Census report spurs call for new Prop. 187: IMMIGRANTS: The number of undocumented residents nationwide is put at 8.7 million.

Sharyn Obsatz
The Press-Enterprise
January 24, 2002

A newly posted U.S. Census Bureau report estimating the 2000 "unauthorized and quasi-legal" immigrant population at 8.7 million has generated mixed reaction from Inland immigrant advocates and illegal immigration opponents.

The report, posted on the Internet this month, estimates that 3.9 million of the undocumented or "quasi-legal" immigrants come from Mexico, while nearly 115,000 come from the Middle East.

Local opponents of illegal immigration said the estimates show that better border and visa controls are needed. They hope to rally support for the "Homeland Security Initiative," a revised version of California's Prop. 187, aimed at discouraging illegal immigration by barring access to public benefits and driver licenses. Many of Prop. 187's provisions were ruled unconstitutional.

Economic benefits

But immigrant advocates say the estimates demonstrate that undocumented immigrants are integral to the local and national economy.

The census report's 8.7 million estimate includes about 1.7 million people categorized as "quasi-legal," according to report coauthor Joe Costanzo. He said this category includes people who have applied for asylum or refugee status or who were granted "temporary protected status" by the U.S. government because their home countries have been hit by earthquakes, hurricanes or other disasters.

The Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington-based organization opposed to illegal immigration, alerted the media to the estimates and said they point to important security breaches in light of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Background worries

Linda Reno, a Fontana grandmother, said she worries about undocumented immigrants who come here without the sponsors or background checks required of those who immigrate legally.

"It's scary to me. You don't know anything about their background," Reno said. "I was worried before Sept. 11. Now it really comes home."

She said too many newcomers are arriving too quickly, overcrowding the schools and failing to assimilate.

Reno recalls feeling bad for her granddaughter, now 6, who came home from kindergarten convinced she was stupid compared to her classmates. Reno remembers her saying, "Grandma, I'm not very smart, am I? I can't speak Spanish."

Immigrant advocates such as Ruben Martinez, however, said the numbers show that undocumented immigrants are vital to the country.

"If we didn't have these people, you wouldn't have any fruits and vegetables at your grocery store, (no one) washing your cars, digging ditches, washing dishes at restaurants," said Martinez, an outreach worker and spokesman for the San Bernardino immigration-assistance organization Libreria del Pueblo.

Unfairness claimed

Immigrant advocates said opponents are unfairly generalizing about undocumented immigrants after Sept. 11 based on the three Middle Eastern hijackers who were in the country illegally.

Martinez said his clients, mainly Latin American and African immigrants, "are not here hurting the country, they're working. They're not here on welfare, they're paying taxes . . . doing whatever possible to legalize their status."

Faiq A. Bokhari, a Corona-based immigration specialist who emigrated from Pakistan, says the census estimates for undocumented Middle Eastern immigrants are too high.

Bokhari said Middle Easterners are being singled out for enforcement, including students here on legal visas.

"When you close the border to certain communities, that closes (off) the business with those communities as well," he said.

The most recent INS population report, from 1996, estimated 2 million undocumented immigrants living in California. INS spokesman Bill Strassberger said updated estimates are in the works.

Number called larger

Riverside resident Larry Brown, an opponent of illegal immigration, said the U.S. government deliberately underestimates the number of undocumented immigrants.

"They're embarrassed by the numbers, the fact that they're not doing the job," said Brown, who estimates the undocumented immigrant population at 11 million to 13 million.

Brown is a member of the California Coalition for Immigration Reform, which is gauging public support for a new ballot initiative that would restore many of the provisions of the controversial 1994 state Prop. 187.

About 70 percent of voters in Riverside and San Bernardino counties voted for Prop. 187.

Barbara Coe, chairwoman of the California Coalition for Immigration Reform, said several constitutional attorneys have declared the new proposal legally sound. She said the group is still deciding whether and when to put the new initiative on the state ballot.