The Hispanic-American population, at 35 million, is larger than the entire population of Canada.1 It increased by 58% between the 1990 and 2000 census to become the fastest growing and largest ethnic group in the nation.2 It’s expected that Hispanic Americans will comprise a quarter of the population and will be the largest population group by 2050.3 

Most Hispanic Americans (64%) were born in the USA.4 Almost 20 percent of American-born babies are Hispanic.5 By 2030, there will be 16 million Hispanic Americans between the ages of five and 18. They will comprise a quarter of all students.6 

The sheer size of this population demands that businesses consider them in marketing, advertising, and public relations programs. However, Hispanic Americans cannot be approached as one homogeneous group because they are composed of people from many countries and cultures. 

The three Hispanic countries most represented in America are Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Cuba. Together these three countries produced almost a third of the Hispanic American population. 

Mexican Americans 

The Hispanic population is about 75% (13 million) Mexicans who live mostly in the Southwest.’ Former Mexican citizens resided in the southwest before the US conquered those lands in the Mexican War. Recently many have left the southwest and settled in the Midwest and Great Lakes region.8 

They’ve been in this nation since the 1800s, but had “limited educational opportunity throughout the 20th century.” Most Mexican American schools still lack sufficient resources to provide excellent education.9 

Puerto Rican Americans 

Shortly after the USA got Puerto Rico from Spain (1898), the Jones Act made its residents US citizens and gave them the freedom to travel between the USA and Puerto Rico. Now 11 percent of Hispanic Americans are of Puerto Rican heritage.10 Many Puerto Ricans have resided in the Northeast - New York, New Jersey, and Chicago - since, but now many have moved to the Midwest and Sunbelt. More than 2.5 million Hispanic Americans originated in Puerto Rico.12 

Cuban Americans 

The first mass exodus to the USA from Cuba took place immediately following Castro’s revolution in 1959. Those immigrants were primarily highly educated professionals, technicians and business people who wanted to escape socialism. The latest wave of Cuban immigrants (since 1979) have been less educated and immigrated for better economic opportunities. Together, these two groups of immigrants comprise five percent of the Hispanic American population 13 and number more than a million. 14 

Central and South Americans 

The most recent Hispanic American immigrants are from a number of countries in Central and South America. Many have come to the USA to escape the political unrest in their own countries. Together they comprise seven percent of the Hispanic American population,15 numbering more than 2 million people. 

Each nationality differs by culture, beliefs, opinions and purchasing decisions. In fact, one study has reported that they even differ in media use, with those originating from Puerto Rico and Cuba watching seven more hours per week of Spanishlanguage television than those from Mexico.16 

Hispanics, especially the youth, believe that important differences exist between Hispanics from different countries. They want businesses to note their “cultural, religious and idiomatic differences.” Doing so is more basic than composing effective targeted messages, it’s necessary to avoid mistakes that can alienate Hispanic publics.17 

One expert in multicultural marketing contends that each segment of this population deserves individual attention, saying that “It would be a mistake to pitch a product to a racially mixed Puerto Rican market by using only white Cuban models in a South Florida setting.”18 

However, Hispanic Americans from most countries share unifying characteristics. Two of the most important are language and religion. Although many are bilingual, most speak Spanish. Although Protestantism is the fastest growing religion among Hispanics, most are Catholics. All segments of this public value family, children, and traditional middle-class values. They want to keep their ethnicity, including holidays, rituals, and festivals. They emphasize aesthetics, emotions and their appearance. 

