Foreign-born migration in the US Foreign-born from California, New York stream elsewhere By Mark Babineck HOUSTON (AP) - The traditional ’gateway" states are sending waves of immigrants elsewhere within the United States, but the vast majority of foreign-born U.S. residents have stayed put for the past five years, according to a report issued by the U.S. Census Bureau. The report, which measured the movement of the foreign-born from 1995 to 2000, found that California sent 237,000 more immigrants to the other 49 states than it received from them. Similarly, 205,000 more foreign-born New York residents left for other states than arrived from other states. However, both states had large net increases in foreign-born populations in the five-year period thanks to a constant supply of new immigrants. Illinois, another gateway, also sent more immigrants to other states than it received while the three others - Texas, New Jersey and Florida - saw a net increase of foreign-born residents moving from other states, with Florida's 89,000 ranking highest nationally. Together, the six states are important because they were home to 21.3 million foreign-born residents in the 2000 head count, or about two-thirds of the nation's immigrant population. Despite the movement by many immigrants, of the 25 million foreign-born residents living here from 1995 to 2000, about 23 million lived in the same state and 13 million didn't move at all, according to the report. Typical are three painters who waited together on a Houston street before dawn Friday, ready to ply their trade. The three came to Texas from Mexico - the 45-year-old has been here 20 years, the 48-year-old got here 12 years ago and the youngest, 28-year-old Javier Ramirez, has been in this country about four years. All say they've found plenty of work in Texas and, except for the odd job assignment in places like Oklahoma or Mississippi, have seen no reason to venture farther into the country. ’And, you know, we pay taxes." Ramirez said, speaking for the two older men, who asked that their names not be used. Despite population shifts and modern transportation methods that have developed over the last century, Texas State Demographer Steve Murdock said it should be no surprise that California and New York remain the most popular jumping-off points for immigrants who do move. ’If you take most of the other gateway states, most of those are centers for immigration from selected regions," Murdock said, noting that almost all of Texas' immigration came from Latin America. ’With California and New York, you'll see an array of immigrants from various parts of the world." Because California and New York continue to receive mass numbers of foreign newcomers, Murdock said it's natural for many of them to follow well-established immigration ’streams" inland to other states that might offer more opportunity. Some of the migration patterns in the study were dramatic. While foreign-born people coming to Nevada were, predictably, more likely to be coming from California than from any other state, the same was true for immigrants moving to Georgia, on the other side of the continent. ’It's not too much of a surprise," said Atlanta attorney Dale M. Schwartz, once a president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. He said demand from sprawling carpet mills and poultry farms in the northern part of the state, coupled with booming construction in Atlanta, probably fueled the call for workers that was heard across the country. ’Deboning (of chickens) is very hard work, very repetitive, carpal tunnel kind of stuff," Schwartz said. ’It's really hard to find Americans to do that kind of work now." Foreign-Born Population Surpasses 32 Million Census Bureau Estimates The Commerce Department's Census Bureau estimated today that the nation's foreign-born population last year numbered 32.5 million, accounting for 11.5 percent of the total U.S. population. Among the foreign-born population, 52 percent were born in Latin America, 26 percent in Asia, 14 percent in Europe and the remaining 8 percent in other regions of the world, such as Africa and Oceania. (See attached chart.) According to the report, The Foreign-Born Population in the United States, March 2002, the foreign-born are a diverse group, with variable demographic, social and economic characteristics depending on the region of birth. Some highlights: > People from Central America and Mexico made up more than two-thirds of the foreign-born from Latin America. They were concentrated in the West (55 percent) and the South (30 percent). > Among the foreign-born in 2002, nearly half had entered the United States since 1990. More than 1-in-3 foreign-born people were naturalized U.S. citizens. > People born in Asia and Europe had poverty rates similar to those of the native population, while the poverty rates for people from Central America were higher.  > Foreign-born people are more likely to live in central cities of metropolitan areas 43 percent) than the native population (27 percent).  > Relatively few foreign-born were less than 18 years of age (9 percent), compared with the native population (28 percent), because most of the children of foreign-born parents are natives.  > Slightly more than 1-in-4 foreign-born persons had a bachelor's degree or more education, not significantly different from the native population. More than one-fifth of the foreign-born had less than a ninth grade education, compared with about one-twentieth of the native population  > The percentage of foreign-born workers in managerial or professional occupations ranged from a high of 40 percent for those from Asia (not significantly different for those from Europe or "other regions") to a low of about 7 percent for those from Central America.

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