001.

More than twice as many (66 percent compared to 29 percent) telephone home at least once a week.

The recent immigrants in A Place to Call Home do seem to have different attitudes on these points than those who were recent arrivals in our 2002 study, Now That I'm Here — in other words, those who were new and still adjusting to American life in the 1990s as opposed to the 2000s. When we compare immigrants who arrived between 2001 and 2009 and those from the 2002 study who arrived between 1990 and 2001, we find:

The 2001-2009 group is more likely to spend a lot of time with people from their birth country (61 percent versus 35 percent in the 2002 survey)

Individuals in this group are also more likely to call their birth country at least once a week (66 percent compared to 38 percent)

And those who came to the United States knowing little or no English are more likely to say they speak their native language most of the time at home (86 percent compared to 55 percent).

At least as far as perceptions go, a majority of the immigrants we surveyed in 2009 (57 percent) suggests that recent immigrants "have the same respect for American laws and customs as immigrants like you." About a third (32 percent) say that recent immigrants have less respect, though only 15 percent of immigrants who have arrived after 2001 agree.

Among our focus groups, there was a strong sense that American culture is a difficult force to resist. Many immigrants mentioned the materialism often associated with America as a drawback, although how they responded to it depended greatly on their personal beliefs.

Significant numbers of immigrants came to the United States without being able to speak English, and more than half still consider their language skills fair or poor. However, they consider speaking English important for getting ahead, and most say they've taken classes to improve their ability.

One of the perpetual flashpoints in the immigration debate has been over language: to what extent immigrants speak English, and to what extent the nation should accommodate those who don’t. As mentioned above, a sizeable number of immigrants (45 percent) come to the United States with no knowledge of English. Overall, about half of them (52 percent) report that they can read a book or newspaper "a little" or "not at all." Even more of them, 63 percent, consider their ability to speak English to be "fair" or "poor."

This is a barrier, and immigrants know it. More than half of immigrants (52 percent) say it is "very hard" to get a job without knowing English (although, interestingly, that's a ten point decline from 2002), and more than half (56 percent) say that the United States should expect all immigrants to learn English.

Immigrants are willing to take practical steps to address this. Seven in ten of those who came to this country knowing very little or no English at all say that they've taken classes to improve their English, a jump of 23 percent from 2002. Nearly three-quarters (74 percent) of immigrants overall say that it is more important for schools to teach immigrant children English as quickly as possible than it is to teach them other subjects in their native language. Some 88 percent of those with school-age children consider their child's English to be "excellent" or “good.”

Despite this, English isn't the primary language in many immigrant homes. Nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of those who came to the United States speaking little or no English say that they mostly speak their native language at home, a 25 point increase from 2002.

There's also a significant difference based on when immigrants came here, and how much money they have. Ninety percent of those who still don't speak English well came to the country with very little money.

Recent immigrants (since 2001) are more likely to have arrived already knowing how to speak English (30 percent compared with 22 percent), but the recent immigrants who did not are also much more likely to speak their native language in the home (86 percent compared with 55 percent). These immigrants are also more doubtful about their skills, with 75 percent reporting that their English is “fair” or “poor,” compared with 58 percent of immigrants who have been here awhile.

Growing numbers of immigrants cite practical reasons for seeking U.S. citizenship: securing stronger rights and protections, and the ease with which they are able to get a job are just as important as showing commitment and pride in America.

The ultimate in "fitting in" is to become a citizen. In our survey, 46 percent of those we spoke to say that they are not U.S. citizens, and 15 percent say they are undocumented.^[2] Of the non-citizens who are legal residents, 87 percent say they are either in the process or planned to become citizens in the future.

Among those who are citizens or plan to pursue citizenship, one-third say, becoming a U.S. citizen is “a dream come true.” A majority, however, view the step more matter-of-factly; 46 percent call it "necessary" and 17 percent "practical."

When we ask all immigrants about specific reasons for becoming citizens, the top considerations are obtaining the right to vote and "better legal rights and protections," both at 78 percent. "Showing commitment and pride" came in at 71 percent, while "making it easier to get certain jobs" and not worrying about immigration status both came in at 69 percent.

