Welcome to the sixth issue of The Globe of the International and Immigration Law Section Counsel.
Scott Pollock, Vice Chair of the International and Immigration Law Section Counsel, has provided his third “Immigration Consultation Corner.” Scott is presenting a hypothetical factual situation, which is actually based on a case within his office. This is intended to help the general, non-immigration law practitioner, enhance the understanding of immigration issues that might come into the office.
Violeta Balan is Co-Editor of The Globe. Her “International Delegation of Judges, Lawyers, Professors and Government Officials visited Chicago” is a description of a meeting with the section council and with a delegation organized by the National Council for International Visitors and The International Visitors of Chicago.
Jason Green, a third-year law student at Southern Illinois University School of Law, provided the case note on a leave of the United States Department of Justice.
I would like to thank Mark Wojcik of John Marshall Law School and Cindy Buys of Southern Illinois University School of Law for encouraging the students to continue to provide us material.
The balance of this issue is a report prepared by Steven W. Kuehl with the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. His report covers a series of conferences that have been held concerning immigrants in the Midwest and their involvement with the financial institutions. The report is entitled “Conference Series: An Informed Discussion of Financial Access for Immigrants.”
The first segment of the report in this issue deals with an overall view of the trends of immigrants in the Midwest and their touching on the financial industries. The next issue of The Globe will describe the actual alternatives for becoming involved in financial institutions and the application of legal issues such as the USA Patriot Act. The final segment will deal with the wage reporting process and other issues that may affect immigrants being integrated into the economy.
I wish to thank Steven W. Kuehl for preparing the report and the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago for conducting the series and making this information available.
And our thanks to Debra H. Rogers of the U.S. Export Assistance Center in Chicago for providing information concerning upcoming events of interest to international trade professionals.
In the last issue of The Globe, Donald L. Uchtmann, Professor of Agriculture Law, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, provided an article concerning the export of United States agricultural products, “Where is the Beef? Mad Cow Disease and International Trade in U.S., Canadian and Japanese Beef.” In parallel with the publication of The Globe, Don provided an “Author’s update: On January 20, 2006, Japan once again imposed a ban on imports of U.S. beef following the discovery of backbone material in a beef shipment to Japan. Under the December agreement regarding lifting the ban, U.S. beef exported to Japan must contain no vertebrae column. The non-complying shipment triggered a renewal of Japan’s beef ban at least until U.S.D.A. provided a full report regarding the incident. Ironically, this development occurred a day after Singapore announced it would resume imports of selected U.S. beef cuts, joining South Korea and Hong Kong, which recently agreed to accept boneless cuts of beef from animals 30 months and younger.”
Don, thank you for providing that update.
In the December issue there may have been an inadvertent transfer of responsibilities. We carried an article “Proposed Regulation Would Help Generalize the Use of Asset-Backed Securitizations in Spain” by Alex Carbonell and Rich Silverstein. There may have been a transfer of accreditation in that the article should have stated that Mr. Silverstein is the managing partner of the Barcelona office of Gomez-Acevo and Pombo, Abogados and Alex Carbonell is an associate.
Lewis F. Matuszewich
Matuszewich, Kelly & McKeever, LLP
Telephone: (312) 726-8787;
Facsimile: (773) 279-8872
E-MAIL: lfmatuszewich@mkm-law.com
An F-1 foreign student comes to your office with the Human Resources Director of a company that trades futures at the Chicago Board of Trade. The student graduated from college with a bachelor’s degree in economics in May 2005. His international student office granted him 12 months of post-completion optional practical training (“OPT”), and he applied for and received an employment authorization from the Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) office. He has been working as a “trade assistant” for the company. He analyzes market conditions and providing frequent reports on economic indicators to the firm’s traders. His employment authorization will expire on June 30, 2006. His company wants him to continue working for them beyond June.
Summary conclusions:
I. If the position of “trade assistant” requires a minimum bachelor’s degree in Economics or a related field as a minimum entry-level requirement, his employer may file a petition for an H-1B (temporary worker in a “specialty occupation”) visa status;
II. New H-1B visas are unavailable, because the annual cap has been reached The employer can file a petition for a FY 2007 H-1B visa up to 6 months before the new fiscal year, that is after April 1, 2006, with a start-date of October 1, 2006;
III. The F-1 student will fall out of status before October 1, 2006. Even if the employer’s petition is approved, the student may need to depart, obtain an H-1B visa at a U.S. Consulate abroad, and then return to the U.S. up to 10 days prior to the start date of his H-1B employment.
Discussion
The H-1B category is the most widely used temporary status for non-immigrants working in the United States. By statute, it is generally limited to employment in professional level positions known as specialty occupations, and is given to workers who have the necessary academic preparation to enter the particular position. In this case, the attorney will first need to determine whether a “trade assistant” position would be considered a specialty occupation at all. This could vary depending on the firm’s actual requirements, as well as what is commonly required in the industry as a whole.
