Just Economy Conference – May 5, 2021
U.S. birth rates continue to decline, and are at their lowest rate in 35 years. In contrast, immigrant-related gains accounted for 55% of U.S. population growth between 1965 and 2015, and are expected to account for 88% through 2065. It is clear that native birth rates alone will not support U.S. growth and economic demands. This session explores solutions and a path forward for solving the immigration crisis that has long been a divisive issue.
Speakers:
- Marisa Calderon, Executive Director, CDFI and Chief, Community Finance and Mobility, NCRC
- Sonja Diaz, Founding Director, UCLA Latino Policy & Politics Initiative
Transcript
NCRC video transcripts are produced by a third-party transcription service and may contain errors. They are lightly edited for style and clarity.
Calderon 00:10
Welcome, members, sponsors and guests, we’re delighted to have you here today with us to talk about one of the most important conversations of our time, Immigration Reform, the Economic Imperative for Acting Now and what happens if we don’t? With me today, I have Sonja Diaz. She’s founding executive director of the Latino policy and politics initiative at the University of California, Los Angeles. Sonja is a practicing civil rights attorney and a fellow Cal alum. Go Bears. So we are excited to have you all here with us, we encourage you to ask questions, please put them in the chat. We’ll be getting to your questions as we progress in our session. And for now, we’d love to give you a little bit of context. First, we’ll be using a few terms over the course of our conversation and want to make sure level set with everyone. Hispanic is a term that’s used by the US Census, they define it as Hispanic origin, being viewed as heritage, nationality, language, or country of birth of the person or persons or ancestors before arriving in the US. Mostly, that’s folks who are from Spanish or Spanish speaking countries, we also use the term Latino, sometimes interchangeably, though, they do mean different things, and undocumented immigrants or undocumented persons or people who are in the United States without status. So let’s start. Let’s just get right to it. And let’s start by talking about the aggregate undocumented immigrant population in the US so that we all have the same context for folks who are already here in the United States, most demographers estimate that this population is around 11 million people. I’m Sonja, can you give us a little bit of additional context, what the composition of the group is like in terms of countries of origin length of time in the US? You know, to what degree there is participation in the labor force?
Diaz 02:07
Yeah, absolutely. So excited to be here to really talk about the value add, an economic imperative of providing a pathway to citizenship for so many workers who had an outsized role during the pandemic, which is still raging across some communities. So as it relates to the immigrant population here in the US, what’s really interesting as is that the top five countries for birth for immigrants include Mexico, overwhelmingly, but also China, India, the Philippines and El Salvador. What one of the things that has changed over time is, is that we’re seeing that the fastest-growing demographic group in the US is actually Asians. And that’s true of immigrants. So among new immigrant arrivals to this country, Asians are outnumbering Latinos. And that’s just a trend that really has started to occur over the course of the last 11 years, we understand that we have not only unauthorized undocumented workers, which as far as I mentioned, is about 11 million. We also have mixed-status families, and we have Americans who are citizens, but were foreign-born. And so the Pew Research Center estimates that in 2015, the US foreign-born population was 45 million, that’s going to grow by 2065, to about 78 million. And the reason being is that we simply don’t have the birth rates right now to fuel our economy. And this is a place that has always been an economic powerhouse reliant on immigrant workers across sectors.
Calderon 03:50
So that’s really helpful. I definitely want to talk about birth rates and the impact on population growth in just a moment. What I kind of want to get underneath, though, is that for a majority of the individuals who are here, and who don’t have status, there, they’re not new arrivals. They’ve been here for quite some time. And one of the common myths of these individuals, you know, especially those that are workers is that they don’t pay taxes. Can you give us some context for what the reality is?
Diaz 04:22
Yeah, well, I think one of the things is, is that there are so many different types of ways that our tax regime in the US avails itself. So when you go on Purchase a soda at a gas station, that’s sales tax. You live in particular states like California, you own a home, that’s property tax, you know, General taxes in terms of your wages, whether or not you have a social security number, you have something called an ITIN. And so these are contributions that are occurring, just living and breathing in the US, that happens to everybody who steps foot here. The contributions in terms of our immigrant workers who are not on a pathway to citizenship are enormous. And this is really important, because I think that although public opinion in this country recognizes the need to act on immigration reform, there still seems to be a messaging issue around this idea that immigrants are detracting from the country versus the reality, which is supported by empirical science that they’re contributing. And so just for instance, if we think about workforce, in California, about 55%, of all essential workers were Latino, a large set of that were immigrant workers. If you think about people in the fields, janitors, delivery, gig workers, you name it, these are people who were on the frontlines to keep America safe. But in terms of the taxes, this is a really important thing, because there are those contributions, there just are not the relief and the recovery dollars going back into those households because of discriminatory methods.
