Immigration fight highlights generational gap on social ideology

[Jeanfromfillmore]

Immigration fight highlights generational gap on social ideology
The smoldering national immigration debate has shed light on a major split between two groups of Americans on the issue. No, it's not Republicans and Democrats -- but older and younger people with differing views on the contentious issue.
And the factors behind the generational gap on immigration are as prevalent in Inland Southern California as almost anywhere in the nation.
"Generally, older people I know are more likely to be in favor of stricter immigration law," said Patrick Sweeney, a senior at UC Riverside.
Sweeney, 21, who grew up in Lake Elsinore, supports the push for a national immigration overhaul that includes a path to citizenship for the millions of illegal immigrants in the country. But many of his elders feel differently, and they cite the struggling economy in their argument against the proposed legislation.
"Some people I've spoken to feel that immigration is part of that problem," he said.
Sweeney's experience isn't unique.
New polling shows that the baby boomer generation, which came of age during the civil rights movement, and older Americans are more likely to support Arizona's tough new anti-illegal immigration law than younger Americans who have helped lead the charge against it.
This emerging divide has appeared in a handful of surveys taken since the measure allowing Arizona police to detain people they suspect of entering the country illegally was signed into law.
Among them is a New York Times/CBS News poll released this month that found that Americans 45 and older were more likely than the young to say the Arizona law was "about right" (as opposed to "going too far" or "not far enough").
DEMOGRAPHICS SHIFT
Experts attributed the disparity to a combination of factors. First, younger generations have grown up with far more immigrants than their parents and grandparents.
Today, immigrants make up about 12.5 percent of the population, U.S. Census figures show. But in 1970, the year after Woodstock, only 4.7 percent of the country was foreign-born, and most of those immigrants were older Europeans, often unnoticed by the boomer generation born from 1946 to 1964.
Going to school and playing sports with immigrants, both legal and illegal, has had an effect on the way younger Americans view them, said Karthick Ramakrishnan, a UC Riverside political science professor specializing in immigration studies.
"The more contact you have with people of different ethnicity, the more tolerant you'll be toward them," he said.
The changing face of the country is especially evident in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. The region is second only to the Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale area of Arizona in terms of the largest gap between the percentage of younger people and older people who are white.
Some 67 percent of residents 65 or older from the area surrounding Riverside, San Bernardino and Ontario are white, while only 27 percent of children are white, according to a new Brookings Institution report based on census figures titled "The State of Metropolitan America."
Boomers and their parents also spent their formative years away from the cities, where newer immigrants tended to gather -- unlike today's young people who have become more involved with immigrants through college or by moving to urban areas.
CHANGING VIEWPOINTS
But experience is only one part of the equation, UCR's Ramakrishnan said. Inherently, younger and older people view the world around them through different lenses, he said.
"Generally speaking, younger people are more liberal on some of these social issues," he said. "As you grow older, you own property, you pay taxes, you care more about the size of government and you get more conservative about social issues."
Ramakrishnan suggested the divide extends beyond immigration. For example, the fight over California's proposition to ban gay marriage was fought along generational, as well as political, lines, he said.
But with immigration, the debate goes beyond ideology, said Cuauhtémoc "Temo" Figueroa, a lifelong political operative from Riverside County.
Figueroa, who served both as national field director and Latino vote director for President Barack Obama's 2008 campaign, said the growing number of immigrant youths has plenty to gain from immigration reform. Apart from citizenship, many young undocumented immigrants are pressing for legislation that would allow them access to federal financial aid and access to a college education.
Their fervor was on display last month during a pro-immigration reform rally in Nevada, which Figueroa helped organize with help from young volunteers, he said.
"These kids -- seventh-, eighth-, ninth-graders -- are as active as any I've ever seen," he said.
This report was compiled by staff writer Ben Goad and the New York Times News Service.
Reach Ben Goad at 202-661-8422 or bgoad@PE.com
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