Congress set an annual cap of 65,000 new H-1B visas (a number that is reduced somewhat by special visas for certain nationals of Singapore and Chile) plus 20,000 additional visas for cap-exempt persons holding graduate level degrees from U.S. schools. Due to fierce competition for these slots, the non-exempt FY-2006 cap was reached before the start of FY ’06. The separate cap for graduate-level degrees was reached in January 2006.
Assuming the employment does qualify for H-1B type treatment, this recent graduate has a problem that is referred to as the “cap-gap.” His status and employment authorization will expire on June 30, 2006. To not violate the law, the firm will need to end his employment as of that date and wait until he has a different kind of employment authorization. Under the F-1 student regulations, at 8 C.F.R. Section 214.2(f)(5), students are given a 60 day grace period after completing their academic program including any practical training, under which they are considered to be maintaining status. Thus, this student’s authorization to remain in the U.S. will end by August 29, 2006. New H-1B visa numbers are unavailable due to the cap, so the employer’s H-1B petition will be approved for a position to start no earlier than October 1, 2006. Since a change of non-immigrant visa status requires the current non-immigrant to be maintaining status throughout his or her temporary stay in the U.S. (see 8 C.F.R. Section 248), the CIS office would approve the petition, but also reject a request for a change of status in the U.S. The former student/prospective H-1B employee would need to leave the U.S., take the CIS’ approval notice, a copy of the approved petition, and all supporting documents showing eligibility for H-1B status to a U.S. consulate abroad to apply for a new visa in his passport. After receiving the H-1B visa, he could return to the U.S. up to 10 days prior to the October 1, 2006 start date.
Is there any way to avoid having to leave the U.S.? There are a few possibilities, each of which is either speculative or problematic. First, the CIS (former INS) may publish a notice in the next few months, by which it would deem F-1 students who have applied for a change of status to H-1B before the expiration of their F-1 status as continuing to be in compliance with their duration of status up to the date on which the H-1B authorization goes into effect. Immigration practitioners are currently urging the CIS to do this, but it is unclear at this time whether CIS will do so.
Second in addition to petitioning for a change of status to H-1B, some attorneys report that they have simultaneously sought changes of nonmimmigrant status from F-1 to that of a B-1/B-2 visitor in order to bridge the status gap. In theory this should be possible because, under the CIS’s “last-action rule” by which the last authorized change determines a person’s status in the U.S., the CIS could authorize both a change to B-1/B-2 status between August and October 1st and also authorize H-1B status to begin October 1st. But while some attorneys may have done this, others believe their success is a fluke, because the CIS generally refuses to authorize visitor status simply to remain in the U.S. to await authorized employment. If the attorney does apply for the client’s change of status from F-1 to B-1/B-2, it should be done with full disclosure to the CIS as to the reasons why visitor status is sought, and the client should understand that the request may be denied and he would then be required to depart the U.S. and apply for the H-1B visa abroad.
Finally, the student could re-enroll in a different academic program or one at a higher level, e.g. to obtain his masters degree. Depending on the type of program and the school’s academic requirements, the school’s designated school official could issue a new I-20 form to the returning student and then decide to authorize curricular practical training (“CPT”) to the student to work for academic credit. Or the school could enter into a reciprocal agreement with the trading firm under which part-time employment could be given “on campus” treatment under the regulations. Given the necessary expenses of making such arrangements, this “pushing the envelope” option is likely to be seen as not a viable option by either the student, the employer or the school.
The real long-term solution to the cap-gap problem is for Congress to either raise the cap or eliminate the H-1B cap altogether. This idea has proven to be controversial and is unlikely to occur unless the economy heats up again and U.S. workers feel safe from perceived foreign competition for professional level jobs in the U.S.
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1. © 2006 Scott D. Pollock & Associates, P.C. Immigration Consultation Corner is a periodic summary of an actual consultation.
Scott Pollock is Vice Chair of the International & Immigration Law Section of the ISBA. Scott may be reached at spollock@lawfirm1.com. Immigration Consultation Corner is a periodic summary of an actual consultation. © 2005 Scott D. Pollock & Associates, P.C.
An international delegation of judges and many distinguished lawyers, professors and government officials from around the world visited Chicago on January 18-20, 2006. The visit was part of a national tour organized by the National Council for International Visitors in conjunction with the International Visitor Center of Chicago.1 On January 19, 2006, the delegation visited The John Marshall Law School and met with members of the International and Immigration Law Section Council and other local lawyers, professors and law student leaders. The delegation also visited the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Chicago Police Department, Circuit Court of Cook County and Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts.