Calderon 05:56
And I want to highlight also something that you just said, with respect to types of jobs. You know, like, obviously now we recognize that undocumented immigrants and other immigrants are paying taxes working in all the different ways that you mentioned, another common misperception with regard to the types of jobs that undocumented immigrants in particular poll, is it their low skilled, low wage labor, and that to your point, that they’re taking a position from a native foreign worker. But that’s actually not the case. So I wonder if you can talk a little bit about the types of sectors and in jobs where immigrants do contribute?
Diaz 06:40
Yeah, this is really important. And look, you know, immigrants are not a monolith. There’s a lot of nuances that come with At what age did they arrive to the US? What is their country of origin? What is their socio-economic positionality? And so with that, I’ll just give an example. When we think about immigrants, educational attainment, so like foreign-born versus those that were born here in the US, there are some clear kind of waves. And what we know is, is that there actually is about 32% of all foreign-born people in the US have a bachelor’s degree or more that tracks with our current population for those that were born in the continental US, which is 33%. But there are some important changes and directional magnitudes there. When you think about those that have less than high school, for foreign-born, it’s 27%, compared to us born 8%. Again, this is not universal, because a lot of these shifts are dependent on what continent, immigrants are coming from. All that is to say is that immigrants work in every single sector, it is not just simply working in the fields, or being caretakers for either the elderly, or for young people in the domestic sphere. But it includes Science and Engineering and Technology. It includes law and includes education, the stories have been really at the forefront from business leaders who have been acting in many ways, including allocating significant resources to encourage Congress under the Obama administration, the Trump administration, now the Biden administration to do something so that we have the workforce that can yield a better tomorrow.
Calderon 08:25
So and I kind of want to highlight one particular industry, because there’s been a lot of discussion, certainly in the news recently, for those of us who live in California, as well as across the country with respect to the lack of affordable housing, and immigrants make a continued contribution to the construction industry and previously, you know, made a much larger contribution before the 2008 housing crisis. So I wonder if you can talk a little bit about the impact of the lack of labor and other skilled labor in that particular arena.
Diaz 09:07
Absolutely. California, like many other parts of this country are facing a housing crisis. This is really tracking with two things. One, the lack of available housing stop, and then worsening economic inequality generally, that has just widened during the pandemic. Now, to the former, there was a need to build housing, there obviously are some impediments. Whether it is you know, state and local regulations, but one of the biggest ones is cost. And so for that reason, there has always been an outsized reliance on immigrant workers in the construction industry. In fact, that industry recognizes that they need these workers in order to build homes. The economy recognizes that we need to build homes because there’s a scarcity, especially for first-time homebuyers. This is particularly acute for the demographic groups in this country that are useful. And that essentially is everybody who is nonwhite, the median age of Latinos in this country is 30. for African Americans, I believe it’s 37. And Asian Americans is right in between there. When you’re thinking about the home buying years, you’re looking at the ages of 29 to early 40s. That is for everybody who identifies as a person of color. Yet, it’s really hard to find a first-time, single-family home because there simply has not been an aggressive building strategy around it. A lot of it is tied to labor. And so dealing with actual reforms that can get us the labor to feel our economy. homeownership is wealth building and wealth creation, that is necessary as we look at other things like increasing wages and thinking about access to the social safety net. One of the things that you and I talk about often Marisa is what is really happening to us is we have a population change that is transformational. And it’s not just about race, it’s about age. And so we have more Americans living longer than ever before, they tend to be in one racial or ethnic category, but they are dependent on the wages of people who don’t look like them and are much younger. So it’s incumbent on all of us not just to ensure that wages go up, but that these older Americans are able to preserve and grow their wealth as they age and need necessitate health care. And they need to sell their homes to somebody, and there are not buyers.
Calderon 11:28
And I mean, you know, kind of highlighting that is that gap between the composition of the workers for support for supporting the retiring population of the US, I’d love to just talk a little bit about, you know, Japan, as an example, really a sobering example of the kind of impact that nativist public policy can have on a country’s long term economic health. In 2019, Japan recorded its lowest birth rates since 1874, effectively shrinking by 500,000 people there in your, for them their increasing gap between their native birth rates and deaths. It’s actually, you know, impacting their collective ability to support their returning workers as they age. For us in the US, we have, you know, certainly over the most recent set of years, an increasing focus on nativist policies respect, you know, immigration and impacting the contribution of immigrants. So I wonder if you can kind of talk a little bit about what some of those policies are, and how that might create an impact for the United States that could be similar or different to what’s happening to Japan?
