3/19 – Savannah Now – Hispanics pace population growth in Savannah as whites and blacks trickle away | savannahnow.com

Hispanics pace population growth in Savannah as whites and blacks trickle away | savannahnow.com.

Posted: March 19, 2011 – 11:08pm

By Larry Peterson

 

 

If it weren’t for increased numbers of Hispanics, multi-ethnic people and Asian Americans, Savannah would have lost population since 2000.

New census figures reveal not only fewer whites, but also slightly fewer blacks, so growth of other groups fueled modest overall population growth here.

Last year’s once-a-decade head count revealed the Hostess City’s population grew to 136,286 — up 3,321 — but lost 1,632 whites and 169 blacks. Meanwhile, its Hispanic population more than doubled to 6,392 and the city added almost 700 Asian Americans and nearly 900 people who claim more than one ethnicity.

“It’s the browning of America,” said Alderman Mary Osborne, noting that Hispanics are the fastest-growing demographic in Georgia and across the country. “We’re getting more diverse and will continue to do so as time goes on.”

At 54.9 percent, African Americans remained the majority here, and at 36.2 percent whites remained the largest minority. Hispanics grew to 4.7 percent while Asian Americans and multi-ethnics rose to nearly 2 percent.

University of Georgia demographer Doug Bachtel said economics and birth rates help account for the influx of Hispanics and other minorities.

“There has been a proliferation of job opportunities in areas like Savannah and minority women tend to have a higher birth rate,” he said.

But some people became Savannahians because of annexations, said Tom Thomson, executive director of the Chatham County-Savannah Metropolitan Planning Commission.

Thomson said he doesn’t know how many people live in areas annexed since 2000. But, asked whether it might be enough to account for all of the population growth, he replied, “It might be in the ballpark.”

Mayor Otis Johnson, who is black, said it didn’t matter much to him that some African Americans may have left town.

“I don’t care where the people came from as long as the city continued to grow,” he said.

 

Westside growth

But in Chatham County overall, most newcomers have been on the west side, where there’s been room to grow. Pooler is the poster child; its population nearly tripled to 19,140.

“Nobody should be surprised,” said Robert Eisinger, a political science professor at the Savannah College of Art and Design. “We’ve seen earlier census estimates, and you see it when you drive out that way. You see the new subdivisions and shopping centers.”

More than 62 percent of Pooler’s people are white.

But its black population jumped more than nine-fold to 25 percent. And Pooler’s Hispanic population — near 7 percent — is almost 15 times what it was in 2000. But about half of the additional people are white.

“It’s the American dream,” Eisinger said, noting that home prices in much of Pooler are relatively affordable. “People want a big yard and they move.”

Bachtel sees at least two other forces at work — “white flight” and “bright flight.” The first, Bachtel said, represents a seepage of whites from Savannah to places such as Pooler, which they perceive as having lower crime and better schools. “Bright flight,” he said, represents the exodus of educated upscale people of all races — and for the same reasons.

“It’s really more socio-economic than racial,” he said.

Johnson says he knows many blacks who have moved to Pooler.

“People are going to wake up and say, ‘Oh, my goodness,’” he said. “I’m just going to smile.”

 

County more diverse

The new census figures confirmed earlier estimates showing that Chatham County continues to become more diverse.

A bare majority — 50.4 percent — of its 265,128 people remain white, compared to 54.1 percent in 2000.

Blacks now comprise 40.7 percent of the population, up slightly from 10 years before, and Hispanics, 5.4 percent, almost three times as many as in 2000.

Chatham’s population grew 14.3 percent since then, a little faster than census estimates projected. That’s less than the 18.3 statewide growth rate over the last decade, but easily tops Savannah’s 2.5 percent.

The MPC’s Thomson wasn’t surprised, saying the higher numbers for Chatham are close to his agency’s projections.

In neighboring Effingham and Bryan counties, head counts soared by 39 percent and 29 percent, respectively — close to expectations based on census estimates.

Each remains overwhelmingly white, but the black and Hispanic populations there grew faster than the white ones.

Bachtel said forces seen in Chatham, such as job prospects, birth rates, white flight and bright flight, were active in Effingham and Bryan.

Johnson acknowledged that those counties and Pooler grew faster than his city.

