Politicians don’t usually pay much attention to illegal immigrants since they don’t have voting rights. However, U.S.-born children of immigrants may become a serious political power in the future.
Children who were born in the United States to immigrant parents are obviously U.S. citizens, and so they enjoy all the rights and privileges that all other U.S. citizens do, including the right to vote. For this reason alone, pro-immigrant organizations count greatly on immigrants’ children and encourage them to be politically active. The youth may become a powerful political power.
Robert Smith, a professor at Baruch College who is studying the Mexican population in New York City, claims that about 500,000 immigrants living in the city may have as many as 150,000 children.
“When it comes to the number of births, Mexicans have left immigrants from Dominican Republic behind. Within the next 20 years, they may become a great political power,” said Smith.
Even though New York’s Mexicans have been looked at as an illegal and apolitical group, their children are much more active, voicing their opinions much louder in matters that directly affect them. For example, in 2002, immigrants managed to convince CUNY representatives that undocumented immigrants residing in the New York City should pay the same tuition rates as the rest of the New Yorkers.
Many students, who are children of immigrants, are fighting to push through the DREAM Act, which would legalize the status of college students who were brought into the United States illegally.
One of these active students is Marisol Ramos, 23, whose parents came to the United States as illegal immigrants. Her mother was a seamstress and her father was a cook. Thanks to the 1986 amnesty, they were able to legalize their status and only last year became U.S. citizens. Ramos is teaching her parents U.S. history, trying to convince them to become politically active.
“In my family, I am the first person who has gone to college,” said Ramos. “I am now politically aware and am trying to pass it on to my family.”
In addition to trying to force through the DREAM Act, Ramos is working with a group of friends to start an initiative whose goal would be to register the children of immigrants to vote.
“Many of them don’t vote, so their vote doesn’t exist, and it should,” said Ramos.
“The fight for immigration reform in 2009 is starting right now,” said Joel Magallan, executive director of a Latino organization called Asociacion Tepeyac de New York. We have registered many children of immigrants who have turned 17. They will be able to vote next year. They are the ones who will be putting pressure on politicians in 2009.”
