immigrants

The recession has slammed New Yorkers, especially working-class folks without a lot of savings to cushion the blow of sudden unemployment or a reduction in work hours.

Latino immigrants, who are predominately employed in the ailing construction, manufacturing and hospitality industries, are among the groups hardest hit by the downturn. A recent report by the Pew Hispanic Center in Washington found the unemployment rate for foreign-born Latinos rose over the past year, with about 35 percent of working-age people unemployed.

Behind the statistics are people, like the days laborers who congregate  in the shadow of the elevated No. 7 line tracks in Jackson Heights. They aren’t only undocumented immigrants. Many have green cards and even U.S. passports. Some are college educated, and have spent decades in the United States.

Some are so frustrated by the lack of jobs, they’re planning to return to their home countries. Others believe the opportunities offered by the U.S. are still much greater than they would ever get at home.

All the energy John McCain and Barack Obama spent talking up their commitment to Israel may not have given either candidate a boost among the people who know that country best.

Worried about the American economy, many Israeli immigrants in Forest Hills were unimpressed with this year’s nominees.

Paz Tsoran, a boutique owner in Forest Hills chose not to vote for president this year. “I don’t care for either of them,” she said of the presidential candidates. “I wish it had been Al Gore.”

This would have been the first American election in which Tsoran could have participated. She emigrated from Israel to the United States in 1986, but only became a U.S. citizen last year.

Tsoran said that her business has suffered recently and that neither candidate’s economic proposals inspired her.

“The bottom line is the economy,” said Tsoran. “Whoever wins the election, it’s important to me to see this country doing as well as I remember five or six years ago.”

A little farther down Austin Street, Amit Bennoun, the co-owner of a T-Mobile store and a native Israeli, echoed Tsoran’s dissatisfaction. “There’s nobody to vote for,” he said.

Bennoun, who left the southern port city of Ashdod 10 years ago and became a U.S. citizen four years ago, did not register to vote. He called Obama’s calls for change unrealistic. “Everything will stay the same,” he said. “He won’t be the president that can do any drastic changes.”

A number of Israeli immigrants in Forest Hills – now home to more Israeli natives than any other area in Queens – backed McCain, while expressing reservations about either candidate’s ability to get the economy back on track.

Chaim Hayon, owner of two children’s clothing stores on Austin Street, voted for McCain, citing experience as the deciding factor. “I think McCain will lead in the right direction,” Hayon said. “But I don’t think that either him or Obama will have any influence on the economy.”

Some Israelis supported McCain for his foreign policy. Gil Sharon, another Forest Hills resident from that country, cannot vote yet in the U.S. but is on the path to citizenship. “McCain comes from a military background,” Sharon said. “He will understand us better than Obama, who would meet without preconditions with our enemies.”

When it came to the Jewish electorate overall, Sharon saw a clear division. “I think most of the American Jews will be voting for Obama,” he said. “But most of the Israelis want McCain.”

Vote aqui­!

Blue and red diamond-shaped signs in Korean, Spanish, English and Chinese urged residents to vote at the Saint Sebastian Parish polling station in Woodside, Queens.

The posters also were outside the Charles O. Dewey School in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, as well as hundred of other polling sites throughout the five boroughs, signs of the changing city.

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New Yorkers depend on immigrant businesses for many of the services they need and the goods they consume. But these entrepreneurs face many challenges – including language barriers, limited access to financing and a lack of understanding of the rules of doing business in the city.

Click here for Tanzina’s Vega’s multi-media report, and hear some immigrant entrepreneurs’ stories and listen to what the experts have to say about what can be done to help such businesses thrive.