Hispanic-Americans differ from the overall American population: They are younger by seven years with a mean age of 25.5 years;19 their families are larger (3.4 members compared to 2.5), and they are “more likely to have young children.”20 

They look at work differently than Caucasian Americans, mixing in pleasure throughout their workday rather than working all day before allowing time for pleasure. This has contributed to an incorrect stereotype of Hispanics as unmotivated.21 

Hispanic Americans also perceive messages differently than most Americans. They are more likely to believe celebrity endorsements. They respond better to phrases like “new and improved” and “the official” sports choice. However, they believe the world is more complex than it first appears, and they don’t believe money-back guarantees.22 

Hispanic Americans are less wired than Caucasians: less likely to own computers (41% vs. 65%),less likely to have internet access (41% vs. 69%),23 less likely to use e-mail, and less likely to shop on line. Almost a third express no interest in electronic products.24 They live in inter-generational families that include children, adults and grandparents.” 

Hispanic Americans spend more than $428 billion annually.26 In1989, Hispanics earned an average income of $21,921. By 1999, Hispanic households annual earnings had increased: 20 percent earned more than $50,000, 15 percent earned between $35,000 and $50,000, and another 15 percent earned between $25,000 and $35,000.27 Yet, a government report states that their “relative economic status…declined over the past 25 years.” This report notes that Cuban Americans have a much higher median family income.28 

They respond well to samples, which they consider gifts. Door-to-door sampling is more effective with Hispanics than in-store or newspaper sampling.29 

This increase in Hispanic incomes likely came from the 37 percent of Hispanic Americans who immigrated to the USA during the 1990’s. Although some came here for economic advancement, other more wealthy immigrants came to escape war and political pressure.30 Overall, two-thirds of adult Hispanic Americans “were born abroad. “31 

In 1999, Hispanic teens already made up 13.6 percent of the American teen market. By 2005, this teen market is projected to grow by 25.8 percent compared to 7.3 percent for all American teens.32 It will then be the “largest ethnic youth population in the country. 33 Hispanic teens spend almost eight percent more than average teens, with Hispanic girls spending 50 to 100 percent more on makeup, acne and hair products. Hispanic teens average spending $320 per month. By 2005, Hispanic teens are projected to “account for 17 percent of all teen spending. “34 

Two magazines targeting Hispanic youth started business in 1999. Latingirl sought to fill a void for Hispanic girls who had reported that they didn’t find pictures of girls that looked like them or articles that dealt with their cultural issues in other teen magazines.35 

Another effective means of reaching Hispanic Americans is through direct mail and telemarketing. Nearly 75 percent of them read direct mail, and almost 40 percent want more of it. They are also positive toward telemarketing as long as their names are pronounced correctly, they are given the option of communicating in Spanish, and financial screening processes are discreet.36 Spanish direct mail can be particularly effective because, on average, Spanish speaking Americans receive only ten Spanish direct mail pieces a year.37 

The USA is the “fourth largest Spanish speaking country in the world” and is predicted to be the second largest by 2010.38 Even those Hispanics who understand English, get more information from Spanish messages. More than half of immigrant adults cannot understand enough English to accurately decipher English messages. The best approach is to provide bilingual messages.39 

This is particularly true for Hispanic youth, who consider bilingualism an important part of their individuality.40 But don’t be misled, their bilingualism isn’t a process of being assimilated into the American culture. Hispanic youth embrace their language and culture, with more than half of them considering themselves “more Hispanic than American” and another third perceiving themselves as equally grounded in both cultures. 

A growing number of Hispanic youth prefer Spanish: 65 percent watch Spanish-language TV and 59 percent listen to Spanish radio.41 In fact, their growing population and youthful cultural pride is creating the opposite of assimilation. Their cultural patterns are being incorporated into American culture.42 This can be seen in music, television programming and other entertainment media. 

