Posted on 11/24/2004 9:00:56 AM PST by NormsRevenge
Immigration to the United States has continued to accelerate despite a slumping economy, a research group said in a report released Tuesday.
A record 34 million legal and illegal immigrants live in the United States, nearly one-third of them from Mexico, according to the Center for Immigration Studies, a conservative think tank in Washington.
About 4.3 million immigrants have entered the country since 2000, when the economy grew slowly. Roughly the same number arrived between 1996 and 2000, during a period of economic expansion.
Illegal immigration accounted for nearly half the 4.3 million increase. About 9 million illegal immigrants live in the United States, the center estimates.
In contrast to past centuries, immigration levels are no longer closely tied to the business cycle, said Steven Camarota, author of the report.
"The fact that immigration levels have remained so high even though job growth has been very weak indicates that immigration is not primarily driven by demand for labor in the United States,' Camarota said in his report. "Rather, it is a complex process driven by many factors. If a lower level of immigration is desired, then policy itself will have to be changed.'
Increased border security after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks has not stopped the influx of immigrants, he said.
"People come to America for many reasons, including to join family, avoid social or legal obligations, take advantage of America's social services and enjoy greater personal and political freedom,' Camarota said. "Thus, even a prolonged economic downturn is unlikely to have a large impact on immigration levels.'
Camarota analyzed data samples from the March Current Population Surveys collected by the Census Bureau.
Other experts said immigrants keep coming because jobs continue to be available in certain economic sectors.
"The economy is a big thing,' said Louis DeSipio, associate professor of Latino studies and political science at UC Irvine. "There are many layers. While parts of it have been slumping, the part that immigrants tend to populate has not been slumping, particularly services and new home construction. Those are areas where immigrant populations have been recruited for years.'
Elliott Barkan, professor emeritus of history at Cal State San Bernardino, said the report does not take into account the large numbers of immigrants who are admitted as political refugees from countries such as Sudan, Bosnia and Iraq.
More than 2 million refugees were granted lawful permanent status during the 1980s and 1990s, he said.
In addition, many immigrants enter the country legally as students, temporary workers and visitors and later change their status and become permanent residents.
About 64 percent of the 1.1 million people who were given permanent residency in 2002 were already in the United States, Barkan said.
Of those 1.1 million, nearly half were spouses, children or parents of U.S. citizens already in the country.
"It is family that is driving the numbers that are coming here,' Barkan said.
Ironically, as the United States has beefed up border enforcement with security measures to add manpower and equipment, migrant workers are no longer coming for temporary periods and returning to their native countries.
"It's gotten too risky,' Barkan said. "It's deadly. Many hundreds are dying in the Arizona desert. As a result, illegal immigrants who are coming are not going back with the ease they used to. They're coming and they're staying. You no longer have this dynamic flow of people back and forth.'
Muscoy resident Macarino Morales is one of those people who used to go back and forth to visit his wife, Ana, and their three kids who stayed in their hometown in Hidalgo, Mexico, while he worked a minimum-wage job as a landscaper up north.
Because of the border crackdown, Morales stopped traveling back home, leaving his 11-year-old son, Mario Alberto, to grow up without him.
After eight years apart, Morales couldn't stand it anymore and paid a smuggler $6,000 to bring his wife and children across the border nearly two years ago.
"It was easier for us to come here than for my dad to go back to Mexico,' said Erica Morales, the couple's 21-year-old daughter who works in a Latino-oriented supermarket in San Bernardino.
To Ana Morales, the worst poverty in the United States is nothing compared to being destitute in Mexico.
"It's for the well-being of the family that we're together here,' she said, speaking in Spanish. "It's better for the children to be with their father.'
Is the economy slumping?
Quick!! buy a bilge pump! (spending helps the "slumping" economy)
"To Ana Morales, the worst poverty in the United States is nothing compared to being destitute in Mexico."
DING DING DING! We have a WINNER!
It's all about what you can get for yourself while forcing someone else to pay them bills.
That holds true for both the aliens and the employers.
My question is, If Mexicans are such hard and dedicated workers, why is Mexico such hellhole?
Mexicans have nothing if not pride in the "bronze nation"
Where's that pride back home?
These are jobs US citizens would do, but now can’t without asking for additional salary to compensate the higher taxes, schooling, housing, insirance and health premium costs we incur caused by illegal immigration. It's a vicious downward cycle for the middle legal working class citizens of this country.
There is only one way to fix the immigration problem; ANNEX MEXICO! Why not, we already have half of it and there are already 40 million Mexicans here.
A little hyperbole on the part of Barkan. You have to combine years to get more than 150 deaths. And many of those are from car crashes or inter-gang warfare.
DING DING DING! We have a WINNER!
It's all about what you can get for yourself while forcing someone else to pay them bills.
That holds true for both the aliens and the employers.
My question is, If Mexicans are such hard and dedicated workers, why is Mexico such hellhole?
Mexicans have nothing if not pride in the "bronze nation"
Where's that pride back home?
Good Post !
As with most countires, it is not necessarily the fault of hard working people that countries have problems, it is the fault of socialist, elitist, stupid leaders. Don't be so judgemental towards Mexicans because it can happen to us. Actually it almost did. We have our own fair share of socialist idiots.
The answer to that questions lies outside your local welfare office, take a drive by, any day of the week and see the line out the door of these hard working illegals.
" We have our own fair share of socialist idiots."
Exactly. And we aren't doing a very good job of handling our own home grown criminal element.
******
Rome wasn't destroyed by barbarians storming the gates. It was destroyed by barbarians who walked through the gates peacefully to enjoy the benefits of Rome.
Ronald Khol
"but Mexico, as both a culture and a country, is nothing short of craptacular."
LOL! Laughing at the word, not your message. But, they're trying to change their "culture".....do a search for Muslim/hispanic....there are at least 13 cities in Mexico with Islam centers/schools and they are converting by the thousands. Also many hispanic/islam centers in the USA. One man stated that they just "blend" into each other so well!
Ping
******
Rome wasn't destroyed by barbarians storming the gates. It was destroyed by barbarians who walked through the gates peacefully to enjoy the benefits of Rome.
Ronald Khol
Happy Thanksgiving /large smirk
Well-stated. Excellent post.
The people who chanted that need to be deported, they are not Americans and they never want to be Americans. People like them, Mecha, Maldef, and la raza in my opinion our terroist organizations and the real racists who need to be delt with by bullets.
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