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Anti-War
Protest
From Sing Tao Daily
Local and out-of-town Chinese immigrants were among
more than 100,000 people who marched in last month's
anti-war protest.
Should
We Go To War?
From Hoy
Immigrants in New York appear to have different perspectives
on why there should, or should not, be war.
Greenpoint
Fears War
From Nowy Dziennik
Poles in Greenpoint are against the impending war because
they fear that the attack on Iraq would bring another
September 11 and unleash War World III.
Worrying
About Two Possible Wars
From JoongAng
Many Korean immigrants believe that war with Iraq will
hurt the economy, and at the same time, they are anxious
about the crisis in the Korean Peninsula.
For
The Boys
From Hoy
A good-bye ceremony for more than 200 reservists for
the US Army, Division 77, Company 237 took place at
Fort Totten, an old military base in far eastern Queens.
A significant portion of the members of Company 237
are Hispanic.
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hat
are the issues facing New York City immigrants?
1) Immigration status, 2)the lack of awareness of government
services, 3) exploitation in the workplace, 4) discrimination
and 5) the inability to speak English.
So said Sayu Bhojwani, who next month will celebrate her
first anniversary as the first New York City Commissioner
of Immigrant Affairs, in our recent online chat with her.
But immigrants also share the same concerns with other New
Yorkers, like the impending war with Iraq. Opinion among immigrant
groups is mixed. Some immigrants along with thousands of other
people, took to the streets to protest the possible war. Many
Chinese think of the Middle East as a far-off region having
very little to do with us
however, since we came here
to stay, our future and the future of this nation are one
and the same, said Zhong Chaoyin. (Sing
Tao) Other immigrants are fearful but think
the war might be necessary I think that war can be justified,
since it is a way of fighting terrorism, said one Polish
immigrant (Nowy Dziennik).
Korean immigrants anxiety about war is two-fold. They
are afraid of the economic consequences of a war with Iraq
and concerned about the nuclear crisis on the Korean peninsula
(JoongAng).
Immigrants from Muslim countries face a crisis of their own
as Congress has agreed to fund the Special Registration Program,
which required certain immigrants to report to the Immigration
and Naturalization Service (Washington
Post). Meanwhile, the immigration agency implemented
a new computerized data base system that is supposed to track
foreign students and report whether they are really enrolled
in school. Immigration officials hope that it will close student
visa loopholes and prevent the fraud that leads to the rising
number of illegal immigrants (Gotham Gazette).
The new estimate from the 2000 Census shows that seven million
undocumented immigrants live in the United States. But New
York States share of the nations undocumented
population decreased from 10.2 percent in 1990 to 7 percent
in 2000. The nation is driven by [immigrants from]
Mexico but
our immigration is driven by the Caribbean
and increasingly Asia, said Joseph Salvo, a demographer
with the Department of City Planning (Newsday).
In this March edition of the Citizen, we look at immigrant
reaction to the new redistricting plan that is supposed to
increase ethnic representation, how new traffic laws hurt
Korean business, Columbus Park revitalization in Chinatown
and the selection of Daniel Libeskind, an immigrant, to redesign
the site of the former World Trade Center. Also, articles
from the Arabic, Chinese, Polish, Korean and Spanish press.
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