Though these responses were consistent overall with our 2002 survey, there were some considerable shifts. There are 14-point increases in those who say getting certain jobs and making it easier to travel are major reasons to become citizens. Qualifying for government programs like Medicaid and food stamps also saw a 14-point increase, although, as noted, this is still remains quite low on the overall list, with 36 percent calling it a major reason.

There was also a 13-point increase among those who say that a major reason to seek citizenship was to make it easier to bring other family members to the United States (49 percent) and an 11-point increase among those who wished to dispel their worries about their immigration status.

[1] When asked, “How often, if ever, do you and your family live from paycheck to paycheck: always, most of the time, sometimes, hardly ever or never?” 23 percent said always, 16 percent said most of the time, 20 percent said sometimes, 17 percent hardly ever and 21 percent never. (Princeton Survey Research Associates International/Newsweek Poll, January 2009).

[2] Undocumented immigrants interviewed for this study were identified through this question: "Before you answer the next question, I want to assure you that this interview is totally confidential. Some immigrants have gotten all of their documents together and become legal residents. Other immigrants are still preparing their documents and are considered undocumented. Are you a legal resident, or are you an undocumented immigrant?"

Immigration 2009 Part One

Peiting Chen — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 12:31:19 -0400

Introduction: Views On Immigration

Part One: The Right Move

Part Two: Fitting In

Part Three: Common Threads,
Different Voices

In Their Own Words

Survey Questions & Answers

Views of the U.S.

Life as an immigrant

Parents and children

Interactions with the government

Views on discrimination

Legal status and citizenship

Immigration policy

Charts & Graphs

Methodology

Funding & Acknowledgments

Download Full Report (PDF)

News Releases

Part One: The Right Move

Overall, immigrants say they’re quite satisfied with life in the United States, for themselves and their children. Discrimination against immigrants doesn't seem to be part of their daily lives. Although majorities say it exists, majorities also say they haven't personally experienced much of it. Right now, the biggest concern for immigrants is much the same as for native-born Americans: the economy and their own financial well-being. The economic tumult in our society may be shaping some of their perceptions — and motivations.

For any decision in life, whether it involves a job accepted or lost, a marriage made or ended, a school selected, or a vote cast, the evaluation comes down to one question: Would you do it all over again? There may be regrets or dissatisfactions; that’s part of the human condition. But if life came with a time machine or a reset button, would you make the same choice?

By that standard, immigrants in America are clearly happy with their choice. More than 7 in 10 (71 percent) report that if they could do it all over again, they’d still come to the United States. Nor are they likely to give up and go home; indeed, equally large numbers (70 percent) say that they intend to make the United States their permanent home.

That goes for their children, as well. About three-quarters of immigrant parents (74 percent) say it’s unlikely their children will want to live in their birth country, with a strong 58 percent saying it’s “very unlikely.”

The reasons for this seem straightforward: Immigrants buy in to American society. There’s always been a fierce debate among pundits and political scientists about “American exceptionalism,” the idea that the United States is unique among nations. Some find this idea ennobling, others pernicious. Maybe it’s no surprise, since immigrants have volunteered to build their lives here, but the people we surveyed have very little doubt: 76 percent say the United States is “a unique country that stands for something special in the world.” Only 20 percent disagree, saying that the United States is “just another country that is no better or worse than any other.”

When asked to make specific comparisons about the United States and their home country, the United States comes out far ahead on many of the fundamentals of daily life: things native-born Americans may take for granted. Strong majorities say that the United States does a better job than their home country when it comes to:

Offering the opportunity to earn a good living (88 percent)¹

Having a trustworthy legal system (70 percent)

Making good health care available (67percent)

Maintaining a good education system (62 percent).

In fact, three-quarters of immigrant parents of school-age children say their child is getting a better education in the United States than they themselves received at that same age.

Smaller majorities also give the United States an edge in areas like "being a good place to raise children" and "having a free and independent media" (both 55 percent).

Immigrants believe discrimination is commonplace, but the numbers seem stable and most say it happens to "the other guy."

