Thread: ORE-More immigrants call Marion County home, census finds

More immigrants call Marion County home, census finds
By Thelma Guerrero-Huston • Statesman Journal

September 24, 2008
Salem's foreign-born population rose 11.9 percent last year, but the number remained below the figure counted three years ago, according to statistics released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau.


The figures are from the agency's latest American Community Survey, generated annually.

In Marion County, the immigrant population grew by 3.3 percent in 2007 from a year earlier, and increased slightly from 2005.

The number of foreigners putting down roots in Polk County skyrocketed by 79.7 percent in 2007 from 2006, after a significant rise from 2005.

The census said that the numbers are more difficult to compute because the figures from 2005 do not include foreigners living in group quarters such as nursing homes, prisons and psychiatric facilities, as do 2006 and 2007 figures.

The area increases come at a time when the number of immigrants entering the U.S. has taken a drastic dive, with experts blaming a downturn in the U.S. economy and tightened border enforcement.

But a decrease is not the case in Oregon.

Locally, experts point to the agricultural industry's pull for farmworkers as the reason for the increase in immigrants in Marion and Polk counties.

"Agriculture has been booming in the Willamette Valley," said Mike Leachman, a sociologist and policy analyst at the Oregon Center for Public Policy in Silverton.

"We've seen a very rapid growth in ag exports, particularly from Marion and Polk counties," he said, "and a significant share of the workers in the state's agricultural industry are foreign born."

But some question whether the census' figures concerning the foreign-born population are accurate.

Jim Ludwick, the president of Oregonians for Immigration Reform, a group that advocates for placing a cap on immigrant numbers, said he thinks the figures are much higher.

"That doesn't reflect 2008 figures," Jim Ludwick said about the latest census numbers. "I've seen where other estimates say there are as many as 5 million more illegal aliens in the country than what the census estimates there are.

"That makes sense because if you're in the country illegally, you're most likely not going to tell a bureau person that you're here illegally."

Overwhelmingly, foreign-born people living in Salem and Marion and Polk counties are not citizens. However, it's unclear whether they are here legally or illegally, because the Census Bureau does not ask people whether they immigrated illegally.

"We simply ask whether they're a citizen or not," said Tom Edwards, a Census spokesman. "But not being a U.S. citizen doesn't mean the person is in the country illegally. They could be here on a work visa, be a student, or be a temporary or permanent resident."

tguerrero-huston@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6815

http://www.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pb ... 8809240467

We're just getting the fallout from other states that have enacted reforms or where the economy is in worse condition. And they don't just do agricultural work. They're springing up at job sites everywhere and waiting for work at the day labor center.