Most of Georgia's New Wave of Immigrants in State Illegally, Study Finds

WASHINGTON — Most of the 953,000 immigrants living in Georgia are in the country illegally, the Center for Immigration Studies says in a report released Thursday.

Using the latest Census Bureau data, the report said Georgia has one of the fastest growing immigrant populations of any state. It said that 53 percent of the state's foreign-born population — 504,000 people — are illegal immigrants. Only Arizona, at 65 percent, and North Carolina, at 58 percent, had a higher proportion of illegal immigrants in their immigrant populations.

"The immigrant population in Georgia is there because of the state's severe labor needs, including the poultry, agricultural and carpet industries," said Lisa Navarette, a spokesman for the National Council of La Raza, a nonpartisan advocacy group for Hispanic Americans.

The state's immigration growth has come during a period when "passage of the 1996 Immigration Act (has) closed off virtually any avenue for people to get legal status, hence the growth of the overall undocumented population in this country," said Navarette.

The influx of immigrants into Georgia reflects the national trend, the report showed. The nation's immigrant population — legal and illegal — reached a record of 37.9 million in 2007. Nearly one in three of these newcomers is here illegally. Half of the immigrants from Mexico and Central America are in the country illegally and one-third of those from South America are illegal immigrants.

The report documents this surge of new arrivals and describes its impact.

"The last seven years have been the highest period of immigration in American history," the report concluded. "Immigrants and their young children (under 18) now account for one-fifth of the school-age population, one-fourth of those in poverty and nearly one-third of those without health insurance."

Immigration accounts for nearly all of the national increase in public school enrollment over the past two decades, the report said. In 2007, there were 10.8 million school-aged children from immigrant families in the United States — about one in five of the nation's school-aged kids.

In Georgia, 15 percent of the school-age (5-17) population had immigrant fathers. About half of these immigrant children — 7 percent of the state's total school-age population — were illegal immigrants or the offspring of illegal immigrants.

About one-third of all families headed by an immigrant use at least one welfare program — compared to less than one-fifth for native households, the report said. The percentage in Georgia tracks the national average, with 32.9 percent of immigrant households using at least one welfare program compared to 19.1 percent of native households.

"Setting aside the lower socio-economic status of immigrants, no nation has ever attempted to incorporate nearly 38 million newcomers into its society," the report warned.

The report is entitled "Immigrants in the United States, 2007: A Profile of America's Foreign-Born Population." It was written by Seven Camarota, research director for the Center for Immigration Studies, a nonpartisan think tank that advocates reductions in immigration. The data came from the March 2007 Current Population Survey collected by the Census Bureau.

"There is nothing surprising in the report. These are the same kind of findings we have seen with other research," said Flavia Jimenez, a senior policy analyst with La Raza. "This is further proof that, in our opinion, this country needs to fix its immigration system."

The report said immigrants and their U.S. born children under the age of 18 now make up 13.3 percent of Georgia's total population. Children born in the United States are citizens even if their parents are illegal immigrants.

The number of immigrants in Georgia has more than tripled in a little over a decade — growing from 268,000 in 1995 to 378,000 in 2000 to 953,000 in 2007. Since 2000, the state's immigration population has increased 58.2 percent.

The median household income for immigrant households in Georgia is not that different from the median household income for native households — $49,115 for immigrants compared to $50,758 for native households. However, since the number of people in households is 3.4 for immigrants compared to 2.4 for natives, the per-person median income is 32 percent higher for natives — $21,149 compared to $14,446.

In Georgia, 22.5 percent of the immigrants ages 18 or older did not have a high school diploma, compared to 9.9 percent of the native population. The report said 39.7 percent of Georgia's immigrants and their children lived in or near poverty, compared to 28.9 percent of the native population and its children.

In Georgia, 53.1 percent of immigrants and their children are uninsured or on Medicaid, double the 26.5 percent of natives and their children in the same circumstances. As citizens, the children of illegal immigrants are eligible for Medicaid.

"For state governments, Medicaid is a particular concern because between one-third to one-half of the program's costs are typically borne by state taxpayers," the report said.