A Pew Hispanic Center study released Tuesday reports that a growing number of illegal immigrants are having children in the United States and are raising them in poverty.
Around 11.9 million mostly Hispanic illegal immigrants live and work in the United States according to a survey of the Pew Hispanic Center. In 2008, 4 million children were born from unauthorized migrants, compared to 2.7 million five years before.
One of the report’s major findings is a majority of these illegal immigrants are young hard-working families. Jeffery Passel, a senior demographer for the Pew Hispanic Center, says “This bucks the traditional stereotype of illegal immigrants as day laborers and single men standing on street corners.”
Vanderbilt Sociology Professor Katharine M. Donato believes one reason for more births of illegal immigrants families settling in the United States could be the dangerous treks and steeper smuggling fees.
Results of the survey also found that a third of the children of unauthorized immigrants and a fifth of adult unauthorized immigrants live in poverty — nearly double the poverty rate for children of U.S.-born parents.
The study found that the median household income of unauthorized immigrants was $36,000 in 2007, well below the $50,000 median household income for U.S.-born residents.
As reported last week in La Plaza, President Barack Obama pledged to make comprehensive immigration reform a priority in his administration and start discussions with stakeholder groups this summer. This announcement came prior to this week’s upcoming trip to Mexico where he will talk about the growing violence of the Mexican drug cartels with President Felipe Calderon. He is also expected to speak about immigration reform, gun control, including tougher border controls and a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. It is also rumored that immigration legislation might be in the works for this year.
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