Diaz 12:46
Yeah, well, one of the distinct differences is that we just have a much more racially and ethnically diverse demographic population in the US, it is unique amongst advanced societies, and just generally unique not only within the continent of North America, but across the world. But what is important is, is this issue that you bring out, which is this tension, and I love that you named it in the boldness that it is, which is nativism. nativism is not going to grow an economy, nativism is not going to deal with the needs of refugees, nativism is not going to help us overcome climate change. And so one of the things that’s really important is that we’re at a standstill, we are not in the same place as the UK or even Japan in terms of our birth rates. But that is where our future is headed. And what I mean by that is that we simply are not reproducing in the ways that we were before. And so we are not growing an internal workforce. That means that we are reliant on external in migration to the United States, whether that is on a permanent basis or a temporary basis, just to sustain our economy. And one of the things is, is that this is not like a negative future. This is actually a really awesome opportunity and something that has been happening in the US over time. And so one of the things that’s really important is that for the first time in history, the US is going to be a majority-minority nation in 2050. And when that happens, it’s older population is going to double in size, again, because of median age, that older population is white and they are going to live longer. They’re reliant on medicare and social security to programs for which their generation is going to benefit from. I don’t know if it’s gonna be around when when I’m ready to retire. I hope so. But those are tied to wages, the wages of people in the workforce or who will be in the workforce. And guess what, they don’t look like those more mature Americans, yet their ability to get care, their ability to deal with their primary or preventative or at that point, terminal illnesses are going to be really inextricably tied to wages of a workforce that doesn’t look like them. So that’s where you layer in the nativist thing. And you know, there’s a number of examples, many of which are from our home state like prop 187, in the 1990s. In California, SB 1070. In Arizona, you can look at Texas amendment for you look at Georgia, North Carolina, all of these things are things that limit opportunity for people based really on the color of their skin, but under the auspice of national origin. And that is eliminating access to social services, eliminating the access to higher education and in-state tuition, and criminalizing people for working. And so these are not thoughtful, future-forward economic growth policies. In fact, they’re, they’re the opposite. And they are really detrimental to the American economy.
Calderon 15:53
So and you know, that I mean, all of that, obviously, I agree with and makes sense to me. I think that one of the things that, you know, that that is probably apparent to you and I that may not be as apparent because it’s sort of woven within that conversation about workers and wages, and the ability to contribute to a future state for someone else is retirement, is that for undocumented people? You know, that it’s, it’s difficult for them to contribute fully to all of those services to support other individuals, primarily because they are undocumented. So um, you know, what happens if we do nothing? What happens when, when individuals are functioning in a shadow economy, where their contributions aren’t fully recognized, or they don’t have the protections that we afford native for workers or the afford workers with status, not just to them what happens, but what happens to that future that they’re trying to help to add to for the retiree, aging, white population of the country.
Diaz 17:01
I mean, it’s really hard because I’m listening to that. And I can’t help but fill the moment that we’ve all shared, which is a global pandemic that decimated households based on race and socio-economic status. So what happens, people die, people have morbidity if they do become infected, and who knows what is to come whether it’s long collars, and so that is just like a really proximate example. And if we think about the policy minutiae here, one of the things that is just like overwhelmingly important to ascertain for everybody, is we all lose when we eliminate access to relief and recovery based on national origin and immigration status. And so my center at UCLA, the Latino policy and politics initiative has had a spotlight on how relief and recovery dollars are really trickling down, if you will, by race, by geography, by immigration status. And one of our path breaking reports this past summer found that by excluding mixed-status families, so these could be families with us citizen kids who are dealing with learning loss, and a going to be our future workforce. Because a head of household or parent or a sibling did not have a social security number, that whole family was not eligible for the care Zack stimulus. And what that meant was that not only did they not get the money, for food, for shelter for daily necessities during a global pandemic, and this recession we find ourselves in, but all of us lost out. And we calculated what that meant to exclude. And it cost the American economy $10,000,000,000.80 1000 jobs. And I say this, recognizing that we had record unemployment, and we’ve also seen people leaving the labor force because of caretaking duties. And so when we do not invest and provide this universalism to everybody who is suffering from a pandemic, that can infect anybody doesn’t matter who What does matter is whether or not you’re going to be able to overcome it. We’re all hurting. And it’s nonsensical because our economy is not only needing to be rebuilt and recover, which immigrants and Latinos, in particular, have an outsized role in that, but it needs to grow. And that’s where immigrants more than Americans really can define whether or not that growth is in the positive or in the negative.
