Chinese and Asians undocumented immigrants coming recently to the country represent a percentage that closely follows those of Latin American origin, who although they are still more, are about to be overthrown on the ranking.
According to a new analysis released by the Pew Research Center, Asian and Hispanic immigrants who have recently arrived to the nation, show other changes, such as having formal third-level education and English language proficiency.
According to the study, Latin Americans represent 38% of U.S. immigrants who have arrived in the last five years, beginning in 2017, compared to 35% of Asians.
It is interesting to note that in 2010, Latin American immigrants (48%) accounted for a much larger proportion of newcomers than those from Asia (30%).
Latin America and the Caribbean is by far, the largest region of origin among immigrants who have lived in the country for more than 10 years. In 2017, immigrants from Latin America accounted for more than half (54%) of long-term residents, compared with 25 per cent from South and East Asia. But now things are changing.
The research shows that about 7.6 million immigrants have lived in the country for five years or less and that these constitute 17% of the foreign-born population, a proportion that has returned to the 2010 levels after a slight decrease.
According to a 2018 survey made by the Pew Research Center, “Recently arrived immigrants have markedly different education, income and other characteristics from those who have been in the U.S. for more than a decade. Proposed changes to U.S. immigration laws could favor highly skilled immigrants, which could further change the demographics of the foreign-born population. American adults support encouraging highly skilled people to immigrate and work in the United States,”
With university degrees
Data attributed to Jeffrey Passel, senior demographer at Pew, and D’Vera Cohn, senior writer and editor at the same organization show during the previous reporting period, the proportion of undocumented immigrants 25-64 years of age with college degrees grew from 15 percent to 17 percent.
That is slow to moderate growth. But among the newcomers – those who have been in the country for five years or less – the changes were dramatic.
The proportion of new immigrants with college degrees reached 30 percent in 2016, up from 17 percent in 2007. Meanwhile, the percentage of recent undocumented immigrants who lacked high school diplomas dropped from 44 percent in 2007 to 31 percent in 2016.
English as a Second Language
English proficiency among newly arrived immigrants is on the rise. Among those who came to the United States in the past five years, 45 percent said in 2017 that they speak only English at home or speak it very well, compared to 38 percent in 2010.
Because of this increase, newcomers are closing the gap with longer-term immigrants, who have seen little change in their English proficiency. About half of immigrants who have lived in the United States for more than 10 years, expressed in 2017 that they only used English at home or spoke it very well, a percentage that has scarcely changed since 2010.
Translated by José Espinoza
Noticias Newswire