The history of immigration in the United States shows that the idea of an open door and a cold reception are not incompatible in the public’s view. There’s often been discrimination against people based on their race and ethnicity, whether they were born in the United States or not.

That said, although our survey finds that immigrants recognize discrimination in the American experience, it isn’t necessarily a substantial part of their personal experience.

More than 6 in 10 immigrants (63 percent) say there’s some discrimination against immigrants in the United States today. One in five (22 percent) say there’s “a great deal” of discrimination. Fewer, 43 percent, say there’s at least some discrimination against people from their birth country (15 percent say “a great deal”).

However, only 9 percent of immigrants say that they have personally experienced “a great deal” of discrimination, with another 16 percent reporting that they experienced "some." That means 73 percent of immigrants say they’ve experience "only a little" (35 percent) or no discrimination (38 percent). The number of those who have personally experienced "a great deal" or "some" discrimination does not vary by immigration status, religion, level of English-language ability or country of origin.

In addition, there doesn’t seem to be any increase in personal experience of discrimination since our 2002 survey. In fact, there's even a slight but statistically significant downward shift between the number of immigrants who said they have personally experienced discrimination in 2002 (7 percent said a great deal and 23 percent said some) and those who say as much in the current survey (9 percent said a great deal and 16 percent said some).

Of the 51 percent of immigrants who have been here longer than five years and say they have experienced discrimination, more than half also also say they have experienced the same level (37 percent) or more discrimination (17 percent) in the past five years; 44 percent say that they have experienced less.

Only 5 percent of those who have been in the United States for at least five years say that in those past five years they have been stopped by the police and asked about their immigration status.

The government's immigration services get better marks than they did seven years ago.

While comprehensive immigration reform has eluded policymakers, there have been significant changes in how the government approaches immigration law. Since we first surveyed immigrants in 2002, the federal government split the old Immigration and Naturalization Service into two agencies, to separate processing visas and citizenship applications from enforcement of immigration laws. Federal officials also became more aggressive in enforcing immigration laws after September 11, hiring more agents and making enough new detentions to create substantial backlogs in immigration courts. ^[2]

When it comes to their dealings with the government, nearly half of the immigrants (47 percent) we spoke with have had contact with “U.S. immigration services” in the past 10 years. Some 15 percent say that they had contact within the past year. ^[3]

Overall, federal immigration officials get better ratings from immigrants than did their counterparts in 2002. We saw a 10-point rise in the number of people giving positive ratings (from 48 percent to 58 percent). Nearly 6 in 10 (58 percent) of current immigrants who recently dealt with immigration services say that it is easy to get information, and 21 percent say it’s “very easy.”

Immigrants who are not citizens but are legal residents gave government immigration services about the same positive ratings as citizens. Undocumented immigrants were slightly more ambivalent about their experiences overall, but a majority gave positive or neutral ratings.

There is a drop in overall satisfaction among immigrants with life in the United States, and the state of the economy may be driving it.

The global financial crisis, vast in scope and frightening in speed, has overwhelmed other public concerns in surveys over the past year. In this area, immigrants are no different from other Americans. In our survey, 6 in 10 (63 percent) immigrants volunteer the economy as the most important problem facing the nation, far ahead of any other issue. Other sources prove this point as well. Mexican government statistics show that fewer Mexicans are emigrating to the United States, and the ones already here are sending less money home, both trends Mexican officials attribute to the economy.^[4]

The effect of the economy on immigrants’ attitudes in our survey may be apparent in a number of ways. Although strong majorities of immigrants seem content with life in the United States, there is less satisfaction than there was in 2002. Fewer say they’d “do it all over again,” falling from 80 percent in 2002 to 71 percent now. In addition, although an overwhelming 87 percent say they’re happy with life in the United States, there’s been a significant drop in enthusiasm. In 2002, 55 percent said that they were “extremely happy,” compared with only 34 percent now.

To some extent, these numbers match surveys of the general public over the past year, which have found record numbers of Americans saying the country is “on the wrong track."^[5] With immigrants, however, there are also shifts in several other areas that suggest economic strains are starting to tell.

