Earlier in the year, Lou Dobbs and other media were giving the impression that anti-immigrant forces were sweeping the country.  Immigration was supposed to be the grand wedge issue of the rightwing. Now, recent elections, including the Presidential primaries, showed the ultimate hallowness of the anti-immigrant political card, but it's worth understanding that below the hype, most states have quietly been promoting sane, sensible and positive programs to integrate new immigrants into our communities.

As a report Progressive States Network released this week (which I authored with support from our staff), what's astonishing is that at the actual point of implementation, anti-immigrant policy is dwarfed by progressive, integrative policy towards immigrants. Just a few facts from the report:

• Integrative policies are far more pervasive than punitive policies, with the later having been enacted only in a small minority of state populations.
• Only 11% of undocumented immigrants live in states that have enacted comprehensive punitive policies, while a significant majority of undocumented immigrants live in states with positive integrative or somewhat integrative policies.
• Only 16% of undocumented immigrants live in states that have enacted sanctions against private sector employers. On the other hand, over 50% of undocumented immigrants live in states that provide in-state tuition for undocumented immigrant children.
• Nearly the same majority of undocumented immigrants live in states that are promoting â€Å"New Americans” policies to better educate new immigrants and nearly a majority also live in states that have recently enacted new penalties for wage law violations in order to raise wages for all workers, native and immigrant alike.

See this graphic for the percentage of undocumented immigrants living under different policies, as rated from Punitive to Integrative:

 

To give you just a sense of positive policies enacted around the country:

• Nine states provide in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants to attend public colleges and universities.  These include most of the states with the highest populations of immigrants, including California, Illinois, New York and Texas, along with a number of relatively conservative states like Kansas, Nebraska, and Utah which have recognized the gains from strengthening educational attainment among the new immigrant population. 
• Many states have promoted "New Americans” policies to provide English language instruction and provide help to immigrants in navigating the process to attain citizenship.  States including Illinois, Massachusetts, and Washington provide funding for community organizations to provide assistance to new immigrants seeking citizenship. 
• Some states, including New York, Illinois and Washington, as well as several California counties, provide health insurance for undocumented immigrant children using state tax dollars.  Recently enacted programs in these states have expanded health coverage for tens of thousands of such undocumented immigrant children just in the last few years.
• In order to raise wage standards for native and immigrant workers alike, many states are cracking down on the low-wage economy exploiting undocumented immigrants and many native workers as well. Colorado, Minnesota and Connecticut have enacted new crackdowns on companies misclassifying employees as "independent contractors” in order to evade wage and tax laws. California, Illinois, Massachusetts, and New York have created new investigatory arms to coordinate a crackdown on wage law violators, including a new Bureau of Immigrant Workers' Rights established in New York State.
• Many states have enacted laws to crack down on employers engaged in abusive trafficking of immigrant workers against their will, including states like Florida, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, and Texas which make public benefits available to undocumented immigrants who are trafficking victims. 

This is actually the reality of policy for most undocumented immigrants across the country.  With federal raids and employer exploitation of their vulnerability, it's not necessarily a great situation, but most state leaders recognize that a more positive approach makes sense.  It's too bad that politics and Senate filibusters at the federal level have prevented equally positive national solutions.