New Americans in the Old Dominion: Virginia's Immigrants, Latinos, and Asians are...

New Americans in the Old Dominion: Virginia's Immigrants, Latinos, and Asians
are a Political and Economic Powerhouse

WASHINGTON, June 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Immigration Policy Center
has compiled research which shows that immigrants, Latinos, and Asians not
only wield tremendous political power in Virginia, but are also an integral
part of Virginia's economy and tax base. As workers, taxpayers, consumers, and
entrepreneurs, immigrants and their children are an economic powerhouse. As
voters, they are a potent political force. Yet anti-immigrant groups are
exaggerating the alleged fiscal "costs" imposed by undocumented immigrants,
and are completely discounting the many economic benefits which immigrants,
Latinos, and Asians bring to the Old Dominion.

Highlights of the research include:

-- Immigrants make up about 10% of Virginia's total population and
nearly half of them are naturalized citizens who are eligible to vote.
-- New Americans (naturalized U.S. citizens and their U.S.-born children)
represent 6.4% of the voting population.
-- The purchasing power of Virginia's Latinos totaled $13.5 billion in
2008 and Asian buying power totaled $14.7 billion.
-- Asian-owned businesses in the state generated sales and receipts worth
more than $7.7 billion annually and Latino-owned businesses generated
$3.4 billion in 2002.

-- Virginia's undocumented population earned between $2.6 and $3.1
billion in 2007, and paid between $260 and $311 million in state
income,
excise, property, Social Security, and Medicare taxes.

There is no denying the contributions immigrants make and the important role
they play in Virginia's political and economic future. Virginia's budget
deficit was not created by immigrants and it won't be filled by attacking
them. For more data on the contributions of immigrants, Latinos, and Asians to
Virginia's economy, view the IPC fact sheet in its entirety.

To read more about attacks by anti-immigrant groups against Virginia's
immigrant population read our blog post:

-- FAIR Takes Aim at Virginia's Immigrants and Children

SOURCE Immigration Policy Center

Wendy Sefsaf of Immigration Policy Center, +1-202-507-7524, wsefsaf@ailf.org