During their visit at The John Marshall Law School, attendees had the opportunity to discuss issues of mutual concern in an informal setting due to the scheduling of breakfast and lunch gatherings with the distinguished guests. These encounters were very beneficial for the Chicago practitioners who were interested in networking or simply learning about specific international issues in the countries represented by these guests. For example, Judge Kasam, a Civil Court Judge in Iraq, was very popular with local practitioners and students interested in learning more about current issues in Iraq. In a more formal group setting, the attendees discussed current controversial issues in the United States, including the death penalty, inmates’ rehabilitation and reintegration in society, human rights, the use of force under international law, and legal education. The international guests had very specific questions about each of these issues and shared their perspectives on these controversial topics. The visitors were also broken down in small groups and were given a tour of The John Marshall Law School by current students or alumni.
The international delegation was one of the most impressive delegation that ever visited Chicago. It included Dr. Guillermo Francisco Reyes Gonzalez, Magistrate, National Electoral Council (Columbia), Mr. Hossam El Din Mohamed Aly Abo Helw, Judge, Family Law, Alexandria Court (Egypt), Ms. Hawa Sisay-Sabally, Solicitor General, Justice Ministry of Gambia (Gambia), Ms. Olivia Obeng Owusu, District Magistrate (Ghana), Ms. Sumita Kapil, Attorney, Special Public Prosecutor, New Delhi (India), Mr. Kasam E. Kasam, Civil Court Judge (Iraq), Mr. Paz Barnett, Assistant to Minister of Justice (Israel), Ms. Aliya Duganova, Chief Expert, Department of the International Relations and Protocol Department, Supreme Court (Kazakhstan), Mr. Shollei Boss , Editor, Kenya Law Reports, National Council for Law Reporting (Kenya), Mr. Chanthaly Douangvilay, Vice President of Court, Peoples Court of Vientiane Capital (Laos), Mr. Jean Fahd, General Prosecutor, Military Court of Lebanon (Lebanon), Ms. Ausra Bernotiene, Director, Department of International Law, Ministry of Justice (Lithuania), Ms. Natasa Krstevska, Legal Advisor, Basic Public Prosecutors Office, Skopje (Macedonia), Mr. Austin Bwagadu Boli Msowoya, Law Reform Officer, Malawi Law Commission (Malawi), Mr. Loong Thye Chia, Advocate and Solicitor, Messrs Lee Hishamuddin Allen and Gledhill (Malaysia), Ms. Marium Jabyn, Assistant Lecturer, Faculty of Shari’a and Law, Maldives College of Higher Education (Maldives), Dr. Ram Krishna Timalsena, Spokesperson and Joint Registrar, Nepal Supreme Court (Nepal), Mr. Joseph Ekene Ndibuagu, Legal Practitioner (Nigeria), Ms. Hadia Awan, Associate Dean, Pakistan College of Law, Lahore (Pakistan), Mr. Emerito Itliong Enginco, First Assistant City Prosecutor, Tanauan City, Batangas Province (Philippines), Mr. Jaroslaw Bobkowski, Prosecutor, Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Bydgoszcz (Poland), Mr. Petar Grozdanovic, Law Associate, First Municipal Court in Belgrade (Serbia and Montenegro), Mr. Dauda Harding Yoki, Coordinator, Lawyers Center for Legal Assistance (Sierra Leone), Mr. Geofrey Wilfred Mupere Kiryabwire, Judge, Uganda Commercial Court (Uganda).
If you are interested in attending similar events in the future, one way to learn about such opportunities is to join the Section Council or become an active member of the Section of International and Immigration Law. You can also e-mail the author your contact information and she will do her best to keep you apprised of upcoming international events.
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1. The International Visitors Center of Chicago (IVCC) is a privately-funded organization which acts as a liaison between approximately 800 international visitors and their Chicago-area counterparts each year. The IVCC has served as Chicago’s official host for U.S. government-sponsored visitors since 1952 and it provides opportunities for face-to-face professional and social interaction between visitors and their American counterparts. For more information, including volunteer opportunities, please visit <http://www.ivcc.org/>.
* Violeta Balan is an associate with Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP and practices in the areas of International Arbitration and Litigation. She can be contacted at vbalan@mayerbrownrowe.com or 312-701-8387.
Oliva v. United States Department of Justice, 433 F.3d 229 (2d Cir. 2005)
Customary international law is the practice of states accepted as law. U.S. courts have long held that customary international law is part of U.S. law. However, U.S. courts continue to use customary international law primarily as a guiding principle for the interpretation of U.S. laws rather than as law enforceable in its own right. The scope of customary international law is particularly limited when Congress implements legislation that is in direct conflict with customary international law. In such cases, the specific statutory language will trump customary international law. A recent case in which the interplay between customary international law and U.S. law arose is Oliva, in which the Second Circuit relied on congressional intent in the Immigration and Naturalization Act (INA) to avoid reaching a conclusion whether certain potentially conflicting provisions in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) have risen to the level of customary international law.
