Immigration hits home in Lynn

LYNN -- James Banks thinks he knows how the controversy over immigration in this country is going to end: Millions of undocumented immigrants will get to stay in the United States, many more will follow them here, and young African-American men will have an even tougher time finding jobs.

''The whole United States is going to change," the African-American store manager said as he got his hair cut at a Union Street barbershop on a recent morning. ''They'll let you go, and get one of these happy immigrants in your spot. They won't be late, they won't get sick, and they won't complain. They will work every unhappy American citizen out of their grass-cutting, trash-hauling, floor-sweeping jobs."

But he doesn't blame the immigrants: They're just feeding their families. Banks, 36, says the fault lies with a generation of young African-American men who would rather ''walk their sneakers up and down the street" than step up on a stage to collect high school diplomas.

''Immigration is going to set the black community back 25 years," he said. ''Because they'll let it."

Across the country, immigration has been a subject of debate for weeks. But among African-Americans, the issue has a more profound, and in some ways, more personal dimension. Many African-Americans believe they are the ones most imperiled by cheap immigrant labor. Some see no reason why people who cross the border illegally should be given leniency, when young black men who break laws receive so little leeway.

For them, the heightened attention to immigration has triggered a range of responses: anger, trepidation, and deep reflection. It has also intensified concerns over the plummeting fortunes of young black men.

''As a community we are beginning to grapple with the plight of the African-American male, which is in a crisis state," said the Rev. Hurmon Hamilton, senior pastor at Roxbury Presbyterian Church. ''The immigration debate highlights that problem, amplifies it."

In Lynn, a city of 90,000, 1 in 10 residents is African-American. Their fortunes have long been interwoven with those of immigrants.

Virginia Barton, a black activist and community historian who has lived in Lynn for all of her 77 years, said African-Americans once found plenty of work in the city: When she was growing up, they worked as maids, cleaners, and in the shoe factories for which the city was famous.

European immigrants worked beside them in lower-level jobs for a time, mostly sweeping the factory floors. Then the immigrants moved into more skilled jobs, Barton said.

''Things got better for them and stayed the same for the Afro-Americans," Barton said. ''It was racism, simple as that. The immigrants that came had a language problem, but they could work around that. The Afro-Americans had a color problem."

During the late 1960s, new residents came to Lynn, from Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. They seemed more foreign to Barton than the earlier arrivals.

Around that time, the shoe factories started to disappear. The vigorous city Barton had long known fell away: gone were the theaters, the department stores, and the restaurant where she took her children for ice cream on Sundays.

Barton saw longtime residents leave, uncomfortable with the influx of Spanish-speaking neighbors.

''People were frightened by what was happening to Lynn, " she said. Barton stayed to help immigrants learn English.

Latinos are now Lynn's largest minority group, making up about 18 percent of the population, according to Census figures. African-Americans make up 10.5 percent.

On Union Street, the businesses are mostly Latino. The Mi Guatemala bakery, Todo Fiesta Gift Shop, and several barbershops draw Latino customers. Some businesses still cater to African-Americans. But Banks and some longtime black residents feel pushed out.

''Everything is Spanish or some other nationality," he said. ''We aren't even a factor any more."

Barton said the Latino businesses are ''wonderful, but at the same time, it gives you a little hole in the stomach that we weren't able to do the same thing."

''We've been through this before," she said.

At the barbershop on a recent afternoon, warehouse manager Forrest Hall Jr., 60, expressed frustration with the sympathy immigrants have drawn, after days of televised marches across the country.

''They broke the law," he said. ''If they give them amnesty, they should give every black man and woman in America amnesty for what happened in slavery. I see them parading around like we owe them something. We don't owe them anything."

Despite their frustrations, some African-Americans said they understand why employers hire immigrants, especially undocumented ones.

''They work seven days a week for half the money we make," said Arthur Benson, 37, a construction worker. ''I respect that. If I had a job to do, and if I had a choice to get five black men or 10 immigrants for the same price, I'd take the immigrants."

Benson's attitude is reflected in a recent Pew Hispanic Center poll, which suggests that African-Americans, in general, view immigrants more favorably than do whites, but they also believe more strongly than whites that immigrants take jobs from native-born workers.

The effect of immigrant workers on the job market is a subject of intense debate among economists. Some argue that the immigrants are taking jobs that would otherwise go unfilled and that their presence helps grow the economy, expanding the pool of jobs.

But Andrew Sum, director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University, said his research shows the influx of foreign workers is especially damaging to the growing ranks of young African-American men who lack high school diplomas.

Sum has spoken with employers who say they prefer immigrants over African-American men, saying the immigrants ''show up on time, get along with the boss, and work the hours."

''People freely admit to applying stereotypes," Sum said.

Concerns about economic competition between the two groups have prompted leaders to push for more cooperation, and some African-Americans have called for their community to join in efforts to win protections for immigrants.

''We have a real concern about competition," said Hamilton, the Roxbury pastor who is also a member of the Black Ministerial Alliance, which supports immigrants' rights. ''But . . . those challenges are best confronted by immigrant and African-American communities working together."

Horace Small, director of the Union of Minority Neighborhoods in Boston, said African-Americans need to understand that larger economic forces are to blame for their status.

''The real reason they don't have a job is because it has been sent overseas, because they want to pay slave wages," Small said. ''A lot of other things hurt African-Americans -- the CORI laws, racism."

It is a message that, so far, has not resonated widely. At last week's proimmigration rally on Boston Common, Hamilton called for greater cooperation between African-Americans and immigrants. The crowd cheered, but there were few African-Americans among the 7,000 assembled.

At the same rally, speakers called for legalizing undocumented workers and making them a part of the American mainstream. Back in Lynn, Banks believes such steps would have disastrous consequences for African-Americans.

''Black men are going to be walking up and down the streets," he said, as other customers at the barbershop nodded in agreement. ''When they give [immigrants] these visas, the Great Depression is going to start. Just with the immigrants in the city of Lynn, it's going to be crazy."

Yvonne Abraham can be reached at abraham@globe.com.