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Immigration
Contents
Immigration >
Processing New Arrivals >
The Administration of Immigration
> Immigration -- Current U.S. and New York City
Immigration -- Current
United States and New York City
Today, most immigrants arrive in New York via airplane through John
F. Kennedy Airport. They are often able to fly straight from their
country of origin to JFK. Compared with their historical counterparts,
whose trips involved grueling ocean voyages that often lasted two
weeks of more, today's immigrants spend a few hours aboard a plane.
About 75 percent of immigrants come to the United States legally,
the majority joining close family members already settled here.
Of undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. approximately 40 percent
first entered the country legally on tourist, student, business
or other temporary visas and later became illegal once they had
overstayed their allotted visit time. On an annual basis, an estimated
30,000-$35,000 immigrants come to New York City illegally (usually
overstaying tourist visas).
Refugees and Asylees
Refugees are people not yet living in the U.S.
who seek protection within our borders for fear of persecution in
their home country. Refugees must prove "a well-founded fear
of persecution" based on at least one of five criteria: race,
religion, membership in a social group, political opinion or national
origin. Although similar to refugees, asylees apply for protected
status after arrival in the U.S.
Following Word War II and into the Cold War era, the U.S. government
responded to the growing number of people displaced by war in Europe
or fleeing oppressive Communist regimes by offering special statuses
geared toward refugees. Between 1945 and 1957, approximately 600,000
European refugees resettled in the United States. Over the next
two decades, more than 800,000 Cubans fled to the U.S., settling
primarily in Miami. The Immigration and Refugee Act of 1975 was
passed in response to the growing number of people fleeing Vietnam,
Cambodia, and Laos after the withdrawal of U.S. troops and the fall
of their governments to Communist regimes.
In collaboration, the President and Congress
determine the number of refugees accepted each year. Steadily
in decline since 1993, for the year 2004 the maximum number of
refugee spaces allotted is 70,000. Today, a large portion of refugees
to New York City hail from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet
Union.
How many immigrants
arrive each year?
As of March 2000, 10.4 percent of the U.S. population is foreign
born. Between 1870 and 1920, 15 percent of the U.S. population
was foreign-born. During the 1990s, an average of 950,000 immigrants
entered the country each year. Today, NYC annually received 14
percent of all immigrant arrivals to the United States. Between
1990 and 2000, nearly 1.2 million immigrants were admitted to
the City.
In 1900, 750-1,000 people per acre lived in the 10th ward, where
97 Orchard Street stands today. The block on which 97 Orchard
Street is located (bounded by Orchard, Delancey, Allen, and Broome)
was at one time the most crowded place on earth. Today, Manhattan
continues to have the highest population density of the five boroughs:
an average of 104.6 people per acre. The most densely populated
area in Manhattan is Washington Heights where in one area live
308 people per acre.
Today, New York City has largest number of foreign-born inhabitants
of any city in the country-36 percent or 2.8 of its eight million
residents were foreign-born in 2000. A decade earlier, in 1990
foreign-born comprised 28 percent of the City's population. Between
1970 and 2000, the total number of foreign-born living in New
York City doubled, from 1.4 to 2.9 million.
In part, the high influx of immigrants over the last forty years
has helped counter the sizeable net outflow of residents from
the City. Other factors that added numbers to the overall population
increase were a high birth rate and low death rate (1.266 million
births vs. 682,000 deaths). Many experts consider immigrants largely
responsible for this high natural population increase because,
on average, they tend to be younger upon arrival. Between 1990
and 1996, 45 percent of all children born in New York City were
born to foreign-born mothers and 52 percent had at least one foreign-born
parent.
Where do immigrants come
from today?
Of the 28.4 million foreign-born people residing in the U.S. as
of March 2000, 51 percent were born in Latin America (Central
America-34.5 percent; Caribbean-9.9 percent; South America 6.6
percent), 25.5 percent were born in Asia, and 15.4 percent were
born in Europe.
The Dominican Republic is the largest source of immigrants with
369,200 or 13 percent of the total, followed by China with 262,000,
Jamaica 178,900, Guyana 130,600, and Mexico 122,600. No single
group, however, dominates immigration to New York City, a city
whose population includes residents from over 185 different countries.
Queens, a borough of New York City, is the most diverse county
in the U.S. and home to more than 150 nationalities.
The Museum estimates that as many as 7,000 people from at least
20 different countries called 97 Orchard Street home between 1864
and 1935. By comparison, immigrants to the Lower East Side today
arrive from 37 different countries. Almost three-quarters of the
neighborhood's population come from China. Just over one-fifth
of all Chinese who immigrate to New York City settle on the Lower
East Side.
Class/education of
immigrants
Today, immigrants to NY come from a wider range of economic and
social backgrounds than did immigrants at the turn of the 20th century
who mostly were a mix of skilled workers and common laborers. It
is not until late in the century that professional, technical, and
white-collar workers began to arrive in great numbers. Many immigrants
today arrive speaking fluent English as well. Despite this, many
immigrants experience downward occupational mobility here. This
may be because many do arrive lacking English skills, lack of US
job experience, or the lack of connections here.
More than 80% come without a college education. Immigrants are less
likely to have a high school diploma (67% v. 87% for native born).
The highest percentage of those with high school educations are
from Asia and Europe. More than 1/5 of all immigrants have less
than a ninth grade education.
Applying for U.S.
citizenship
An alien can apply to become a naturalized U.S. citizen if they
have been a lawful permanent resident for at least five years; is
a lawful permanent resident child of U.S. citizen parents; or has
qualifying military service. Children under 18 years of age may
automatically become citizens when their parents naturalize.
Those applying for U.S. citizenship must complete an application
form, take a multiple-choice examination that includes questions
about U.S. history, government, and English language proficiency,
and complete an interview with an Immigration Officer. The cost
to file for naturalization is approximately $250.
Sources: Nancy Foner, New Immigrants in New York (New York:
2001) Nancy Foner, From Ellis Island to JFK: New York's Two Great
Waves of Immigration (New York, 2000); John Higham, Strangers
in the Land: Patterns of American Nativism, 1860-1925 (New York:
1955); Maldwyn Allen Jones, American Immigration (Chicago,
1960); David Reimers, Unwelcome Strangers: American Identity
and the Turn Against Immigration (New York, 1998); David Reimers,
Still the Golden Door: The Third World Comes to America (New
York, 1992); NYC Department of City Planning, The Newest New
Yorkers 2000 (New York, 2004); U.S. Census Bureau, The Foreign-Born
Population in the United States (March 2000).
See also: Chinese; Germans;
Italians; Jews;
Irish; Lower East Side.
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