Calderon 19:32
That’s makes so much sense to me. You know, when when you think about future projected population growth, you know, obviously we, you know, we know, because of this sort of work that we do, that native birth population, native birth rates are down, the native birth rate growth in the US that is taking place is largely coming from communities of color. And there are a variety of projections that show that as much as 88% of future US population growth is going to come from immigrants and their descendants. So, I wonder if you can kind of, you know, when you hear that sort of figure, I can see why that would be disconcerting to someone whose perspective is, is so focused on no growth from within and growth that is only from native-born people. So, I wonder if we can talk a little bit about that.
Diaz 20:32
Yeah, and, you know, part of where we find ourselves right in, in this moment of intersecting crises, which have laid bare failed systems, but also provided the appetite to confront structural racism, it’s not sufficient to just tag this as nativism without saying that this is racist, right? There have always been immigrants that have come here willingly. There also was a segment of the Diaspora that was forced to come to the US and build this country. And that was true in you know, 400 500 years ago, but also true, some would argue to the President, we think about the role of Chinese Americans and Chinese immigrants in building our transportation system, we think about the role of a Syrian son who built Apple, right. And so when I think about where fear comes from, and I tried to be generous right now, and thinking about the positionality of some of those people and public opinion polling and can track it by age, by race, by gender, and give these acute sentiments, but here’s the thing for baby boomers. Baby Boomers, have the most US-born population as a share than any other generation in American history. And that was predominantly white. And so pre-baby boomers, including the great generation, post, baby boomers, Gen X, millennial, Gen Z, more diverse Gen Z, the most diverse. And so this is tied to race, and it is tied to whiteness. And so when you look at over the course, even from the 1960s, to the present, and remember with immigration reform, it is complicated, but there has been no action since the 1980s. And so when we even look at the 1960s, like the biggest share, or immigrants, even up to that time, coming from Europe, Canada and other North American countries, why there were quotas, there was a preference, it was based on systematic racism and the desire for whiteness. Now, over time, it has shifted, but it has not shifted in uniform to Latino, it has shifted Asian, Mexico, other Latin American countries. And so we now have population demographics, again, when you think about Brazil, or India, fast-growing economies, why fast-growing populations that are very useful. These are places that are creating the future kind of global citizens. And it’s really up to countries to decide whether or not they want to engage, train and cultivate those people and allow them to thrive and grow our economy. I oftentimes think about Germany and Angela Merkel and the decisions that she has made in such a short amount of time, given the historical ramifications of leading with hate, led with white supremacy, of leading with nativism, and to then think about confronting that in a real way. So that people are fully abreast of what happened, that it is not out of the psyche. And then also to determine public policy based on the role of Germany in the global context and the proximity to some of these places where people are seeking refuge.
Calderon 24:04
Yeah, I mean, certainly using Germany as an example is powerful for all the reasons that you mentioned. You also mentioned something about, you know, the impact in the history of workers who came here, not of their own volition or under duress. And, you know, I know that some of our past immigration practices with Respect to workers on the margin. And some of our policies are, you know, certainly problematic. Some of them are certainly lessons for us to think about what to do what not to do for the future. And you know, something I think about that has its own history is that but I spent a program here, both of my grandpa came here to the US Senate program, and then we’re not for that, then, certainly, me, my family, our descendants, descendants wouldn’t be here. And while that’s definitely problematic than a lot of the things that you mentioned, I wonder what sort of lessons we can learn from that and other kinds of sort of worker-focused immigration reforms that are not necessarily tied to permanent status or permanent citizenship. But that do solve for some of the worker shortages that we’re talking about?
