Latin immigrants have much to add

Small town newspaper reporters have a standard question they ask of certain people.

Somewhere in any interview of, say, a foreign exchange student, a new doctor in town or a teacher who's moved here from a big city, will come the query: "How do you like it here?"

Most reporters have some answers in mind when they ask the question, and they usually get what they expect.

It's a great place to raise a family. We enjoy hunting and fishing and playing golf. The people are very friendly.

But those questions are usually posed to people much like the writer who is asking them. And, the answers are usually truthful.

For at least one group of newcomers, however, the answers would be different if they are given truthfully. They aren't often heard, however, because this group isn't often asked.

Partially, it's because of a language barrier. Hispanics are the most common immigrant group in Nebraska, and most working reporters have little or no command of the Spanish language.

And partially, it's because most of us don't have that much contact with people who are significantly different than ourselves.

According to the latest Nebraska Rural Poll, most of us are uneasy about Latin immigrants, and aren't all that interested in changing.

Naturally, the majority of the immigrants don't feel all that welcome, either, and feel they are being discriminated against.

While 70 percent of Hispanic residents believed immigration has been good for communities, only 14 percent of all respondents felt that way, and 56 percent disagreed. No one was asked if they thought Latin immigration was bad for the state, just whether they thought it was good.

Nearly 70 percent did not feel that important information should be relayed in English and Spanish, and 87 percent want the government to tighten borders to prevent illegal immigration, but a majority say that undocumented workers who have been working and paying taxes for at least five years should be allowed to apply for citizenship.

Seventy-two percent opposed granting in-state tuition to undocumented immigrants under the age of 21 who lived in the U.S. for at least five years, and 57 percent of Hispanics supported in-state tuition.

Population growth is precious in Nebraska -- we'll lose our 3rd Congressional District representative if the decline doesn't stop.

And, most of our state's overall growth since 2000 has been in the Hispanic population, which has increased 27 percent since then and has accounted for 70 percent of the growth.

It's not surprising that rural Nebraskans are slow to embrace change -- many of us live where we do because things don't change so quickly.

But rural Nebraska is the way it is because of immigration -- whether the Irish railroad workers, German farmers from Russia, Czechs, Poles, Bohemians, African Americans and Scots -- and the Nebraska Rural Poll has yet to ask American Indians what they think about immigration.

Latin immigrants are only the latest in a long line of newcomers who have helped to make the Golden Plains a better, more vibrant, more interesting place to live.