U.S. Undocumented Immigrant Numbers Surge

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&ncid=716&e=7&u=/ap/20050321/ap_on_re_us/undocumented_immigrants

WASHINGTON - The nation's undocumented immigrant population surged to 10.3 million last year, spurred largely since 2000 by the arrivals of unauthorized Mexicans in the United States, a report being released Monday says.

The population of undocumented residents in the United States increased by about 23 percent from 8.4 million in the four-year period ending last March, according to the analysis of government data by the Pew Hispanic Center, a private research group.


That equates to a net increase of roughly 485,000 per year between 2000 and 2004. The estimate was derived by subtracting the number of unauthorized immigrants who leave the United States, die or acquire legal status from the number of new undocumented immigrants that arrive each year.


The prospect of better job opportunities in the United States than in their native countries remains a powerful lure for many immigrants, said Pew center director Roberto Suro, pointing to a reason often cited by other researchers.

...they can come here, collect social security, get drivers licenses, have their college paid for - whatever - as long as they vote REPUBLICAN...

is atributed to roofing companies in pensacola florida paying 4x the normal rate, but not only are the illegals raking it in, there aren't ENOUGH illegals, roofing and construction is paying so well, its attracted everyone who can lift more than 50lbs, the grocery stores and fast food joints are on a serious labor shortage because of it. You can not drive down any comercially zoned street here without seeing long chains of signs with "help wanted" written on them.

China's dumping of textiles on the world market will destroy the previous healthy textile industry in Mexico, causing a surge of illegal workers into the US.

That is, if the US economy survives China's possible (probable?) dumping of US Treasury instruments.

the textile indusstry in mexico is mostly gone

One reason for some of the newer immigrants.

my father's factory closed partly due to that.... he was close to retirement anyway, but still

The population of Mexico is about 105 million. Ten million 'undocumented' and another 8-10 million 'documented' is about right.

I went with a student group allied with a Mexico/U.S. alliance to develop one town in Mexico. The idea is to provide educational and work opportunities in that area, where many of the young currently have no local opportunities, no alternatives to going to the U.S. for work.

Walking through neighborhoods, side by side stand nice houses and horribly-inadequate houses. The nicer houses have flush toilets and many of the other amenities that Americans take for granted. The other houses have dirt or bare-concrete floors, leaky roofs, pit toilets (at best), and house overcrowded, underfed, poorly-clothed people. The differences are easily explained: the nicer houses reflect the presence of at least one family member in the U.S., sending back money to the family. Now consider: those family members in the U.S. are not pulling down high salaries in high-powered jobs -- they are working at low-pay jobs and living in substandard conditions in the U.S., doing jobs that Americans don't want to do. They do not 'take jobs away from American workers,' rather they fill jobs that U.S. industry wants done in conditions and at wages that American workers eschew. But what they make, what they can send back makes an immense difference for their families in Mexico. Until very recently, at least those in the U.S. tended to return with some frequency to visit their families. With increased border stringency post 9/11, however, many of those in the U.S. cannot return for visits lest they be unable to reenter the U.S. So, the remain in the U.S., sending back what they can, but unable to 'visit' spouse, children, parents, and other family. They would, in general, prefer to find adequate employment in Mexico so that they could be with their families; but that is most-often impossible. So, they remain in the U.S., sending back money to the families they seldom see.

Meanwhile, the project I visited runs a high school, among other projects. Attending the high school are young people whose own high school had been closed for funding reasons, who have no other educational alternative until the project school was opened. Also attending are a few students from the States whose families are associated with the project. The Mexican students are dedicated to learning, to making what they can of the opportunities that would otherwise be denied them. The American students have the opportunity not only to learn in another culture, but to learn amid a student body dedicated to study, to learning, to hard work. I was happy to have my own high-school-age son with me to interact with students who have in the past been denied education and who are dedicated to benefitting from the opporunities now provided -- who don't take education for granted. I only hope that some of that dedication can rub off on him.

But this is only a drop in the bucket. For millions of young Mexicans, the only viable option is to raise hundreds of dollars to give to coyotes who may rip them off and provide nothing, who may kill them or allow them to die in transit, but who may get them across the border, so they can work in low-pay jobs, often below the legal minimum wage, live in terrible conditions, and send back what they can to their families. When some Americans cry out to catch and deport the 'illegal immigrants,' I get sick to my stomach. I want to cry: 'no, give back Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California, then put up fences at the Oklahoma border -- then see which way the 'undocumented workers flow.'