In Oliva, Guatemalan citizen Oscar Oliva entered the United States without a visa in 1992. Mr. Oliva fathered a child born in the United States, subsequently living with and providing support to his son and his son’s mother. In 1998, the Immigration and Nationalization Service (INS) issued Mr. Oliva a Notice to Appear to answer charges that he was present in the United States without having been lawfully admitted. Mr. Oliva unsuccessfully sought cancellation of his removal; the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) affirmed. On appeal, Mr. Oliva argued that the BIA erred in failing to remand the case to permit him to apply for relief under the CRC. Specifically, Mr. Oliva argued that under the CRC he could not be removed without considering whether his removal was in the best interests of his American-born son.
The court began its analysis by recognizing two relevant provisions of the CRC: United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, Nov. 20, 1989, arts. 3(1) & 7(1), 1577 U.N.T.S. 3, 28 I.L.M. 1448. Article 3(1) states that “[in] all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities, or legislative bodies, the best interest of the child shall be a primary consideration.” Article 7(1) states that “as far as possible,” a child shall have “the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents.” Although the United States signed the CRC in 1995, the treaty has never been presented to the Senate for its consent; thus, the treaty has not been ratified by the President. Mr. Oliva argued that the two provisions of the CRC have nevertheless attained the status of customary international law since the CRC has been ratified by every nation in the world except for the United States and Somalia.
As recently as 2004, the Supreme Court “affirmed that the domestic law of the United States recognizes the law of nations.” Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain, 542 U.S. 692, 729-30 (2004). The well-known case The Paquete Habana set forth the recognition that “international law is part of our law . . . [and may originate] in custom . . . by the general assent of civilized nations.” 175 U.S. 677 (1900). However, the resort to customary international law is limited when a treaty or legislative act speaks directly to the issue in dispute. Id. at 700. The court cited the “long lineage” of this limiting principle in its recent decision United States v. Yousef, 327 F.3d 56, 93 (2d Cir. 2003).
In Yousef, the court articulated the limitations of customary international law from its inception in The Nereide, which held that courts are “bound by the law of nations,” but that Congress may apply a different rule by implementing legislation. 13 U.S. (9 Cranch) 388, 423 (1815). The court in Yousef reiterated the limited scope of customary international law, holding that “[if] a statute makes plain Congress’s intent,” then courts must enforce the intent regardless of customary international law. 327 F.3d at 93. Congressional preclusion of customary international law was further reinforced by the Supreme Court in Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain, which held that Congress may “at any time” prohibit the application of customary international law “by treaties or statutes that occupy the field.” 542 U.S. at 731. Based on Congressional legislation in the INA defining appropriate circumstances under which hardship to a child may be considered as grounds for granting relief from removal to a nonpermanent resident alien, the court rejected Mr. Oliva’s customary international law argument.
In particular, the INA was amended by Congress in 1996, authorizing the Attorney General to “cancel removal” if a nonpermanent resident alien establishes that his removal from the United States “would result in exceptional and extremely unusual hardship to the alien’s spouse, parent, or child, who is a citizen of the United States or a [lawful alien].” 8 U.S.C. § 1229b(b)(1)(D). The alien must show that he “(A) has been physically present in the United States for a continuous period of not less than 10 years immediately preceding the date of such application; (B) has been a person of good moral character during such period; [and] (C) has not been convicted of [certain specified offenses].” 8 U.S.C. § 1229b(b)(1)(A-C). Mr. Oliva failed to meet the timeliness requirement set forth in section A. Nevertheless, Mr. Oliva argued that he was entitled to relief under the CRC since the two relevant provisions establish that the best interest of his U.S. child should be given primary consideration in a removal hearing.
Interestingly, at least one court has recognized the CRC as customary international law and has used it in the context of interpreting the INA. Beharry v. Reno, 183 F.Supp.2d 584 (E.D.N.Y. 2002). In Beharry, the court determined that Congress had not clearly expressed its intent with regard to treatment of “aggravated felon[ies]” in 8 U.S.C. § 1182(h), the statute at issue in Beharry, which offers relief from removal to permanent residents who have not been convicted of an aggravated felony. Based on two reasons, the court concluded that it would violate customary international law, specifically CRC Article 3(1), if the statute denied the alien the ability to seek relief from removal based on family hardship. First, the phrase “aggravated felony” was considered ambiguous by the court since the statute did not define whether the phrase included conviction of a crime that was later classified as an aggravated felony only after the crime was committed. Second, Congress had not clearly expressed its intent regarding the treatment of such prior conduct.