Diaz 25:24
Yeah, and I appreciate that context. Because let me be clear, I think what is on the table and our research backs this up, is that the discussions around immigration reform really needs to center on a pathway for the 11 million unauthorized workers. And to segment it out without finding relief for those other workers is going to be detrimental to our economy. And so if we were to find a pathway to citizenship for all of those 11 million workers, the US over the course of 10 years, will get $1.5 trillion, in addition to the gross domestic product. Now, that is very close to the biggest investment that we saw out of President Biden with American rescue plan, which was 1.9 trillion. And so we can reach that and get the money and also have those workers This is going to come from taxes from consumption. But to your point, Marisa, I think that this is important. And I’m going to think about it from like a theoretical and kind of philosophical context. America is not the place that everybody wants to be, including people who are here. Um, and nor should we address that as public policy as that being, you know, a rational sentiment, one need look no further than the way that our country addressed COVID-19 amongst other sophisticated democracies. And where I’m going with this is that if people want to come here for work, and go back to a home that they would rather be in, let them and let them come back and work and then go back, like, let’s think about this, we, we do all kinds of transactions online, in the digital sphere, we are, you know, we’re doing business functions and ideation for those of us of privilege who have still consistently been able to earn a paycheck and live in a home and access to jobs. That is what is happening. And so to the extent that we need construction workers or temporary workers, that’s fine. But let’s ensure that they have full dignity, that they’re getting paid living wages, and that we are not prosecuting them and demonizing them because of the color of their skin. And so that was one of the things that we’ve seen over time, whether it’s the rossetto movement, it is, you know, the growth of temporary seasonal workers, including in our domestic service, and hospitality industries. More importantly, now, this is what we think about for our care economy, the overwhelmingly immigrant overwhelmingly women of color, and yet the wages are low, the benefits are almost nonexistent. And the need for that sector in the growth given the maturing and aging of white Americans, astronomical. Yeah.
Calderon 28:11
So I want to shift a little bit and talk about entrepreneurship. Because, you know, since I work in this space, I’m acutely aware of the contributions of immigrants as entrepreneurs, I wonder if we can just dive into that a little bit, because, you know, it’s especially for those without status back that you can come to this country and execute on an entrepreneurial, you know, vision, and, and be successful, despite a lot of the barriers that are in place because you don’t have status to me sort of astounding, and yet they do their contributions are, are incredible to the economy.
Diaz 28:55
Yeah, you know, and I’m, I mentioned the head of Apple, and I think that that’s really important. But, you know, for Steve Jobs, he was the son of a Syrian immigrant, right and has created this global powerhouse in the backyard that we call home California. But that’s not generally the unicorn of sorts we do you see this in tech, But to your point, there has always been entrepreneurship amongst immigrants to the US. And when we think about where we’re at now, I really want to lift up those people. Before on the margins, but play an essential role. And I’m thinking about people who are opening micro-businesses who are street mentors, who are doing things that are servicing their community, because these communities have been red lines have been disenfranchised, and are lacking so many clear items to be safe. And again, I can’t help but think about COVID-19, we did research at UCLA to think about who could shelter in place who could comply, based on their neighborhoods, we found that blacks and Latinos were least likely to be able to shelter in place, they live in food deserts, there’s high density, you know, transportation is an issue. And so when I think about the entrepreneurs who are providing the food, providing the sustenance, marketing, things that don’t exist, because there is not a drugstore, or grocery store, or financial institution, in these videos across the country, they actually are really providing a pivotal role, because they’re providing something that does not exist in the community. They are helping people access goods and services, but they’re also growing through their own entrepreneurship, a pathway for their own household and maybe others if they do grow and scale to employ and create jobs. And so this is really a testament in terms of where we’re at in terms of systematic inequality, and poor urban planning and land-use decisions that have left some communities less resilient in times of crises. Immigrant workers, and immigrant entrepreneurs are really filling a void that has been left by purposeful public policy.
Calderon 31:15
So I do want to talk about public policy in just a minute, I see that we have a couple of questions that have come into the chat that are actually on point with what we’re talking about right now, with respect to COVID-19. And it looks like they’re similar directionally. Some questions about, you know, whether undocumented persons are getting vaccinated. And to just provide some context with respect to though there is no insurance that is required, does that mean that they’re being, you know, turned away for shots still, because of their status? Or, you know, how is that affecting individuals?
Diaz 31:52
Well, one of the most transformative things that occurred during this pandemic is we had a change in federal administrations. And so we were ill-equipped at the state and local level to deal with COVID-19 evidence by, you know, the over half a million Americans who unnecessarily lost their life. And so with President Biden, there was an abject change in dealing with COVID-19. And that included a federal response. And there is federal preemption. So to the extent that the governor of Kansas refuses to provide vaccines to meatpacking workers, or similarly in Nebraska, too bad, because the federal government can go and create a site to provide vaccine access, they can also equipped federally qualified health care centers that service many of these immigrant populations, with the vaccines necessary to vaccinate. And so under President Biden’s administration, it is lawful to ensure that workers have access to vaccine irrespective of citizenship status. That said, we are in a place where we are completely polarized as a country. And there’s distrust in federal government, state government, local government, irrespective of your political party identification. So the messaging is going to be crucial here. But yes, workers and immigrants an authorized or authorized are eligible for a vaccine under President Biden.
