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Editorial
Immigrants more important share of citizenry
Friday, December 5, 2014
Today's young adults -- millennials age 18-34 -- are less likely to have been married than their counterparts from 1980 and are more likely to live in poverty despite being more likely to have a college degree.
Oh, and they're more likely to speak with a foreign accent, having been born somewhere other than the United States.
Those demographics will put an interesting spin on the coming debate on immigration, provided Congress actually gets down to one.
A key generation fits the description in New York harbor, "huddled masses, yearning to breathe free."
According to the U.S. Census Bureau's latest statistics from the American Community Survey, the percentage of young adults today who are foreign born has more than doubled since 1980 -- 15 percent vs. 6 percent.
All states have higher proportions of foreign-born young adults than 30 years ago.
Of course, it's not the same all over the country; only 9 percent of young adults in the Midwest and 14 percent in the South are foreign born, compared to 21 percent in the West and 18 percent in the Northeast, double or triple 1980 figures.
One in four young adults nationwide, or 17.9 million, speaks a language other than English at home. It's higher in New York, New Jersey, Texas, New Mexico and Nevada (where it's about one in three) but California leads with about half of young adults foreign-speaking.
Fitting in with the "huddled masses" stereotype, one in five millennials live in poverty, up from one in seven in 1980. But don't look for them to be especially hawkish -- only 2 percent have served in the military today, compared to 9 percent in 1980.
While only three in 10 young adults have even been married, down from six in 10 in 1980. Utah bucks the trend, with 51 percent married, while Rhode Island, with 25 percent, is the lowest.
Most politicans know which way the wind blows, whether or not they intend to be influenced by the gusts.
Too hard a line on the immigration issue may turn out to be a good way to alienate an important voting bloc.