Pakistani diaspora in US
By Shahid Javed Burki
Tuesday, 13 Apr, 2010
ON April 1, 2010, the US government conducted the population census for the year 2010. That this should be done at the beginning of each decade is a constitutional requirement. The American government is required to count the number of people that live in all the states of the union on April 1 of the census year.
This needs to be done in order to apportion seats in the House of Representatives, the lower house of the US Congress, and to determine the amount of federal funds that must flow to each of the 50 states.
The responsibility for conducting the census and maintaining population statistics lies with the commerce department. The reason for this is contained in what the Americans call the ‘commerce clause’, the provision in the constitution that allows the free flow of goods, commodities and people among the states of the union. This clause was used by various administrations in US history to increase the presence of the federal government in the US system of governance.
The department sends out to all the households in the country a simple form they are required to fill and mail back on or around the date of the census. The form has questions pertaining to the name, gender and race of each member of the household. The relationship of the persons residing in the households to the head also needs to be indicated. This time, for the first time, the census-takers have included ‘Pakistan’ as a race for those responding to the census questionnaire. This means that for the first time the US government will have a rough idea about the number of people of Pakistani origin who live in the country.
This estimate will be ‘rough’ for the reason that the racial identification of the people filling the form is entirely up to them. There is no doubt that several people of Pakistani origin will misidentify themselves. This is for several reasons of which two are particularly important. For those who acquired US citizenship and the country’s passport, the place of origin is identified from the place of birth. Thus those who were born in India but migrated to Pakistan are still identified as Indians in their American passports.
The other reason stems from the belief that by identifying yourself as a person of Pakistani origin, you may be exposing yourself to extra checks at US points of entry and exit. Until some days ago Pakistan was identified as one of the 14 countries whose citizens were subject to extra screening by the Travel Security Administration.
While the census form clearly states that the information provided therein is strictly confidential, it is known that various government agencies share a great deal of data as part of the American ‘war on terrorism’. There is no confidence that the information given on the census form won’t be passed on to law-enforcement agencies. In the environment that prevails in the US, people of Pakistani origin have become very cautious about revealing their national identity.
Having some idea about the number of people of Pakistani origin who live in the US is important for several reasons. It will influence the attitude of the members of Congress towards Pakistan as has happened in the case of India and other large diasporas such as those from Israel, Greece and Armenia. This information will also help the US citizens of Pakistani origin get organised at the state level. It is from the states that a great deal of power wielded by Congress flows. Exerting pressure on state representatives is one way of influencing the making of public policy in the United States.
The third reason is the role that people of Pakistani origin can play in the development of their original homeland. That the presence of a reasonably prosperous Pakistani diaspora in the US can have an impact on the economic development of the homeland was recognised by Washington when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton invited its members to attend a reception hosted by her in honour of the Pakistani delegation that came to Washington to participate in the strategic dialogue with the US. In their addresses she as well as Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi invited members of the diaspora to get more involved in the development of what was once their homeland.
The size of the Pakistani diaspora in the US has increased mostly through immigration. In the 1970s and 1980s, the US admitted a large number of people from the developing world to fill the skill gap that had emerged in the country. Visas — and ultimately green cards and citizenship — were granted without much hesitation. It is for this reason that the Pakistani diaspora is dominated by the professional classes — physicians, engineers, accountants, economists.
However, when it became known that the US could also absorb semi-skilled labour, there was a large inflow into the country of those who are called ‘illegals’ — people who have overstayed their officially sanctioned sojourn or have entered without proper entry papers. That there are many people of Pakistani origin in this category was revealed by the deportations that took place after 9/11. The US is unique among developed countries that it grants automatic citizenship to the children of even those parents who are in the country illegally. This is because of the 14th amendment to the constitution according to which those born in the US automatically became the country’s citizens.
I have argued for years that Pakistan should develop a well-thought-out strategy for attracting finance and talent from the large diasporas its citizens have created in many parts of the world. This is particularly the case for the Pakistani community in the United States which is more prosperous than the communities in other parts of the world and which has also well-developed skills. The US census of 2010 provides an opportunity to begin strategic work in an important area.