American Citizens, But Foreigners Forever?: Opinion
American Citizens, But Foreigners Forever?: Opinion
A new report released by AS/COA and Partnership for a New American Economy indicates that tax contributions and resources spent on local businesses increase as immigrants become naturalized.
On Sunday, an Indian-American woman won the Miss America pageant for the first time. Nina Davuluri is an American citizen by birth, I am one by choice. Neither of us is less American than the other, and certainly not less so than white Americans.
Still, I should not be surprised that in the unfettered world of Twitter, the response to Nina’s victory has been explosively vitriolic and xenophobic: “If you’re Miss America you should have to be American” or “It’s called Miss America. Get outta here New York you look like a terrorist.” “Arab.” “Miss 7/11.” “Foreigner....”
Since 2010, some 300,000 people became naturalized citizens in the New York-New Jersey-Pennsylvania areas alone, and nearly 1.7 million others joined them around the country. A new report released by the Council of Americas and the Partnership for a New American Economy indicates that when immigrants become citizens, their earnings increase by as much as 16 percent, thus increasing their tax contributions and the resources they have to spend on local businesses.
Strikingly, the report also found that, among those 18 to 30 in our armed forces, immigrants are serving at rates similar to those of U.S.-born Americans....