Calderon 33:22
That’s great. And do you have a sense for, you know, the data is showing with respect to how that has impacted actual, you know, pull-through rate for, for folks getting vaccinated?
Diaz 33:35
You know, I think that there’s been a lot of pivots. Again, this is a matter of first impression. And so for a large part of this pandemic, many government actors who maybe wanted to do the right thing and addressing a public health crisis by making sure everybody was safe and stifling the spread, we’re not able to. And so under the Biden administration, there have been changes to both increase the supply, increased distribution, ensure equity is integrated into that. And that includes, you know, types of really innovative things like having mobile vaccination sites, in particular communities, going to work sites, whether that is agricultural fields or factories. These are different things, but they’re also imperative and they don’t always get it right. So I said in California were at a certain point in vaccines distribution, it was based on age, we knew early on that elderly were most vulnerable, but we also knew That Los Angeles became the epicenter of COVID-19. For the whole North American continent, the rate of deaths amongst Latinos increased between November and January by 1,000%. Now, again, I mentioned this Latinos median age is 30. So if vaccine eligibility is tied to being 65 or older, what does that mean about stopping the bleeding. And so that type of advocacy informed by data in real-time led to a change, which was that 40% of the vaccines from the state of California, we’re going to go into impacted frontline communities. And that was a change that was necessary. But again, it’s it’s not always Top of Mind, even when people are trying to do the right thing, because it’s just a really difficult place to be when you do not have a government that is representative of the demographics of this country.
Calderon 35:22
And I just want to emphasize that it’s impacted frontline communities that have high percentages of occurrence associated with them. So it’s sort of this perfect Venn diagram of overlapping impact on vulnerable communities. So I’d love to just kind of shift over to public policy remedies, because you know, as you rightly mentioned earlier in our conversation, the whole complicated conversation around immigration reform is complicated. And, and though there really hasn’t been traction since the 80s. There certainly have been efforts that are comprehensive in nature, their efforts that are sort of compartmentalize and focus just discreetly on certain things, executive actions, etc. You know, if you had, you know, sort of a public policy magic wand, what would be your sort of prescription, broach the conversation around immigration reform, in terms of what is likely to transpire?
Diaz 36:29
Well, it’s interesting, because I want to call a friend Marisa. And I’m like, Can I switch out the policy magic wand for a political magic wand? Because I think that’s where we’d get the answer. Well, 10 Republicans in the Senate needs to get on board with the economic needs of this country. And that means passing immigration reform that would provide a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million unauthorized workers who have toiled not just this year, but the years past. That includes people who have temporary protected status, right. They came from countries, whether in Latin America, or even Africa, for which they had to seek refuge, that includes our dreamers who are now in the psyche, because of the activism that they displayed in the courageous tactics that they displayed to ensure that they were able to fully utilize the pathway to opportunity, whether that was education serving in our own forces or beyond. But that also includes the people who have been toiling in low-wage work and contributing to taxes. And so absent that, that requires the political ones, because we have seen under Mitch McConnell, what if anything can happen. So if I were to revamp that political ones, there’s a need to get rid of the filibuster. And that’s a whole nother discussion. If I substitute that political one for a policy wand in terms of where we’re at right now, I mean, I think that the hill and MSNBC in new york times were reporting that, you know, Chuck Schumer is really trying to look at different methods to incorporate some of these provisions to provide a pathway to citizenship for some immigrants, for a budget reconciliation. And at this time, something in law is better than nothing. And nothing has occurred since the 1980s. Everything has been executive action, whether based on hate, or based on just being proactive and recognizing that Senate Republicans, we’re not going to think about America’s future.
Calderon 38:33
Well, I would perspective, both, I guess, political and policy interwoven, I would be remiss if I didn’t give us an opportunity to talk about the really the child-related crisis that’s happening at the border and continues to happen at the border. And is, you know, certainly from my perspective being handled in a protracted way. You know, you have 1000s of children who are separated from their families, because of, you know, what’s commonly known as the remaining Mexico protocol that this administration continues to employ. So I wonder if we could just talk a little bit about, you know, there’s clearly a human costs to this, but But what are the other sort of inner woman economic and human costs to not coming to a quick resolution?
