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Pro Bono Digest: City-Planning Report: "The Newest New Yorkers 2000"

New York Lawyer
September 2, 2005

By William J. Dean

City of the world! (for all races are here,
All the lands of the earth make contributions here) . . .

These words of Walt Whitman, written a hundred years ago, seem especially prophetic after reading the New York City Department of City Planning report, "The Newest New Yorkers 2000: Immigrant New York in the New Millennium." (The authors of the report are Arun Peter Lobo and Joseph J. Salvo of the department's population division.)

A Treasure of Information

The report contains a treasure trove of information for lawyers who perform pro bono work on behalf of poor people living in the city. Foreign-born New Yorkers are more likely than not to be poor and are more likely than not to have civil legal needs.

Between 1970 and 2000, the total foreign-born population in New York City nearly doubled, from 1.44 million to 2.87 million. (The report does not attempt to determine the number of illegal immigrants in the city.) Forty-three percent of these arrivals came to the United States in the 1990s. At 2,871,032, the 2000 foreign-born population was a record high, constituting 35.9 percent of the city's total population of 8,008,278. (Writing in The New York Times, Nina Bernstein points out that "A century ago, when immigrants from southern and eastern Europe poured through Ellis Island, the foreign-born made up more than 40 percent of the city's population -- 80 percent when their American-born children were counted, too. But the city's total population was then only 4.7 million.")

Today, people from 190 lands live in our city. Over the past three decades, the arrival of immigrants has had an enormous impact on New York.

The Department of City Planning report states:

In recent decades, given the high level of out-migration from New York, immigrant flows have mitigated catastrophic population losses in the 1970s, stabilized the city's population in the 1980s, and helped the city reach a new population peak of over 8 million in 2000.

Thus, in the 1970s, while about two million people left New York City, 783,000 immigrants arrived to live in the city. In the 1980s, 865,000 immigrants arrived in the city, and in the 1990s, 1.14 million immigrants arrived.

"Most U.S. cities in the Northeast and Midwest," the report points out, "saw their era of peak population in 1950, after which many experienced large declines associated with suburbanization and economic changes that resulted in central city job losses. While New York also experienced declines as a result of these forces, its status as a magnet for immigrants allowed it to overcome these problems . . . ."

The city's population continued to rise during the period of 2000 through 2003. Outflows of 475,000 were offset by a net gain of 339,000 persons through international migration and natural increase of over 200,000.

Concerning births in the city, the report states that "Immigration has also had an indirect effect on the city's population growth by way of immigrant fertility, with foreign-born mothers accounting for over one-half of all births in the city. Overall, immigrants and their U.S.-born offspring account for approximately 55 percent of the city's population."

Latin America Is Largest 'Area of Origin'

By 2000, Latin America was the largest area of origin, accounting for nearly 32 percent of the city's foreign-born, followed by Asia at 24 percent; the non-Hispanic Caribbean (Jamaica, Guyana, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago) at 21 percent; Europe at 19 percent, and Africa at 3 percent.

The Dominican Republic is the largest source of the foreign-born arrivals, numbering 369,186, or 12.9 percent of the total, followed by China (261,551), Jamaica (178,922), Guyana (130,647), and Mexico (122,550). Ecuador, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago, Colombia and Russia round out the city's 10 largest sources of foreign-born arrivals.

In the 1990s, the fastest-growing foreign-born populations in the city by country were Bangladesh, Mexico, Pakistan, Ecuador, Honduras, Guyana, India, Dominican Republic, China and Trinidad and Tobago.

The foreign-born population percentage for the city of 35.9 percent contrasts with the foreign-born population percentage for the United States of 11.1 percent. Yet immigration flows to the country as a whole have increased even faster than to the city over the past three decades. "As a result," states the report, "New York City's foreign-born, who comprised 15 percent of the nation's foreign-born in 1970, accounted for just over nine percent in 2000. Moreover, the origins of the nation's foreign-born were different, with a heavy representation of Latin Americans and Asians. Mexico was the nation's largest source country, followed by four Asian countries — China, Philippines, India and Vietnam."

Some examples of these differences: In 2000, the city was home to only 1.3 percent of Mexicans in the United States, while being home to 53.7 percent of all Dominicans in the country; 61.9 percent of all persons from Guyana and 45 percent of all persons from Bangladesh.

In the 1990s, the granting of refugee visas tripled to 14,100 annually, primarily due to the major increase in refugees from the former Soviet Union. Over eight-in-10 of these refugees came from Ukraine, Russia, Uzbekistan, Belarus and other former Soviet republics.

Queens, with a foreign-born population of over a million, constituting 46.1 percent of the borough's residents, has become the city's principal home to foreign-born residents. About 37.8 percent of Brooklyn residents are foreign-born; 29.4 percent of Manhattan residents; 29 percent of Bronx residents; and 16.4 percent of Staten Island residents.

Neighborhoods

Neighborhoods have been very much impacted by the new arrivals. Almost 54 percent of residents in Washington Heights are foreign-born, most being Dominicans; 63 percent of residents in Flushing are foreign-born, most being Chinese; 70 percent of residents in Elmhurst are foreign-born, most also being Chinese; and 57.3 percent of residents in Richmond Hill are foreign-born, most being from Guyana.

Among other neighborhoods experiencing large increases in their foreign-born populations are Flatlands-Canarsie (non-Hispanic Caribbean groups) and Gravesend- Homecrest (Chinese, Ukrainians and Russians).

Chapter 6 of the report provides a socio-demographic profile of the foreign-born in New York City and "the level of distress" that these residents experience.

Twenty-five percent of the foreign-born live in over-crowded housing. For Dominicans, the number is 38 percent; for Chinese, 34.2 percent; and for Mexicans, 66.1 percent.

Percentages for foreign-born who are not proficient in English are: Dominicans, 70 percent; Chinese, 74.6 percent; and Mexican, 76.2 percent.

Percentages for foreign-born residents living in poverty are: Dominicans, 30.9 percent; Chinese, 21.7 percent; and Mexicans, 32 percent.

Immigrants comprised 43 percent of all city residents in the labor force in 2000. The labor force participation rates for foreign-born males ages 16 and over are: Dominicans, 60.6 percent; Chinese, 66 percent; and Mexican, 72.2 percent. For females: Dominican, 46.4 percent; Chinese, 52.8 percent; and Mexican, 39.7 percent.

The mean annual earnings for foreign-born males ages 16 and over working full-time are: for Dominicans, $25,746; for Chinese $31,799; and for Mexicans, $21,284. For females: Dominicans, $21,342; for Chinese, $28,278; and for Mexicans, $16,737.

The report points out that, "Newly arrived immigrants often accept lower-level jobs than they may have held in their home countries, and their earnings tend to be below the city average. But after acquiring experiences in the U.S. labor market and becoming more proficient in English, earnings tend to increase . . . ."

Pro Bono's Context

Pro bono activity does not occur in a vacuum. New York City is the setting for our work. As lawyers, we need to be aware of the dramatic changes occurring in our ever-changing city. We need especially to be aware of the needs of the city's poor residents, both native-born and foreign-born, whom we seek to serve through pro bono work.

In a world beset with religious and racial conflicts, it is heartening to learn that in Far Rockaway, for example, Salvadorans, Guatemalans, Russians, Ukrainians, Haitians, Israelis, Nigerians and Jamaicans live in peace together. We New Yorkers have every right to be proud of our city!

William J. Dean is executive director of Volunteers of Legal Service.