REPORT: MEXICAN IMMIGRANTS A DRAIN ON REGION'S RESOURCES.

Byline: Bill Hillburg Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - Large-scale migration of Mexicans to Southern California and the United States undermines the economy, overtaxes schools and other services, and creates a permanent underclass of uneducated and unskilled poor, a nonpartisan think tank said in a report issued Thursday.

The report by the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington-based research organization focusing on immigration, cited Southern California as the epicenter of social and economic ills related to Mexican immigration, which rose by nearly 1,000 percent nationwide from 1970 to 2000.

The organization, which advocates strict immigration controls, urged President George W. Bush to scrap proposals for increased immigration from Mexico and also called for a crackdown on undocumented immigrants and their U.S. employers. It further advocated a ban on admitting any adult immigrant who lacks basic education and job skills.

``We keep hearing arguments that immigrants are making this country rich,'' said Mark Krikorian, CIS director. ``But nobody has really looked into the issues to see if this is true.''

Krikorian said the center's study focused on Mexican immigrants because they are the largest single group of newcomers now entering the United States.

The report drew fire from supporters of immigrant rights.

``I'm not surprised by their findings,'' said Harry Pachon, president of the Claremont-based Tomas Rivera Policy Institute. ``We're a research institute, and they're an advocacy group.''

Pachon noted that a March report by his own organization drew the opposite conclusion. It found that large numbers of Latino immigrants in Southern California, the vast majority of whom have roots in Mexico, were making impressive gains in educational attainment and economic status within a decade of arriving in the United States.

``Instead of trashing Mexican immigrants and their contributions to this country, they should be praising their hard work,'' said Frank Sharry, director of the National Immigration Forum, a Washington-based immigrant rights group.

``I do not totally disagree with that statement,'' responded Steven Camarota, who compiled the new study. ``But I also don't know how anyone can make an argument for massive unskilled immigration.''

Camarota cited lack of education as a key problem for Mexican adults arriving in the United States.

``We found that 65 percent of the adults have not finished high school and that most of them only went to school until the eighth grade,'' he said. ``There is no better predictor for economic success in the U.S. than education.''

The report stated that lack of skills and schooling translated into a lifetime of low-paying employment and poverty for many Mexican immigrants. While stressing that Mexican workers posed no threat to middle- and upper-class Americans, it argued that the immigrants are unfairly competing for entry-level jobs with poorer natives, including people being forced off welfare rolls by reform programs.

The report also found that lower incomes meant lower tax payments by immigrants and less support for public schools, welfare, health and other government services used by newcomers. It estimated that 34 percent of legal Mexican immigrant households and 25 percent of undocumented households receive at least one form of welfare.

Camarota estimated the average Mexican immigrant arriving as a young adult would use $55,200 more in government services that he or she would pay in taxes during his or her lifetime.

``Mexican immigration has become a subsidy for employers seeking to exploit cheap labor and U.S. taxpayers are picking up the costs,'' he said.

Pachon accused the CIS of underestimating immigrants' tax contributions, noting that they pay Social Security and sales levies in addition to income tax.

``As far as the schools go, we have found that 90 percent of the children of Latino immigrants are born in the U.S. and thereby have full rights to an education. That's a fact of life,'' Pachon said. ``If you want to change it, you're going to have to change the U.S. Constitution.''

Both Camarota and Pachon agreed that immigrants already in the United States need increased education and job-training opportunities to improve their lot.

``If the feds put a military base in an area, they give impact money to schools for the added enrollment,'' said Camarota. ``The same should be done for areas with large numbers of immigrants.''

George Borjas, a CIS and Harvard University researcher and former adviser to Gov. Pete Wilson, predicted that Mexican immigrants will continue to be economically disadvantaged for decades to come. He also said that, given the ongoing concentration of newcomers in areas like Southern California, there will be less assimilation among Mexicans than has been experienced by previous immigrant groups.

The new report came amid a flurry of activity on immigration legislation.

Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Los Angeles, introduced a measure that would restore Medicaid health care benefits to pregnant immigrant women and children. They were barred from such services under welfare reforms enacted in 1996.

And, Rep. Howard Berman, D-Mission Hills, joined with the United Farm Workers to announce opposition to a Republican plan that Berman claims would make it harder for California's immigrant farm workers to gain legal status.

Berman and the UFW support a plan that would make farm workers eligible for legalization after they work in the United States a total of 360 days over six years. The GOP plan would require 600 days of work over four years.

Berman argued that many would be unable to meet the criteria proposed by the GOP, given the seasonal nature of farm labor and the current surplus of available hands.

MEXICAN IMMIGRANTS AT A GLANCE

In Southern California*:

The total is 2.1 million. That is 45 percent of all foreign-born people in Southern California, or 27 percent of all Mexican immigrants in the United States.

In California:

The total is 3.8 million (the largest of any state - Texas ranks second with 1.5 million). That is 43 percent of all foreign-born individuals in the state, or 48 percent of all Mexican immigrants in the nation.

Some 1.7 million school-age children (ages 5-17) of Mexican immigrants account for 25 percent of the state's school-age population.

In the United States:

The total is 7.9 million (up from 800,000 in 1970) - equal to 4.2 percent of the U.S. population or 28 percent of all immigrants between 1970 to 2000.

About 38 percent are undocumented aliens.

About 65 percent of the adults have not completed high school, compared with 10 percent of natives and 31 percent of all immigrants.

*Counties of Los Angeles, Ventura, Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside; all population figures are as of 2000.

- SOURCES: Center for Immigration Studies; U.S. Census Bureau data

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MEXICAN IMMIGRANTS AT A GLANCE (see text)