Posted on 11/28/2004 5:49:24 PM PST by Constitution Day
Report: Immigrant population in N.C. nearly doubled in four years
The Associated Press
November 26, 2004 12:20 am
RALEIGH, N.C. -- North Carolina's foreign-born population has nearly doubled in the past four years, with immigrants undeterred by the struggling economy, according to a report based on a U.S. Census Bureau survey.
The report by the Center for Immigration Studies, which favors tougher restrictions on immigration, found that the state's foreign-born population jumped from 373,000 in 2000 to 641,000 in March.
"Immigration is a complex process that's driven by a lot of different things," said study author Steven A. Camarota, research director at the Washington-based center. "The argument that it's driven by the economy is weak."
The report was based on the census bureau's March Current Population Survey, which is taken every year to gauge the country's unemployment rate.
The census bureau does not use that survey to estimate annual changes in immigrant population. It relies on the much larger, annual American Community Survey, which showed that North Carolina's foreign-born population grew to 502,000 from 2000 to 2003, the most recent year for which figures are available.
Kevin Deardorff, chief of the bureau's immigration statistics staff, warned against viewing the numbers reported by the Center for Immigration Studies as proven.
"To take them as absolute estimates is probably something that one should do with caution," he said. "But it wouldn't surprise me if you saw continued growth."
The report doesn't show where immigrants came from, but the 2000 census found that 40 percent of North Carolina's immigrants came from Mexico. The next-largest groups were from India, Germany and Canada.
Mexico remained the top country of origin for North Carolina immigrants after 2000, according to experts who attributed the continued growth to word-of-mouth.
"Part of what's going on is the cumulative effect of immigration in the 1990s," said Roland Stephen, an associate professor of political science at N.C. State University. "Friends and relatives heard from others who came before them that life is pretty good here."
Signs of the immigrant boom can be seen across the state. The number of students taking English as a Second Language classes at the state's 58 community colleges rose from 29,000 in the 2002-03 academic year to 37,000 the following year. The ranks of Hispanic soccer leagues are swelling, and cricket -- once nearly unheard of in North Carolina -- is being played on recreational fields throughout the state by Indians and Pakistanis.
Veerapandian Kalimuthu, owner of Tower Indian Restaurant, said he has had to expand his staff of waiters and cooks from three to seven since opening in Morrisville in April 2002. Roughly two-thirds of his customers are, like Kalimuthu, from India.
"On Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, we're packed," he said.
But more often, it appears that immigrants are struggling in North Carolina, Camarota said.
The center's study found that 42 percent of North Carolina's immigrant population lacks a high school diploma, compared with 17 percent of the native population. Also, 59 percent of immigrants and their children live in or near poverty, the study found.
You are so right. All you have to do is drive out to the Wal-Mart on the weekends to see the change.
I know of what I speak: I work in Wilson and live not far from Tarboro.
Keep 'em coming!
{ahem, mind out of gutter please}
And those are the natives!
I am deeply worried about you my good friend!
We had day laborers long before we had illegal immigrants. They are paid like independent contractors, not like employees. Citizen or not, they never have taxes deducted, they receive 1099s if they are paid more than a certain amount during the year by the same person. Minimum wage laws don't apply. It's all perfectly legal to pay them with a $50 bill.
Do you know someone who is jealous of day laborers? Maybe someone sleeping under a bridge?
Are they "employees" or "independent contractors"? If they are employees, they and their employers are committing criminal offenses much more serious than being an undocumented laborer.
Then the third party firms have to satisfy the IRS. The IRS audits their tax returns and compares them to the 1099s.
Btt
LOL!
well of course its "illegal", but its still a routine thing, even for legal residents/citizens, and more so for illegals.
I can only tell you that at least here in the northeast, in the NY metro suburbs, there are large numbers of day laborers - they find steady work here, they congregate in transportation centers like train and bus stations, they rent apartments, etc. and they aren't getting 1099s, I can assure you.
If she has a green card she's been granted lawful permenant residence. But how? Through a work petition?
"found that the state's foreign-born population jumped from 373,000 in 2000 to 641,000 in March."
We got that many in New York City alone. Would have been close to a million, had they not started moving to the suburbs.
Do you know someone who is jealous of day laborers? Maybe someone sleeping under a bridge?Given the choice between a smelly wino and a hard-working, sober and clean illegal alien, who would YOU hire... I used to hire guys to help me with my lawn when I lived in Houston -- where you expect people to speak Spanish, and I just didn't ask. Geeze, a guy willing to help cut some brush for 30 bucks was a guy willing to cut some brush. I live and work in Mexico (legally, though there are plenty of gringo illegal aliens on this side of the border... they must have crossed the Rio Bravo doing the backstroke!) and know plenty of people who worked north of the border "sin papeles". A lot of these guys work for the same company that their uncles, grandfathers, cousins worked for over the years... almost a family tradition, and just a way to sock a few dollars away for future investments or educational expenses (I know a CPA who canned fish in Alaska for two very cold salsa-less years). I know some here will repeat the old mantra, "they broke the law, therefore they are criminals", but these are hard-working guys, taking a risk to better themselves and their families and are as honest and upright people as you'd ever meet. The proposed "guest worker" programs might be salable to these kind of guys, though Mexicans remember the problems with the old Bracero Program and there are still some WWII era guys waiting for their set-asides. One issue that doesn't seem to have been addressed -- and it probably should be addressed before jumping into a new program: one assumes most "guest workers" are going to be young guys. Young guys generally like young women... sometimes they marry them and sometimes they have children. Are husbands and fathers to be repatriated? And, what will our "family values" people say about separating families, and abandoning children?
I suppose so. If I recall, her school system helped her out.
Anyway, she's been here since 1999. She even got her Master's degree since then.
I vote for agenda.
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