Thread: 2007 Census Data Compares Immigrants on Long Island

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Newsday.com

2007 census data compares immigrant groups on LI

BY OLIVIA WINSLOW
olivia.winslow@newsday.com
February 20, 2009

Marianela Jordan was just 5 years old when she and her family came to the United States in 1979 after a hurricane ruined their home in the Dominican Republic. They settled in Freeport, where relatives lived.

The family, which had overstayed tourist visas, received federal amnesty in 1986, clearing the way for citizenship. Jordan said she was 18 when she became a citizen. She earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Virginia and is now director of the Coordinating Agency for Spanish Americans, which helps Latinos assimilate, making her the highest-ranking Latino in Nassau County government. She is studying for her master's degree in public policy at New York University.

Jordan's story shows the progression many immigrants make, as they work, pursue an education and try to make a better life for their families.

The Census Bureau yesterday released an analysis of 2007 survey data outlining some characteristics of the foreign-born population, such as the education they've attained, their income and employment status.

The data show immigrants from India, Australia, South Africa and the Philippines have the highest median household incomes. For residents born in India, for example, the median household income was $91,195. That compares to $46,881 for the foreign-born population overall, and $51,249 for the native-born.

Locally, Asian immigrants in Nassau - who number 77,603 - have a median household income of $100,403, versus $89,782 for the county's total population, according to the bureau. The Asian population in Suffolk County wasn't large enough to analyze.

For Latin Americans in Nassau - who number 125,327 - the median household income was $68,567; and in Suffolk - where Latin Americans number 105,500 - $72,091. Nationally, the bureau said about 68 percent of U.S. foreign-born residents and 88 percent of the native-born are high school graduates, while 27 percent of foreign-born and about 28 percent of the native-born have bachelor's degrees.

Census figures show Latin America to be the region that has sent the most immigrants to Long Island in recent years. The bureau's latest analysis shows 20.4 percent of Latin American immigrants in Nassau have a bachelor's degree or higher, compared with 40.2 percent of the county's total population. In Suffolk, it's 14.5 percent compared to 31.8 percent of the county's total population.

But Jordan cautions against making comparisons among immigrant groups. "I think success has to measure from your starting point," Jordan said. "Someone coming from El Salvador, which had civil war for 20-some-odd years, who comes here, graduates from high school and opens up a restaurant, to me that's success. Someone coming from India on a [special] visa, not only was allowed to come here, but sought out by the U.S., you're going to have a different level of success."

Educational opportunity is a key, Jordan added. "I always remember as a kid feeling like I needed to make sure the sacrifices my parents made were not in vain," Jordan said.

"I know how hard it was for them to come here, and to really suffer and go work in a factory where you get paid less than 110 bucks a week, with hands blistered. ... Our job, as kids, was to really take into account every opportunity and be sponges and try to do better to improve yourself."

Marianela Jordan was just 5 years old when she and her family came to the United States in 1979 after a hurricane ruined their home in the Dominican Republic. They settled in Freeport, where relatives lived.

The family, which had overstayed tourist visas, received federal amnesty in 1986, clearing the way for citizenship. Jordan said she was 18 when she became a citizen. She earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Virginia and is now director of the Coordinating Agency for Spanish Americans, which helps Latinos assimilate, making her the highest-ranking Latino in Nassau County government. She is studying for her master's degree in public policy at New York University

It burns me up that these people came to this country as GUESTS, took full advanatge of this countries generosity by overstaying a tourist visa, then were granted citizenship!

It's kind of like inviting your neighbors to spend the weekend at your cabin retreat because they were having their home fumigated. They end up staying 6 months; but cannot understand what all the fuss is about! Would you invite these people back if and when they vacated your cabin?

Something just isn't quite right about that..IMHO!

What a mess our government has put on us. Being unlawful is fine, so we have to teach our children how to survive in this mess.

The government only enforces laws on the American people. Illegals are favored as are most other criminals in America.