What is Ohio doing to attract immigration? (Columbus, Cleveland: credit, house)

[ABQConvict]

Originally Posted by HelloCleaveland

Gotta wonder why any POC refugees or otherwise legal immigrants would want to come to the United States at all, let alone Ohio. Escaping oppression in another country to come to the lethally oppressive United States makes no sense.

You are naive if you think that immigrants from oppressive countries are in any significant danger of "lethal oppression" in the US.

Most countries in central America, from whence the most immigrants who come to the US for reasons of safety and freedom from oppressive governments/criminal organizations, have 3-7 times the murder rate of Ohio.

[ABQConvict]

Originally Posted by jimwen

Both Columbus and Cincinnati are nothing but sprawl anymore. Won't be long before Cincinnati and Dayton are one city.

True. It is pretty amazing (and not in a good way, in my opinion) how much that corridor has filled out in my lifetime. That said, you still don't have to go too far off the interstate to get into the countryside. Especially to the west. You head west out of Hamilton or Middletown and you are almost immediately out in farm country. Most of the sprawl seems to be east of I-75 and it hasn't jumped Rt. 42 north of Lebanon yet.

[Natural510]

Hello Cleaveland! The city where every new resident receives a free cleaver upon arrival.

[As Above So Below...]

Originally Posted by HelloCleaveland

Well that's the message coming from America, including its current leadership; we live in an oppressive, systemically racist society, rotten from the get-go. Ohio is a red state, which today translates into being racist. Why would POC of color want to live in Ohio?

Just was saying why would one leave an oppressive country for one, at least according to Americans, is lethally oppressive to its blacks citizens. It's not safe for black people in America; they are being hunted down, especially by white cops...just ask more than an athlete and Ohio's own LeBron James.

People get caught up in rhetoric.

There are improvements we can make and there are certain communities in this country that have it harder than others. But things have to be kept in perspective. Where people are fleeing from that are coming here are from places that are far more violent and unstable.

But either way, Ohio isnt a magnet for immigration. Columbus, which receives far more immigration than any other place in Ohio still doesnt really stand out on a national level. Cleveland and (my favorite Ohio city) Cincinnati arent on the radar for immigrants in any significant number.

[woxyroxme]

Originally Posted by HelloCleaveland

A cleaver and a gun!

Hello Moses Cleaveland.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moses_Cleaveland

[As Above So Below...]

Originally Posted by HelloCleaveland

Well, the NY Times recently did an article that included an African women immigrant living in the nightmare of gun violence in Cleaveland's Slavic Village; she's not thinking this is better than where she came from.

The U.S. has an estimated 2 million people crossing just the southern border this year. Why isn't Ohio relocating and importing these folks? Is Columbus a sanctuary city? Maybe creating sanctuary cities in the 3Cs would increase illegal immigrants to relocate here.

We have to look at where immigrants come from. For the most part, there are few places in the US that wouldnt be an improvement. We dont get many immigrants from Europe anymore. Same goes for Japan and Korea. Coming here from those places wouldnt be an improvement. However, we do get a lot of people from Central and South America, Africa, China, Southeast Asia, India, etc. It is generally considered an improvement from those places in stability and safety. There are exceptions of course but not many.

As for why Ohio isnt really an immigrant magnet, people coming here settle in different regions for the following reasons:

1) Existing large immigrant community of a specific ethnicity
2) Economic opportunity
3) Refugee resettlement

Cleveland was a big magnet for immigration from Eastern Europe after WWI and to a lesser degree after WWII. But Cleveland was never on the map for Latin American immigration (outside Puerto Rico but that isnt immigration since its domestic) and was never a significant location for immigrants from Asia or Africa. You do have some immigrants that came to work at the Cleveland Clinic, but that is a small number given the size of the area. As immigration patterns shifted Cleveland got left behind.

As for Cincy, it hasnt been a spot for immigration for a very long time. Its one of the most domestically oriented cities in the US.

Columbus became popular for refugee settlement from East Africa. Columbus also has a large Ghanaian immigrant community and the largest Asian immigrant community in Ohio. That said, while it stands out in Ohio, it doesnt really on a national level.

I think Ohio would have to actively seek out immigrants to get it further off the ground like Minnesota did. They raised their hand for all kinds of refugees and got many from Africa and Southeast Asia. Once those communities were established, other immigrant groups ended up coming in. Columbus definitely has the best chance but if the state would do that, it would increase all kinds of immigration into the area.

[jas75]

Based on the 2015-2019 ACS, Ohio had about 1.2% of the nation's foreign born population, which is not much given the state has closer to 4% of the total US population.

But there are some specific nationalities that are very well represented in Ohio. For people with a birth place of 'Other South Central Asia' (which excludes major regional countries such as India, Pakistan and Iran), Ohio has 17.4% of the national population. Bhutan is probably the country from where Ohio has a particularly high concentration, with growing communities around Columbus, Akron and other cities. The state also has a relatively high share (7.5%) of the national population born in Nepal, who in some cases are also originally of Bhutanese heritage.

As already mentioned in this thread, east African immigrants also have a significant presence in Ohio. The state has 10.3% of the national population who was born in Somalia - I think most are around Columbus.

[ABQConvict]

Originally Posted by HelloCleaveland

Well that's the message coming from America, including its current leadership; we live in an oppressive, systemically racist society, rotten from the get-go. Ohio is a red state, which today translates into being racist. Why would POC of color want to live in Ohio?

Just was saying why would one leave an oppressive country for one, at least according to Americans, is lethally oppressive to its blacks citizens. It's not safe for black people in America; they are being hunted down, especially by white cops...just ask more than an athlete and Ohio's own LeBron James.

Oh, so you were deliberately creating a strawman fallacy to portray yourself (or conservatives in general) as the victim.

Tried and true way to win the internet.

[jbcmh81]

Originally Posted by HelloCleaveland

Gotta wonder why any POC refugees or otherwise legal immigrants would want to come to the United States at all, let alone Ohio. Escaping oppression in another country to come to the lethally oppressive United States makes no sense.

Because in real life, there are degrees of oppression and terrible circumstances. America has tons of serious problems, more than I think most foreigners expect, but it's also relative. And even if other nations have better conditions, not every single individual will, so there will always be some people who want to move somewhere else.

[jbcmh81]

Originally Posted by As Above So Below...

Well, yes and no.

We need to take Washington DC completely out of that grouping. The DC area is 22.1% Foreign Born. The Columbus area is 8.7%. Philadelphia is 10.9%.

Columbus' peers in this area would be Nashville, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Milwaukee, and Raleigh. DC is in a league with places like Houston and Chicago, not Columbus. Philly is just so much larger its hard to compare.

I was comparing cities, not metros. In DC in 2019, there were 85,333 foreign-born out of 705,749 people, giving a % of 12.1%. It's one of the very few cities where most of the foreign-born live outside the core city. Philly is 14% foreign-born. Columbus city is 13.3% foreign-born, so in terms of core cities, it is comparable. DC may be an outlier given its donut of foreign-born population, but Philly and others follow the typical patterns of having most in the core city.
Furthermore, I used core city because immigrants living 30-40-50 miles outside the core city in rural/exurban areas are not going to have as great an impact on either perception or influence in the core city culturally.