Although Hispanics have proven to be influential in local, state and national elections, particularly presidential elections, the various Hispanic groups have never united to form a unified voting block. Three factors contribute to this lack of a unified Hispanic political block. First, the youth of the population is correlated with less interest in politics. Second, many legal Hispanics have not yet been naturalized and, thus, are not eligible to vote. Third, Hispanics’ higher-than-average poverty rate is correlated with low political participation. Furthermore, many Hispanics believe their votes will not make a difference. They generally distrust politicians due to experiences in their country of origin.43 

A political unified voice is also hindered by different political ideologies. For instance, Cuban Americans are inclined to be conservative while Mexican and Puerto Rican Americans are more likely to be liberal. Hispanic Americans do unite behind their support of education and family issues. They also jointly support fair immigration reform, noting that “laws that target illegal immigration” result in “employment discrimination against Hispanic workers.” They also unite against laws requiring that English be the official language of state governments because such laws could legally challenge bilingual education.44 They are also collectively concerned about employment, housing, poverty, and political representation.45 

In the attempt to better unify Hispanic Americans, several political support groups exist. These include the League of United Latin American Citizens, the National Council of La Raza, the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, the US. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the Mexican Legal Defense and Education Fund.46 

Hispanic Americans have traditionally not received a quality education. They have been underrepresented in preschool programs, and thus, start school with fewer school-related skills. By age nine, they “lag behind in reading, mathematics, and science proficiency” and “are more likely to be ‘held over’ in the elementary grades.” By the time they get into high school, many “simply walk away from formal education.”47 

Because only 37 percent of Hispanic Americans have a high school education, they are disproportionately represented in low-paying jobs such as operators, fabricators, and laborers in the construction, agriculture and service industries. Yet most, 90% of men and 58% of women do work. Many work two jobs.48 

One means to bettering their economic status is through starting their own businesses. In 1992, Hispanic-Americans owned 720,000 businesses generating an income of $63 billion annually. By 1996 their businesses had increased to 1.25 million.49 

Thus, Hispanic Americans make up a growing part of the USA economy as well as of its population. As their population continues to grow, so will their economic and political impact, making them a public that businesses and public relations practitioners must consider.

Most of us have a story within our own family that tells of our personal dealings with immigration. For some, it may be our grandparents’ story; for others, our parents’; for still others, it is our own story of immigration into the United States. 

Almost everyone can relate to the immigration issue in one way or another. The topic often provokes a lot of emotion, and has recently garnered a lot of attention on Capitol Hill and in the press. Immigrants are also having more of an impact on the economy than ever before through the sheer power of their large numbers. The changes are especially noticeable in areas of the country that a few years ago did not have many immigrants. 

We need to gain a better understanding of this issue and prepare for any effects immigrants may have on business. While not aiming to tackle all the issues raised by this complex topic, there are a few Capitol Hill perspectives I’d like to share. 

Most recently, there have been two approaches to illegal immigration in Congress. The House of Representatives’ view focuses on border control and law enforcement, while the Senate’s approach, in part, emphasizes the work employers should do to monitor the workplace. 

As always, Democrats and Republicans differ. For example, in late May, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AIa.) commented on the Senate bill, saying, “Unfortunately, the United States Senate today let the American people down by passing a deeply flawed bill that gives the illegal alien population every benefit this nation can bestow, and increases future legal immigration levels by three to five times the current level.” 

In contrast, Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) notes on his website that “we need realistic and comprehensive solutions that will protect our borders, enable temporary workers to enter the country legally, and allow workers already here to earn legal status.” In March, Kennedy also noted, “Immigrants have built this country and helped make it great. They have provided the labor and the services that are the bedrock of our economy. To our opponents who say so casually, Turn them into criminals,’ we reply, Turn them into Americans.” 

The House is holding hearings on several of the immigration issues that have been raised, such as the impact on American workers and the role of the English language, illegal immigration and the burden placed on the Bureau of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and if the agency would be overtaxed by the provisions of the Senate bill. Some say that these are mere political games in what is expected to be a heated election year. 

To many, immigration issues revolve around economic arguments, such as the fact that immigrants will often work for lower wages. There is also a very emotional side to immigration. For some, there is always the concern that immigrants will take work away from native workers. 