The Oliva court distinguished the holding in Beharry on two grounds. First, the Oliva court stated that “it is not clear that the international law documents cited . . . in Beharry rise to the level of customary international law.” (citing Guaylupo-Moya v. Gonzalez, 423 F.3d 121, 135 (2d Cir. 2005)). Second, the ambiguity of the aggravated felony bar in Beharry was resolved by invoking the Charming Betsy Doctrine, which requires an ambiguous statute to be construed, whenever possible, not to conflict with international law. The Charming Betsy, 6 U.S. (2 Cranch) 64 (1804). Because the Oliva court found no ambiguity in the timeliness requirement in the INA, reliance on Beharry was determined by the court as “misplaced.”
Articles 3(1) and 7(1) of the CRC were held by the Oliva court to be irrelevant to Mr. Oliva’s request for relief from removal. The durational presence requirement in the statute governed the application to petition for review of Mr. Oliva’s removal order. Because Mr. Oliva had not been present in the United States for at least ten years, his request for relief was denied. Had Mr. Oliva met the durational residency requirement, the court may have found the CRC relevant to determining the issue of hardship to his U.S. citizen child. Thus, the applicability of the CRC to removal proceedings remains far from clear.
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Jason Green is a third-year law student at Southern Illinois University School of Law; he is Past President of the International Law Society, SIU chapter (2004-2005), managing Editor, Legal Medicine Perspectives and a member of the Illinois State Bar Association. He may be reached at jasongreenla@yahoo.com.
Overview
During the past two years, the Consumer and Community Affairs (CCA) division of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago held a series of conferences focused on increasing access to financial services for immigrants. The conference series was conducted under the umbrella of CCA’s Center for the Study of Financial Access for Immigrants. The primary goal of the conference series was to provide forums where individuals interested in the topic of financial services access for immigrants could share ideas, practices, and innovative approaches to meeting immigrant financial services demand. The conference series achieved its main goal in three different ways. First, it helped to focus attention on the issues surrounding immigrant financial access by drawing on the expertise of practitioners. Second, the conference series highlighted best practices, partnerships, and information sharing arrangements that could provide models for financial institutions, community development professionals, government agencies, and researchers addressing barriers to financial services. And third, the series helped to spur new policy-oriented research that builds on the experience of community development professionals, financial institutions, and government agencies.
Key Cosponsors
For each regional conference, CCA partnered with a key locally or regionally focused organization. Cosponsors were recruited for their organization’s interest and commitment in assisting immigrants in achieving economic success, and all are organizations that have been successful in meeting their core missions.
Chicago Fed and Federal Reserve System Perspectives
A key goal of both the Chicago Fed and the Federal Reserve System is to promote access to traditional financial services, particularly among population segments with historically low utilization rates. Without banking relationships, U.S. residents limit their capacity for financial stability and success. As a baseline service, use of transaction accounts for bill paying enables smoother flow of funds, and prevents theft and other crimes arising from holding large sums of cash. Within the general public, this typical initial banking relationship eventually leads to use of savings vehicles and credit including mortgages and, potentially, business credit. Immigrants to the U.S., with widely varying home country experiences and orientations toward financial institutions, are often disinclined to establish transaction accounts, especially early in their tenure.
In 2003, CCA established the research and outreach oriented Center for the Study of Financial Access for Immigrants (Center). The Center is a national resource for the Federal Reserve System, researchers, advocates, policymakers, and financial institutions. The goals of the Center are as follows:
Three primary questions helped to more narrowly define the activities and outputs of the Center. First, how is “immigrant” defined? Our definition denotes anyone who was born and emigrated from abroad to the U.S., and includes: citizens, legal residents, visa holders, and undocumented aliens (including applicants for residency status). Second, are we advocating unlawful access to bank services for undocumented immigrants? Many laws and regulations, some of which have undergone recent revamping or were created shortly after the terrorist attacks of 2001, already govern access to financial institutions and their products. The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago does not condone or endorse any breach of those regulations. Third, what exactly is meant by financial access for immigrants? It is the process by which immigrants, who are less likely to use traditional financial services due to cultural orientation, experience, language barriers, or perception of banks based on their home country institutions, assimilate into the financial mainstream. The Federal Reserve System supports immigrants’ use of U.S. financial services, again subject to existing regulations, because it is consistent with the Fed’s mandate to foster a stable financial system and a sound U.S. economy.
