Reports:
August 30th - ICIRR RELEASES IMPORTANT REPORT
Marching Towards the American Dream: Illinois Immigrant Citizens Settle in Chicago Suburbs
While long a factor in ‘urban elections’, immigrant populations are changing the political landscape in Illinois. Immigrant citizens and the U.S. born children of immigrants are fast becoming the critical voting blocks in Chicago’s suburbs this November and beyond. A Research Brief, titled “Marching Toward the American Dream: Illinois Immigrant Citizens Settle in Chicago Suburbs” was released Wednesday by the Illinois Coalition of Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR). It is based on the recently released U.S. Census figures for 2005 and reveals that over the past five years the number of immigrants in the state has increased by 177,000, a figure greater than the population of Aurora, Illinois’s second largest city.
Some key findings of the report:
- Naturalized immigrants and their U.S. born children now represent 19% of all eligible voting age people in Illinois.
- The number of naturalized immigrants in suburban Chicago rose by 127,000 persons, or 38 percent, in the last five.
- The number of immigrant citizens in the suburbs (460,000) dwarfs the number in the City of Chicago (229,000).
Read the full report here.
Read the full press release here.
Read the Sun Times' coverage of the report here.
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: This report finds that there are 14.25 million potential voters among legal immigrants who are
currently eligible to naturalize and the 16 - 24 year old U.S. born children of immigrants. This
includes 12.4 million potential new voters who can be eligible to participate in the 2008 elections.
The current Republican-led legislative attacks on immigrants and red-hot anti-immigrant demagoguery sparked the spring 2006 immigrant rights marches and are currently driving record increases in citizenship applications by legal immigrants. They are also likely to drive increases in the registration and voting rates of U.S. born children of immigrants. This could dramatically – and negatively – affect the outcome of the 2008 Presidential election for the Republican Party, as well as Republican prospects in numerous state elections.
The Changing Face of Illinois: This report demonstrates that immigrants in Illinois hold the balance of power in Illinois politics through in-depth analysis of Census 2000 data and Illinois state races in the November 2002 elections.
Metro Chicago Immigration Fact Book: This report presents data and information on major demographic, social and economic trends involving the immigrant population of metro Chicago. The study uses primarily census data to report on the extent of immigration, the size and diversity of the population, historical trends, residential settlement patterns, and maps and tables detailing the characteristics of 25 major immigrant groups.
Losing Ground: The Loss of Freedom, Equality, and Opportunity for America's Immigrants Since September 11: This report details 24 government actions that target immigrants and refugees post 9/11.
Chicago's Undocumented Immigrants: An Analysis of Wages, Working Conditions, and Economic Contributions: A report by the Center for Urban Economic Development at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Denying the Dream: How the Proposed Changes to the US Naturalization Test Would Prevent Immigrants From Becoming Citizens.
Illinois Is Home: Statewide Survey of Immigrants and Refugees.
The Hoffman Decision: A Threat to All Workers' Rights.
A Profile of Immigrants in the Illinois Workforce
Undocumented Workers and the Chicago Economy: Fact and Fiction.