Immigration can indeed be good for business by supplying labor at reasonable rates, though the concern is often that immigrants are paid substandard wages. Businesses are, of course, concerned with hiring illegals, especially given the Senate proposals, which would place more emphasis on employers verifying that employees are legal immigrants. 

However, with the work ethic that many immigrants bring to the U.S. - and with many immigrants already holding down two and three jobs - businesses are often getting a vital lift. 

If they haven’t done so, companies must begin thinking about the impacts immigrants will have on their business and how they can plan for changes. For example, manufacturing or building-sector firms may find a growing labor pool due to the increasing tide of Hispanic immigrants, who tend to work in these areas. If every company is prepared for change, it will make the immigration impact much more beneficial for all. 

Immigration should be looked at as a way to improve our economy and use all of our resources in the best possible way. The work ethic of immigrants should surely be rewarded. Hopefully, Congress will pass legislation that is fair to businesses and protects immigrants at the same time. 

It is important that we continue to encourage those who want to come to the U.S. to do so legally and to continue contributing to our economy. As with many issues in an election year, it is possible that the immigration topic will be turned into a political football, and many say this is already the case. Nevertheless, immigrants will continue to come, so one way or another we will need to address all of these issues.

There are few more controversial policy issues these days than immigration. President Bush’s proposals would allow many currently illegal immigrants to apply for permanent status, but other Republicans - especially from states bordering Mexico, such as Arizona and Texas - are decrying “amnesty” and talking about upgrading security along the border. 

Businesses have historically been divided as well about immigration. To many, especially in service industries, immigrants are an essential and vital part of the labor force; to others, immigrants - especially undocumented aliens - represent a drain on healthcare and social services that leads to higher spending and higher taxes. 

Recently, key Senators reached a compromise immigration bill with the White House. The bill would give the nation’s 12 million illegal immigrants a chance to remain in the U.S., while giving added weight to education and job skills when deciding which immigrants will be allowed to stay and settle in the U.S. 

The compromise marks a noticeable departure from the U.S.’s historic policy of giving preference to family members of immigrants already in the U.S. The proposed legislation would also increase security along the U.S.-Mexican border and allow almost all of the immigrants now in the U.S. illegally to remain - as long as they were willing to report to authorities and pay a $5,000 fine. 

Another key provision is a guest-worker program that eventually would allow 400,000 temporary workers to come to the U.S. each year to fill low-skilled jobs in the growing service sector. 

In addition to offering legal status to most of the nation’s illegal immigrants, the bill would hike the penalties on businesses that employ illegals. Under a 1986 law, employers are required to ask job applicants to verify that they are eligible to work in the U.S. The Senate bill would require employers to check an electronic database established by the government. 

In this proposed legislation, the Employment Eligibility Verification System (EEVS) would require employers to review the work-and-identify documents of 146 million U.S. workers within three years. The new system would also hold CEOs responsible for certifying that those workers are legally eligible to keep their jobs. 

However, support for the measure faded in the Senate, and by early June the bill failed to survive a cloture vote that would keep it moving forward. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said the Senate was “finished with this” for the time being, though it could be resurrected at some point. 

It wouldn’t be surprising if some financial executives are less than thrilled with this certification requirement. In fact, this requirement could be a major hurdle that Congress will need to address with the business community in the final immigration legislation. 

Compromise is always a part of politics. However, given the current state of immigration in this country, it is essential that Congress, President Bush and the many immigration associations intricately involved with this legislation find a common ground to pass a good law. 

The immigration issue, in fact, was one item on the agenda for the FEI Private Companies Committee’s Policy Subcommittee for its second annual “fly-in” this past spring. A group of FEI members on the committee (see photo and caption in the FEI News section) lobbied members of Congress on the issue, arguing that companies that do reasonable work to abide by immigration regulations and laws should not be held liable. 

Said another way, the policy subcommittee maintained there should be a safe harbor for companies that make a reasonable effort to follow immigration law. 

