State Government Tackles Immigrant Integration

The federal comprehensive immigration reform bill went down twice. What does this mean for immigration reform and immigrant integration?

On an August trip to Washington D.C. , Upwardly Global’s Executive Director, Jane Leu, met with key immigration committee staff members for Senators Kennedy, Feinstein, Obama, Schumer, Kohl and Specter. None were optimistic that comprehensive immigration reform would be attempted again during the current administration. However, they felt some small reform measures would be put forward and that interest in immigrant integration may increase.

With much focus on how and when immigrants can enter the United States, little conversation has been focused on how to integrate these new Americans into our society. Upwardly Global’s experience shows that there is much work to be done to ensure the country is leveraging the strengths of immigrants and helping them move more quickly toward self sufficiency.

The State of Illinois, under the leadership of Governor Blagojevich, was the first to put out an immigrant integration agenda. The State of NJ has since followed suit. The agenda outlines current challenges and recommends solutions for each. Areas of discussion include assisting adults immigrants to integrate into society, helping their children maximize their potential, and ensuring access to services and programs offered by state and city government. (For details, see Immigrant Integration website).

Of particular interest to Upwardly Global are the initiatives related to adult newcomers and their integration into society and the workplace.  Upwardly Global has started work with the Illinois Taskforce to implement its recommendation to “assist highly-educated and high-skilled immigrants and refugees to transfer their foreign professional credentials, allowing them to practice their vocations and contribute to the state’s economy through the creation of a state-certification assistance program.”

As the only organization in the country focused on this population, Upwardly Global hopes to help the State of Illinois build an integration model for immigrant professionals that can be replicated by other states.