10.3 million immigrants in U.S. illegally, researcher on Latinos says
10.3 million immigrants in U.S. illegally, researcher on Latinos says
- Tyche Hendricks, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
The number of illegal immigrants in the United States has grown to 10.3 million, largely because of a steady flow of unauthorized migrants from Mexico, according to a report released Monday by a think tank specializing in Latino issues.
This week's summit meeting in Texas between President Bush and Mexican President Vicente Fox is unlikely to lead to changes that would reduce the influx, given widespread disagreement in the United States over what to do about illegal immigration, analysts said Monday.
"In the face of a not especially strong economy and some (increased) efforts at enforcement, the numbers still continue to grow," said Jeffrey Passel, a senior research associate at the Pew Hispanic Center in Washington, D.C., who wrote the report released Monday.
The growing population of illegal immigrants in the United States represents a failure of border enforcement, despite a three-fold increase in the number of Border Patrol agents over the past decade. And it means more than 10 million people -- close to 2 million of them children -- are living in this country with little access to many basic social services.
Passel estimated that about 7 million people are employed in the United States without legal authorization, roughly 5 percent of the workforce. The willingness of those workers to accept low pay is, by some estimates, driving down wages for legal workers. The fact that they are working illegally often means they lack protection from workplace exploitation.
"(The study) points to the fact that we have a broken immigration system in need of reform," said Angela Kelley, deputy director of the National Immigration Forum, a group that favors liberalizing U.S. immigration law.
Although California has by far the most illegal immigrants, 2.4 million, the growth in the state has slowed markedly, Passel said. Illegal migrants are increasingly heading to states such as Arizona, Nevada, North Carolina, Georgia and Iowa, which have experienced growth in industries including poultry processing and meat packing, construction and light manufacturing.
"After the initial movement of 'pioneer' migrants out of California into new states (in the 1990s), there has been an establishment of new migration streams out of Mexico, drawn by jobs and economic opportunities," Passel said. "It has been strong enough in Arizona and North Carolina that they show up in the top eight states on our list now."
Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which favors stricter limits on immigration, said the influx of migrants to states unaccustomed to illegal immigrants could lead to pressure for change.
"It used to be a localized phenomenon, but now it is affecting people all over the country," Mehlman said. "I think it will be harder for most members of Congress to ignore it."
Although Bush proposed a legal guest worker program last year as an antidote to illegal immigration, the Republican Party is sharply divided on whether immigrant workers help or hurt the U.S. economy and whether to admit more of them or clamp down harder to keep them out.
"Any time the president proposes something, you have to take it seriously, " Mehlman said. "But I have a feeling this is going to take more political capital than the president has."
Bush and Fox will meet this week, along with Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, to discuss cross-border security issues and an extension of the North American Free Trade Agreement, but they are unlikely to discuss immigration reform head-on.
Indeed, Fox has said he will not raise the issue, although it is high on his agenda. He has condemned U.S. efforts to build walls along the border as well as the presence of civilian vigilante groups rounding up illegal immigrants in border areas.
Bush and Fox have talked at length about immigration reform over the past several years and are in substantial agreement on broadening legal means for more Mexicans to come work in the United States, Kelley noted.
"It's really up to Congress now to take the president's proposal and act on it," she said. "They need to come up with something that can pass both the House and the Senate. A bill that includes an enforcement component, that restores a sense of the rule of law, is what people are desperate for."
The Pew Hispanic Center report can be viewed online at http://pewhispanic.org/ files/reports/44.pdf.E-mail Tyche Hendricks at thendricks@sfchronicle.com.
Undocumented immigrants
The estimated 10.3 million illegal immigrants in the United States last year
represented fewer than one-third of all immigrants. More than four-fifths of
them are from Latin America, the majority from Mexico.
Legal status of immigrants
Undocumented migrants 29%
Legal permanent resident 61%
Refugee arrivals 7%
Temporary legal residents 3%.
Places of birth of undocumented migrants
Mexico 57%
Other Latin America 24%
Asia 9%
Europe, Canada 6%
Africa; other 4%.
Redistribution away from major settlement states
In recent decades, California received the largest proportion of illegal
immigrants, but migration is increasingly shifting to other states, especially
in the South and Southwest.
1990 2004
Calif. 45% 24%
N.Y. 15% 7%
Texas 11% 14%
Fla. 9% 9%
Ill. 4% 4%
N.J. 4% 4%
All other 12% 39%
Note: Pew Hispanic Center estimates based on March 2004 Current
Population Survey and 1990 Census. Includes an allowance for persons omitted
from population survey.
