William Frey Quotes (27 Quotes)

Immigration is good for the United States ... it's important for us to keep our doors open, but we need to keep an eye on the people coming in, ... While initially it will be a state problem, eventually it will be a national issue, and education is the best way to deal with it.

Something like 72 percent of the nation's growth in the black population is taking place in the South. I think it has something to do with a cultural comfort zone. I think there is this long-term connection that African Americans feel with that region that they don't quite have with the other parts of the country.

I think low density is the attraction. People would rather make a long commute and have a big yard and a big house.

So a lot of suburban counties, a lot of exurban counties, that used to be all white are now getting new Hispanics and in some cases Asians and African Americans. And what this does is give much of America a first taste of what diversity is like.

If it takes a year or two, there will be significant resettling back in New Orleans, ... then people sort of get on with their lives.

These are two major waves in America. One is the black return to the South. The other is Hispanics going to places where everybody else is moving, following the jobs.

What you've got here is a mass movement of a whole city that is going to take a long time to revive in any kind of way, especially for a large part of the residential population. Whether they come back, nobody really knows. This is a totally new situation.

In the new destination states, it's a small share of the population, but it's growing fast. Immigrants coming in to these states tend to be lower income, more likely to be in low-skill, blue-collar jobs, and tend to be more likely to be undocumented (illegal) than the ones in the traditional magnet states. It's no wonder there's a public reaction to the new immigrants coming in these new destination states.

The 300 millionth will be a Mexican Latino in Los Angeles County, with parents who speak Spanish at home and with siblings who are bilingual.

Young people that might have stayed or might have come from other places are now going to move somewhere else.

You're the first kid on the block when you come into some of these neighborhoods and it's not always easy. There will have to be a little bit of accommodation from both the newcomers and the people already there.

Certainly, it (New Orleans) will be more of a Hispanic city than before. The real issue is how well immigrants will be integrated into the community.

This is really the first wave of black seniors who got established into the middle class. This is the first wave of black baby boomers who are starting to get into active adult age ... who were able to benefit from civil rights legislation and were able to get in to the middle class.

The people there are now getting a taste of diversity, firsthand.

There's a middle-class flight on both sides of the country.

A lot of people are hedging their bets. They don't want to move away from a place where they have family they can rely on. They don't want to give up their community, their circle of friends.

There is this 'Go East' mentality in California. Even people who have lived there most of their lives, when it comes time to retire are cashing out and leaving.

D.C. is like a revolving door. These young people move in and then they move out when they want to have kids.

The vast majority are hanging close to home. Then there is a sign of some people really making some permanent moves away.

You see many more demonstrations and rallies where you might not have seen them 15 years ago or even five years ago.

We've been going west forever. Movement to the South has tended to occur more after World War II.

Basically, Louisiana has been a poster child for brain drain, especially whites with college degrees,

These minorities are now spilling to parts of the country the interior Sun Belt, suburbs and exurbs which were once bastions of middle-class whites. As a consequence, white-bread America is experiencing diversity firsthand, rather than in magazines or TV images. ... Politicians are going to have to figure out how to satisfy both groups.

If you look at states like North Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia, you see growth of 300 percent or over 200 percent from 1990 to 2005 in the number of immigrants.

Back 30 or 40 years ago when people thought about where they'd move it was based on jobs. Now housing is as much of a factor.

People make moves largely on the basis of they've got jobs somewhere, housing costs. But lifestyle, people generally don't take that into account. If you have an opportunity, stay there for a couple of weeks. Sit down and talk to people who have just made that move. Find out what issues they have.

It's a symptom of the new divide in housing costs between the expensive, congested, urbanized states such as California and New York and newly sprawling suburban states on both coasts. This whole half of the decade, housing has been an issue. ... The question is Will it continue