Diaz 39:26
Yeah, I’m glad you bring that up. And I actually have first-hand experience prior to Starting the think tank at UCLA, I worked as an attorney with now vice president Kamala Harris when she was Attorney General. We know that immigration is a federal issue, right? Again, for the same reason that under President Biden, everybody, irrespective of your citizenship status will get a vaccine. There are roles for states and state actors, whether it’s attorneys, generals, or governors to play in terms of immigrant integration, many of which are economic, but others are parts of access to justice. And so for VP, Harris, she essentially saw people in a part of our state, with signs telling these children to go back home. And what is really interesting, because we do not have robust critical thinking or civics education in our public schools today is that many of these immigrants cross multiple borders. And so there is not just one border, which is the US-Mexico border, there are borders between Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala beyond. And the fact that people made this journey to flee persecution, violence, economic constraints, and go on this treacherous kind of path through multiple countries to come here for refuge was because it was necessary, people don’t willfully volunteer for that this is not a reality TV show where people are going to get lots of influencers, to follow them to do this. This is a matter of life or death. And we’re seeing it not just in America, we’re seeing it in Europe and people coming from the Middle East in Africa. To the point here, one of the things that was really harsh is the idea that these children, whether they are 17, and a half or five months old, are expected to present their asylum claim, or their Special Immigrant juvenile status claim by themselves in English in a federal court, I would say a good portion of the American Bar could not do that on behalf of a client, let alone a child, because they’re not entitled to an attorney. And so one of the things that we worked on was to create the bully pulpit necessary in the world’s fifth-largest economy, which was California, to act to provide justice for these children, because research showed that if they had an attorney, they were the efficacy of their claim would be would have a higher probability of success. And so we worked with legal service providers with state actors with health and human services under President Obama, with law firms. And that became a model program because the state of California allocated money for the first time in its budget for legal services for these children, that has continued to grow, to incorporate DACA and to do deportation defense, why we need immigrant workers, we need immigrants here. It’s not just a matter of human rights, it’s a matter of economic rights and the efficacy of our Constitution. And so where we’re at right now flashforward, under three different US presidents we have had children and cages is atrocious. There’s no other way to say it to the point of the long-term consequences one need look no further than 2014. To recognize that we don’t place these children with family members 80%, of which they have a family member and aunt or uncle or cousin in the US. They will be trafficked within our borders, likely for labor, because we need workers. And so what is the possibility recognizing the writing on the wall with our population demographics, providing a safe haven and opportunity for all as not only a global country, but allegedly the preeminent democracy in this world. And so that’s what’s on the table right now. The scapegoating. And this all of a sudden outside spotlight by some senators, including Senator Ted Cruz is disgusting. But it doesn’t get to the heart, which is that these are kids, and they are fleeing their homes with their parents for a better life. And it’s not just happening in the US. It’s happening in places like Syria, it’s happening throughout the Middle East, and it has been occurring. And it’s incumbent on different places, including Italy and Germany and others, to know that when people cross treacherous waters, whether in the Mediterranean, or you can think about the Rio Grande Did you know river in Texas, that this is an opportunity to build and grow an economy.
Calderon 43:57
Thank you, I see that we do have some additional questions coming in through the chat. So feel free to just keep those questions coming. We’ve got one, you know where, you know, someone’s asking about an undocumented worker, you know, with the assumption that the worker pays taxes, and they want to know whether that person is eligible for Social Security benefits. So that’s, that’s for so let’s start there, and then we’ll kind of move on to the second part of that person’s question.
Diaz 44:300
You know, this is a good point of really cutting to the heart of this frame, which is a false claim that immigrants are takers instead of contributors. So this is an example of contributing, whether, you know, they’re doing it under a fake SSN or through their itin, or other means they are contributing, they are not going to be receiving. And so another thing that has been occurring, I think this is really important for policymakers across the country to consider is that there are some policy fixes that provide a pathway to share prosperity. And so people who file taxes with an ITIN should have some sort of state eligibility for an earned income tax credit, it should be a permanent policy stance on behalf of all 50 states in this country, why it’s going to grow your tax revenue, it’s going to grow consumption, and it’s going to grow your economy. And so that’s an example of people that are pain, but don’t receive anything, even small things that can make the difference. We know that the EITC is really important for all Americans, it’s important for all workers to I recognize in the chat, there’s another question about, you know, if they use a bogus Social Security, no, it’s they’re not going to benefit. And that’s a problem.
Calderon 45:48
And I mean, other than obviously, the immediate impact to that individual person of not being able to, you know, to receive a benefit for what they did contribute, what’s the sort of cascading impact economically on us? That being the case?