A related purpose is that as a bank regulator, the Federal Reserve has a responsibility to help financial institutions comply with the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) and various fair lending laws and regulations. We contend that shedding light on the circumstances and needs of immigrant populations, including pioneering marketplace responses that have already had significant impact on immigrant financial services consumers, helps (other) banks and other financial institutions to:
The degree to which immigrants can successfully assimilate has significant community development implications and impacts issues ranging from crime rates to small business formation to the overall economic health of communities. It is critical to look not only at national impacts, but to also consider local and regional economies. As we developed each regional agenda, the input and awareness of cosponsoring organizations was invaluable, even if at times our views diverged.
The balance of this article summarizes new insights derived from the meetings that have not been previously published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. This article specifically addresses national immigration trends, as well as immigration trends in Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin. It also touches on programs designed to educate new immigrants about the financial system and other aspects of financial life. It concludes by providing an in-depth review of the documentation and identification requirements that face immigrants wishing to enter the financial mainstream.
The Seventh District’s Growing Immigrant Population
Each regional conference opened with a demographic presentation on national and regional immigration trends, which laid the contextual groundwork for the day’s discussion. This section outlines the salient points of the national and regional (Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin) demographic presentations.
National Immigration Trends
At the Springfield, Illinois, conference, Dr. Eileen Diaz McConnell, assistant professor of sociology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, provided an overview of Hispanic immigration and demographic trends. McConnell conducted a Census Bureau funded study called Variation and Transition in the Hispanic Experience in the United States that documented changes in the U.S. Hispanic population between 1990 and 2000, and also evaluated the quality of Census Bureau data on Hispanics. McConnell began by referring to Figure 1 and noting that high volumes of immigration are not unique to present-day U.S.A. McConnell noted that between 1860 and 1930, immigrants comprised approximately 11.6 percent to 13 percent of the U.S. population—higher even than today’s 11.5 percent.
In her overview of current U.S. immigration trends, McConnell focused on Latin American immigrants, who made up the majority of the U.S. foreign-born population (defined as those living in the U.S. who are not U.S. citizens at birth) in 2002.1 While most immigrants are concentrated in the West and the South, the Midwest has seen tremendous increases in its immigrant population. There are currently 32.5 million foreign-born residing in the U.S.2 Immigrants tend to be young (80.4 percent are between the ages of 18 and 64; 44.7 percent are between 25 and 44) and also tend to live in larger households (12.5 percent of natives live in households with five or more people, versus 25.5 percent for immigrants).3 Further, Latin American immigrants are more likely to live in a larger household than their counterparts from Europe, Asia, or other regions. Immigrants also tend to have less education than the native U.S. population: only 67.2 percent of the foreign-born over age 25 are high school graduates versus 86.9 percent for the same age group in the native population.4 McConnell attributed the higher dropout rates among immigrant children to the prevalence of lower average education levels in other countries than in the U.S. Finally, McConnell noted that most immigrants came to the U.S. relatively recently—only 12.7 percent arrived before 1970.5 They are thus more likely to work in service occupations and less likely to work in managerial or professional occupations, and tend to earn less than natives.6
Immigration Trends by (Seventh District) State
Illinois
Dr. Janet L. Smith is an associate professor in the Urban Planning and Policy Program at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the codirector of the Nathalie P. Voorhees Center for Neighborhood and Community Improvement. Two main focus areas of Smith’s teaching, research, and community service, are equity in local housing planning and policy implementation. She is currently collaborating with others on a book on public housing transformation in Chicago entitled Where are Poor People to Live? At the Lisle, Illinois, conference, Smith provided an overview of immigration and demographic trends at the state (Illinois) and local (Chicago MSA) level.
In her presentation, Smith discussed the Changing Face of Illinois. She noted that Illinois is considered a “gateway” state for immigration into the country, ranking consistently among the top ten immigrant destination states over the past several decades. Between 1990 and 2000, the number of immigrants in Illinois increased by 61 percent.7 Nearly half of Illinois immigrants come from Latin America; another 26 percent arrive from Europe; and 24 percent from Asia.8 The leading countries of origin are Mexico, Poland, and India.9 The 1990s saw a demographic shift in the origins of European immigrants to Illinois, with more coming from eastern, rather than western, European countries (as had been the case in the 1980s). Smith also pointed out that “during the 1990s, 54 of 102 counties experienced a greater than 50 percent growth in immigrant population…rural as well as urban.”10 Immigration to Illinois is therefore not just a phenomenon confined to the Chicago metro area, although 1.4 million of Illinois’ 1.5 million immigrants do reside in the Chicago metro area.11 Illinois’ largest immigrant populations are located in Chicago, Cicero, and Aurora,12 and its leading “ports of entry” are Mt. Prospect, Arlington Heights, and Palatine.13 “This is clearly because of job opportunities and… because these communities have typically had affordable rental housing,” Smith explained.
