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 News from Around the Americas | June 2005 
One Mexican in Every 11 Emigrates to U.S.
 Rachel Uranga - dailynews.com
| | Juan Gonzalez, 12 and born a citizen of the United States, met through a fence with his mother, Carmen Castillo, who was deported to Mexico after living in California illegally for 18 years. |
One in every 11 people born in Mexico and still alive is a U.S. resident, and about half of these immigrants crossed the border illegally, according to a comprehensive report released Tuesday.
In the Pew Hispanic Center study of immigration trends, analysts estimated that in March 2004 about 10.3 million immigrants from around the world were living in the United States without legal documents to be here - some 24 percent of them in California. About 10.6 million people born in Mexico live in the U.S. - about 5.9 million of them illegally.
"The approach has been to try and make life ... possible for them so they don't go home," said Jeffery Passel, the study's author. "This (study) shows that not only are they not going home, but more are coming."
"If we are going to realistically deal with this population, we have to figure out what to do with the people who are staying."
Most undocumented immigrants are Mexicans with little education who are trying to escape the poverty in their native country. And though they make incremental strides, many never achieve economic success, with about 27 percent lingering in poverty - twice the rate for native-born Americans.
The study, prepared for a bipartisan independent task force on immigration, comes as Congress faces increased pressure to revamp what some have called a broken system.
Immigration reform is likely to take center stage this July when President George W. Bush is expected to outline his plans for border security, immigration-law enforcement and guest-worker programs.
"We have a dilemma. We love the benefits of low-cost labor - the nannies, the cooks. On the other hand, we don't want all the pressure. We complain when they go to the emergency room," said David Hayes-Bautista, director of the center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture at the University of California, Los Angeles. "Something has got to give."
An immigration wave this massive - with about one-third of all immigrants coming from Mexico - has not been seen since in the United States since the late 19th century, when Germans and Irish poured in.
According to the Pew report, more than half of the 10.3 million illegal immigrants came from Mexico and an additional 24 percent from other Latin American countries.
Undocumented immigrants are parents to 3.1 million U.S.-born children and 1.6 million undocumented children. Those children - many of whom attend public schools - account for more than one-third of the illegal immigrant population.
Nearly half of undocumented immigrant children drop out of high school, compared with 21 percent of legal immigrants and 11 percent of U.S.-born students. And only 15 percent of illegal immigrants go on to graduate from college, the study showed.
Los Angeles Unified School District officials do not track students' legal status, but said nearly 40 percent speak English as a second language. And teachers said experience tells them the number of children of immigrants has surged over the past three decades.
"They don't have health care. They sometimes are hungry. It hurts their education. It's the great detriment to their education," said John Perez, president of the teachers union in the LAUSD.
Nationally, more than one-third of undocumented immigrants work in the service sector. But their numbers are highest in farming, cleaning and construction, where employers often overlook their legal status or can mistreat illegal immigrants without fear of retribution, the report author wrote.
"There is an underclass in Los Angeles. Most of these employers get the cheapest labor," said Hilda Delgado, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, representing more than 800,000 workers. "Many of them do not report abuses, whether it's labor or human-rights abuses. They won't, for instance, report if they do not get paid or if their checks bounce. (Illegal immigrants) are too scared to lose their job."
Working menial jobs and lacking health insurance, illegal immigrants take advantage of the public-health system. The county's cost of providing medical care for illegal immigrants has soared from $340 million in 2003 to $392 million currently, officials said.
The growing pressure on the county's health budget comes as the public and private hospital system is increasingly in danger of collapse. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health Services faces a $435 million deficit by July 2006 and more than $2.5 billion by 2008.
Furthermore, in the last year, nine private hospitals in the county have closed their doors, and the trauma center at the beleaguered Martin Luther King/Drew Medical Center was closed - flooding surrounding hospitals with more patients. Services in some other counties are also under pressure.
"This is costing us billions in health care, the criminal justice system and education," said Rep. Elton Gallegly, R-Thousand Oaks, who advocates a more stringent employment-verification system. "You can't run and stick your head in the sand." |
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