Latino groups attempt to debunk immigrant myths

Boston University’s Chi Upsilon Sigma, a Latin sorority, and Phi Iota Alpha, a Latino fraternity, co-hosted a discussion about the immigration of Latinos into the United States at the College of Arts and Sciences Wednesday.

The discussion aimed to debunk myths and stereotypes surrounding immigration and encouraged attendees to reduce the stigma on campus through a ‘trickle-down effect,’ organizers said.

School of Law professor David Lyons provided a brief history of immigration. Latino immigration is inextricably linked to historical events including the Cuban Revolution of 1959 and the passing of the Chinese Exclusion Act in1882, which limited the amount of immigrants coming from the eastern hemisphere, both of which sparked waves of immigration.

‘Most of the U.S. population is made of up of immigrants and children of immigrants,’ he said.

Student discussion leaders Vanessa Guerrero and Steve Wilson divided attendees into two groups, which were then asked to brainstorm a list of common stereotypes.

In response to a stereotype asserting that immigrants are uneducated, Wilson said levels of education drastically vary among demographics, so no generalization can be made.

‘When most Colombians arrive here, they’ve usually completed higher levels of high school,’ Wilson, a CAS senior and Phi Iota Alpha member, said. ‘For Salvadorians, usually around eighth grade is the highest to be completed.’

Guerrero, a CAS junior and Chi Upsilon Sigma member, said immigrants in her family had been educated before coming to the U.S., but the degrees often did not translate. Guerrero said her mother completed dental school, but it meant little when she moved to the U.S.

‘My cousins completed 12th grade before coming here, and it’s really hard,’ Guerrero said. ‘But the degrees don’t translate well, and they’re not sufficiently recognized in the US.’

Another stereotype mentioned was that immigrants take jobs from American citizens. However, immigrants tend to fill low-skill, low-wage jobs, Wilson said. Because most jobs require more education than several decades ago, job competition is less of a problem today, he said.

‘Those jobs are part of a functioning economy,’ Wilson said. ‘If they were not filled by immigrants then they might not be at all.’

Guerrero said Latino immigrants have made progress economically, despite the fact that the average Hispanic person’s income still rank lower than those of Asians, white Americans and blacks. Still the average annual income of Latinos has increased by several thousand dollars since the 1970s, Guerrero said.

College of General Studies freshman Fernando Limbo said Morristown, N.J., his hometown, has a large Hispanic population, with whole streets of ‘just Hispanic restaurants and bakeries and grocery stores.’ However, the town is trying to change that.

‘ ‘What the town is actually trying to do is buy out all those businesses in order to change the image,’ he said. ‘It’s pretty much displacing diversity.

‘People should be doing inter-community work, trying to help educate, and not be afraid of integration.’