Weekend Reading: Highlights from this week’s immigration news (April 11 – 15)
Date: April 15, 2016
This week, Florida Governor Rick Scott approved a statewide Seal of Biliteracy. Senator Anitere Flores, a Republican from Miami, supported the legislation on WFSU-FM, pointing out: “While it might not sound so much to us who are further removed from high school, when you’re a high school student applying to a college, or perhaps getting ready to work in the workforce, every recognition really makes a big difference.” Flores called attention to the Seal catching on in other states, noting: “We have seen this Seal of Biliteracy as something that has been happening across the country really as a way to award students who have achieved and been able to attain proficiency in more than one language by the time they graduate high school.”
With Tax Day approaching, Lisa Christensen Gee, a senior policy analyst at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, calls attention to the $11.6 billion in state and local taxes undocumented immigrants contribute. In USA Today, she argues, “They’d net more if more immigrants had legal status.”
In a column for the Dallas Morning News, Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez argues that common sense immigration policies help police keep communities safe. She states: “In our county, one out of every four of our 2.5 million residents is foreign born. We embrace our diversity as a driver of our vibrant economy, fueled by the concentration of Fortune 500 company headquarters in Dallas County. Yet, Texas has taken the lead in a lawsuit that would keep law abiding, undocumented immigrants from applying for temporary relief from deportation.” See an explainer of the “United States v. Texas” by Dara Lind of Vox.
For Inc., Melissa Burns writes: “Hard work can lead to one’s prosperity—and sometimes to the profit of the whole nation. According to the recent report of the Wall Street Journal, more than 50 percent of American billion-dollar startups were founded by immigrants. Here are three of those success stories—of the startups and the entrepreneurs—who dared to live up to their ambitions and showed once again that the American dream is worth trying.”
In case you missed it…
This week marked National Volunteer Week, which has been recognized since it was established in 1974. In honor of the week, PNAE analyzed the 2013 Current Population Survey’s data on volunteering trends, with a special focus on the behavior of immigrant volunteers. Do immigrants volunteer as much as their native-born counterparts? What causes are immigrant volunteers devoting their time to? Learn more here.
