Human Capital
The Evolving Immigration Environment: What Does It Mean for Colorado Businesses? BY NATALIE ROONEY
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mmigration remains one of the biggest political footballs in modern times. Nearly every presidential administration since the Reagan era has experienced immigration as a focal point of controversy. Now, with DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), issues dominating headlines, and the situation changing almost daily, many are wondering how the Trump Administration’s immigration policy will impact Colorado businesses. WHAT IS DACA? The DACA program was formed through executive order by former President Obama in 2012. It allowed certain people who came to the U.S. illegally as minors to be protected from immediate deportation. Recipients, called Dreamers, were able to request “consideration of deferred action” for a period of two years, which was subject to renewal. Along with permission to remain in the country, Dreamers were able to obtain work permits, through which many obtained health insurance from their employers. The ability to work allowed Dreamers to pay for school, pursue higher education, serve in the military, and, in most states, drive legally. DACA also opened up access to in-state tuition and state-funded grants and loans in some states. And depending on where they live, DACA recipients can qualify for statesubsidized health care. A COMPLEX SITUATION Immigration law is complex, says David Kolko, managing partner of Kolko & Associates, P.C., Denver, where he specializes in U.S. immigration and naturalization law. “It’s a complex and substantive area of the law that has developed over many years in a piecemeal accumulation of different laws that don’t work in a comprehensive way,” he explains. “Immigration law is continually subjected to the waves of political forces, and it’s always a hot button issue for politicians wanting to appeal to different political, social, and business interests within the country. From the Chinese to the Irish to the Eastern European
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• NewsAccount • March/April 2018
immigrants, and with those seeking refuge, there always has been debate and controversy about how foreigners ‘interfere’ or ‘contribute’ to the the American way of life.” Even though immigration has been a divisive political issue, Kolko says it’s clear that the U.S. has reached an increased level of uncertainty as to how existing immigration laws are being interpreted, changed, and implemented. The result is a more uncertain business environment for Colorado employers which utilize or seek to employ foreign nationals to help them operate their businesses. BY THE NUMBERS Colorado’s immigrant community makes up nearly 10 percent of all residents and is growing. Immigrants compose nearly 14 percent of all business owners in the Denver metro area. According to the American Immigration Council: • Nearly 1 in 10 Colorado residents is an immigrant, and a similar share of residents are native-born U.S. citizens who have at least one immigrant parent. • In 2015, 537,066 immigrants (foreignborn individuals) composed 9.8 percent of the state’s population. • Colorado was home to 250,879 women, 249,029 men, and 37,158 children who were immigrants. • The top countries of origin for immigrants were Mexico (43.3 percent),
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India (4.4 percent), Vietnam (3.2 percent), Germany (3.2 percent), and China (3.1 percent). In 2016, 508,934 people in Colorado (9.4 percent of the state’s population) were native-born Americans who had at least one immigrant parent.
More than 140,000 U.S. citizens in Colorado live with at least one family member who is undocumented. • 200,000 undocumented immigrants composed 37 percent of the immigrant population and 3.8 percent of the total state population in 2014. • An estimated 276,589 people in Colorado, including 127,582 born in the United States, lived with at least one undocumented family member between 2010 and 2014. • During the same period, 1 in 11 children in the state was a U.S. citizen living with at least one undocumented family member (110,634 children in total). More than 15,000 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients live in Colorado. • As of 2016, 82 percent of DACA-eligible immigrants in Colorado, or 19,103 people, had applied for DACA. • An additional 6,000 residents of the state satisfied all but the educational requirements for DACA, and another