This Tuesday at Howard University, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries along with other members of the Congressional Black Caucus will meet to hold a forum on “the impact of Immigration Reform in Black America.”
According to the press release:
Though there are more than three million immigrants of African descent living in America, the immigration reform debate rarely includes the unique experiences and challenges facing black immigrants. There are also assumptions about the impact immigration reform will have on African Americans that have led to tensions in communities and on college campuses.
For Rep. Jeffries, a long-time advocate of immigration reform, this forum is yet another chance for him to advocate immigration policies which benefit Black Caribbean and African immigrants, two communities who have sizable populations in his district.
Throughout February, Rep. Jeffries spoke out at Congressional Black Caucus meetings and House Judiciary Committee hearings in favor of immigration reform.
In late March, Rep. Jeffries joined hundreds of Black immigrants, mostly from Africa and the Caribbean, gathered in Washington DC to protest policies which negatively affect Black immigrants such as the fact that many who came to the US with visas are now classified as undocumented after having overstayed their allotted time or that Black immigrants are detained and deported at higher rates than other immigrant groups.
On April 4, Jeffries joined other Democrats, labor leaders and the president of the Partnership for New York City, which describes itself as “a nonprofit membership organization comprised of a select group of two hundred CEOs (“Partners”) from New York City’s top corporate, investment and entrepreneurial firms,” in calling for Congress to pass an immigration reform bill without some of the preconditions requested by Republicans. This coalition of legislators, organized labor and business elites objected to preconditions like the demand that the border be secured before any further pathways to citizenship are discussed and the demand that illegal immigrants be required to return to their home country before they can apply for legal immigrant status.
Politically, these are smart moves for Jeffries, who probably has noticed that Brooklyn has the largest population of Black immigrants in New York City. Brooklyn also has the largest population of Black Caribbean immigrants, who make up about 85% of foreign-born Black residents. Unlike Republicans, Democrats like Jeffries realize that making life easier for these future citizens will result in their future support as well as the support of these communities’ allies.
These Black immigrant communities also bring proven economic benefits. For one, African-born immigrants, whose rates of immigration are now higher than Black Caribbeans, tend to be more educated than other immigrant groups. Cutting off this source of human capital would simply be foolish economically. And, according to a report by the Migration Policy Institute, while Black Caribbeans tend to be “underrepresented among the highly skilled when compared to US natives, Black African immigrants, and immigrants overall,” they have “labor force participation rates that exceeded the averages for US natives and all immigrants combined.” Also, they have higher median earnings than all immigrants and Black African immigrants.
In other words, they earn more even though they are less educated than African immigrants.
These are communities that come here educated and/or willing to work hard despite all the challenges awaiting them as Blacks in America. They come to the country seeking to achieve that corny, old bourgeois ideal known as the American dream. As a result, they, like other ethnic groups that immigrated to New York City, are well on their way to becoming Americanized and climbing the city’s social, political and economic ladders. And most importantly for Rep. Jeffries, they have a sizable population in Brooklyn, particularly in his district.
Whether Jeffries sincerely believes in immigration reform or not matters little. His moves on this issue are still wise ones for him and his party. Ignoring these educated and higher-income immigrants in the early stages of their assimilation into the wider American society would only be to Jeffries’ and his party’s disadvantage. And unlike the Republicans, Jeffries and the Democrats are fully aware of this.