Looking at the big picture, the minority population is growing, and will soon surpass the Caucasian majority in the U.S. Therefore, legislators need to address the issue soon. With a bit of politics and compromise, this country is bound to benefit from the diverse talents and culture that immigrants bring.

Local governments want comprehensive immigration reform. 

Amid the heated congressional debate on reforming the nation’s immigration laws, local officials are pushing for a comprehensive legislative package to address their law enforcement and healthcare needs. City and county leaders strongly support comprehensive federal reform that not only emphasizes border protection, but also addresses the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants already in the country. While officials say immigration has many positive effects, undocumented immigrants put a significant strain on local healthcare and law enforcement budgets. Several divisive bills have been debated in Congress. The House passed a bill in December focusing on border security without a guest worker program for immigrants or a way for illegal immigrants to become citizens. 

In the Senate, debate has focused on an enforcement-minded bill from Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., and the more comprehensive McCain/ Kennedy bill that included President Bush’s guest worker program. The Senate Judiciary Committee passed McCain/Kennedy, but the bill failed in the Senate. In April, Sens. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., and MeI Martinez, R-FIa., introduced a compromise bill that failed. Roughly half a million immigrants live in Arizona’s Maricopa County in the greater Phoenix area, according to Don Stapley, chairman of the county’s board of supervisors and second vice president for the Washington-based National Association of Counties (NACo). Small border towns are hit harder by the cost of illegal immigrants, he adds. 

Enforcement of illegal immigration is a key issue for many local leaders. “We feel the federal government has the responsibility to deal with illegal immigration, however, our counties have a responsibility, too, and that puts a strain on our budgets [when immigrants seek public services],” says Ed Rosado legislative director for NACo. Counties do not get enough federal reimbursement to cover those costs, he adds. Rosado also says it is important for federal law not to change illegal immigration from a civil to a criminal act, which some of the pending bills would do. “That would mean more costs for our local police because of incarcerations,” Rosado says. 

Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson says requiring local law enforcement to enforce immigration laws would compromise its other duties. “Local law enforcement needs the trust of the community, but if [immigrants] in the community think they are enforcing immigration laws rather than just the basic enforcement, they would be fearful about talking to police about crimes or reporting crimes,” says Peterson, who is first vice president for the Washington-based National League of Cities (NLC). The National Governors Association, the National Conference of State Legislatures, NACo and NLC have formed an immigration policy group. The group has met already with House and Senate leadership and key members in the debate, and a second meeting is planned, says Marilina Sanz, an associate legislative director at NACo. 

Peterson also says an NLC internal task force is working to educate people about immigration and to “really separate fact from fiction.” 

Federal proposals to tackle illegal-alien disputes could transform the face of America’s labor pool bringing mixed blessings to some employers. 

The animal protein industry and immigration reform collided recently, when Hispanic workers abandoned their jobs to protest against a political move threatening criminal prosecution for illegal settlers. 

Similar scenes played in American cities where Hispanics and their sympathizers estimated at more than 1 million participated in national demonstrations on May 1, to increase public awareness of the plights documented and undocumented American workers face. 

At issue are two divergent immigration reform bills under consideration by U.S. legislators, who are divided over the best course of action - whether to crack down hard on illegal immigrants or recognize their vital contributions to the U.S. economy and impose less restrictive punishments.

Those on both sides of the issue apparently recognize that delaying immigration reform is not an option, given the long and controversial history tied to undocumented workers. The U.S. House of Representatives favors criminalizing illegal immigrants and employers who knowingly hire or assist hiring efforts, as evidenced by H.R. 4437 legislation brokered by James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

The House passed the bill December 16,2005, naming it the Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act. Basically, H.R. 4437 increases penalties for illegal immigration, while defining illegal aliens and their accomplices as felons.

