What's the Biggest Cause of Bias Against Latinos?

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As the crackdown on undocumented immigration spurs harsh new laws and xenophobia around the country, immigrants, regardless of citizenship status, are bearing the brunt of an upsurge in national hostility--and most say it's impeding their ability to succeed.

Latinos are the largest population of color in America (15.5 percent) and wield the fastest-growing buying power of any traditionally underrepresented communities, but many say they can't get jobs or find good housing because of immigration-debate fallout, according to a new Pew Hispanic Center survey.

The telephone survey of 2,003 Latino adults conducted October 3--November 9 highlights Latinos' perceptions about quality of life, discrimination, immigration enforcement and other issues. Click here to download the complete report or read the press release.

(See also: How Does Your State Measure Up on Immigration?)

Here are some of the key topics and findings from the report:

1. Discrimination. Latinos are reporting more personal and community experiences of discrimination than they did five years ago in schools and the workplace, and most of them say this is a major problem that has prevented them from succeeding in America. By far, Latinos feel language skills are the biggest cause of discrimination against them, followed by immigration status, income, education and skin color. That's true across age, citizenship status, education and dominant language. Also:

• Sixty-five percent of foreign-born Latinos say discrimination is a major problem in the workplace; 46 percent of native-born Latinos agree. Federal calls for English-only bills that would allow employers to adopt English-only employment policies are an additional boon for Spanish-dominant workers who find their accent increasingly lowers their chances of getting a job at some companies. (See also: Will Your Accent Keep You From Getting Ahead?)
• Foreign-born Latinos are more likely than native-born Latinos to feel that discrimination in all facets of American life prevent Latinos from succeeding in this country (58 percent and 47 percent, respectively). (See also: Beating Bias: What Latina Execs Bring to the Table)
• Native-born Latinos are slightly more likely than foreign-born Latinos to say they, a family member or a close friend have experienced discrimination--from getting less respect to poorer customer service to worse treatment at government offices--because of their race/ethnicity (42 percent and 40 percent, respectively). (See also: Is Shopping While Latino as Bad as Shopping While Black?)

2. Enforcement. Work-site enforcement arrests and deportations increased an astronomical 869 percent and 84.5 percent, respectively, from 2002 to 2007. All of the federal workplace raids, stricter employment-verification systems and other factors make Latinos, regardless of citizenship status, worried about deportation for themselves or family and friends. Other findings include:

• A majority of Latinos and non-Latinos alike think local police should not take an active role in immigration enforcement; 85 percent of non-Latinos think you should have to provide proof of citizenship status to get a driver's license, compared with 40 percent of Latinos. A slight majority of non-Latinos approve of workplace raids, which only one-fifth of Latinos do.
• Native-born-Latino views are closer to the U.S. non-Latino population than their foreign-born counterparts (most of them support checking immigration status before issuing driver's licenses, for example), which lends credence to the idea of assimilation, but more than half of all Latinos are more worried about deportation than ever before. (See also: What to Do When Immigration Raids Leave Behind Traumatized Children)

3. Undocumented immigrants. Latinos band together when it comes to undocumented immigration, probably because many of them have family members or friends in that situation. Half of Latinos say that undocumented immigrants have had a positive impact on Latinos already living in the United States, while 20 percent say it's had a negative impact.

• As far as the economic impact, 75 percent of Latinos say undocumented immigrants boost the U.S. economy by providing low-cost labor, compared with just 17 percent who say they've hurt the economy by depressing wages. Less than half (48 percent) of non-Latinos say undocumented immigrants have hurt the economy; 40 percent say they've helped it.

Read the September 2007 issue of DiversityInc magazine to learn more about why undocumented immigrants are so critical to the U.S. economy. (See also: Hoax Alert! Undocumented Immigrants Do NOT Get Social-Security Benefits)

4. The Stalemate. Few Latinos have been unaffected by the immigration debate and our government's inability to agree on a solution. Two-thirds of Latinos say Congress' failure to pass comprehensive immigration reform has made life more difficult for them in this country (72 percent for foreign-born and 54 percent for native-born, respectively). (See also: 'Sanctuary City'? More Immigrants, More Political Lunacy)

5. Quality of life. While most Latinos say their quality of life is excellent/good, those who are English-dominant, native-born U.S. citizens with at least some college education are more satisfied than those who are Spanish-dominant or foreign-born, for example. The latter group also is more likely to think Latinos' situation in the United States has worsened since last year. Clearly, the immigration debate is taking a personal toll. Despite some adversity, Latinos across all educational, language and citizenship groups remain optimistic that life in this country will be better for their children, which supports the findings of a recent New America Media poll, which found that newer immigrants generally have more faith in the American dream and in democratic ideals than native-born Americans or immigrants who have been here awhile. (See also: Who's Most Likely to Date Other Races? New Poll Tells All)

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