Immigrants Get Things Done
When you work with immigrants, it’s important to understand the immigration process and the associated vocabulary. As we work together, my new learner Sonia (not her real name) and I will be talking about the issues she is facing as an immigrant and I’ll be trying to figure out how I can help her as she makes her way along this path.
Today I want to tell you about some of the resources available to immigrants in my community. Although this is a small town, we have pretty good resources. You probably do as well.
The Marshall-Wythe School of Law at the College of William and Mary is directed by Professor Stacy Kern-Scheerer. After graduating from Boston University School of Law, Stacy received a Master of Public Health from the Boston University School of Public Health. As the founding Director of the Law School’s Immigration Clinic, Stacy trains and supervises Clinic students, representing noncitizens in the greater Hampton Roads community seeking humanitarian forms of relief. She and her students represent immigrant victims of crime, domestic violence, and human trafficking, as well as immigrants seeking asylum, DACA holders, and individuals applying for naturalization. In addition to legal representation, the Clinic also provides educational opportunities and resources for the community. Check out the clinic here https://law.wm.edu/academics/programs/jd/electives/clinics/clinics_list/immigration-clinic/index.php.
The mission of the Hampton Roads Refugee Relief (H3) is to support refugee families who have been granted asylum on their journey to become fully integrated, contributing members of our community in the Peninsula and Hampton Roads, Virginia area of the United States. This is a woman-led organization. The majority of the families it serves are from Afghanistan, Congo, Syria, Uganda, Nepal, Iran, Sudan, Rwanda, Honduras, and Myanmar. This organization works with Stacy at the law school and other local organizations as they try to provide assistance to immigrants in our community. Check them out here. https://hr3va.org/
The Virginia Office of New Americans (within the Virginia Department of Social Services) was established in 2020 to promote the economic and civil success of Virginia’s immigrant communities. Although the administration of Governor Glenn Youngkin has rolled back some of the initiatives of the previous governor, this is one initiative that he has supported. Check out this organization here. https://www.dss.virginia.gov/community/ona/
Of course, Literacy for Life provides important services for immigrants in Williamsburg. In addition to its language, health, finance, and reading programs, LFL helps immigrants navigate the complex problems they face as they work to acquire work visas, take various licensure tests, apply for jobs, enroll their children in school, and go through the citizenship and naturalization process. https://www.literacyforlife.org/
Immigration is something all Americans need to know about. Much of the country is facing labor shortages as we progress to our post-pandemic “new normal.” We are all familiar with the signs we see in our communities that reflect a labor shortage. Stores and restaurants are operating with reduced staff, reduced operating hours, and fewer services. There are lots of reasons for this, and I won’t go into them here, but one of the real problems is that we simply don’t have as many people in the labor pool as we used to. There are a couple of reasons for this:
The COVID-19 pandemic brought about a lot of early retirements. The baby boom generation is now fully of retirement age, and the generations that came along behind us are not as large as we were. They can’t fill our shoes (or our jobs) with their reduced numbers. This is a reality that demographers have been anticipating for a long time, but COVID made it worse by encourging some potential retirees to leave their jobs earlier than they had planned. Coupled with the new problems faced by young families as they try to navigate economic stressors brought about by virtual schooling and work-for-home opportunities, the shape of the labor market has changed and there are simply not enough people to fill the jobs.
Although the economic stimulus packages passed over the last couple of years allowed people to remain out of the labor force for a while as everyone across the country tried to figure out how to feed, clothe, and house their families as businesses closed down around them, the benefits of these packages are long gone. These benefits do not contribute in any meaningful way to the current labor shortages.
Policies to restrict immigration over the past several years have reduced the flow of immigrants to the United States. New immigrants have historically been a source for entry-level employees, particularly in the service sector. As the numbers of these immigrants have dwindled, the jobs that they traditionally have held remain unfilled.
]Work-from-home options have reshaped the labor market as well. Workers have realized that their employment options are not limited to jobs that require them to be physically away from their homes for 8-10 hours a day. They can work remotely – sometimes working several jobs in the time they might have spent in one job – and the low-paying service sector jobs (where the labor shortage is most visible and obvious to most of us) are not their only options. This is good for them but bad for the consumers who have become accustomed to having a fast-food restaurant on every corner and bustling shops in every strip shopping center near us.
Immigrants have always been an important part of the American story. They will continue to play that role into the future. The more we can facilitate their immersion into the fabric of American society, the more we will benefit from their passion, their energy, and their desire for a better life for themselves, their families, and their community.