Source: Pew Hispanic Center
The Chronicle
Page A - 4
URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/03/22/MNGU6BSTA51.DTL ©2005 San Francisco Chronicle
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/03/22/MNGU6BSTA51.DTL
- Tyche Hendricks, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
The number of illegal immigrants in the United States has grown to 10.3 million, largely because of a steady flow of unauthorized migrants from Mexico, according to a report released Monday by a think tank specializing in Latino issues.
This week's summit meeting in Texas between President Bush and Mexican President Vicente Fox is unlikely to lead to changes that would reduce the influx, given widespread disagreement in the United States over what to do about illegal immigration, analysts said Monday.
"In the face of a not especially strong economy and some (increased) efforts at enforcement, the numbers still continue to grow," said Jeffrey Passel, a senior research associate at the Pew Hispanic Center in Washington, D.C., who wrote the report released Monday.
The growing population of illegal immigrants in the United States represents a failure of border enforcement, despite a three-fold increase in the number of Border Patrol agents over the past decade. And it means more than 10 million people -- close to 2 million of them children -- are living in this country with little access to many basic social services.
Passel estimated that about 7 million people are employed in the United States without legal authorization, roughly 5 percent of the workforce. The willingness of those workers to accept low pay is, by some estimates, driving down wages for legal workers. The fact that they are working illegally often means they lack protection from workplace exploitation.
"(The study) points to the fact that we have a broken immigration system in need of reform," said Angela Kelley, deputy director of the National Immigration Forum, a group that favors liberalizing U.S. immigration law.
Although California has by far the most illegal immigrants, 2.4 million, the growth in the state has slowed markedly, Passel said. Illegal migrants are increasingly heading to states such as Arizona, Nevada, North Carolina, Georgia and Iowa, which have experienced growth in industries including poultry processing and meat packing, construction and light manufacturing.
"After the initial movement of 'pioneer' migrants out of California into new states (in the 1990s), there has been an establishment of new migration streams out of Mexico, drawn by jobs and economic opportunities," Passel said. "It has been strong enough in Arizona and North Carolina that they show up in the top eight states on our list now."
Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which favors stricter limits on immigration, said the influx of migrants to states unaccustomed to illegal immigrants could lead to pressure for change.
"It used to be a localized phenomenon, but now it is affecting people all over the country," Mehlman said. "I think it will be harder for most members of Congress to ignore it."
Although Bush proposed a legal guest worker program last year as an antidote to illegal immigration, the Republican Party is sharply divided on whether immigrant workers help or hurt the U.S. economy and whether to admit more of them or clamp down harder to keep them out.
"Any time the president proposes something, you have to take it seriously, " Mehlman said. "But I have a feeling this is going to take more political capital than the president has."
Bush and Fox will meet this week, along with Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, to discuss cross-border security issues and an extension of the North American Free Trade Agreement, but they are unlikely to discuss immigration reform head-on.
Indeed, Fox has said he will not raise the issue, although it is high on his agenda. He has condemned U.S. efforts to build walls along the border as well as the presence of civilian vigilante groups rounding up illegal immigrants in border areas.
Bush and Fox have talked at length about immigration reform over the past several years and are in substantial agreement on broadening legal means for more Mexicans to come work in the United States, Kelley noted.
"It's really up to Congress now to take the president's proposal and act on it," she said. "They need to come up with something that can pass both the House and the Senate. A bill that includes an enforcement component, that restores a sense of the rule of law, is what people are desperate for."
The Pew Hispanic Center report can be viewed online at http://pewhispanic.org/ files/reports/44.pdf.E-mail Tyche Hendricks at thendricks@sfchronicle.com.
Undocumented immigrants
The estimated 10.3 million illegal immigrants in the United States last year
represented fewer than one-third of all immigrants. More than four-fifths of
them are from Latin America, the majority from Mexico.
Legal status of immigrants
Undocumented migrants 29%
Legal permanent resident 61%
Refugee arrivals 7%
Temporary legal residents 3%.
Places of birth of undocumented migrants
Mexico 57%
Other Latin America 24%
Asia 9%
Europe, Canada 6%
Africa; other 4%.
Redistribution away from major settlement states
In recent decades, California received the largest proportion of illegal
immigrants, but migration is increasingly shifting to other states, especially
in the South and Southwest.
1990 2004
Calif. 45% 24%
N.Y. 15% 7%
Texas 11% 14%
Fla. 9% 9%
Ill. 4% 4%
N.J. 4% 4%
All other 12% 39%
Note: Pew Hispanic Center estimates based on March 2004 Current
Population Survey and 1990 Census. Includes an allowance for persons omitted
from population survey.
Source: Pew Hispanic Center
The Chronicle
Page A - 4
URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/03/22/MNGU6BSTA51.DTL ©2005 San Francisco Chronicle
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/03/22/MNGU6BSTA51.DTL
posted by JimG at 10:58 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home