“But the basis for that growth is still here,” he said. “Many of the people who move to other areas still work here. They wouldn’t have a job if it weren’t for Savannah.

“We have to talk about Savannah as the heart of a region. As Savannah goes, so goes the region.”

3/19 – AJC – Will the rise in suburban minorities mean a departure from identity politics? | Kyle Wingfield

Will the rise in suburban minorities mean a departure from identity politics? | Kyle Wingfield.

6:57 pm March 18, 2011, by Kyle Wingfield

The sizable migration of racial minorities to Atlanta’s suburbs may not be the expected, severe blow to conservatism and the Republican Party.

During the past decade, more and more black, Hispanic and Asian Americans moved to places like Cobb and Gwinnett counties. Conventional wisdom holds that these typically Democratic-leaning groups pose a threat to the GOP in its traditional strongholds.

While that forecast may come true, it hasn’t yet. And there’s good reason to think it won’t anytime soon. But first, a few data points from the 2010 census released Thursday.

No Georgia county added more residents between 2000 and 2010 than Gwinnett. With 216,871 newcomers, the county vaulted past Cobb and DeKalb into second place in the state, behind only Fulton.

Gwinnett’s minority population, however, grew by more than a quarter million — more than making up for a net outflow among whites. In 2000, Gwinnett was two-thirds white; now, minorities make up a comfortable majority.

The shift was less dramatic in Cobb (69 percent white in 2000 to 56 percent in 2010). But one thing the two big counties had in common was that they both remained firmly Republican last November.

To see how firm the GOP’s grip was relative to the past, compare 2010’s election results to those of 1998. Drawing a comparison with the last census year, 2000, is tricky because there was a presidential election that year but not in 2010 — and turnout in Georgia is very different when the White House is up for grabs.

The 1998 election has other parallels to 2010: In both years, a Republican U.S. senator ran for re-election but there was no incumbent in the gubernatorial race (plus, the Democratic candidate each time was Roy Barnes). And 1998 is farther back than 2000 in terms of the demographic shift — so, if anything, the change ought to be more pronounced.

Yet, little changed in terms of partisan politics.

In 1998, Barnes lost Cobb by 8 percentage points; last year, the margin was almost twice as large at 15 points.

In Gwinnett, Barnes fared somewhat better in 2010, losing by “just” 20 points rather than 25 the first time around. Given the tremendous demographic change over those 12 years, one would have expected Gwinnett to be much more competitive. But Nathan Deal was in no danger of losing the county.

In last year’s U.S. Senate race, Johnny Isakson won by 28 points in Gwinnett. His predecessor, Paul Coverdell, took the county by 34 points in 1998. So, again, there was some falloff but still a healthy margin of victory for the Republican. (In Cobb, Isakson did seven points better than Coverdell did.)

I have a hunch that things aren’t going to change very much in the future, either. Traffic, zoning fights and the other issues that accompany the kind of rapid growth seen in Atlanta’s suburbs are all color-blind.

While many minority voters accustomed to picking Democrats will stick to that habit, at least for a while, people ultimately vote their interests. The Democratic Party traditionally has aligned itself with many of the interests of urban minorities. But when those voters move to the ’burbs, they may well decide that the GOP offers better solutions to the different problems they find there.

If so, whole blocs of voters may be newly open to ideas they didn’t embrace before. Either way, a lessening of the usual identity politics will be good for us all.

– By Kyle Wingfield

3/18 – AP – Handful of Ga. immigration bills still viable | The Associated Press | News | Washington Examiner

Handful of Ga. immigration bills still viable | The Associated Press | News | Washington Examiner

http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/government/headlines/Handful_of_Ga_immigration_bills_still_viable__118313274.html

By: The Associated Press 03/18/11 12:54 PM
The Associated Press

With a big immigration bill clearing each chamber of the Georgia Legislature, Republicans seem to be following through on their promise to focus on the issue, but a number of smaller immigration measures have failed to advance and may be stalled for this session.

Wednesday was crossover day, the 30th day of the General Assembly and the deadline by which bills were supposed to pass at least one legislative chamber to have a shot at becoming law. Of nearly a dozen immigration-related bills, only three cleared either the House or Senate by that deadline.

Before the session even started, Republicans formed a legislative study committee of seven senators and seven representatives to examine the hot-button issue, soliciting testimony from various people and opening the floor for public comment.