Based on a survey commissioned by the American Farm Bureau Federation, such a crackdown could trigger U.S. agricultural production losses of more than $12 billion in its first four years. To be sure, H.R. 4437 is considered the catalyst behind the U.S. immigration reform protests taking place this year.  Meanwhile, a bipartisan U.S. Senate measure, co-sponsored by John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) is considered less punitive and therefore more viable. Their proposal calls for allowing the millions of illegal immigrants living and working in America to pursue a multi-step path to citizenship, at the same time tightening border controls.

The Kennedy/McCain measure hit resistance in the final hours before Congress adjourned for Easter recess this year, however, but not before House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IIl.) and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) interceded with a compromise agreement to reduce unlawful immigration from a felony to a misdemeanor. No American business sector is more affected by immigration policies than the animal protein industry, whose labor force is increasingly of foreign descent. “This issue is extremely important to the meat and poultry industry in particular,” affirms J. Patrick Boyle, president, American Meat Institute. “The call for action is timely, given continuing unemployment rates and difficulty in filling positions in many regions of the country.

Immigration reform also will help ensure an adequate and stable workforce, and will even enhance our nation’s security by bringing foreign workers into U.S. systems.” Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the meat and poultry packing and processing industry’s employee base will increase by 7.6 percent in 2010, reflecting a total combined labor force of 540,000 - 150,000 for meat packing, 103,000 for meat processing and 251,000 for poultry processing. The industry employed a combined workforce of 235,000 in 1975, which increased to 500,000 by 2000. Most large meat and poultry packing plants of necessity operate in low-population, rural areas near livestock and poultry production sources. “Even without a nationwide labor shortage, these low-population areas pose unique labor challenges to the labor-intensive meat and poultry packing industry,” Boyle points out. 

The road to immigration reform is filled with potholes, to be sure, ensuring a bumpy ride ahead as migrants continue making their way into the United States legally and illegally. The Pew Hispanic Center, a non-profit, nonpartisan fact tank, reports that slightly more than 1.1 million migrants came to the United States starting in the early 1990s during the country’s rapid economic and job expansion period, and then declined as the economy went into a downturn after 2001.

The Mexican labor force represented the largest single source of U.S. immigrants by far. Moreover, the Hispanic population is growing faster in parts of the South than anywhere else in the United States from North Carolina to Arkansas and Alabama on the Gulf of Mexico. “Hispanic populations have emerged suddenly in communities where Latinos were a sparse presence just a decade or two ago,” affirms Pew Hispanic Center researchers in last year’s “The New Latino South” report.  

 

Activists Rally Against Illegal Immigration
By Nathan Burchfiel
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
April 23, 2007

(CNSNews.com) - Several hundred protesters gathered outside the White House on Sunday to complain about President Bush's handling of the immigration issue, including his push for "comprehensive" reform. The protesters demanded tighter border security.

"We are in a struggle to save the sovereignty of our nation," said protest organizer D.A. King, president of the Dustin Inman Society (DIS). "The price of losing is open borders and the loss of the republic."

King said the protesters have nothing against "people who join the American family according to American laws." In fact, King mentioned that he has an adopted sister who is a legal immigrant.

DIS is a Georgia-based group "dedicated to educating the public and our elected officials on the consequences of illegal immigration," according to its website. The group is named after a Georgia teenager killed in a car crash involving an illegal immigrant.

Sunday's demonstration kicked off four days of action against illegal immigration. For the next three days, 35 radio hosts will broadcast from a Washington, D.C., hotel while their listeners visit elected officials to lobby against comprehensive reform.

Topics: Illegal Immigrants, Illegal Aliens, Undocumented Immigrants, Illegal Immigrantion, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, hold their feet to the fire, Washington DC, immigration reform, congress, White House, Capitol Hill, D.A. King, improving border security, opposing amnesty for immigrants living illegally in the country and enforcing U.S. laws, including those against hiring illegal immigrants, Federation for American Immigration Reform, FAIR, Roger Hedgecock, Col. Al Rodriguez. Latinos opposed to illegal immigration, Roger Hedgecock