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Friday, Jan. 5, 2001

The study, "Immigrants in the United States 2000: A Snapshot of America's Foreign Born Population," stated that 28.4 million immigrants reside in the United State, a 43 percent increase over the last decade.

"It is sometimes equated with turn-of-the-century immigration, which used to be called the new immigration," said Mark Krikorian, executive director of Center for Immigration Studies.

The nonpartisan Center for Immigration Studies conducts research and policy analysis of the effect of immigration on the United States.

Steven A. Camorata, CIS director of immigration studies, said the government determined how many people enter the country through its federal policies. Camorata estimated that about 1.2 million legal immigrants and illegal aliens settle in the United States each year, with the number living in the United States tripling since 1970 from 9.6 million to 28.4 million last year, according to researchers.

Researchers could not say how many of the immigrants living in the United States were doing so without legal status.

"That number may be low, as recent arrivals are the least likely to be counted," Camorata said.

Researchers found California had the highest percentage of foreign-born residents in the country, 8.7 million, or 26 percent; followed by New York with 19.6 million, or 19.6 percent; and Florida with 2.7 million immigrants, or 18.3 percent.

People born in Mexico make up 27.7 percent of the immigrant population in the United States, the report said. Immigrants from East Asia make up 17.9 percent, followed by those born in Europe, who make up 15.3 percent of U.S. immigrants.

Camorata attributed the increased wave of immigration to better communication and travel technology that allows people virtually to live in two places at once, loosening of immigration laws under the Clinton administration, and an increase in illegal aliens.

He also said that rapid rise in people moving to the United States had help spur sprawl, congestion and the loss of open green space.

"It's not the only reason, but it has an impact," Camorata said.

While the report did not give recommendations for slowing the number of illegal aliens entering the country, Krikorian said the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service should channel funding into more than just border controls. The agency should also police businesses that hire illegal aliens and restructure the temporary visa program.

"Most of INS money goes to border patrols because folks like to see people at the borders in the Smokey the Bear hats," Krikorian said.

The majority of those migrating to the United States tend to come from Spanish-speaking countries, have little education and live in poverty once they arrive in the country. The poverty rate for immigrants is 50 percent higher than that of native-born residents, the study said.

About 29.8 percent of all immigrants have less than a high school education, compared to 8 percent of those born in the United States, the report said. The increased numbers of immigrant children in schools has stressed resources because it can cost more to educate non-English-speaking children, Camorata said. About 8.6 million school-age children from immigrant families attend government schools in the U.S., the report said.

Immigrants have a median annual income of about $23,000, compared to $30,440 for native-born residents. Foreign-born residents over the age of 25 years are about 1 percent less likely to be self-employed. About 10.7 percent of all immigrants have their own businesses, compared to 11.6 percent of native-born people over age 25.

Still more than half of the post-1970 immigrants and their children live in or near poverty, compared to 28 percent of natives, the report said.

One-third of immigrant households have no health insurance coverage, 2.5 times the rate for those born in the United States, the report said. Immigrants arriving after 1989 and their U.S.-born children account for a 60 percent increase in the size of the uninsured population.

Copyright 2000 by United Press International. All rights reserved.

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