As more people of Mexican heritage settle in Hawaii, many feel targeted by immigration enforcement even though nearly 9 out of 10 are here legally, according to a new report by the Migration Policy Institute.
The study made public Monday calls for establishing a Mexican consulate here to better serve the needs of the growing population, and for the local government to add Spanish to the languages in which documents are translated.
"Newcomers to the Aloha State: Challenges and Prospects for Mexicans in Hawaii" is the first close look at residents of Mexican backgrounds. The report pegged their number at roughly 38,700, both foreign born and U.S. citizens, representing 3 percent of Hawaii’s population. About 4,000 of them are undocumented.
"In sharp contrast to Mexican-origin people in the rest of the country, those in Hawaii are overwhelmingly U.S. citizens," said Jeanne Batalova, one of the report’s authors and a senior policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C.
"Close to 90 percent are U.S. citizens either by birth or naturalization," she said. "However, compared to the rest of the state’s population, the integration story of the Mexican-origin population in Hawaii is less successful."
She presented the report at the state Capitol with co-authors Monisha Das Gupta, associate professor of ethnic studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and UH doctoral candidate Sue Haglund. They analyzed U.S. Census data and conducted interviews across the state for the report, which was commissioned by the Mexican government.
Juan Manuel Calderon Jaimes, deputy director general for consular affairs in the Mexican Foreign Ministry, also attended the presentation.
"We are going to work very, very hard to have a Mexican consulate in this beautiful land," he said. Along with processing documents, a consulate could promote Mexican culture and forge closer ties with Hawaii, he said.
The Mexican Consulate General in San Francisco is responsible for Mexican citizens here, which presents challenges given the geography. Recently it has been bringing in "mobile consulate" services at least once a year to the major Hawaiian Islands. Honolulu has just an honorary consul, a volunteer position.
"In recent years, an anti-immigrant environment in the islands and the lack of immigrant civil rights organizations has complicated the daily life and vulnerability of many Mexican workers and their families in the Hawaiian archipelago," Carlos Felix Corona, Mexican consul general in San Francisco, wrote in a foreword to the report.
While Mexicans make up just 10 percent of the overall population of 40,000 undocumented immigrants in Hawaii, they accounted for 22 percent of court cases in Honolulu Immigration Court in 2011, mostly removal proceedings, the report noted.
The report calls for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to focus on high-risk individuals who pose a danger to society, rather than people who simply lack authorization to be here.
Clare Hanusz, an immigration attorney, attended the forum and later cited the case of a Mexican woman, a Maui resident who works as a housekeeper and has children ages 16 and 6, both born in the United States.
"She has no criminal history," Hanusz said. "She was picked up after someone reported her as being allegedly undocumented. This case is not unusual. There are cases of Mexicans every week who are in immigration court in Honolulu."
Next week the single mother has to report to Immigration Court with her suitcase packed, in case the ruling goes against her. Her daughter, a senior at Lahainaluna High School, will act as interpreter.
"We will have to beg the immigration officials to let her stay and continue life with the children," Hanusz said. "These are local kids. All they’ve known is the islands."
The first Mexicans in Hawaii came at the invitation of King Kamehameha III in the 1830s, when 200 cowboys arrived to teach cattle ranching to the Hawaiians. Significant Mexican migration didn’t resume until more than a century later, during the late 1980s, when Mexican farmworkers were recruited from other areas of the United States to work here, according to the report.
The number of Mexican-origin residents in Hawaii rose by 165 percent in the last two decades, to 38,700, according to the report. Roughly 5,500 of them are foreign born. Through the last decade, Hawaii island had the fastest-growing Mexican-origin population in the state, up 85 percent to 3,600 people.
"Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs through Oct. 15, is a timely moment to examine the state’s largest newcomer Latino population," Das Gupta said.
The report found that Mexican-origin residents of Hawaii have higher education and employment rates and better language abilities than their counterparts on the mainland. Roughly 92 percent speak English "very well," a slightly higher rate than the state as a whole. They are dispersed across the islands, working mainly in tourism-related industries and construction.
"Our research suggests that many Mexicans, especially those who are immigrants, occupy the lower rungs of the socioeconomic ladder," Das Gupta said. "They work shoulder to shoulder with other ethnic groups. … Even though they felt that they blended in, they say, ‘Once we open our mouth or share our identity, then we’re marked as outsiders.’"
"The majority have legal status, but they feel very targeted by both federal and local enforcement agents," Das Gupta said.
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The report is available at www.migrationpolicy.org/pubs/MexicansinHawaii.pdf.