Diaz 46:07
You know, I really appreciate you Marisa for continuing to drive the spotlight, because I think if anybody is leaving this conversation, it’s like, what is this cascading impact on us, because it there is what this is not like something that we can slice and dice and just not be attuned to, because it impacts us. It’s it impacts us negatively, not just because our economy is not going to grow. But then we’re going to be providing money for failed systems that were on full display of not working, whether that is law enforcement instead of public safety. Whether that is health care that does not ensure access, whether that is jobs, and employer-based health care, where you lose your job, what are you going to do during a global pandemic. So to the extent that we continue to exclude people based on their immigration status, it means that those people are not going to have the tools necessary to survive, right? put food on the table, have a roof over your head, maintain jobs deal with utilities and internet and engaging in civic life, but they’re not going to thrive. And at the point that we’re at, and the devastation that this pandemic has really placed on our country, we need to be on a pathway to thriving because we need to recover. And so the opportunity of providing cash benefits, or tax relief, or health insurance to these families, many of which are mixed-status, again, with US-born children, mean that those families are better able to buy the homes of more mature Americans to create the companies that can generate more jobs, to add to the revenues that can provide better Social Services and Public Services, whether it’s an education and health care and technology. That’s the opportunity landscape that sits in front of all of us right now.
Calderon 47:58
Thank you. And so we’ve got another question in the chat. Someone wants to know a little bit more about earned income tax credit, and whether there are any current proposals that consideration or there it’s actually implemented.
Diaz 48:14
I’m not aware of any proposals in Congress right now. But I am aware of some of the proposals that were created in California through the budget process, which is to essentially appropriate funds so that this could become a programmatic function on a temporary basis. So that said, I think that there is a push by so many advocates, whether it’s businesses, its immigrants, its Latinos, or others, that this needs to transition from temporary to permanent. Part of the things that I think is about the nuance here, and this is, again, when I talk about representative government, we do not have people in government that we should write whether in elected office appointed office or civil service, that is an opportunity for us. And what’s really important here is that we need people who have robust lived experiences who understand working families. And so from this point, it’s not sufficient to just create a program or policy if you do not implement it to reach those outcomes. And so on the terms of etc, you need to ensure that people who have items are actually applying and using that service, you also need to allocate resources for people who don’t have items to register and get those and so it’s really the on ramp. We know now. Because of the egregious crises of 2020, that we’re not on equal footing. And so we should approach our policymaking with that frame and recognize what do we need to get to equal footing before our intervention is going to have the desired effect? And I think that the EITC is really important for all working families. It’s especially important for immigrants and it’s an easy fix.
Calderon 59:54
Well, I want to thank you, I feel like this conversation has been really robust. And I hope that the attendees have gotten a lot out of it, I’d love to offer you just a few minutes to make some kind of like closing comments with respect to things that you would love for people to walk away with as takeaways, and things that they might even do in their home locations. In municipalities, that could be helpful.
Diaz 50:21
Yeah, thank you so much, Marisa. And, you know, I think that this is really important. We didn’t touch on it. But this is what I’m going to focus on. Given the audience, our labor movement was facing a lot of structural impediments to success post, Ronald Reagan, many of which came from that administration, but other structural issues. And so they had to confront whether or not they were going to take on their discriminatory practices in terms of membership to survive. And so some labor unions did do that. And they said, we’re going to allow immigrants to be a part of our membership. And again, the tension between taking away jobs. And so not only did some labor unions survive, they’ve thrived. You look at Unite Here, you look at all kinds of places across this country that have meaningfully incorporated immigrant workers, so that we are raising the floor so that we have workplace protections, but we also have living wages and access to a social safety net. And so we’re at a place right now in 2021, where we need to survive, but we also need to thrive. And all of us have a role in that, and that there is a pathway to shared prosperity. So is there a scarcity issue? Absolutely. But by incorporating other voices and other workers who have a demonstrated return on investment, that scarcity issue, would be a multiplier effect of opportunity. And so that’s what’s at stake. Now, all of this is coming in through the frame of white supremacy, racism in our history, we need to address swallow and remain vigilant about that. But more than anything, I think that what we should be seeing is that the numbers are not lying here, and that we need to grow our economy. And we can only grow our economy by creating good jobs, expanding our social safety net, and increasing wages. And we’ve got to do that with all workers.
Calderon 52:24
Well, I want to thank you again, Sonja. And I want to thank all of you for joining us today for your great questions in the chat. And I want to encourage you all to really take this moment and the mantra to be advocates in your local cities, states, certainly at the federal level to make sure that you can advance the cause of immigration reform, both for the human and moral and ethical reasons that many of us know and agree with and for all these economic reasons that really tie us together with folks who have a different perspective on the matter. So thank you all please enjoy the rest of the conference. And know just come back for more sessions.
