Wall Street Journal
By Dante Chinni
August 24, 2013
In the current immigration debate, California and Texas look like very similar terrain. The two electoral behemoths are both “border states” familiar with the issue. And in both Hispanics make up the exact same percentage of the population according to the latest Census numbers: 38.2%.
And yet, as the debate continues, the issue is starting to play out very differently in them.
In California, at least four Republican U.S. House members have now come out in favor of a pathway to citizenship in the current immigration reform fight. In Texas, two Republican House members were part of the “gang of eight” legislators that favor compromise legislation that includes a pathway to citizenship, but others have been relatively quiet or come out strongly against a pathway. And Texas’s two GOP senators have taken strong stances against a pathway to citizenship.
It may be tempting to simply write off any differences to the partisan divide between the two states – California is deep blue and Texas is ruby red – but the numbers show a more complicated demographic picture. The 38.2% Hispanic population number in the two may be dead even, but the spread of those populations is very different, and it looks to be playing a big role in how their delegations see the immigration issue.
You can see the differences in the states in simple maps of their Hispanic residents. Look here at the line of blue that runs through California from the south to the north, representing the Hispanic population. Now look at this map of Texas’s distribution and you see concentrations primarily based along the border and in the west of the state.
Those distributions have a big affect on the make-up of California’s and Texas’s congressional delegations.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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