Immigrant Population

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According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the population of New York City as of April 1, 2000, was 8,008,278, the largest enumerated census population in the city's history. The previous high was in 1970, when the enumerated population stood at 7,894,862. The immigrant population in the United States has flourished over the past few decades and from 1990 to 2006, the number of immigrants rose from 20 million to more than 37 million. (Lyman, p1). A large number being undocumented immigrants who seek all the benefits this country offers. However these same undocumented immigrants place our economy at harm, and place burdens on the societies in which we live today. As of July 1, 2009, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, the population of…show more content…
|Region on Origin |Number in US |Number in NYC | |Total: |31,107,889 |2,871,032 | |Mexico |9,177,487 |122,550 | |Central America |2,026,150 |122,592 | |Caribbean |2,953,066 |856,229 | |South America |1,930,271 |410,048 | |Europe and Canada |5,744,999 |575,558 | |Middle East and Africa |918,625 |86,219 | |South and east Asian |7,567,651 |626,008 | |Other |789,640 |71,828 | Source: Census…show more content…
( Okie, p2). With this fear by immigrants major health concerns arose because in 1996 following the welfare-reform legislation immigrants were restricted Medicaid, which shifted health care responsibility to state and local governments. The reform also put into law for immigrants to wait five years after gaining permanent residency (green card) eligibility for federal benefits. This now creates a definite problem for our city because of the alarming number of potential outbreaks that can occur. It’s also poses a very important question: Who is going to pay for health care expenses created by illegal immigrants? According to South Carolina representative Joe Wilson, “health care of illegal immigrants is not our responsibility”(Chase, p1). It’s the taxpayers who have to foot the cost of this issue, and it’s wrong. Coupled with the fear of state officials exposing their immigration status, a large number of these same immigrants pose other threats to our city in the form of

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