Roberto Suro Quotations

Those places all tend to be metro areas where the overall population is growing fast and where the economies are vibrant. That kind of rapid economic growth and expansion creates a demand, particularly for recently arrived immigrant workers.

You end up, after a point, trying to balance our fundamental traditions, the need for order, law and security with a need for openness. Immigration policy, writ large, has always been partly a matter of national identity. It becomes a values-laden debate. Congress is having a hard time with it.

Contrary to what people might expect, the inclination to migrate isn't contained among Mexicans who are poor or poorly educated or with limited economic prospects. They're distributed across the whole breadth of Mexican society.

Contrary to what people might expect, the desire to immigrate is not restricted to the poor.

Rather than undergoing a continuous increase in immigrant levels as is commonly perceived, the United States experienced a sharp spike in immigration flows over the past decade that had a distinct beginning, middle and end.

There's a Hispanic middle class, no doubt, but it just doesn't spend as much as other groups. And Oscar De La Hoya is by no means alone, or even early.

The flow of migration is not this inexorable, constant increase.

A lot of that is based on the perception of the future potential versus their strength now.

If all these people that came here are going to stay, then there is a question of what will be the social cost. If they're only here for their working life, it's a bargain.

The question is whether this moment continues. Does this shape the way they see themselves as citizens and does this become part of their view of themselves as voters? And if it does it can have a lasting impact. The real stakes here are long-term.