Senate Democrats who argue immigration is a federal issue embarked on a listening tour after the session’s start in January, holding town hall meetings around the state to listen to constituents’ concerns. They largely opposed immigration bills that came up for a vote, to little effect because of comfortable Republican majorities in both chambers.

The Senate and House each passed separate comprehensive bills that would require many employers to use a federal database to check the immigration status of new hires and would authorize law enforcement officers to check the immigration status of criminal suspects who can’t produce an accepted form of identification, among other provisions. But those two bills aren’t identical and a group of lawmakers from both chambers will likely begin meeting soon to hash out some of the differences.

Rep. Matt Ramsey, R-Peachtree City, who co-chaired the study committee in the fall and authored the House’s comprehensive bill, said he’s pleased with the way things are going. The focus from the beginning was passing a comprehensive piece of legislation that would address the most important issues, he said.

“Of all the bills that were batted around in the House, this was the most comprehensive one and that’s why it got the most attention and effort,” Ramsey said of his bill.

D.A. King, founder of the Dustin Inman Society, which advocates for stricter enforcement of immigration laws, spent hours at the Capitol during the session. King said he was pleased with the passage of Ramsey’s bill, which he sees as stronger than the Senate version written by Sen. Jack Murphy, R-Cumming, which also passed.

“The most important bill, the one that will help save jobs and the budget in Georgia and that will actually address illegal immigration, passed,” he said of Ramsey’s bill.

A lot of the smaller bills weren’t as well written or researched, which could be part of the reason they didn’t pass, King said.

Jerry Gonzalez, executive director of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials, has been lobbying aggressively against the various immigration-related bills proposed in Georgia.

“I’m disappointed any of these bills passed,” he said. “I think fundamentally it sends the wrong message that Georgia’s not a hospitable place and not welcoming to foreigners.”

A bill that makes driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol a felony on the first conviction only for illegal immigrants cleared the Senate last week. In Georgia, DUI is a misdemeanor on the first two convictions, a high and aggravated misdemeanor on the third conviction and a felony on the fourth and subsequent convictions and would remain so for everyone in the country legally.

Another bill that would require the written portion of the Georgia driver’s license test to be given only in English made it to the House floor but was tabled after an amendment passed that effectively gutted it. If it were to become law, it would not affect illegal immigrants because they aren’t eligible for driver’s licenses.

A bill that would bar illegal immigrants from enrolling in state colleges and universities passed a House committee but failed to make it to the chamber floor for a vote by the crossover day deadline.

Bills that never made it out of committee include ones that would:

— require K-12 schools and hospitals to report the number of illegal immigrants they serve;

— prohibit illegal immigrants from receiving worker’s compensation;

— prohibit illegal immigrants from collecting unemployment benefits;

— toughen worker eligibility verification requirements for contractors who receive public works contracts;

— require jails to apply for participation in and use federal-local partnership programs that help local law enforcement agencies identify illegal immigrants in their custody.

“I’m very pleased that the school bills did not make it through because they were the most constitutionally suspect and most risked harming innocent people,” said state Sen. Curt Thompson, D-Tucker, referring to the children of illegal immigrants who are brought here when they’re young.

Thompson, who organized the Democratic listening tour on immigration, has repeatedly argued immigration is a federal issue.

Just because certain bills failed to pass either chamber of the Legislature by Wednesday and seem to have stalled doesn’t mean they’re completely dead for the year. Some or all of the provisions of those bills could be tacked onto another bill as amendments in the session’s waning days.

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/news/2011/03/handful-ga-immigration-bills-still-viable-0#ixzz1H6dD2gqh

3/19 – Times Free Press – Legislatures get tough with immigration | timesfreepress.com

Legislatures get tough with immigration | timesfreepress.com.

published Saturday, March 19th, 2011

DALTON, Ga.—Of all the states that have talked about passing an Arizona-style immigration law, Georgia stands out as one that may actually go through with it.

Georgia’s HB 87 was described as “one of the broadest and most far-reaching of any of the immigration measures being considered in the state legislatures this spring” by ImmigrationWorks USA, a national federation of state-based pro-immigration business coalitions.

HB 87 provides penalties for employers and agencies that don’t comply with immigration law and makes it a felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison to use fake identification to get a job.

