Elections and Politics

During the presidential primaries, candidates and the media focused a great deal of attention on the debate over how immigrants impact state economies and the fiscal balance of state treasuries. At the same time, political pundits and pollsters speculated on the electoral influence of immigrants and Latinos at the voting booth.  Below is a brief analysis of the impact that both Latinos and immigrants have on the economies and electorates of the “Super Tuesday” states.

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Published On: Mon, May 05, 2008 | Download File

Election experts tend to agree that modern-day voter fraud is a very rare occurrence in the United States, primarily because it is so irrational.  The potential payoff (a vote) is not worth the risk of jail time, thousands of dollars in fines, and—in the case of non-citizens—possibly deportation.  The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law succinctly summarizes this point in a 2006 fact sheet: “Each act of voter fraud risks five years in prison and a $10,000 fine—but yields at most one incremental vote. The single vote is simply not worth the price.  Because voter fraud is essentially irrational, it is not surprising that no credible evidence suggests a voter fraud epidemic.”

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Published On: Thu, Jul 24, 2008 | Download File

Since the mid-1980s, the federal government has tried repeatedly, without success, to stem the flow of undocumented immigrants to the United States with immigration-enforcement initiatives: deploying more agents, fences, flood lights, aircraft, cameras, and sensors along the southwest border with Mexico; increasing the number of worksite raids and arrests conducted throughout the country; expanding detention facilities to accommodate the hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants apprehended each year; and creating new bureaucratic procedures to expedite the return of detained immigrants to their home countries.  At the same time, the economic integration of North America, the western hemisphere, and the world has accelerated, facilitating the rapid movement of goods, services, capital, information, and people across international borders.  Moreover, the U.S. economy demands more workers at both the high-skilled and less-skilled ends of the occupational spectrum than the rapidly aging, native-born population provides.  The U.S. government’s enforcement-without-reform approach to undocumented immigration has created an unsustainable contradiction between U.S. immigration policy and the U.S. economy.  So far, the economy is winning.

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Published On: Wed, May 21, 2008 | Download File

IPC has prepared a quotes page to remind policymakers, the press, and the public about the enormous influence of the immigrant, Latino, and Asian vote in the 2008 elections.

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Published On: Wed, Jan 28, 2009 | Download File

Latinos weren't the only group that flexed its muscles this past Election Day. New Americans--naturalized citizens and the U.S.-born children of immigrants who were born during the current era of immigration that began in 1965--make up another important demographic group that demonstrated its ability to swing an election.

Published On: Wed, Nov 12, 2008 | Download File

IPC has prepared a fact sheet to remind policymakers, the press, and the public about the enormous influence of the immigrant, Latino, and Asian vote in the 2008 elections.

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Published On: Wed, Jan 28, 2009 | Download File

Voting data from the 2008 election, released in late July 2009 by the U.S. Census Bureau, illustrates the growing electoral power of minority voters. This data should serve as a demographic wake-up call to politicians that they cannot ignore the concerns of minority voters without paying a price at the polls.

Published On: Thu, Aug 13, 2009 | Download File