FACTS ABOUT IMMIGRANTS

Immigrant Families Make up an Important Share of the U.S. Population

• According to the 2000 Census, there are over 30 million immigrants in the U.S., representing 11 percent of the total population.(1)

• One in five children in the U.S. is the native- or foreign-born child of an immigrant.(2)

• Immigrants are settling in communities throughout the U.S. During the 1990s, the immigrant population in "new immigrant" states grew twice as fast (61 percent vs. 31 percent) as the immigrant population in the 6 states that receive the greatest numbers of immigrants.(3)

• Immigrants and citizens live together in families: 85 percent of immigrant families with children are mixed status families (families in which at least one parent is a noncitizen and one child is a citizen).(4)

• Between 1970 and 2000, the naturalized citizen population increased by 71 percent.(5)

Immigrants Contribute Significantly to the U.S.Economy

• The National Academy of Sciences reports that, in 1997, the U.S. reaped a $50 billion surplus from taxes paid by immigrants to all levels of government.(6)In New York, also in 1997, $13.3 billion (69 percent) of the $19.3 billion in taxes paid by immigrants went to the federal government in the form of income taxes, Social Security taxes, and unemployment insurance.(7)

• In 2000 the foreign-born population accounted for 12.4 percent of the total civilian labor force.(8)

• In 2000 foreign-born men 16 years old and older had a higher labor force participation rate (80 percent) than native-born men (74 percent).(9)

Immigrants Rely Disproportionately on Low-Wage, Low-Benefit Jobs

• Even though 7.1 percent of all workers are noncitizens, almost 20 percent of all low-wage workers who live in low-income families with children are noncitizens.(10)

• Almost 43 percent of immigrants work at jobs paying less than $7.50 an hour, compared to 28 percent of all workers.(11)

• Only 26 percent of immigrants have job-based health insurance.(12)

• Children in immigrant families make up one-fifth of the low-income children in 20 states.(13)

Immigrant Families Use Benfits at Lower Rates Than Citizen Families, and Benefits Are Not a Factor in Decisions to Migrate to the U.S.

• Use of public benefits by legal immigrant families with children who earn less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level fell sharply between 1994 and 1999.(14)

• In 1999 the rates at which these immigrant families used Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and food stamps were lower than for low-income citizen households with children.(15)

• Welfare does not drive migration patterns: between 1995 and 2000, the number of immigrant families with children grew four times faster in states with the least generous safety nets like Arkansas and Texas than it did in states with more generous safety nets for immigrants, like California and Massachusetts.(16)

Immigrants Who Are Able to Improve Their English Skills Have Higher Earnings

• Almost 18 percent of persons in the United States over the age of 5 speak a language other than English at home, and almost 8 percent are limited English-proficient (LEP).(17)

• A study by MassINC found that employed immigrants in Massachusetts who are fluent in English earn 33 percent more than immigrants with limited English speaking skills.(18)

• A study in Los Angeles by the Economic Roundtable found that former welfare recipients who were English proficient earned a higher wage than former welfare recipients who did not speak English or who were LEP.(19)

• In a New York Citysurvey of 500 non-English proficient immigrants, 89 percent of respondents were either on a waiting list or wanted to attend English as a Second Language classes at some time in the future.(20)

Immigrant Restrictions on Support Services Hurt Children

• One-third of all children in the country who are eligible for Medicaid, but are not enrolled, are children in immigrant families.(21)

• Even though U.S. citizen children living with noncitizens remained eligible for food stamps, between 1994 and 1999 their participation in the Food Stamp Program declined 42 percent.(22)

• The children of immigrants are more likely to be disadvantaged than the children of natives. They are more likely to be poor (24 percent versus 16 percent); more likely to be uninsured (22 percent versus 10 percent); more likely to have no usual source of medical care (14 percent versus 4 percent); and more likely not to have a steady source of food (37 percent versus 27 percent).(23)

Our special thanks to the National Immigrant Law Center for blazing the trail to the High Road in fighting for the dignity of immigrant workers.

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