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Selected news coverage of The Slowing Progress of Immigrants
Associated Press
Study compares immigrant progress
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. immigrants who arrived in the 1980s remained poorer, were less likely to own homes and less apt to become citizens than those who came in the previous three decades, according to a study by a group calling for tougher immigration controls. A key reason for the difference is that education levels of arriving immigrants have not kept pace with those of native-born Americans, the group said. "In an economy that increasingly rewards educated workers ... it is no surprise that many immigrants are finding it increasingly difficult to join the economic mainstream," said the study being released Wednesday by the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies. Steven Camarota, the center's research director, said the data show immigration policies should be changed to reduce entry of unskilled immigrants, eliminate preferences for spouses and children of non-citizens, stem employment of illegal immigrants, and help immigrants obtain job skills and become citizens more quickly. But Frank Sharry, National Immigration Forum executive director, said it's unfair to compare today's immigrants to those of the 1950s and 1960s, when the United States had a "racialized" policy favoring Europeans who generally had more educational opportunities in their native countries. He said today's immigrants — mainly from Mexico, Central America and Asia — are comparable to those who arrived in the early 1900s. "If America does the right things to help today's low-income new arrivals, they will also be tomorrow's firmly established middle class," Sharry said. Camarota's study looked at four decades of Census data to track the progress immigrants made after living in the country 11 to 20 years. The progress of 1950s arrivals was reflected in 1970 data, 1960s arrivals in data from 1980 and so on. "Since 1970, each immigration group has done worse than the other," Camarota said. The findings don't bode well for 1990s immigrants, he said. "It's going to be hard for those 11 million to close the gap. We know they look very much like 1980s immigrants, and looking back at 1980s immigrants in 2000, they've lagged very far behind," he said. The study used three criteria to measure progress: home ownership, citizenship and poverty rates. Among the findings:
Wendy Zimmermann, a senior research associate with the Urban Institute, a Washington-based economic and social policy think tank, criticized the study for including more than legal immigrants. She said her organization's research shows legal immigrants who have lived in the country 10 years or more often have incomes exceeding those of native-born Americans. "I think it points out important
trends, but it's not the whole picture," she said of the study. "By lumping
legal immigrants and refugees and illegal immigrants, their picture looks
very different."
******** Bleaker picture of immigrants
Recent immigrants make less money, own fewer homes and are less likely to become citizens than foreigners who came to the United States in decades past, according to a national study released Wednesday. The conservative Center for Immigration Studies concludes that the lack of education among the newer waves of immigrants makes moving up the economic ladder and adapting to their new home more difficult. Previously, immigrants arrived in the United States poor and thrived as they adapted. But the CIS study contends that newer immigrants are even poorer when they arrive and remain mired in poverty a decade or more after their arrival. "Over the last 30 years, each consecutive wave of immigrants has done worse than the one that preceded it," the study said. Steven Camarota, the study's author, argues that the country needs to restrict immigration and make sure that more of the immigrants are skilled. Critics said the study did not appear to break much new ground. "It doesn't surprise me that immigrants are not faring as well as they used to," said University of Houston professor Jacqueline Hagan, who said she had not yet read the CIS report. The questions of home ownership and citizenship may not be as relevant as they used to be, Hagan argued, since so many immigrants go back and forth between two countries — a process known as transnationalism. "For many of these immigrants, success may mean the ability to build a house back home" in Mexico or Guatemala, she said. But Camarota argues that when looked at in terms of what is good for America, factors like home ownership and citizenship are important because they indicate a person's commitment to the nation. He estimates that 18 million people living in the United States are not citizens — enough to fill about 30 congressional districts. "If immigration is not making new U.S. citizens, that's not necessarily good for the country," he said. "These people can't participate in the political process." The study did not break the data down by state, but Camarota said previous studies have shown that immigrants in Texas have poverty rates that are even higher than the rest of the nation. Camarota says there have been inklings that immigrants who arrived in the 1980s have not done as well but said his study offers some of the first long-term data to show that to be the case. Using data from the Current Population Survey produced by the U.S. Census Bureau, Camarota analyzed data for established immigrants — those who have been in the country 11 to 20 years. In 1970, 26 percent of established immigrants lived in poverty, which was less than the rate of 35 percent among U.S. natives. Today, 41 percent of established immigrants live in poverty, compared with 29 percent of natives. Established immigrants have also suffered precipitous declines in rates of home ownership and citizenship. Rice University Sociologist Stephen Klineberg said his studies of Houston confirm that many immigrants are not doing as well as previous waves of immigrants, something he attributes to an economy that now values knowledge above raw labor. "The largely uneducated campesinos (peasants) who come here from El Salvador and Mexico work very hard, but they are locked in poverty," Klineberg said. He argued that middle-class Americans benefit from the low-wage work done by those immigrants. That cycle of poverty could be ended if the United States provides adequate education to the children of those immigrants, Klineberg said. ******** More immigrants staying in poverty, study claims
