Thread: MetroWest seeing jump in immigrant numbers

http://www2.townonline.com/wellesley/lo ... eid=277907

MetroWest seeing jump in immigrant numbers
By Peter Reuell/ CNC Staff
Thursday, June 30, 2005

Immigrant populations in MetroWest exploded in the decade between 1990 and 2000, making the region one of the fastest growing immigration
centers in the state, a newly released study found.

Overall, immigrant populations in MetroWest grew by 59 percent through the 1990s, more than 1.5 times faster than the 35 percent seen statewide.

"The percent of immigrants today, 14.3 percent, is a level not seen since the 1950s," Ian Bowles, president and CEO of MassINC, one of the two groups that conducted the study, said. "And the total number of immigrants is reaching levels not seen since the 1930s, so we're in the midst of an immigration boom in Massachusetts."

It's a boom that's sounding loud and clear in this area.
A dozen cities and towns throughout the region saw immigrant populations grow faster than the statewide average, some more than doubling the population.

In Hopkinton alone, the immigrant population grew by 169 percent - more than five times the statewide average - while three other communities grew at rates above 100 percent.

"I think the scale is surprising," MassINC research director and report co-author Dana Ansel said. "We knew we had more immigrants coming, but I think the actual numbers were interesting."

In contrast to immigration trends of the 1980s, when most immigrants came from Canada or Europe, today the vast majority of people entering the U.S. hail from Central and South America.

In MetroWest, nearly 18 percent of immigrants are Brazilian. Other nations, including Canada and India, topped the list.
The trend is hardly limited to the Bay State, though.

"The increased immigration we're seeing in Massachusetts is part of a national trend," Ansel said this week. "The whole country is depending on immigrants for the key source of labor, but the effect in a state like Massachusetts, which is such a slow-growing state, is much more pronounced, because without immigration, (the) population would have shrunk and the labor force would have shrunk."
Massachusetts today is one of the slowest growing states in the nation, with only Michigan and West Virginia lagging behind, said Andy Sum, the study's lead author.

Since 2000, Sum said, the state's labor force has grown by just 7,000 workers, yet the state has seen more than 100,000 new immigrants.

In fact, immigrants today make up 17 percent, or nearly one of every five workers in the state, the study found, up from 11 percent in 1990.

"So if it had not been for the influx of new immigrants, the state's labor force could have shrunk by as much as 100,000 people," Sum said.

"And that, in turn, is important because as the economy picks up again, if we don't have a sufficient labor force, we're not going to be able to capture all that economic growth opportunity," Bowles added.

But why come to Massachusetts?

For starters, the region is attractive to many immigrants because there's already an immigrant population here, Ansel said.

"People tend to go where they have family or friends and relatives," she said. "Once you get a critical mass, it just continues."

"Walk down Main Street in Framingham or Marlborough, or wherever," added Fatinha Kerr, executive director of Marlborough Community Services Inc. There are people from many countries and "stores that carry products that you are familiar with. This immigrant explosion is just part of us becoming a more global people."

But not all of the immigrants who wind up in MetroWest, Ansel and Sum admitted, are in the country legally.

Since it is based on data from the 2000 Census and more recent current population surveys, the report's findings include both documented and undocumented immigrants, but estimates of both populations are difficult to pin down, Ansel said.

Current estimates put the statewide population of illegal immigrants between 100,000 and 175,000, "but we also know undocumented immigrants are less likely to fill out a survey or talk on the phone, so they're probably under-represented," she said.

"What this says to us is traditionally immigration issues have been seen as the domain of border states," Ansel said.

"What this is saying is Massachusetts leaders, and our leaders in Washington, need to be engaged in these issues as well."


Peter Reuell can be reached at 508-626-4428, or at preuell@cnc.com.)

"but we also know undocumented immigrants are less likely to fill out a survey or talk on the phone, so they're probably under-represented," she said.

The only place I want to see them represented is at deportation hearings.