Immigrants in the United States: Profiles and Topics of Interest Joy Kreeft Peyton Center for Applied Linguistics Washington, D.C.

Immigration to the U. S. In 2012, nearly 41 million immigrants lived in the US, 13% of the US population Only 1% increase between 2011 and

Top 10 Countries of Origin Mexico India China Philippines El Salvador Vietnam Cuba Korea Dominican Republic Guatemala

Foreign-Born Population Immigrants Refugees Asylees Temporary workers Foreign students Family members Unauthorized entries

Refugees Burma Bhutan Iraq Somalia Cuba Eritrea Iran Democratic Republic of Congo Ethiopia Afghanistan

Asylees China Venezuela Ethiopia Venezuela Egypt Haiti

Top 5 Settlement States California New York Texas Florida New Jersey

Top Languages Spoken at Home Spanish Chinese (Mandarin & Cantonese) Tagalog Vietnamese French Korean German Arabic Russian

Immigration Shifts Among Hispanic/Latino Population Fewer immigrants from Mexico now than in previous years More US-born than native born US-born Hispanics entering adulthood: 800,000 (1 million per year)

Characteristics Median Age Foreign-born, 43 years U.S.-born, 36 years Gender 51% female 49% male Immigration Status 46% naturalized U.S. citizens 54% lawful permanent residents, unauthorized immigrants, legal residents on temporary visas (students, temporary workers)

Education 34 million foreign-born are 25 or older 27% have a bachelor’s degree or higher 32% do not have a high school diploma

Work Immigrants/foreign-born are over 16% of the US civilian workforce 8% unemployed 13% natural resources, construction, maintenance 15% production, transportation, material moving 18% sales & office 26% service 29% management & professional positions

Issues to Consider: Status Immigrants are more likely to participate in the labor force, lack a high school degree, and have incomes below the poverty line than native-born. Immigrants do not use public benefits as much as low-income native-born do.

Issues to Consider: Status Children of immigrant parents Children of unauthorized/undocumented immigrants More than 4.5 million unauthorized immigrants and other removable non-citizens have been deported since Deporter-in-Chief, Releaser-in-Chief, or Reformer-in- Chief? (Migration Policy Institute, April 29, 2014) In the absence of comprehensive immigration reform, we need to set up ways to achieve lawful permanent residence.

Education of Adults in the U.S. Adult Education Act passed in 1966 Since then, increased focus on 21 st century college and job readiness skills in addition to GED and high school diploma Very little talk of globalized citizens/global competency

Topics of Interest Using Program Quality Standards to Evaluate and Improve Programs for Adults Where and how does use of program standards fit into your work? What challenges do you face in the area of program quality standards?

Topics of Interest Working With Key Stakeholders What are the most important knowledge, skills, and dispositions that teachers need? How is this provided in your program?What approaches work best for you?

Topics of Interest: Learner Profiles

Topics of Interest Promoting Learner Interaction What are ways that we can promote learner interaction and engagement? What challenges do we face when we try to do this?

Topics of Interest Promoting Career and Academic Readiness With Emerging Readers What are ways that we can promote learners’ transitions to academic contexts and careers? What resources do we need to do this? What challenges do we experience or foresee?

Let’s continue to talk! Joy Peyton Center for Applied Linguistics