Indiana
Dr. Timothy Ready is the research director at the Institute for Latino Studies at the University of Notre Dame. The institute is the nation’s largest focused on Latino studies. At the Indianapolis conference, Ready gave an overview of demographic trends in immigration in the state of Indiana.14
Only 3.1 percent of Indiana’s population is foreign-born—compared to 11.0 percent for the U.S. as a whole. “Indiana is not a mecca of immigration,” explained Ready, who then added that “Indiana’s immigrant population is growing fast”—with over half (52 percent) of all of Indiana’s immigrants arriving after 1990.
The origins of Indiana’s immigrants have been shifting significantly toward Latin American countries, with almost half of the immigrants who arrive after 1990 coming from Latin America—versus less than one-third prior to 1990. Population projections into 2010, 2020, and 2030 portend significant growth in Indiana’s Hispanic population. Projections indicate that more than 25 percent of Indiana’s population will be Hispanic by 2030.
Wisconsin
Dr. Enrique Figueroa, the director of the Roberto Hernandez Center and assistant to the provost for Latino Affairs at the University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee, gave an analysis of the growth of Wisconsin’s immigrant population. According to Figueroa, there was “a 110 percent increase in the Latino population in Wisconsin during…the 90s…Wisconsin had 209,074 Hispanics in 2002, an increase of 7.3 percent from 2000…So the trend from the 90s has continued into this decade.”15
Figueroa provided important observations about the remittance market regarding the U.S. Latino population: the 20 million Mexicans living in the U.S. generate economic production slightly greater than the $600 billion economic activity generated by the 100 million Mexicans in Mexico.16 In other words, Mexicans living in the U.S. earn about five times as much as those living in Mexico.
Figueroa further observed that “Nearly one Mexican in five regularly gets money from relatives employed in the U.S., making this country the largest repository of such remittances in the world…Money sent home by Mexican emigrants will soar to $14.5 billion [in 2003, and]…annual remittances to Mexico and Central America could reach $25 billion by the end of the decade…”17 It should be noted, however, that there is both a sending impact (i.e., impact on the remitting communities) and a receiving impact (i.e., impact on the receiving communities). “One of the things that is going to put a big question mark on that $25 billion figure,” observed Figueroa, “is that because the second generation [e.g., children born in the U.S. to Mexican immigrants] is going to be much larger [in terms of population size versus the first generation of Mexican immigrants], and because the first generation is going to have progressively more interest in allocating resources to their offspring born in the U.S., the propensity to send dollars back home is going to diminish.”
This phenomenon had already happened to Figueroa’s parents and their friends: “When my parents first arrived in this country and their children were relatively young, they still sent money to their parents,” Figueroa explained, “But as the children grew and their well-being became more important, the relative percentage of disposable household income devoted to relatives back in Mexico [diminished]. I think we’re going to see that again,” Figueroa concluded, adding that the net impact of such a drop in remittances on the receiving countries remained “a big unknown.”
The Newly-Arrived Immigrant
Dr. Gloria Berlanga King is the executive director of El Centro Hispano/The Hispanic Center, a “culturally competent” organization dedicated to providing the Hispanic community in Greater Indianapolis with access to essential health and social services. King discussed how the services the Hispanic Center provides are crucial to the successful integration of new immigrants into the U.S. culture and economy.
In 1971, the Hispanic Center (then the Hispano-American Multi-Service Center) was created by the Indianapolis area Mexican-American community and Catholic Social Services to help Hispanics relocating to Indianapolis.18 King emphasized the importance of establishing a trusting line of communication with their clients: “People love when you speak their language,” she added. She also cited the following statistics:19
By communicating with their client base in Spanish, the Hispanic Center has been able to greatly expand their services. Some of the Center’s major financial assimilation assistance services include: rent and utility assistance; health services at a WIC (women, infants, children) clinic; interpretation and translation services; employment (computer training, including common software and Internet applications); language training (English classes for the day-to-day interaction, as well as Spanish classes for employers, employees, and the community); and legal issues (legal assistance referrals, assistance with W-7 and other forms, notary public, and immigration laws regarding the “Right to Know”).
Servir y Aprender (Serve and Learn) Video Project
Dr. Chin-Sook Pak, an associate professor of Spanish at Ball State University and a fellow at the Virginia B. Ball Center for Creative Inquiry at the University, teaches a community immersion seminar entitled, “Servir y Aprender: Creating a Community-Centered Classroom.” Working with various community agencies in Hamilton County, Indiana, the seminar produced four educational videos in Spanish—fictional, dramatic depictions of immigrant experiences—intended to raise awareness of community resources, basic legal information, and U.S. cultural norms to the immigrant Hispanic population in the county.