In both 2002 and today, strong majorities of immigrants say it’s important to work hard and stay off government assistance. But those numbers have shifted. For example, those who think it is “extremely important” for immigrants to stay off welfare has dropped from 73 percent in 2002 to 63 percent today. There’s also an increase in the number of immigrants who say that qualifying for government programs like Medicaid or food stamps is a major reason for becoming a citizen. Only 36 percent of immigrants say that this is a major reason to pursue citizenship, but this is 14 points higher than when we asked in 2002.

If anything, economic concerns are stronger among more recent and undocumented immigrants. Newer immigrants (those who arrived in 2001 or later) are more likely to cite getting a job (82 percent versus 65 percent) and being eligible for government programs (46 percent versus 31 percent) as major reasons to become citizens. In addition, 86 percent of undocumented immigrants cite the economy as their number one concern (compared with 59 percent of citizens and other legal residents).

At the same time, as you will see in the other findings, other concerns that immigrants might have, including fitting into the American fabric, experiencing discrimination and concerns about their children did not change or have even decreased since 2002.This strongly suggests that the current state of the economy may be the driving force behind the lower levels of satisfaction.

And though the survey found that almost 9 in 10 say the United States was a better place than their birth country for earning a good living, our focus groups did pick up some suggestions that this might change, at least for some immigrants. A number of focus group participants pointed out that the standard of living is rising in other countries, such as China and India, which means that similar opportunities may be opening up there as well.

"Nowadays, for example in China, people make [a] very decent [living]. If you're looking at the relative purchasing power, people in China are pretty comfortable, as they are here. Talking about opportunity-wise, I have a lot of friends who are, relatively speaking, much better off than my friends here."

- A San Francisco participant originally from China

So who are the disenchanted?

So what defines those immigrants who believe that they made the wrong choice by coming to the United States? We tried to find common features among the one-quarter of immigrants surveyed who say they wouldn't come here if they had it to do over again. That includes those who say they would have stayed in their birth country (19 percent) and those who would have immigrated somewhere else (6 percent).

The biggest differences between this group and other immigrants seem to be language and discrimination:

Language is by far the biggest difference, though the same number (76 percent) say they came to this country knowing either no or only a little English, 74 percent report that their English is fair or poor (34 percent of them say that it is poor compared with 24 percent among those who came here knowing little or no English and say they would immigrate again).

They're significantly more likely to say that there is a "great deal" of discrimination against immigrants (38 percent compared with 17 percent among those who say they'd do it all over again).

One in five say that they have personally experienced a "great deal" of discrimination, more than twice the number of the overall sample, and only 6 percent among those who say they'd immigrate again say the same.

Most of these regretful immigrants have been in the United States for a substantial period of time. More than half, 56 percent, came to the United States before 2001.

Other potential dividing lines don't seem to make much difference. This isn't a matter of income, religion, or education; this group shows no real differences in these areas when compared to other immigrants.

Nor is it a question of ethnicity or birth country. Some 29 percent, the largest single group, were listed as "other," in other words, not Asian, Middle Eastern, Central or South American, or Mexican. Latin Americans do make up half this group when Mexicans (28 percent) are combined with Central and South Americans (22 percent).

Finally, this group is more likely to be undocumented (27 percent), though that number remains relatively small.

[1] In the survey, respondents were asked specifically about the country in which they were born unless they declined to specify their home country (6 respondents, or 0.5 percent of those surveyed), in which case they were asked to refer to their “home country.” For example, someone from France would be asked the question: “Do you think the United States or France does a better job when it comes it to… having more opportunity to earn a good living?”

[2] “Study Finds Immigration Courtrooms Backlogged,” June 17, 2009,
The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/18/us/18immig.html

[3] Our 2002 survey was conducted when immigration enforcement and citizenship applications were both handled by the same agency, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). Our survey questions specifically referred to the INS. Since then, the INS was has split into two agencies: Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Our 2009 survey questions refer to “U.S. immigration services.”

[4] See, for example, "Mexican Data Show Migration to the U.S. in Decline," May 14, 2009, The New York Times, and "Remittances by Mexicans in U.S. Plummet," June 1, 2009, The New York Times.

