 RECENT IMMIGRANTS DO NOT FARE AS WELL AS EARLIER ONES, REPORT INDICATES
A new report from the Center for Immigration Studies, a think-tank that advocates for reduced levels of immigration, says that immigrants who have arrived since the 1980s are less likely that previous immigrants to own their own home and become US citizens. The report blames this trend on the fact that recent immigrants do not have the educational attainment necessary to succeed in the economy.
Steven Camarota, the director of research at the Center, says the report shows that immigration policy should be shifted to favor educated immigrants, and eliminate the preferences given to family members. Others, however, say that comparing immigration today with immigration in the 1950s and 1960s is not fair because today immigration rates are determined in large part by per country quotas while in the past it was racially based and strongly favored Europeans. They say a more apt comparison would be with immigrants of the early twentieth century. Another source of criticism is that the report deals with both legal and undocumented immigrants.
Others add that with increased globalization, immigrants continue to feel strong ties with their native country, making citizenship and home ownership less relevant. Camarota responds to this criticism by noting that these factors indicate a person’s ties to the US. He adds that the 18 million permanent residents of the US, who cannot vote, represent about 30 congressional districts.
The study examined the progress of immigrants 11 to 20 years after their arrival, so the status of immigrants of the 1950s would be examined in the 1970s, immigrants of the 1960s in the 1980s. According to Camarota, the long-term status of immigrants has declined since the 1970s. Three main criteria were used to determine immigrants’ status - rates of home ownership, naturalization, and poverty.
By the 1970s, immigrants of the 1950s had a home ownership rate of 56.8 percent, close to the 63.4 percent rate of native-born Americans. By 2000, home ownership rates among immigrants of the 1980s had dropped substantially, to 45.5 percent, while the rate among native born Americans had increased to 69.5 percent. Almost 64 percent of 1950s immigrants became citizens by the 1970s, while only 38.9 percent of 1980s immigrants were citizens in 2000. The poverty rate among 1950s immigrants during the 1970s was 25.7 percent, lower than the 35.1 percent among native-born Americans. By 2000, the poverty rate among 1980s immigrants was 41.4 percent, while among native-born Americans it was 28.8 percent.
The report, entitled “The Slowing Progress of Immigrants, An Examination of Income, Home Ownership, and Citizenship, 1970-2000,” is available online at http://www.cis.org/articles/2001/back401.html.
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