Guest Column

Ties that Bind: Immigration Reform Should be Tailored to Families, Not Just Individuals

May 30, 2005

 

By Rob Paral

Immigration Policy Center

The most recent attempt by federal policymakers to address the issue of undocumented immigration came on May 12, 2005, when a bipartisan group of senators and congressional representatives introduced the Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act. The act is notable in that it directly addresses the plight of the current undocumented population, as well as dealing with future flows of immigrants. The act not only creates a new temporary worker program in which currently undocumented immigrants can participate, but includes a pathway to permanent residence for the recipients of work visas. Given the extent to which undocumented immigrants already living in the United States are part of U.S.-based families, any effective immigration reform proposal must include both a temporary worker program and a pathway to permanent residence for undocumented immigrants who have roots in the United States.

Highlights from the report:

• According to the Pew Hispanic Center, about 57 percent of all undocumented immigrants are from Mexico. Some experts estimate that as many as 3 million out of the 4 million Mexican immigrants who came to the United States during the 1990s were undocumented.

• A large portion of immigration to the United States is undocumented because current immigration policies fail to recognize the economic and historical relationships between the United States and immigrant-sending countries such as Mexico. Current policies admit relatively few Mexican, or other Latin American workers, on the basis of U.S. workforce needs.

• In 2000, 92.5 percent of Mexican immigrants who arrived in the United States during the 1990s lived with someone to whom they are related by birth, marriage, or adoption.

• In 2000, 57.3 percent of Mexican immigrants who arrived in the United States during the 1990s were members of U.S.-based nuclear families, including 33.5 percent who lived with a spouse and/or a child and 23.8 percent were themselves children.

• In 2000, 65.7 percent of households containing Mexican immigrants who arrived in the United States during the 1990s lacked an obvious sponsor for legal status.

• According to the Pew Hispanic Center, 35 percent of the undocumented population in 2004 had been in the United States since 1994 or earlier, and roughly 3.2 million U.S.-citizen children had at least one parent who was undocumented.

• According to the Mexican Migration Project, the share of undocumented immigrants likely to return home after five years in the United States declined from 86 percent in 1990 to 40 percent in 1998.

Read the entire report at: http://www.ailf.org/ipc/tiesthanbind.asp

For more information contact Benjamin Johnson at (202) 742-5612.

The Immigration Policy Center (IPC) is dedicated exclusively to the analysis of the economic, social, demographic, fiscal, and other impacts of immigration on the United States. The IPC is a division of the American Immigration Law Foundation, a nonprofit, tax-exempt educational foundation under Section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code.

American Immigration Law Foundation
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202-742-5600

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