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Lower Hudson Valley officials, residents see influx of illegal immigrants
By ERNIE GARCIA
elgarcia@lohud.com
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: September 14, 2006)



The first time Jaime Martinez sneaked across the U.S.-Mexican border in 2001 it only took about eight hours.

Tightened border security made the Yonkers day laborer's return from a visit to Mexico three years ago more difficult, but it didn't prevent him or many others from crossing.

As people like Martinez fuel the country's debate about what to do with illegal immigrants, the federal Office of Immigration Statistics announced that about 11 million illegal immigrants lived in the United States as of January. More than 3 million of them settled in the country between 2000 and 2005, with Mexicans, Indians and Brazilians showing the biggest population jumps.

"If you ask most of these people, they are going to tell you they're in the United States because they have to be, not because they like it here," Martinez, 32, said of his Mexican countrymen who gather along Yonkers Avenue, waiting for contractors and homeowners to pick them up for day jobs.

New York is one of the states with the largest illegal immigrant population, but its 4 percent increase between 2000 and 2005 was small compared to other states'. Still, immigrants and the people who help them say they've noticed the growth.

"We have certainly seen an increase in Mexicans, Ecuadoreans and Dominicans," said Gail Golden of the Rockland Immigration Coalition. "We don't necessarily ask people if they do or don't have (resident visas), but we assume some of these folks (don't)."

The new estimates are important because there are no national surveys or other sources of information that give accurate measurements of the nation's illegal immigrants. Participants in this year's national immigration debate cited numbers ranging from 6 million to 15 million.

The Office of Immigration Statistics based its estimates on census and other government surveys. The agency's report does not indicate the number of illegal immigrants who arrive in the country by sneaking across the border versus those who come by plane and overstay their temporary visas.

The report also does not advocate a position for or against legalizing or deporting illegal immigrants.

Between 2000 and 2005, more than 1 million illegal immigrants arrived from Mexico, but the biggest increases in terms of percentage were among Indians and Brazilians. All three groups have a presence in the Lower Hudson Valley, though the report did not give a breakdown by county.

Since 2000, the illegal Indian immigrant community grew by 133 percent nationally, the report said. Local Indians said illegal immigration is not significant in their communities.

"I have not heard that there are a lot of undocumented Indians in Rockland County," said S. Ram Nagubandi, Rockland's human rights commissioner, acknowledging that illegal Indian immigrants may have settled in another part of the country. "If I had to guess, it's those who are here on student visas or an H-1 (specialty worker) visa and they had trouble getting permanent jobs or permanent visas, so they decided to stay here."

Zach Thomas, president of the Yonkers-based South Asian-American Council of Westchester, also said illegal Indian immigration was not widespread locally. Thomas noted that the majority of Indian immigrants in Westchester are professionals who have resident visas or U.S. citizenship.

Bronxville resident Raquel Nobre, 37, a Brazilian immigrant and nursery school teacher, said she has noticed an increase of illegal immigrants in Westchester County's Brazilian community. The Office of Immigration Statistics noted that illegal Brazilian immigrants had the second-largest percentage increase — 70 percent.

Nobre said tighter immigration controls have forced more Brazilians here illegally to remain in the United States rather than go home for the winter, as they did in the past.

"They will not take a chance to fly back to Brazil and come back through Mexico, so many are staying," she said.

Legal immigrants also are increasing nationwide and locally. According to census figures released last month, about 63,000 immigrants moved to the Lower Hudson Valley since 2000: 50,000 in Westchester, 11,500 in Rockland and 1,500 in Putnam.

The census does not distinguish between legal and illegal immigrants.