[5] In a recent CBS News / New York Times Poll, half of Americans said that things in this country have pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track, compared with 44 percent who said things are are generally going in the right direction (June 2009).

A Place to Call Home: What Immigrants Say Now About Life in America

Peiting Chen — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 10:29:08 -0400

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY (pdf)

DOWNLOAD REPORT (pdf)

SEE POWERPOINT

SEE VIDEO

SEE NEWS RELEASES

Introduction: Views On Immigration

Part One: The Right Move

Part Two: Fitting In

Part Three: Common Threads,
Different Voices

In Their Own Words

Survey Questions & Answers

Views of the U.S.

Life as an immigrant

Parents and children

Interactions with the government

Views on discrimination

Legal status and citizenship

Immigration policy

Charts & Graphs

Methodology

Funding & Acknowledgments

Download Full Report (PDF)

News Releases

A Place to Call Home: What Immigrants Say Now
About Life in America

By Scott Bittle and Jonathan Rochkind, with Amber Ott and Paul Gasbarra

Prepared with support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York

Congress and the Bush administration tried to reform immigration policy in 2006, and failed. A year later, they tried again, with no more success. Now President Barack Obama and congressional leaders say they'll try once more. Political leaders are speaking of it in just those terms: one last chance, one last try.

"We've got one more chance to do this," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., after a White House meeting in June. "If we fail this time around, no politician is going to take this up in a generation."^[1]

Perhaps that's hyperbole, but whether it is or not, the stakes remain high. It’s a cliché to say that America is a nation of immigrants, but like most clichés, this one began as a statement of simple truth. Another truth is that if we're going to overhaul immigration policy, it only makes sense to listen to the people who will be most affected by it: immigrants. To craft a just and practical policy, we need to see America through the immigrants' eyes. That’s true whether you favor an open door or a higher fence. You can’t hope to implement sound strategies unless you understand what brings people to the United States and what they think about the nation once they get here.

That’s what Public Agenda hopes to accomplish with A Place to Call Home: What Immigrants Say Now About Life in America, the follow-up to our pioneering 2002 survey of immigrants, Now That I'm Here. In A Place to Call Home, we've extended our sampling to gain a more detailed view of Hispanics and Muslims. Because we surveyed both cell phone owners and landline households, we were able to capture the perspectives of undocumented immigrants as well. Just as importantly, we can now see trend data on how immigrants view a tumultuous period in history.

Economic and Cultural Tensions

The past seven years have seen ferocious debate over immigration, even as legislation has remained stalled. The United States admits more than 1 million immigrants a year, and the Census Bureau reports 12 percent of the population is foreign-born at 34.2 million. In addition, there are an estimated 12 million illegal or undocumented immigrants in the country. ^[2]

In 2002, the immigration debate was haunted by the ghosts of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the question of how to keep the country secure from further acts of terrorism. Those concerns haven’t gone away, of course, but the economic and cultural tensions that have always shaped immigration policy have reasserted themselves. While attempts to change immigration laws have failed, they've also kept the issue at the forefront of public debate.

Employers who hire illegal immigrants are under increased pressure from the federal government to comply with existing laws, and a number of state and local governments have enacted their own laws to restrict services to immigrants without documents. All this has led to a fever-pitch debate over how the country should deal with immigration.

One thing that is clear from our research, and probably comforting to both sides of the immigration debate: The overwhelming majority of immigrants say they’re happy in the United States, and would do it all over again if they could. Immigrants “buy in” to American society, for themselves and their children. They rate the United States as an improvement over their birthplace in almost all dimensions, and most say they expect their children to remain in this country. This sense of having made the right decision cuts across all groups, regardless of income, immigration status or ethnic group.

Despite much rhetoric and a number of well-publicized incidents, many immigrants report that discrimination and government harassment aren't a major part of their daily lives. Although majorities say discrimination does exist in the United States—against both immigrants in general and people from their birth country—most don’t report having personally encountered much discrimination. Thirty-eight percent of immigrants say they haven’t faced discrimination at all. Government immigration officials get higher ratings now than they did in our 2002 survey.

