by James R. Edwards, Jr.

cross the nation, many Americans are finding the stability of their communities challenged by waves of new immigrants, and making the adjustment can be daunting. In Dodge City, Kansas, for example, immigrants have flooded in and taken jobs in the meat-packing industry. Much of this growth has occurred within the past fifteen years, putting pressure on the local school system, municipal services, and social service providers. In the lower grades, more than half the student population consists of immigrant children.

Dodge City's experience is not isolated. Employers in many parts of the country, including the Midwest, the Rocky Mountain states, and the South, are actually recruiting foreign labor. In fact, census figures show that the number of Asians and Pacific Islanders in the South increased by 45 percent between 1990 and 1996, and USA Today has reported that "pockets of the South are becoming as racially mixed as Los Angeles."

These trends mean that more American communities will face the challenges-economic and cultural- that places like New York City and Los Angeles have faced for years. In fiscal year 1996, more than 900,000 immigrants received legal permanent resident status, and an estimated 300,000 more entered illegally. With immigration levels reaching new highs, addressing immigration will become a more salient issue. America's economic and cultural future is closely tied to the immigration debate, and today's immigration policy bears a direct impact on what the nation will be like tomorrow. 

Education Deficiencies

In 1965, Congress replaced the national-origins quota system for distributing immigrant visas with one based on reunifying families and recognizing employment skills. Although well-intended, the 1965 Immigration Act has led to the importation of legions of unskilled and uneducated immigrants while the demand for skills and education in our economy has risen. Two-thirds of all immigrants are admitted under the family category, and only 20 percent enter as employment-based immigrants. The remainder are primarily refugees and asylum-seekers.

These figures the government releases do not give the full picture. The numbers of skilled immigrants listed as entering are skewed because family members of employment-based immigrants are counted in that category. In reality, employment-based family members, family-based immigrants, and refugees-approximately 87 percent of all current immigrants-gain admission to the United States without any consideration of their education or job skills. 

Educationally, some of today's immigrants surpass most native-born Americans,  but most lag behind. Roughly one-fourth of all recent immigrants have a college degree-which is approximately equal to the rate among native-borns-but more than two out of five are high-school dropouts. This number dwarfs the native-born high- school dropout rate of 15 percent. And nearly 20 percent of legal immigrants have less than nine years of education-twice the rate among Americans who were born in the United States. 

In short, current immigration policies cause the United States to admit a largely unskilled, uneducated group in large numbers. But in our economy, success depends on skills, education, and English literacy, qualities our immigration policy does not encourage. 

Projected Impact

Should current immigration trends continue, they will have a marked impact on America's future, both economically and culturally. There is general agreement that immigration creates both economic winners and losers, and that the benefit to the nation as a whole is modest. The National Academy of Sciences, in its 1997 report The New Americans, concluded that immigration raises nati

James Edwards, Jr. is an Adjunct Fellow with Hudson Institute.

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