Immigrant kids under cloud

Immigrant children in Utah are growing in number, but fewer than some people think are here with undocumented parents. And many are suffering financially and have less opportunity because of continuing ill will toward Mexican immigrants, legal or not.

Those are a few of the conclusions of a recent report by Voices for Utah Children, the child policy and advocacy group. Although immigration seems to be on everyone's mind these days, children's issues are usually well in the background in newspapers and other public accounts, said report author Terry Haven.

The report looks at all types of demographic data and the implications on government policy the findings might have. It also reviews the impact of Utah's new immigration reform law and the effect on children of recent roundups of illegal immigrants at area businesses.

"We don't have a clear picture at all for what life is like for these kids, so we decided to find out," Haven said.

Since 2003, the number of immigrant families has risen to 132,000 from 93,000, or to 16 percent of the total Utah population from 13 percent, a Voices for Utah Children survey of immigrant families shows.

Turns out they are more likely to live in two-parent households than other kids, the survey said. They also are less likely to live in mother-only households, their mother is likely to work outside the home, and they don't tend to be enrolled in formal pre-school programs.

Despite stereotypes that their parents only speak Spanish, more than half — 57 percent — of children in immigrant families speak English exclusively or very well, according to the report.

English fluency has widespread effects on the lives of kids and their potential in the future, Haven said. The more fluent a parent is, the more wages they earn, the report states, noting that a person's level of English fluency has a direct connection to how engaged a family is in its wider community.

Those who aren't fluent are more likely to avoid contact with their wider community in a number of ways, believing that the less they have to do with the outside, the less hassle they will have from government agencies.

Fluency has implications in very real ways, Haven said. "The concern today is that this anti-immigration sentiment keeps children who are born here at a distance and at a disadvantage simply because their parents are immigrants."

Any interaction with public and private agencies, such as insurance companies and banks, is pretty much avoided, Haven said. Hence, almost two-thirds of immigrant families do not have employer-provided medical insurance.