It passed the Republican-controlled House on March 3, mostly on party lines. A similar bill, SB 40, made it out of the Republican-controlled Senate Monday.

State and local organizations are closely following more than a half-dozen bills each in the Tennessee and Georgia legislatures.

Reactions vary

America Gruner, founder of the Dalton, Ga.-based Coalition of Latino Leaders, said the group is disappointed that lawmakers are more concerned with persecuting immigrants than dealing with real problems in the state.

“Besides the potential lawsuits and economic cost of those initiatives, we care also about the unnecessary human cost of separating families, of going back to the segregation era and inequality,” she said.

Walker County Tea Party Coordinator Dean Kelley said he fully supports the Georgia legislation.

ACROSS THE COUNTRY

• Arizona lawmakers on Thursday defeatedfive illegal immigration-related bills, including one intended to force a U.S. Supreme Court ruling against automatic citizenship for U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants.

• The Oklahoma Senate on Wednesday passed a bill that gives police broad powers to arrest illegal immigrants and seize property used to commit immigration-related crimes.

• When Alabama legislators return from spring break next week, they could take up a Republican-backed Arizona-style immigration bill that would make it harder for illegal immigrants to get jobs or apply for government benefits.

• Utah Gov. Gary Herbert signed bills Tuesday that will increase immigration enforcement but also implement a guest worker program.

• The Maryland Senate on Monday passed a measure allowing some illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition rates at Maryland colleges and universities.

Source: The Associated Press

“The federal government has not enforced our existing immigration laws and is putting the states in a position where they are having to deal with this,” he said. “Which means that we have to give our state law enforcement the tools to tackle the immigration problem.”

Some of the bills, including one in Georgia that would deny access to higher education to illegal immigrants, are stalled for this session. But measures that would require employers to use a verification system to check new hires’ immigration status and to allow police to ask criminal suspects their immigration status continue to advance.

And the word has gotten out to immigrant communities.

On a recent Saturday afternoon, several Hispanic families sat watching soccer on a field at Southeast High School in Whitfield County.

Despite the sunny sky and warm weather, fewer families were there than in the past, attendees and soccer league organizers said.

Omar Velazquez, a board member of the Dalton Soccer League, said the number of predominantly Hispanic teams has decreased from 60 to 42.

Though 2010 Census figures show nearly a third of Whitfield County residents and almost half of Dalton residents are Hispanic, many have left, those watching soccer said.

They cited the combined pressure of a 2006 state law that was then the toughest immigration measure in the nation, and a recession that hit Dalton’s floorcovering industry especially hard.

And it will only get tougher if Georgia passes such bills, they said.

“A lot of things have changed since I came to Dalton 25 years ago,” said Jesús González, who migrated to the United States from Mexico 40 years ago.

The Pew Hispanic Center says Georgia ranks seventh for the largest share of illegal immigrants, at 425,000 — down from 475,000 in 2007.

The center estimates that 140,000 illegal immigrants live in Tennessee, compared to 160,000 in 2007.

Tracking bills

The National Conference of State Legislatures is tracking about 1,200 immigration bills, said Immigrant Policy Project Director Ann Morse.

Last year, 46 states and the District of Columbia passed 346 immigration-related laws out of 1,400 considered, she said, and she expects this year to be similar.

Georgia Sen. Jeff Mullis, R-Chickamauga, wrote one of the Arizona-style enforcement bills. SB 104 is not going to pass this year, but Mullis said in a news release it was part of a promise he made to his constituents last fall.

“Since 2006 when I helped the Georgia General Assembly pass what were at that time the strongest illegal immigration enforcement laws in the nation, our state has dealt with continued problems,” he said. “It is clear law enforcement needs more resources to combat this growing and prevalent issue in northwest Georgia and the entire state.”

Mullis couldn’t be reached for comment Friday.

The tea party’s Kelley said something must be done.

“You just can’t allow undocumented individuals coming into our country,” he said.

“Illegal immigration is being unfair to the ones playing by the rules.”

Georgia state Sen. Charlie Bethel, R-Dalton, said it is unfortunate that states must consider immigration bills because the federal government isn’t living up to its responsibilities.

Critics, including businesses, say Arizona-type bills can hinder the economy and Bethel said they might be right.

The question is, he said, “What’s the price of the rule of law?”

