2008 Woodie Awards
Illegal immigrants touch every part of North Carolina
State leaders differ on how to deal
Elise Phillips, Assistant Pulse Editor
Issue date: 5/21/08 Section: News
Almost half a million strong and still growing, the number of illegal immigrants in North Carolina make the state the eighth largest in the country with the most illegal aliens.
The economic and social impact that they have on North Carolina is even more remarkable.
North Carolina has only 3 percent of the country's total illegal immigrants, but they touch every part of the state-school systems, health care systems, job growth-and leaders in the eastern part of the state have taken polar opposite stances about how these immigrants affect legal citizens' daily lives.
The Pew Hispanic Center in Washington, D.C. estimated in a 2006 report that the healthy job market in the U.S. drives large numbers of Hispanics to the country. The job area that benefits most is the construction industry, employing about 40 percent of new immigrants in the country. According to a 2006 article by Raleigh's News & Observer, businesses are the biggest beneficiaries of illegal immigrants and "are the reason unauthorized foreigners are here in the first place."
Several construction companies in the eastern part of the state had no comment for this story. UNC-Chapel Hill researchers told the News & Observer in the same article that Hispanics in the state have led to the creation of approximately 90,000 jobs and $9 million in revenue. Businesses eagerly hire these illegal immigrants for a number of reasons. The most obvious one? Cheap labor.
Jeff Popke, associate professor in the Department of Geography at East Carolina University, says that most immigrants here illegally end up working in low-paying jobs.
"Many immigrants do end up in relatively low-wage sectors of the economy, such as agriculture, construction, agro-processing and the service sector," he said. "At the same time, maquiladora factories have proliferated, so that American companies [and our standard of living] can benefit from cheap Mexican labor."
Maquiladora factories are those (mostly along the U.S.-Mexican border) that are U.S.-owned, but employ Mexicans cheaply to resell goods (like clothing) in the U.S. The construction and hospitality industries also help illegal immigrants to assimilate themselves into American life more easily because little communication is required for the jobs, which is a plus for those immigrants who don't speak English.
The economic and social impact that they have on North Carolina is even more remarkable.
North Carolina has only 3 percent of the country's total illegal immigrants, but they touch every part of the state-school systems, health care systems, job growth-and leaders in the eastern part of the state have taken polar opposite stances about how these immigrants affect legal citizens' daily lives.
The Pew Hispanic Center in Washington, D.C. estimated in a 2006 report that the healthy job market in the U.S. drives large numbers of Hispanics to the country. The job area that benefits most is the construction industry, employing about 40 percent of new immigrants in the country. According to a 2006 article by Raleigh's News & Observer, businesses are the biggest beneficiaries of illegal immigrants and "are the reason unauthorized foreigners are here in the first place."
Several construction companies in the eastern part of the state had no comment for this story. UNC-Chapel Hill researchers told the News & Observer in the same article that Hispanics in the state have led to the creation of approximately 90,000 jobs and $9 million in revenue. Businesses eagerly hire these illegal immigrants for a number of reasons. The most obvious one? Cheap labor.
Jeff Popke, associate professor in the Department of Geography at East Carolina University, says that most immigrants here illegally end up working in low-paying jobs.
"Many immigrants do end up in relatively low-wage sectors of the economy, such as agriculture, construction, agro-processing and the service sector," he said. "At the same time, maquiladora factories have proliferated, so that American companies [and our standard of living] can benefit from cheap Mexican labor."
Maquiladora factories are those (mostly along the U.S.-Mexican border) that are U.S.-owned, but employ Mexicans cheaply to resell goods (like clothing) in the U.S. The construction and hospitality industries also help illegal immigrants to assimilate themselves into American life more easily because little communication is required for the jobs, which is a plus for those immigrants who don't speak English.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
adelcio
posted 5/21/08 @ 10:30 PM EST
I appreciate Ms. Phillips interest in such a complex issue like immigration policy. However, I see a clear unbalanced view that portrays Latino immigrants and in particular those undocumented as an undue burden to NC systems. (Continued…)
Liz
posted 5/26/08 @ 3:07 PM EST
I think someone best said what all of America thinks, "America=Not yours. Mexico=Yours. Go back to Mexico."
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