Immigrants and their children will play vital role in current and future elections

Naturalized citizens and New Americans, the children of immigrants, will be playing an increasingly important role in the electorate, agreed all of the participants in a call conference held by the Immigration Policy Center.

New Americans registered in significant numbers in several battleground states for this election. In some swing states, such as in Colorado and Florida, New Americans make up a percentage of the electorate which is larger than the margin of victory during the 2004 election. This means that New Americans could tip battleground states and will be critical in this and future elections.

New Americans are sensitive to immigration issues, and a significant amount of New Americans are Latino and Asian. Republicans need to make sure that they are not perceived as anti-immigrant or anti-Latino, said Frank Sharry of America’s Voice. Sharry predicted that the record number of New Americans registering to vote would create large momentum towards immigration reform. “The fact is is that it’s very hard to be competitive in a presidential year if you’re perceived as anti-immigrant by the fastest growing group of new voters in the country,” said Sharry.