“Simple cross-cultural misunderstandings can create problems that can have life-changing consequences,” Pak remarked. To create the videos, 15 Ball State students and Professor Pak conducted community action research that took them into businesses, police stations, courtrooms, victim assistance agencies, and jails around Hamilton County. Through volunteer work in the county, “[Pak and her students] strive to reduce the communication barrier between those who do not speak the same language while also retrieving valuable information regarding everyday obstacles faced by the Hispanic population.”
Video Dramas: Sobrevivir (To Survive)
“As the culmination of our studies, we have created four educational “soap operas” in Spanish to provide immigrants with some of the information they might find useful in the U.S.,” Pak explained. Titled “Sobrevivir,” the series featured a recently arrived Mexican family trying to make a living while maintaining their sense of dignity. These videos explained in Spanish certain U.S. laws and told of means to obtain additional services. Pak and her students hope “that future immigrants will benefit [from the accessible information in the videos] by avoiding the conflicts and misunderstandings that others have faced.” The videos were shown at the conference to illustrate the complexities faced by those working toward financial assimilation for immigrants. To receive a copy of the video, please e-mail Dr. Pak at cpak@bsu.edu.
Immigrant Access to Mainstream Banking—Documentation and Identification Requirements
Immigrants often encounter barriers to mainstream banking because of their cultural backgrounds, language limitations, perceptions of banks based on those in their home country, or lack of proper documentation of their current immigration status.
Each regional conference included a panel discussion on the documentation and identification requirements confronting immigrants trying to assimilate into mainstream banking. These requirements are produced by a diverse array of federal and state laws, as well as local bank policies. This section summarizes the important points from the panel discussions and provides an overview of the current regulatory framework—all in hopes of facilitating immigrants’ integration into the financial mainstream.
__________
Steven W. Kuehl is a Consumer Regulations Director at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Mr. Kuehl conducts seminars and workshops and prepares articles and other material dealing with consumer compliance banking regulations. Mr. Kuehl is admitted to practice in Illinois and is a member of the American Bar, Illinois State and Chicago Bar Associations.
1. U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, March 2002, located at <www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/foreign/cps2002.html>.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, 2003-2004 report located at <www.icirr.org/>.
8. U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000, Summary File 3 located at <www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/2002/sumfile3.html>.
9. Rob Paral and Michael Norkewicz, The Metro Chicago Immigration Fact Book (2003) located at <www.roosevelt.edu/ima/pdfs/immigration-factbook.pdf>.
10. U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000, Summary File 3 located at <www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/2002/sumfile3.html>.
11. Ibid.
12. Rob Paral and Michael Norkewicz, The Metro Chicago Immigration Fact Book (2003) located at <www.roosevelt.edu/ima/pdfs/immigration-factbook.pdf>.
13. Ibid.
14. The source for all information in Dr. Ready’s presentation is the U.S. 2000 Census located at <www.census.gov>.
15. Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel, September 19, 2003, [quoting U.S. Census Bureau].
16. Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel, September 26, 2003.
17. New York Times, October 28, 2003.
18. The United Way of Central Indiana, El Centro Hispano (The Hispanic Center), April 21, 2005, located at <www.volunteersolutions.org/uwci/org/224056.html>.
19. Packaged Facts Market Profile: The U.S. Hispanic Market, September, 2001.
Dear International Trade Professional,
Below is a list of upcoming int’l trade events, which our office is organizing or co-sponsoring/supporting. We hope that you will be able to join us for at least one of them! You can also access this list as well info on other upcoming int’l events & missions at <http://www.buyusa.gov/uppermidwest/events.html>.
Best Regards,
Debra H. Rogers
International Trade Specialist
U.S. Export Assistance Center—Chicago
US Dept of Commerce
T: 312-353-6988
March 21, 2006
Doing Business in China - Moline Presentation by the State of Illinois Trade and Investment Office. 8:00 AM till noon. Venue: Black Hawk College, Butterworth Center, 1105 8th Street, Moline, IL. For more information: e-mail madunica@bhc.edu or phone 309-764-2246. To register call 309-796-4823. Fee of $45.00 includes breakfast.
March 22-23, 2006
March 22 - 23, 2006 Individualized Market Assessments at National Mfg Week - Rosemont Talk to the experts about your export business and discover potential target markets for your products and services. At this year’s National Manufacturing Week, the U.S Dept of Commerce will have Senior Commercial Officers and industry experts from: China, United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and the CAFTA-DR region. Sign up to meet with them individually to discuss export opportunities and strategies for your company. For information and the registration form, please visit: <http://www.buyusa.gov/eme/nam.html>.
April 2, 2006
Overview of U.S. Government Export Assistance- Naperville available from the federal government to help U.S. companies expand their exports. Hear from an Illinois company that has successfully used these programs. Save the date. Further details TDB. Contact: Julie Carducci at 312-353-8490 or Julie.carducci@mail.doc.gov.