Thread: Counties feel impact of Hispanic immigrants

Counties feel impact of Hispanic immigrants
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Enlarge By Adam Gerik, USA TODAY

Historic buildings line Main Street in downtown Princeton, Ill. Although Bureau County has experienced declining population, there has been an influx of Hispanics.



BIRTHS FUEL GROWTH


Enlarge Source: USA TODAY map by Paul Overberg, analysis of Census and National Center for Health Statistics data by Kenneth Johnson, University of New Hampshire.

The Hispanic population is growing more from births than immigration in many U.S. counties.





Yahoo! Buzz Digg Newsvine Reddit FacebookWhat's this?By Haya El Nasser, USA TODAY
Workers at the health department for Illinois' Bureau and Putnam counties don't need to look at a schedule to see whether the bilingual dentist is on duty.
"We tease around here that it's Spanish day because that's all we hear in the hallway," says Diana Rawlings, public health administrator for the two counties.

Since the agency's dental clinic in a rural part of north-central Illinois hired a Spanish-speaking dentist about three years ago, the number of patients has grown from 3,000 to 8,000.

"The Hispanic community is getting more and more comfortable coming here, and that's the goal of public health," Rawlings says. "We do see a lot of children in our dental clinic."

The arrival of Hispanics in remote and rural areas far from traditional gateways has been going on for years. What's new is a pronounced demographic shift unfolding because these young immigrants are having children. Births outnumber deaths, and the population increases.

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Though it's happening everywhere immigrants are settling, the impact is more striking in smaller, rural communities that have not grown or have been shrinking because young people have been leaving and those who stay are older and dying.

The contrasting trend will reshape the social and cultural fabric of rural America for decades, according to new research.

"Substantial natural increase among new Hispanic immigrants has dampened or even offset recent … population declines in rural communities," says Kenneth Johnson, co-author of research published in a demographic journal this month. "Hispanic population growth has taken on a demographic momentum of its own. Restricting immigration will not end the browning of America."

Bureau County has had a net population loss since 1980, but the Hispanic population is growing, attracted by food processing plants there and in neighboring counties.

Now, more than half of the growth in Hispanics comes from births.

"In our community, of the people who have lived here since the 1950s, the majority are elderly citizens," says Don Bosnich, president of Depue Village. "Of the Hispanic population, I would guess that 75% of them are new."

Grady County, Ga., rich with fields that grow peanuts, soybeans and corn on the Florida state line, grew about 4% to 24,719 from 2000 to 2006. The number of Hispanics almost doubled to 2,382, according to Census estimates.

"It's put a strain on our emergency services," says Rusty Moye, county administrator, who says the number of Hispanics is underestimated. "They're actually using our emergency rooms as their health clinics because when they get sick, they have no doctor. They're all indigents."

Despite newcomers' boost to dwindling populations, communities are not always convinced that supporting them is worth the cost.

"It can create real challenges in the long term," says Steve Camarota, research director for the Center for Immigration Studies, a group that favors limiting immigration.

For a nation bracing to support 79 million Baby Boomers in their old age, the growing and younger population of Hispanics should be viewed as economic salvation, says Dowell Myers, demographer at the University of Southern California and author of Immigrants and Boomers: Forging a New Social Contract for the Future of America.

"Children are always a fiscal burden, yet children are also the lifeblood of every community," he says. "What's killing Japan and threatening the economic future of Europe is that they don't have enough kids, and that's what's depriving these rural areas in America."

The upward mobility of immigrants is not visible until they have been here awhile, Myers says. His research shows substantial progress the longer they're in the USA. As Baby Boomers age, "immigration may be the best way to get needed workers, taxpayers and home buyers," he says.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/200 ... htm?csp=34

For a nation bracing to support 79 million Baby Boomers in their old age, the growing and younger population of Hispanics should be viewed as economic salvation

This is just hard to stomach.....I doubt the government is going to support 79 million baby boomers. Baby boomers are educated and mostly successful, they will not depend on the govt., besides just how much 346 BILLION dollars it costs to have illegal aliens is offset by their being here? It's an insult to make such a statement as well as profoundly ignorant!

The upward mobility of immigrants is not visible until they have been here awhile, Myers says. His research shows substantial progress the longer they're in the USA

Maybe so for "immigrants", but it's a different story for illegals according to a study by Heritage Foundation.

It is indeed, gofer, an absolute insult. The "economic salvation" can't even sustain itself let alone anyone else.

The upward mobility of immigrants is not visible until they have been here awhile, Myers says. His research shows substantial progress the longer they're in the USA. As Baby Boomers age, "immigration may be the best way to get needed workers, taxpayers and home buyers," he says.

That's true of self-supporting LEGAL immigrants who contribute to the economy. It is NOT true of illegal aliens, many whom are unskilled, uneducated, low income (even no income) and a huge burden on our system.

We MUST stop enabling these unskilled, uneducated, low-income illegal aliens to keep having litters of children who they have NO hope of supporting! Repeal birthright citizenship NOW! DEPORT ALL illegal alien families NOW!

Make it less of a hassle for LEGAL immigrants (skilled, educated AND self-supporting) to enter the US.

We cannot allow ANY more immigrants in until the illegal aliens are DEPORTED.

Here's your "economic salvation.".....

"It's put a strain on our emergency services," says Rusty Moye, county administrator, who says the number of Hispanics is underestimated. "They're actually using our emergency rooms as their health clinics because when they get sick, they have no doctor. They're all indigents."

As an educated woman....it is ludicrous to think that an illiterate, unskilled, uneducated illegal alien is "my retirement salvation"....millions of us have worked hard, studied hard, made solid financial planning and will NOT be relying on social security or any "public benefits" for our retirement...and certainly not on ILLEGAL ALIENS.