Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed the “New Americans Executive Order” on Nov. 19, to give the state resources for deciding how to best help the growing immigrant population.

Under the executive order, the Office of New Americans Policy and Advocacy, the New Americans Immigrant Policy Council, the Public-private State Task Force and National Advisory Council will be established.

“The fact that this is private-public partnership is very critical,” said Ngoan Le, senior program officer at Chicago Community Trust and co-chair of the State Advisory Council. “Top leadership is willing to partner with community agencies and applicants to look at where improvements can be made – that’s pretty significant.”

In the metropolitan area, where about one out of five residents are foreign-born, success of such immigrants is crucial to the future of Illinois, Le said.

“If the Latino high school dropout rate continues as now, and they are the future workforce and future leaders, we should be very concerned,” she said.

The executive order, a two-year long process of deliberation and extensive involvement, will tackle one issue at a time, such as education, human services, economic development and employment.

The long-term goal is to initiate successful immigration integration to lead to a stronger local economy and social fabric by teaching immigrants to speak English and move up career paths, said Juan Salgado, president of Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights and co-chair of the State Advisory Council.

“The Governor understands demographics of state has changed and wants to be proactive about how services can be changed to help immigrants,” Le said. “Proactive approach to problem solving is fantastic.”

The amount of immigrants in Illinois is well over 2.5 million, said Gerardo Cardenas, Chicago press secretary for Governor Blagojevich. With Champaign County having more than 14,000 foreign-born residents, according to the 2000 Census data.

“If you look at the shifts in the population of Illinois in the past 10 years, the size of immigrant population has been growing fast and in impressive numbers,” said Cardenas. “The task force is how we can best serve our immigrants.”

The majority of immigration population is concentrated around Chicago and especially Cook County, said Cardenas. He also noted there has been growth across the state around Springfield and Rockford.

“It does seem like hundreds of thousands of immigrants have decided to call Illinois home,” Cardenas said.

As immigrants open up small businesses, employ others and make purchases, it builds the state economy, and they become a vital economic force in the community, Le said.

She also pointed at a bigger picture: large numbers of immigrants provide links to other countries, which positions Illinois to be competitive in international business.

“The Governor recognized this and wanted to make sure opportunities were available for hard-working immigrants to be successful and adapting to Illinois to participate in the social and political life,” Cardenas said. “The Governor, being the son of an immigrant, is very sensitive to immigrant issues.”

Cardenas noted that Illinois is the only state in the nation to have taken an integrated approach to serving immigrants and is well inter-connected.

“There is growing support for the idea,” Cardenas said. “There are dozens of immigration advocacy groups currently spreading the word and all immigrant communities are excited about it.”

The executive order is a starting point, as the state has a responsibility to create an environment that leads to a successful integration of immigrants, said Salgado.

He recognized that it is a competitive advantage to look towards the integration of immigrants because they are an asset to the state and 12 percent of the population.

“You strengthen Illinois by strengthening the immigrants that live in the state,” Salgado said.