The immigrants who have been streaming into the country in recent decades are poorer than their predecessors and — to the detriment of the nation — are likely to stay that way. That's the conclusion of a report that the Center for Immigration Studies released yesterday. The Center describes itself as a locally headquartered research organization that "examines and critiques the impact of immigration." Its 15-page study is based largely on an analysis of the Census Bureau's newest Current Population Survey - a periodic statistical report produced independently of the Census 2000 data currently being released. The Center's study found that:
Steven A. Camarota, the Center's research director and author of the study, calls his findings "frightening." He said the data regarding income, home ownership and citizenship status are especially important because they describe "the extent to which immigrants are being successfully incorporated into the economic and social life of the United States." Moreover, he says the study's conclusions signal the nation is becoming a place of "native 'haves' and immigrant 'have-nots,' " which has "enormous economic and social consequences." The National Immigration Forum, an immigrant advocacy group, quickly derided the Center's study. The Forum's Executive Director, Frank Sharry, proclaimed in a statement: "This publication the Center's study is cut from the same cloth as the pseudo-science of the early 1900s that labeled Italians, Jews, Slovaks and other Europeans as 'unassimilable.' " Mr. Sharry characterized the Center as an advocate for "severe reductions in immigration" and said the study relies on questionable methodology and distorts facts. "What the restrictionists don't get is that the hard work and determination of immigrants combined with the enduring power of the American Dream mean that today's struggling newcomers will be tomorrow's established middle-class Americans," he declared. Clearly, that is the disputed point. Mr. Camarota - and other researchers - have noted that the large majority of newcomers to the nation have less education and fewer skills than those who came in earlier decades. "The decline in the relative education level of immigrants is so important because there is no single better predictor of success in modern America," Mr. Camarota said. ******** Study: Immigrants more numerous, less prosperous
WASHINGTON — The number of immigrants in the United States has tripled in the past 30 years but their relative standard of living has deteriorated, a new study showed Wednesday. The study by the Center for Immigration Studies concluded immigrants who have lived in the United States for 10 to 20 years were poorer and less likely to be homeowners than U.S. natives. The census puts the number of immigrants at about 30 million. "Immigrants as a group are far behind natives in terms of home ownership . . . as well as health insurance. Welfare use is much higher," study author Steven Camarota said. More than 40 percent of immigrants lived at or near the poverty line in 2000, compared with 26 percent in 1970. But while the number of poor immigrants soared, the native population grew wealthier. Just more than 35 percent of natives were classified as poor in 1970, falling to 29 percent by 2000. ******** Recent US immigrants face tougher struggle than predecessors: study
The most recent waves of immigrants to the United States have found the American dream more difficult to realize than those who preceded them, according to a study released Wednesday. The independent Center for Immigration Studies, using US Census Bureau data, found that over recent decades each wave of immigrants has fared worse than the one before. Looking at today's established immigrants — those who have been in the country for between 10 and 20 years — it found they were poorer, less likely to be homeowners, and less likely to have become citizens than established immigrants in 1950 to 1970. "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses," reads the inscription on New York's the Statue of Liberty. That image remains valid today, as in the last three decades newly arrived immigrants have started out poorer than those who arrived in the two decades up to 1970, the study found. Once in the country, they have not been as successful at using education as a means to improve their situation. In 2000, more than 34 percent of established immigrants had never completed high-school, while less than 10 percent of those who were born in the country were in the same situation. In 1970, only seven percentage points had separated established immigrants from natives in this respect. The study's author, Steve Camarota, said the data on citizenship was worrisome as it without the vote, recent immigrants would remain without political representation. Although there was a surge in applications for citizenship in the mid-1990s, partly in response to legislative changes in California, there has been a long-term decline in citizenship rates. In 1970, more than 63 percent of immigrants had become citizens. By 2000, this had declined to a little over 34 percent. Between 1970 and 2000, the percentage of established immigrant households who owned their own homes declined 11.3 percentage points. Whereas in 1970, the percentage of immigrants and natives living in or near poverty was almost the same, a gap opened up between the two groups in the decades that followed — although this was partly because of the decline in the percentage of native-born Americans who were poor. Camarota noted that Hispanic immigrants featured strongly among the poorer, less-educated and non-homeowners. His study did not incorporate the recently released data from the main nationwide Census — which counted a larger than expected number of Hispanics. If the figures were weighted to take account of the latest Census, the picture would look still gloomier, he said. Educational attainment is crucial, he said. And "in an economy that increasingly rewards educated workers, while offering only very limited opportunities for those with little education, it is no surprise that many immigrants are finding it increasingly difficult to join the economic mainstream."
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