Immigration From Middle East Soars
Jeff Johnson,
CNSNews.com Aug. 16, 2002
WASHINGTON: Middle Easterners are one of the fastest-growing immigrant groups in America, and their interest in coming to the U.S. has remained high despite some anti-Arab sentiment after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, according to a report released Wednesday.
The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) reviewed data from the 2000 U.S. Census and found that - while overall legal and illegal immigration tripled since 1970 - immigration from the Middle East has grown seven-fold, from less than 200,000 people in 1970 to nearly 1.5 million in 2000. That number is projected to grow to nearly 2.5 million by 2010 if current trends continue.
Dr. Steven Camarota, director of research for CIS, found another significant change tied to Middle Eastern immigration. "As the Middle East immigrant population has grown, it has become dramatically more Muslim," he explained in his report "Immigrants from the Middle East: A Profile of the Foreign-born Population from Pakistan to Morocco."
His analysis of the data shows that in 1970, only 15 percent of Middle Eastern immigrants were Muslim. By 2000, that portion had risen to 73 percent.
Camarota says Middle Eastern immigration to the U.S. will probably have a noticeable impact on U.S. foreign policy in the not too distant future.
"Absent a change in U.S. immigration policy, continued Mideast immigration appears likely to reflect changes in U.S. policy toward the Arab-Israeli conflict as elected officials respond to this population's growing electoral importance," he explained.
That is not necessarily a cause for concern, he added, as it is the right of naturalized Americans to participate in the political process alongside native-born citizens. The growing Islamic religious affiliation of Middle Eastern immigrants does raise what Camarota calls an "interesting" question.
"There has been, and continues to be a debate within the Muslim world about whether one can even be a good Muslim while living in the land of unbelievers," he explained. "There is also a debate within the community about whether a good Muslim can give his political allegiance to a secular government, such as ours, that is comprised overwhelmingly of non-Muslims."
Another CIS report, "Muslim Immigrants in the United States," by Daniel Pipes and Khalid Duran, does raise concerns about one segment of Muslim Middle Eastern immigrants known as Islamists.
'Exploit the Freedoms'
"Islamists arrive in the United States despising the country and all it represents, intending to make converts, exploit the freedoms and rights granted them, and build a movement that will effect basic changes in the country's way of life and its government," writes Pipes, director of the Middle East Forum, a think tank working to promote American interests in the Middle East.
"Islamists do not accept the United States as it is but want to change it into a majority Muslim country where the Quran replaces the Constitution," he continued.
Pipes and Duran criticize organizations "claiming to represent Muslim political interests" including the American Muslim Council, the Muslim Public Affairs Committee, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
"It is striking to note that all three organizations are Islamist, and so seek to forward goals deeply at variance with mainstream American principles, as well as the aspirations and concerns of a majority in the Muslim community," the authors wrote.
"They aspire to achieve four general goals:
- Win special privileges for Islam (e.g., call for the creation of a White House Muslim advisory board);
- Intimidate and silence the opponents of militant Islam (e.g., have death edicts brought down on them, as happened to co-author Khalid Duran);
- Raise funds for, apologize for, and otherwise forward the cause of militant Islamic groups abroad, including those that engage in violence (e.g., the Holy Land Foundation, closed down for raising money "used to support the Hamas terror organization.");
- Sanitize militant Islam (e.g., promote the notion that jihad is not warfare but a form of moral self-improvement)." Hodan Hassan, spokeswoman for CAIR disputed Pipes' and Duran's claims.
"People who come to this country from the Middle East, from Muslim countries, have the same material aspirations, have the same goals to live in this country and to succeed," she said. "Islamic values have absolutely no contradiction to American values."
Hassan told CNSNews.com that the Quran teaches Muslims to respect people of other faiths despite their religious disagreements. "We find it very offensive [when people say] that Muslims are somehow, because of their faith, going to have a hard time assimilating," she added. "You have examples everywhere of people who have come, who are second-generation Americans, who have succeeded and are doing well and have contributed back to this country."
The problem, she believes, comes when individuals misuse quotations from religious documents or leaders to justify their violent actions.
"What's really important is for people to put into context the actual numbers," she concluded. "We're still talking about a very few people who are not at all representative of the entire faith."
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