Rating of America's Most Immigrant Friendly Cities

Midwestern cities have proven to be leaders in supporting immigrants. Chicago holds leading positions and sets standards, writes USA Today.

Фото: Depositphotos

New American Economy research team is involved in comprehensive immigration reform. On Wednesday, November 13, she published her second annual city ranking, which measures the level of immigrant support in the country's largest cities, 100. This year Chicago took first place, followed by Chula Vista, California, Jersey City and San Francisco.

“We are very proud that Chicago has become the most hospitable city in America for immigrants and refugees. This rating reflects the passionate and dedicated work of officials and community members throughout the city who came together to stand up and fight for the rights of our immigrant and refugee communities, ”said Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

The 51 factor is used to determine how cities create conditions for immigrants.

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Andrew Lim, director of quantitative research, said Chicago came in first place this year because the city created an inclusive legal environment and adopted a policy to support undocumented immigrants and DACA recipients. However, as in other major cities, Chicago was unable to provide affordable housing and income equality.

The city estimates that immigrants make up more than one fifth of the Chicago population. In 2016, immigrants earned almost 17 billions of dollars and paid 6 billions of dollars in taxes. At that time, about 20 000 people eligible for DACA lived in Chicago.

For many years, the city of winds has been considered a safe haven for immigrant communities. In 2016, then-mayor Ram Emanuel declared Chicago a safe haven city, and later challenged the Trump administration's attempt to deny federal funding for safe haven cities. In recent years, a new legal protection fund has been set up in the city and a task force has been formed to coordinate policies regarding immigrants and refugees.

Chicago is not the only city in the Midwest that has made great strides in developing immigrant support policies. Cleveland, Milwaukee and Toledo are among the cities whose results have improved the most since last year.

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“Midwestern cities are really active in this matter. Often this is due to their own plans for economic development. Many cities in the Midwest have struggled with declining populations, so they are really interested in people staying in these cities or coming from far away, ”Lim said.

In smaller cities, such as Jacksonville, Florida, Norfolk, Virginia, and St. Petersburg, Florida, researchers reported a smaller gap in home ownership, health insurance, and educational attainment between immigrants and people born in the United States.

Researchers say many of the leading cities adhere to immigrant policies. Dozens of them have an office for immigrant affairs, more than half - implement or support entrepreneurship programs that serve immigrants. Some issued municipal identity cards to increase immigrants' access to social services, created legal protection funds for immigrants who were at risk of deportation, and provided services to support immigrants in the naturalization process.

Here are 24 of this year's hospitable cities:

1. Chicago, Illinois
2. Chula Vista, CA
3. Jersey City, NJ
4. San Francisco, CA
5. Baltimore Maryland
6. New York, NY
7. Anaheim, CA / Newark, NJ / San Jose, CA
8. Los Angeles, CA / Portland, Oregon
9. Philadelphia, PA
10. Washington, DC
11. Cleveland Ohio
12. Cincinnati, Ohio / Greensboro, North Carolina / San Diego, California
13. Seattle, WA
14. Detroit, Michigan
15. Fremont, California / Riverside, California / Sacramento, California
16. Irwin California
17. Albuquerque, New Mexico / Milwaukee, Wisconsin / Auckland, California

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