The Integration of Immigrants and Their Families in Maryland: A ...

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Demographic and Socioeconomic characteristics of Children of Immigrants in MarylandImplications. Children of immigrants in Maryland overall do as well as or better than children of nativesdo on indicators of poverty, family income, and home ownership. In addition, children of immigrants areless likely than children of natives to use public benefits, including food stamps and TANF. As expected, theimmigrant groups with the highest educational attainment and English skills—children with European,Middle Eastern, and South Asian parents—fare the best on these economic indicators. Children with parentsfrom Southeast Asia, East Asia and the Pacific, and South America also fare well despite having LEP parents.Children with parents from Mexico and South America, and, to a lesser extent, African parents, are morelikely than children from other immigrant groups to be in low-income families. Factors associated with lowerfamily incomes include having parents that are recent immigrants, LEP, or that have less formal education. Inthe case of children with parents of African origin, single parenthood, as well as underemployment (despitehigh skills and generally high English proficiency), leads to lower incomes for their families.It is encouraging to note that immigrant family incomes rise with U.S. residency, education, and languageskills. This outcome suggests that adult education, language, and job skills training for immigrant parents canhelp raise family incomes and improve economic prospects.Family and work supports that increase parental employment and raise incomes may be especially importantfor low-income immigrant families with children. The 1996 welfare reform law imposed restrictions onimmigrants’ eligibility for federal public benefits, which led to dramatic decreases in public benefits use amongimmigrants, even though some restrictions were subsequently lifted and citizen children remained eligible forall programs (Fix and Passel 2002; Henderson et al. 2008; Shields and Behrman 2004). In some states, stateand local governments have stepped in to fill the need to varying degrees (Fix and Passel 2002; Broder 2007).Moreover, many immigrant parents are still afraid or reluctant to apply for public benefits, so improvementsin outreach and access to TANF, SNAP, Medicaid, and other programs are still needed.Given that immigrant families, including low-income families, have high levels of work effort, policies thataim to increase employment might not be sufficient. Programs that improve access to affordable child care,provide better public transportation and access to driver’s licenses, and help parents obtain better paying jobswith employer-provided benefits and stable work schedules, are also needed.38Children of Immigrants and Families in Maryland
Immigration and Maryland’s Public SchoolsImmigration and Maryland’s Public SchoolsImmigration Is Driving Diversity of Public School PopulationImmigration is driving the growth in Maryland’s child population, and this trend is likely to continue in thefuture, as the fastest growth has been among the youngest children. In Maryland and in the nation as a whole,young children of immigrants were overrepresented among the child population: 24 percent of children age 0to 2 and 20 percent of children age 3 to 5 had immigrant parents, in comparison to 19 percent of children overall.19 Between 1990 and 2006, the number of young children (age 0 to 5) with immigrant parents increasedthe most, by 127 percent (figure 20). In sharp contrast, the number of young children of natives declined by10 percent. The number of young children overall increased by 4 percent, and there would have been a netdrop without births to immigrant parents. The number of children of immigrants of all ages grew by 110 percent,accounting for two thirds of the total growth in the child population in the state of 17 percent. Similarly,the number of all school-age children (3 to 17) in Maryland increased by 20 percent between 1990 and 2006,and children of immigrants accounted for half (53 percent) of that growth.Figure 20. Percent Growth in Number of Children, by Age Group, Maryland, 1990 to 2006140%127%Children of nativesChildren of immigrantsAll children120%100%110%103%96%Percent Growth80%60%40%34%41%20%17%15%6%4%5%0%-20%-10%Overall Age 0 to 5 Age 6 to 12 Age 13 to 17Source: Urban Institute tabulations from the IPUMS datasets from the 1990 U.S. Census of Population and Housing, 5 percent sample, and the 2005and 2006 American Community Survey.19The 2006 shares for older children were 18 percent for children age 6 to 12 and 16 percent for children age 13 to 17.Children of Immigrants and Families in Maryland 39
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