Thread: Illegal immigration falls as economy sags

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Illegal immigration falls as economy sags
Survey - Tougher enforcement and key jobs drying up feed a nationwide decline
Friday, October 03, 2008
NIKOLE HANNAH-JONES
The Oregonian Staff

The flow of immigrants entering the country illegally has declined, reversing a more than 15-year trend, and the dismal economy is battering immigrants who aren't U.S. citizens harder than other groups, according to two reports released Thursday by the Pew Hispanic Center.

As of March, 11.9 million unauthorized immigrants lived in the United States, a decline of 500,000 from the center's estimate a year ago, according to the report by the Washington, D.C.-based nonpartisan research organization. For the first time in 10 years, fewer undocumented immigrants are coming to the U.S. than legal immigrants.

"This was a population that has been growing rapidly," said Jeffrey Passel, senior demographer for the Pew Hispanic Center. "That growth has come to a halt in 2008."

Pew researchers say several factors probably led to the slowdown: heightened immigration enforcement, tighter border control and the sagging economy.

The report is the most detailed to date on the number of undocumented immigrants in the United States, and it coincided with a release showing the economic downturn, which began when the housing bubble burst in 2006, has taken the biggest toll on noncitizen immigrants -- particularly those who live here illegally.

Deep income decline

The median annual income of noncitizen immigrant households fell 7.3 percent from 2006 to 2007, according to the report, while the median annual income of all U.S. households rose 1.3 percent. Undocumented immigrants bore the brunt of this income loss.

A majority -- 56 percent -- of noncitizen households are Latino and nearly half are headed by an undocumented immigrant. Undocumented immigrants tend to be less educated and with fewer skills. This makes them more vulnerable to economic fluctuations, said Ted Donlan, a professor in the Portland State University School of Social Work who studies immigration and policy.

"They don't have as many options," Donlan said. "Most work in service industries and especially construction and housing because it is the easiest place to get work when they don't have papers."

In Oregon, as elsewhere, the construction jobs have dried up along with the housing market and competition for jobs has grown. Nurseries, which employ large numbers of immigrants in Oregon, have been laying off workers

While no state-by-state data were available, Sabino Sardineta, director of Centro Cultural in Cornelius, said Latino immigrants in Oregon have been hit by a double whammy: a foundering economy and new rules to keep undocumented people from getting driver's licenses.

"The impact is worse than ever before," Sardineta said. "I have learned of many, many people that have lost their jobs because they have not been able to drive or because they don't have identification."

Big worries

Yolanda Valenzuela just lost her job working for a nonprofit that helps low-income families. She has an engineering degree and hopes to find work teaching, but she's still afraid.

"When I arrived in Cornelius, it was a boom," she said. "During these years, it's less and less. I am worried because the economy in this country is a very bad situation and I think I probably cannot find a job as soon as I want."

Across the nation, pessimism is running high -- 50 percent of all Latinos say the situation is worse in this country for Latinos than it was a year ago, according to Pew survey released in September. Among Latinos who are immigrants -- documented and undocumented -- that number rises to 63 percent.

Large-scale immigration raids, including one at the Portland Del Monte plant last year, have instilled fear and make employment harder to find. Deportations in Oregon and Washington have spiked nearly 40 percent from a year ago.

Some immigrants, Sardineta said, are giving up and returning home. Tougher border enforcement is also making it more dangerous, and often too expensive, for families who want to sneak in, Donlan says.

Passel of the Pew Center cautions against using the data to predict future trends. If the economy improves, immigration numbers could fluctuate. And regardless, he said, the U.S. Latino population will keep growing. Latinos continue to migrate legally to the U.S., and growth will also come from the people who are already here.

Nikole Hannah-Jones: 503-221-4316; nhannahjones@news.oregonian.com

©2008 Oregonian

Suck our country dry and run home. Way to go.

Originally Posted by ReggieMay

Suck our country dry and run home. Way to go.

Pretty much. Build the damn fence.

Boo Hoo. Sucks for everyone right now. Go home. Take anchors with you.

Maybe this is true but since they also state this -

As of March, 11.9 million unauthorized immigrants lived in the United States

Which is a blatant falsehood,

Should we count on any of this being true. Might it be disinformation?

Basic rule of supply and demand.

Cruel but true. Don't EVER think, that no matter what you do, you are ir-replaceable. Coz you are. TOO many in one profession and you degrade and de-value that profession. When a skilled carpenter de-values it to be someone who can swing a hammer.....you are out. When picking fruit becomes a college education....you loose AS WELL. When anyone who cuts hair good becomes a hairdresser.....you loose.


I remember Russia.....when a garbage collector got paid more than a Dr.

This IS my liberal side that comes out when I say no job is worthless.....ANY job deserves pay to survive. What does it cost to survive? What constitutes survival? Answer that and you get minimum wage or whatever else you need.

If they are pulling out of the US , when they get home they will find things are not much better either. The price of oil is dropping, so less revenue coming in to OPEC countries. Remittances are declining---- so less of that money, too, to prop up their economies. We need to build the wall, or they will just come back here---and in this area I really don't see any change, except now we have them from other states that have enacted tougher laws.

We're not out of the woods yet. Keep reporting them.

I read an article in the Sun Sentinel a day ago about how our economy is hurting Latin America. The first thing I thought of is all the remittance money that both legal and illegal immigrants send back home. Many countries rely on that.

While no state-by-state data were available, Sabino Sardineta, director of Centro Cultural in Cornelius, said Latino immigrants in Oregon have been hit by a double whammy: a foundering economy and new rules to keep undocumented people from getting driver's licenses.

Well, welcome to America where the law says you cannot work without permission and cannot drive without a license. And if any one of these folks starts screaming racism or cruelty, I will be happy to email them with the correct picture of laws and current conditions.

We need to keep working to keep them for coming back after WE AMERICANS rebuild our economy. That mean the fence and e-verify.