Still, roughly one-quarter of immigrants report running into at least some discrimination personally, and about 1 in 10 immigrants report having done so “a great deal.” One cannot discount the power these encounters have, and the extent to which they resonate, not only for the immigrants themselves but also for their communities. When only a few individuals report bad experiences but solid majorities are convinced that discrimination exists, it’s a fair assumption that those few incidents can have lasting echoes.

Happy to Be Here, and Phoning Home

It’s also true that fewer immigrants say they’re “extremely happy” in the United States than nine years ago, and the number who say they’d do it all over again has fallen. However, this doesn’t seem to be driven by discrimination or by problems adjusting to a new country. Most immigrants, in fact, say they fit in to American life quickly, even as their ties to their birth country seem to have grown stronger. More immigrants say they phone home and send money regularly compared to 2002, and half of the immigrants we surveyed say they mostly spend time with others from their birth country, a significant increase from seven years ago. This seeming contradiction—quickly becoming comfortable in the United States even as ties to their birth country grow stronger—suggests that other immigrants, and the broader immigrant community, play a strong role in helping immigrants adjust.

Immigrants say the biggest problem they face right now is also the biggest problem facing the rest of the country: the economy. We’re seeing this reflected in multiple dimensions. Not only do more than 6 in 10 immigrants say the economy is the most important problem for the country but financial concerns seem to be playing a much greater role in their attitudes. Almost all still say that the United States is a better place than their birth country for earning a living, but more also cite finding a job and securing government assistance as major reasons to pursue citizenship. No wonder, then, that their overall happiness has diminished.

So as the debate renews on immigration reform, what do immigrants want? What path do they believe the nation should take?

For immigrants, there are several overarching themes for reform. A solid majority says that illegal immigrants become productive citizens—almost exactly the opposite of the view held by the general public. Perhaps not surprisingly, immigrants support new measures to bring illegal or undocumented immigrants more firmly into the mainstream. An overwhelming 84 percent support a “guest worker” program, while more than 7 in 10 back a “path to citizenship” for undocumented immigrants who have no criminal record and have shown a commitment to the United States, though support for this latter varies according to age and ethnic group. As a whole, however, immigrants back some method of bringing illegal immigrants into society.

Views from Legal and Illegal Immigrants

This report was based on six focus groups and a national telephone survey of 1,138 foreign-born adults. The margin of error is plus or minus 4 percent, although the margin is higher when comparing subgroups. There are plenty of methodological hurdles intrinsic to interviewing this population. As in our prior study, we limited our definition of immigrants to people born outside the United States and, in order to capture their recollections of coming to America, we excluded anyone who emigrated under 5 years of age. And as before, we conducted the telephone survey in English and Spanish.

This time, we wanted to take a closer look at particular ethnic groups that are often overlooked because of their relatively small size in the United States, including Middle Easterners, South and East Asians, as well as Central and South Americans. In order to do so, we supplemented our random digital dialed (RDD) sample with a list of phone numbers of those likely to identify with one of these ethnicities. The list was provided by Ethnic Technologies, ,a leading provider of multicultural lists. Within each household, an adult member was chosen randomly and screened to ensure that they match our immigrant criteria.

Since we conducted our last survey on immigrants in 2002, the number of people in the United States who use a cell phone has increased significantly, and this number is even greater for immigrant populations. According to both the 2009 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) and the General Social Survey (GSS), 22 percent of foreign-born residents of the U.S. do not own a landline telephone, but do own a cell phone.

Thus we included a dual-frame, cell phone sample alongside our landline sample to capture immigrants who do not have access to a landline. In addition, our stratified random dialing design ensured that no matter where an immigrant lived in the United States, whether in a location that has a high density of immigrants or one where immigrants are fewer or farther between, all immigrants had a chance to be included in our survey.

One final difference from our last immigrant study: In this survey, we chose to ask respondents about their legal status in the United States. Before weighting, eight percent of our sample say that they are undocumented, and 57 percent say that they are United States citizens. Of those who say they are not citizens, 20 percent say they are in the process of becoming a citizen and 76 percent are not in the process. But 64 percent of the noncitizens say they plan to seek citizenship in the future.

