Miami – A recognition of workforce economics, core values and the acceptance by immigrants of English as the primary language of commerce in the United States will do more to resolve the illegal-immigration dilemma than will law enforcement actions or a misguided focus on multiculturalism, a Miami lawyer told Colorado business and community leaders Thursday.
“Multicultural society would be very negative to the United States as it is in Europe,” said Cesar Alvarez, president and chief executive of Greenberg Traurig, which has 1,600 attorneys in 33 locations around the globe, including Denver. “We need to integrate the people we have.”
Alvarez told the Colorado delegation of more than 100 that the relatively low fertility rate in the U.S., combined with an increase in Latino and Asian immigrants, are demographic trends that will continue to underpin the American economy, regardless of political rhetoric or new laws.
“Why are there not (more) immigration enforcement actions?” asked Alvarez. “Because these workers are needed.”
Alvarez, who speaks English and Spanish, left Cuba as a teenager in 1960 to work his way up into a position of influence in Miami. Miami-Dade County, which leads the nation with a majority of residents born outside the country, is a bellwether for the rest of the U.S. on immigration issues. By comparison, 11 percent of Denver’s population was born outside the U.S., he said.
The presentation by Alvarez struck a nerve with some listeners.
“I’m so tired of the divisiveness” around the immigration issue, said Patricia Barela Rivera, district director for Colorado of the U.S. Small Business Administration. “We need to try to bring key community leaders together.”
“His perspective on the fundamental economics of immigration is vital to understand,” said John Huggins, director of the Denver office of economic development, who said he was speaking for himself and not for the administration of Mayor John Hickenlooper. “The choice is not whether these people (illegal immigrants) stay or go, it’s how do we welcome, educate and integrate them.”
Business editor Stephen Keating can be reached at 303-954-1306 or skeating@denverpost.com.
