New Americans

As I left my parking garage a few years ago, the attendant handed me a business card. He was looking for another job. Did I know anybody?

I found it strange, to say the least. He didn’t know me. But I was in a suit and tie, and maybe he thought I could help.

I’ve lost his card, but I’ve never forgotten our short conversation. He told me in accented English that he had been a psychology professor back home in eastern Africa. Since moving here, however, had had been unable to find anything in his profession.

Not long afterward, I had the chance to work with the Capacity Building Initiative of the Columbus Foundation. The initiative is one that funds programs to give immigrant groups in central Ohio the tools they need to serve their growing communities.

There I met an Ethiopian physician whose story was similar to that of the garage attendant. He had trained extensively back home and practiced for years as a doctor, but found after leaving his war-wracked country for the relative safety of the United States that he didn’t qualify to work as a doctor. To do so, he would have to go back through medical school. Instead, he was  working full-time for the Ethiopian community in Columbus.

The image many Americans have of immigrants is not a positive one. They are often seen as poor, and as a drain on social services and hard-working taxpayers. They are suspected of taking the jobs that rightfully belong to native-born Americans. And there continues to be a lot of racial and cultural tension.

To be sure, central Ohio has its share of illegal immigrants and those who are on the unemployment roles. But it’s helpful to take a step back sometimes and re-examine the facts about those who come here looking for a better way of life for themselves and their families.

This week new numbers came out that give a better picture of immigrants, at least in central Ohio. The Census’ American Community Survey for 2005-2007 found that Ohio’s foreign-born residents are more likely to hold higher education degrees than the population at large. They also have a higher average income and a lower unemployment rate.

Last year, a study conducted by the Immigration Policy Center found that immigrant households and businesses in America paid about $300 billion in federal, state and local taxes in 2005. In fact, they can be expected to pay more taxes than they will consume in services over their lifetimes.

The study found that the relative youth of those coming here also contributes to the health of the Social Security program — nearly $450 billion in estimated Social Security taxes from 2006 to 2030.

Finally, the report found that an overwhelming majority of the 26 million immigrants now in the United States were educated in their home countries, representing a savings in U.S. education funds of $2.6 trillion.

Ohio resettles between 1,300 and 1,500 refugees every year, according to Paul Fraunholtz in a recent Columbus Dispatch article about the new Census study. Columbus now has 45,000 Somalia-born residents, one of the highest concentrations in the country. We are also home to large populations of Ethiopians and groups from Asia and Latin America.

The problem as I see it isn’t the influx of new Americans, many of whose children will contribute to our society and culture in ways we may not now appreciate. The real problem is finding a way to maximize the talents that many new Americans possess.

When a college professor has to take parking fees and a doctor can’t treat the sick, it’s a waste of human potential that hurts us all.