Southern Fairfax County has had such dramatic growth in its immigrant populations that a new organization called Progreso Hispano was formed three years ago to offer English classes, legal help and advocacy for legal and illegal immigrants who otherwise had to travel to Arlington County.
"There's a lot of fraud going on, and they [undocumented immigrants] are being taken advantage of," said Progreso Hispano's executive director, Lupe Hittle-Durante. "There are companies that say they will help with people applying for residency, and they take these people's money and nothing happens as a result."
Juanita Chan, left, conducts an English course for immigrants offered by the Chinatown Service Center at Mount Vernon United Methodist Church.
(Bill O'leary -- The Washington Post)
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Nationally, immigration growth may have dropped slightly since 2002, according to Passel and University of Michigan demographer William H. Frey. Passel said his numbers indicate that immigration peaked in the late 1990s through 2002, then receded to the sizable levels of the mid-1990s, when "a bit over a million" people a year arrived. Those who come on temporary visas, such as short-term work permits, account for a disproportionate share of the decline, he said. "Overall, I'd say there is a downward pull for immigrants since 2002, due to both post-9/11 enforcement and fewer available jobs, a double-barreled effect," said Frey, who did his own analysis of census figures.
Camarota, who argues that immigration once was linked to the business cycle but no longer appears to be, said what is "still striking is you did not see the big fall-off that you might have expected given September 11 and immigrant unemployment," which rose since then. "It's still been a heck of a lot of people who came just since 2000," he said.
Analysts say that because most legal immigrants come to the United States on family visas, they are not likely to stay home because of economic troubles here. "I don't think the increases are surprising given family and social networks across borders," said Audrey Singer, immigration fellow at the Brookings Institution.
Tighter border controls also might be keeping some immigrants in the United States who do not want to risk going home and trying to return later, analysts say.
The Washington-Baltimore area remains a strong center of immigration, attracting both new immigrants and foreign-born residents who relocate from other urban areas. The region draws many well-off immigrants, but controversies have erupted in several communities -- lately, Prince William County -- over groups of day laborers waiting for work.
Enrollment in English classes is brimming at the Chinatown Service Center in the District, where Juanita Chan's Sunday afternoon class practiced pronunciation drills in an upstairs classroom at Mount Vernon United Methodist Church. Most are here legally, sponsored by relatives or employers.
One student, Cui Bao Zhen, 28, came from Guangdong Province in southern China last year with her 5-year-old daughter and her husband, a chef. Speaking through a translator, she said that among the reasons she likes living here is that she does not have to pay school fees for her daughter, as she would in China.
Hong Jun Xu, 28, moved to Chinatown in April from the same province, with his wife and 7-year-old son. He arrived on a permanent work visa as a chef and hopes to save enough money to move his family to the suburbs. What he appreciates most about living in the United States, he said through a translator, is "more freedom."
He does not have much time to practice English, but he said he knows that it is his ticket to success. "If I know English," he said, "I can do a lot of things."
Staff writer Mary Beth Sheridan contributed to this report.