A Place To Call Home is funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

[1] “Guest Worker Program Poses Obstacle for Obama on Immigration Push,” June 25, 2009, The New York Times,
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/25/guest-worker-program-poses-obstacle-for-obama-on-immigration-push

[2] "Yearbook of Immigration Statistics 2008," Department of Homeland Security, http://www.dhs.gov/ximgtn/statistics/publications/yearbook.shtm

A Place To Call Home: What Immigrants Say Now About Life In America

Francie Grace — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 18:35:13 -0400

Immigration is back on the nation's agenda, with President Obama calling for a new attempt at reform next year. But in order to craft a policy that works, it helps to hear the voices of the immigrants themselves: why they're here, the challenges they face, and their views on reform proposals. Our new survey, A Place to Call Home: What Immigrants Say Now About Life In America, finds majorities saying they adapted quickly to life in the U.S., and, made the right choice in coming to this country. Click here to see our report, funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Resources For Democracy: Tools For Online Engagement

Francie Grace — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 10:40:45 -0400

Resources For Democracy: Tools For Online Engagement

Public Agenda offers a range of online tools for public engagement - either as stand-alone approaches or in addition to larger projects with face-to-face community conversations - which we tailor to your specific needs. Online engagement and participation has matured over the last couple of years and today we can utilize a wide variety of methods to create a productive dialogue focused on problem solving rather than ideological in-fights.

On this page, we provide a menu of online strategies individuals and civic groups may wish to use for public engagement. For assistance or advice on any of these tools for online engagement, feel free to contact us at: publicengagement@publicagenda.org.

Online Dialogues

Online Dialogues can have concrete impact in various ways, from informing administration practices and government policies, to catalyzing collaborations across existing community organizations and programs and creating new citizen-led initiatives. They are valuable additions to projects on a larger geographical scale, where travel time and expense can restrict or eliminate participation in workshops for citizens and key stakeholders.

Online dialogues typically start with one of our Choicework Discussion Starter guides, either as background material or in the form of an interactive game, followed by a discussion phase and a collaborative summary, including participants in this final phase.

While face-to-face meetings are typically limited to several hours, online communication enables deeper and longer-lasting dialogue over the course of several days, weeks or an even longer time period. As in face-to-face Community Conversations, trained online facilitators (contact us for more information about facilitator training) ensure that discussions are fair, respectful and on topic. Facilitators also coordinate the dialogue phase, send discussion updates and invite inactive users and lurkers back into the conversation.

Asset Mapping

Community Asset Mapping is an exciting new technique of public engagement in which volunteers get together to identify local assets (for example, after school activities, counseling centers, job training centers – whatever might be helpful to address a particular project's goal) and list them in the form of an online map. We're using Asset Mapping now in an ongoing project on the Gulf Coast – click here to learn more about that effort and see whether it has lessons that might benefit your own community.

Asset Mapping, which energizes and involves citizens in the decisions and planning that affect their lives, is a strength-based approach used to avoid the pitfalls, at the beginning of a community development project, of focusing mainly on a community's needs and problems.

Identifying a community's assets in face-to-face workshops is a powerful way to engage the community in thinking about the assets in their community. But time constraints, location, or scheduling can all be barriers to participation for many community members. Accordingly, it can be even more powerful to do asset mapping both in person and online.

Web sites for online asset mapping (here's an example) can provide a lot more than a look at, and a chance to participate in the creation of, the map. They're also a place for continued discussion, updates and reports on the process, as well as a place to find background information and other resources.

Online Social Networks

Conversations started in face-to-face Community Conversations or workshops typically do not have a plan to continue in a physical space after the event. Online social networks provide a platform for participants to follow-up, discuss next steps and develop new ideas beyond the scope of the meeting.

Follow-up activities take less effort to organize with an online venue that provides a place to stay in touch, continue the conversation and organize next steps. The asynchronous nature of online communication and online networking allows organizers and participants to more effectively stay connected and turn discussion into action.

Participants create their own profiles, where they provide socio-demographic information about themselves and indicate topics that they are interested to get involved in. They are encouraged to build their own network by adding real-world connections as "friends" and this small-scale Social Graph helps to make social capital searchable and accessible. And groups and discussions help the organizing team and participants to brainstorm new ideas or organize follow-up activities. Social networks are just one of many online organizing tools for Community Conversations that Public Agenda offers.

