Poverty stalks immigrants

"Legal, unskilled immigrants use a lot of welfare and also have very high rates of poverty," Camarota said. "That's one of the big problems; that's why legalization doesn't solve anything."

The CIS report, based on the U.S. Census Bureau's March, 2005, Current Population Study, found that 62 percent of illegal immigrants and their children lived at or near poverty levels, compared to 55 percent of unskilled legal immigrants and 29 percent of U.S.-born individuals.

It said 28.6 percent of immigrant-headed households use a major welfare program, compared to 18.2 percent of native-born-citizen headed households. The report found that 29.3 percent of immigrants and their children were uninsured, compared to 13.2 percent of U.S.-born citizens.

The report also looked at occupational distribution. It found farming, fishing and forestry; construction and extraction; and building cleaning and maintenance; all had U.S.-born unemployment rates ranging from 10 to 13 percent in March, but saw gains in immigrant employment.

An estimated 644,000 immigrants who arrived since 2000 worked in construction or extraction in March, the report said. Meanwhile, some 809,000 U.S.-born workers in the industry reported being unemployed.

Camarota said the data calls into question the argument that American workers don't want the jobs immigrants are taking.

However, John Gay, the National Restaurant Association's senior vice president for government affairs and public policy, said overall unemployment is relatively low, at 5 percent in November, and the economy is strengthening.

"What we've seen over the past decade is a market response as (American) workers move up to higher-end jobs, and there are more openings on the lower end," he said. "That's a good trend."

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E-mail: dbulkeley@desnews.com