Immigrants May Slow Latino Achievement, Study Says

Mexican immigrants are an “economic asset” to California’s economy, but may squeeze Latino citizens out of their current rise up the economic and social ladder unless Latinos begin attaining higher education levels quickly, a Rand Corp. study has concluded.

The comprehensive study--funded by the Roundtable, a group of 90 of California’s biggest corporations--found that Mexican immigrants, both legal and illegal, have contributed more to the economy than they have taken out in the form of public assistance, with the major exception being education.

Fewer than 5% of all Mexican immigrants, both legal and illegal, received any cash public assistance, according to the 1980 census, the study found. However, Latinos, like all U.S. residents of low-income families, contribute far less than the $2,900 it costs a year to educate a public school student, said Rand demographer Kevin F. McCarthy, who, with economist Robert Valdez, conducted the study.

Rocco Siciliano, executive director of the Roundtable, said that many of the group’s own members will be surprised by the findings when they receive their reports on the study.

“I think it will disabuse them of the common assumption that every Mexican alien is on welfare,” he told a press conference Monday.

At the same time, he pointed out, the study indicates that the new immigrants have contributed to keeping American manufacturing jobs from moving abroad, because they helped keep wage levels “competitive.”

Impact of Legislation

Siciliano and other Roundtable officials said another finding in the Rand report goes beyond the scope of the study. That is the conclusion that immigration reform legislation now pending in Congress will not stop Mexican immigrants from illegally crossing the border into the United States.

“It just hits you between the eyes,” said Norman Barker Jr., chairman of the Roundtable task force that worked with Rand on the study. “After reading this report, you realize that the will to come is so tremendous, and the economic factors are so strong, that they will keep coming.”

However, the continuing influx of Mexican aliens “spells problems” for first-generation Latinos seeking many blue-collar manufacturing jobs that have been “ethnic specific” for Latinos, the study indicates. Those jobs, such as garment manufacturing, are leveling off and are expected to decline.

Consequently, Siciliano and Barker said, they came to the conclusion that the most important public policy implication of the 18-month study is a dramatic need for improved educational opportunities for all Latinos--both new immigrants and American citizens--to compete for the growing number of service-type jobs that require higher education.

The business representatives say they are currently presenting their findings to members of Congress and various public interest groups, although they plan not to lobby for policy changes--except for more education.

Many of the conclusions in the report from Rand, a Santa Monica-based think tank, have been contained in other studies of the same issues.

For example, many studies have been done in the past that show that the pool of blue-collar manufacturing jobs is diminishing in the United States for a variety of reasons, including the export of such work to foreign countries where wages are lower.

The Rand experts believe the study is among the most comprehensive on the topic of immigration. Warning that many studies in the past have yielded distorted figures because they relied on limited data sources, the Rand study is based upon U.S. census statistics, U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service figures, and a variety of data provided by the Mexican government.

Tracing Immigration Pattern

The result is a complex study of the data that attempts to trace the immigration of Mexicans into the United States, and their ability--and that of their children and grandchildren--to integrate into American society.

So far, the study indicates, Mexican immigrants have followed the same trails as their predecessors, the European immigrants, in moving up the socioeconomic ladder and learning English.

But, because the blue-collar jobs those immigrants depended on are now drying up, longtime Latino residents may slip economically downward to compete for unskilled jobs--unless their education levels improve dramatically.

Another finding is that the high dropout rate among Latino high school students, long the subject of concern and study, is directly linked to the length of time the child’s family has been in the United States.

“A total of 65% to 70% of all foreign-born Mexican students don’t complete high school,” McCarthy said.

Dropout Rates Vary

“The first generation of Latinos born here have a dropout rate of about 23% to 24%, which is still high, compared to the rest of the population, although exact statistics on dropout rates vary. The second generation students have dropout rates that are very similar to the rest of the population.”

But, he said, even second generation Latinos tend to graduate from college far less than their Anglo counterparts.

“We have got to start thinking in real serious ways of improving education for Chicanos,” McCarthy said. “If not, they will fall back and have to compete with the undocumented immigrants.”

Both McCarthy and the business representatives said the study was not designed to propose solutions to the problems, but only to provide more reliable data with which to identify and analyze the problems.

The study steers clear of precise estimates of the number of illegal aliens. But McCarthy said in an interview that of the estimated 1.5 million Mexican immigrants (noncitizens) living permanently in California, about 760,000 are in Los Angeles County. About half that number are believed to be undocumented. Another 200,000 to 400,000 come into the county periodically to work, he estimated.