Deliberation In Virtual Worlds

Second Life, an online virtual world, is somewhat like a cross between a video game, a chat room and a web site. (Click here for an example of how Second Life can be used for online engagement.) All users have avatars - images which represent themselves online - and may participate in a wide range of activities from exploring faraway lands to immersive learning and roleplay.

Second Life enables real-time deliberation between people in different parts of the world while giving them a feeling of closeness that communication in conference calls, forums or chat rooms can't provide. Additionally, the three-dimensional nature of virtual worlds provides new opportunities in learning about and exploring issues.

In urban planning, for example, participants can explore different design alternatives in 3D as part of a discussion which could both continue in a virtual or physical space. Public Agenda has experience in using Second Life for stakeholder engagement and has access to in-world venues and resources through its partner organizations.

Multi-Channel Strategies For Online Engagement

The field of public engagement is rapidly changing, as it keeps pace with the rapidly changing communication practices in the world at large. A large variety of computers and mobile phones have become widely adopted communication devices, each supporting many different kinds of interwoven communication media. Meanwhile, the target groups that we are trying to reach in our engagement work have developed different patterns of communication (for more about this, see Promising Practices In Online Engagement, our video presentation on that topic, and other papers from our Center for Advances in Public Engagement). This leaves us with a growing need for civic engagement efforts to offer multiple channels of participation in order to be inclusive.

Over the last decade, online engagement methods have evolved and matured. And case studies and academic research shows us that the web is not replacing traditional ways of civic engagement - it's expanding the set of tools in the toolbox. Public Agenda can help you assess and identify the right mix of communication channels for your needs and to create a multi-channel engagement strategy that works.

The Grading Game: Should Colleges Teach Good Citizenship – and Does the Public Want Them To?

Scott Bittle — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 11:34:00 -0400

America's magazine editors continue to come up with new ways of rating colleges, with the U.S News and World Report ranking coming out as Washington Monthly unveils a new standard aimed at assessing an institution’s contribution to the "public good." But what does the public think a college education is all about?

The U.S. News and World Report rankings, of course, have been a controversial touchstone for college applicants for years, so sought-after that college administrators have been accused of gaming the system. Washington Monthly's new ratings use a much different set of standards, based on how colleges promote social mobility, research, and service.

These kinds of rankings persist because they fill a need. With students having to pile on debt to go to college – new federal stats show student borrowing increased by 25 percent last year -- parents and students need some kind of guidance. People who are making a major investment in their lives should have at least as much information as they do when buying a dishwasher.

Public Agenda's research shows more and more Americans consider higher education essential. But when they say that, what are they expecting students to get out of the experience?

In our Squeeze Play 2007 survey, we asked the public a battery of questions on "what students should gain out of college." The top response was "a sense of maturity and ability to manage on their own" (68 percent said this was "absolutely essential"), followed by the skills they need to get a job (60 percent), an ability to get along with people different than themselves (59 percent), learning high-tech skills (57 percent) and thinking analytically (56 percent).

Many of these "essential" qualities are "soft skills," things that make a student a responsible and respectable person, rather than just a good scholar or a good employee. But they're not automatically skills for the greater social good. The "responsibilities of citizenship, such as voting and volunteering" was much further down the list, at 39 percent. This doesn't mean that good citizenship doesn't matter at all to the public, in fact, it's quite the opposite. It's just that they don't see it as essential for higher education.

And most Americans (two-thirds) surveyed in Squeeze Play do believe higher education is teaching students what they need to know.

But it's also true that attitudes about higher education have become more skeptical, mostly driven by frustration with rising costs. In Squeeze Play 2009, we found 55 percent who said colleges are more focused on the bottom line than on their educational mission – operating more like businesses -- and more than half said colleges could spend less and still provide the same quality.

That skepticism may be the real measure worth watching, rather than magazine rankings. If rising numbers of the public think college is essential, but doubt whether they're getting their money's worth, eventually they're going to start insisting that college administrators address those concerns.