Thread: 1 of every 20 workers is in U.S. illegally, report finds

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1 of every 20 workers is in U.S. illegally, report finds

By The Dallas Morning News and The Associated Press


WASHINGTON — One of every 20 workers in the United States is an illegal immigrant, according to a new report that pegs the illegal population at 11.5 million to 12 million.

Though increasingly dispersed around the U.S. as immigration ripples beyond traditional high-immigration states, the estimated 7.2 million illegal workers are clustered in several industries in particular, a Pew Hispanic Center study issued Tuesday found.

Efforts to curb illegal immigration have not slowed the pace, the study said.

Instead, the report's author said, those efforts are having an unintended consequence: People who illegally enter the United States from Mexico are staying longer because it is harder to move back and forth across the border.

"The security has done more to keep people from going back to Mexico than it has to keep them from coming in," said Jeffrey Passel, a senior research associate at the center.

It is difficult to accurately measure the number of illegal immigrants in the United States, but the Pew Hispanic Center used Census Bureau data to estimate that the United States had 11.1 million in March 2005. The center used monthly population estimates to project a current total of 11.5 million to 12 million.

(The Mexican Consulate in Seattle said it has issued certificates of matricula consular, or Mexican government ID cards, to about 500,000 of its citizens living in Washington state. The cards are used as a form of identification in the U.S. by some illegal immigrants and for re-entry into Mexico.)

The Pew report estimates that 850,000 illegal immigrants have arrived in United States each year since 2000.

They account for nearly 1 in 4 farmworkers, 1 in 6 maids and housekeepers, 1 of 7 in construction, and 1 of 8 in food preparation, according to the study.

Their numbers are even higher in certain categories, Pew found, estimating that 29 percent of all roofers and drywall installers and 27 percent of butchers and food-processing workers in the U.S. are illegal immigrants.

The study found that 10 percent of illegal workers are in management, business and professional jobs, compared with 35 percent of the native-born.

Illegal immigrants are concentrated in less-skilled, lower-paying industries for two simple reasons, said Passel.

"These are people with fairly low levels of formal education, and they are not able to get licensing or credentials in the United States because of their status," he said.

The report comes as Congress grapples with ways to crack down on illegal immigration.

The Senate Judiciary Committee today begins consideration of a bill that would grant a "gold card" to illegal immigrants employed in the U.S. as of January 2004, allowing them to renew it indefinitely. The bill, which also would create a temporary worker program for migrants wishing to come here in the future, is under attack from all sides and is sure to be significantly rewritten in committee.

The Pew report offers the latest sign that "our immigration system is broken and needs immediate reform," said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, chairman of the Senate immigration subcommittee.

Though the U.S. has beefed up border enforcement since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Cornyn termed as "inexcusable" the study's findings that nearly 40 percent of illegal immigration has occurred since 9/11.

"Our national security demands that we know who is coming to the U.S. and who is living here right now," Cornyn said.

Immigration enforcement has had little noticeable effect on illegal immigration, which is driven overwhelmingly by a search for better-paying jobs, Passel said. The only factor that appears to reduce illegal immigration is when U.S. jobless rates rise, he said.

The data do pierce the myth that illegal immigrants are overwhelmingly men coming alone in search of jobs, Passel said. "The picture is that of young working families," he said.

Men accounted for 49 percent of the illegal population, with women representing 35 percent and children 16 percent. The child estimate doesn't provide a full snapshot of illegal immigrants' families, since about two-thirds of their children were born in the U.S. and thus have citizenship.

Illegal immigrant men participate in the labor force at a higher rate than natives, 94 percent to 83 percent. But illegal immigrant women — more likely to be at home raising young children — are a significantly smaller share of the work force than native-born women, with 54 percent working vs. 72 percent for the native-born.

The Pew Hispanic Center, an arm of the nonpartisan Pew Research Center, seeks to improve understanding of the U.S. Hispanic population and to chronicle Latinos' impact on the nation.

As usual, these numbers are wrong. It's more like 1 in 15, or 7%.

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