3/17 – AJC – Hispanic population doubles across metro area | ajc.com

Hispanic population doubles across metro area  | ajc.com.

7:36 p.m. Thursday, March 17, 2011

By Jeffry Scott

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The growth of the Hispanic population in metro Atlanta nearly doubled since the 2000 census, outpacing the huge Hispanic population surge statewide, despite the slump in the housing industry that employed many Hispanics.

Enlarge photo

Miguel Martinez/Mundo Hispanico The Hispanic population grew 96 percent in Georgia between 2000 and 2010, with more than a 152 percent increase in Gwinnett County; about 100 percent in Clayton County; and about 80 percent in Cobb, the Census numbers show.

Related

• Map: Population change
• Census 2010: Georgia Diversity (Interactive)
• State gains seat in U.S. House
• Blacks, Hispanics lead metro population growth

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In a core nine-county metro area, the Hispanic population grew from 247,477 in the 2000 census, to 477,891, a jump of over 93 percent.

The greatest boom in the 9-county area was seen in Henry County, where the population swelled a whopping 338 percent, from 2,693 up to 11,813. Gwinnett had the greatest increase in number of Hispanics, growing from 64,136, to 162,035, an increase of 97,899.

State-wide, Hispanics accounted for 853,689, or 8.8 percent of all Georgians.

Among the metro cities that showed the greatest increases in the Hispanic population were Roswell (plus 5,507), Sandy Springs (4,852), Lawrenceville (3,683), Canton (3,292), Atlanta (3,084), Alpharetta (2,576), Lithia Springs (2,144), Forest Park (2,022), Stockbridge (2017) and Lilburn (1,647).

The numbers surprised some leaders in the Hispanic community who believe, based in part on anecdotal information, that the local Hispanic population had declined as jobs went away with the housing bust.

They also said the lack of a hard count and only an estimate (approximately 820,000 statewide) from the U.S. Census Bureau during the peak of the housing boom could mean thousands of Hispanics, many of them illegal immigrants, could have come and gone from the state and metro area between 2000 and 2010.

Census-takers did not ask respondents whether they were in the country illegally.

“I find it hard to believe that that number is up as much as it is,” said Teodoro Maus, president of Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights. “From what we understood, from what people were telling us, they have been leaving, not coming.

“This surprises me and I still do not believe they have the numbers right. Many Hispanics will not tell the census workers how many live in a home, because they are afraid they will be kicked out.”

Hispanic and minority group organizers over the last two years have worked hard for a thorough count of minorities. Jerry Gonzalez, executive director of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials, on Thursday praised the campaign as a success and announced the group’s next goal – gaining a seat in congress.

“GALEO looks forward to working with the Georgia Legislature during the upcoming redistricting process to ensure Latino interests will be able to influence future elections at the congressional, state legislative and local levels of government,” he said in a statement.

Another grass roots organizer for the full count, Helen Butler, executive director for the Coalition for the Peoples’ Agenda, wasn’t quite so eager to praise.

“I still have to go over the numbers,” she said. “And I’m still concerned about legislation that is being considered right now targeting Hispanics in the state.”

An immigration bill, considered in the Georgia Legislature this session that would ban noncitizens from colleges, failed. But another bill that would require law enforcement to check immigration status of suspected illegal immigrants and require E-verify for employers is still in place in the final weeks of the session.

Jesus Brito, the Mexican-born owner of Brito supermarkets, said that he believed the population boom is mostly the result of the birth rate in the Hispanic community. From his observation, based on customer traffic, many Hispanics came and went in the last decade.

“I have seen a reduction in the Hispanic population in the last three years,” he said. “That reduction starts in Cobb and then in Gwinnett. That was one of the most affected [counties]. [I know this] for businesses that have been closed, for clients, by walking in the streets. You notice that the people are not there.”

Former state senator and Hispanic Sam Zamarripa said Thursday the near doubling of the state’s Hispanic population, despite all the politics around the issue of immigration, bodes well for Georgia economy.

“That’s a lot of buying power for groceries, cars and goods that drive commerce,” he said. “It’s a lot of home owners, apartment rents and people who pay property taxes and help our cities. We are just getting a glimpse at the remarkable contribution this community is making to our state.”

Mundo Hispanico reporter Johanes Rosello contributed to this article.