Joel Barkin, executive director at the Progressive States Network

Joel Barkin, executive director at the Progressive States Network

Nathan Newman, a policy director at Progressive States Network, authored the report.

Nathan Newman, a policy director at Progressive States Network, authored the report.

The New York-based political group Progressive States Network (PSN) has just released a report entitled, “The Anti-Immigration Movement That Failed,” which counters media hype around anti-immigration legislation, revealing that over the past few years, states have largely enacted various policies that embrace new immigrants.

While the anti-immigration movement may appear to hold sway at the federal government, the report makes the case that there’s still a heated debate going on at the state level, especially within swing states, said PSN executive director Joel Barkin, at a recent press conference. He calls the report, which examines nationwide policies on a state-by-state scale, “important and timely.” “It’s a significant fight and the pro-immigrant side is winning,” he said, adding, “It’s far from over.”

Report author Nathan Newman, a PSN policy director, attributes the inflated anti-immigrant message to political opportunists who tried to make it a “wedge” issue in electoral politics. But the data shows they’ve been so far unsuccessful. “The states that are the most experienced with the immigration issue, conservative or liberal, have the most positive approach.”

Newman advocates for “strong, integrative policies” that work to assimilate foreign-born people. That’s beneficial for everyone, he argued, pointing out that it can help raise labor standards for both immigrants and American-born workers. That includes things like higher wages for all employees. “Scapegoating immigrants is not going to solve the economic pressure working families experience.  The real problem is a far more pervasive one of employers violating the workplace rights of all workers, both native and immigrant,” the report states.

The vast majority of immigrants across the U.S. live in places that have adopted positive, “integrative” approaches that are welcoming to “New Americans.” A mere 11 percent of undocumented immigrants reside in states that have comprehensive punitive policies, or ones that are broadly unfriendly to immigrants. To the contrary, many states have started offering in-state tuition for undocumented people heading to public universities, health insurance for undocumented children and English language instruction.

Others have introduced programs that provide assistance to immigrants who want to obtain citizenship. More and more states are getting tough on employers that aren’t up to par when it comes to minimum wage, safety code and workers compensation.

(Minnesota, which has a mix of both punitive and integrative laws, is among several states that have passed “new crackdowns on companies misclassifying employees as ‘independent contractors’ in order to evade wage and tax laws.” Other states, like New York, have established something along the lines of a Bureau of Immigrant Workers’ Rights to go after companies that violate wage laws.)

Only in a handful of states that were already conservative-leaning were “significant anti-immigrant policies able to make headway in 2008… Everywhere else, states either stalled anti-immigrant bills or enacted positive policies to better integrate new immigrants,” the report reads.