Dim View of Mexico Migration

A controversial new study by a Washington group favoring reduced levels of immigration draws a grim picture of the economic and social consequences of large-scale immigration to the United States from Mexico--especially in California.

The continuing influx of poor settlers from Mexico provides marginal economic benefits while burdening public services and schools and creating generations of poverty, according to the report, released Thursday.

Almost half of all Mexican immigrants live in California, the study states.

“If you step back and look at the interests of the United States as a whole, unskilled Mexican immigration doesn’t look like such a great deal,” said the author, Steven A. Camarota, a political scientist and director of research for the Center for Immigration Studies.

Immigrant-advocate groups immediately denounced the report as biased and aimed at derailing efforts in Washington and Mexico City to craft a joint response to illegal immigration. Proposals include a broad amnesty for illegal immigrants and a new guest-worker plan for Mexican laborers.

“Instead of trashing Mexican immigrants and their contributions to this country, we should be praising their hard work,” said Frank Sharry, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, a pro-immigrant group in Washington.

The study is based on data culled from a nationwide census survey last year. The survey of 130,000 people is separate from the much larger 2000 census, the full results of which are not yet available.

The estimated 8 million Mexican-born people living in the United States are by far the nation’s largest immigrant group--more than five times as plentiful as the next contingent, Chinese. The Mexican immigrant population has soared tenfold since 1970. About 40% of all Mexican-born residents today are illegal immigrants, the study found.

The 64-page report calls on lawmakers in Washington to take steps to curb immigration from Mexico, both legal and illegal. It attacks the notion that cheap Mexican labor substantially lowers costs for U.S. consumers--often cited as a major benefit of immigration.

The study found that Mexican workers reduce prices in the United States by very little--no more than one-tenth or two-tenths of 1%. “In effect, Mexican immigration acts as a subsidy to businesses that employ unskilled workers--holding down labor costs--while taxpayers pick up the costs of providing services,” the study states.

Nationally, the study says, Mexican immigration is particularly hard on about 10 million U.S.-born workers lacking high school educations. That group, which disproportionately includes blacks and Latinos, faces fierce job competition from Mexican immigrants, the study says.

Many of the study’s findings build on earlier research that has found immigrant households to be generally poorer and more likely to receive public benefits than families headed by U.S. natives. The study’s focus on Mexican arrivals tends to accentuate such disparities, since their educational and skill levels trail those of some other immigrant groups.

Citing Disparities That Last Generations

In California, the new study found:

* Almost 7 in 10 (69%) of Mexican immigrants and their children live in or near poverty. That is more than double the rate for U.S. natives and their children; about 1 in 4 (25.7%) of the native families are that poor.

* More than one-third (36.3%) of households headed by Mexican immigrants receive aid from one of the major welfare programs. The figure for U.S. native households is 13.9%.

* Mexican immigrants and their children account for 41.4% of people without health insurance. U.S. natives and their children make up 13.5% of the uninsured.

* About one quarter (24.7%) of California’s school-age population comprises the children of Mexican immigrant mothers.

Defenders of high immigration say the nation’s history shows that newcomers exhibit great progress with time. “What this study is saying about Mexicans today was said years ago about Irish, Italian or other immigrants,” said Cecilia Munoz of the National Council of La Raza, a Latino rights group.

Others, however, are less certain about that comparison. “I think that it is very unlikely that the differences in the United States that already exist are going to disappear very quickly,” said George Borjas, a Harvard professor who was one of two academics appearing at the Washington news conference unveiling the study.

The study states, for example, that U.S.-born people of Mexican descent lagged substantially behind other U.S. natives in educational attainment and income, even after several generations.

The study’s recommendations include more guards and barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border and deep cuts in legal immigration.

The Center for Immigration Studies is a nonprofit organization funded by a Census Bureau contract and a variety of foundations spanning the ideological spectrum, said the center’s director, Mark Krikorian.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Mexican Immigrants in the U.S.

LARGEST POPULATIONS

Mexicans as % of

*--*

Mexicans as % of State immigrant population California 3.79 million 43% Texas 1.45 million 59% Illinois 468,000 41% Arizona 402,000 64% Florida 196,000 7%

*--*

*

PERCENTAGE IN OR NEAR POVERTY*

*--*

Mexican immigrants U.S.-born parents and State and children under 18 children under 18 California 69% 26% Texas 63% 32% Illinois 39% 23% Arizona 72% 31% Florida 59% 29%

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*

PERCENTAGE OF SCHOOL-AGE POPULATION (ages 5 to 17)

*--*

Children of Mexican Children of all State immigrant mothers Immigrant mothers California 25% 43% Texas 14% 22% Illinois 8% 15% Arizona 17% 23% Florida 3% 27%

*--*

*

* Defined as less than 200% of the poverty threshold.

Source: Center for Immigration Studies

*

Tynisa E. Trapps in The Times’ Washington bureau contributed to this story.