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Immigration from the Middle East and Muslim countries to the U.S. is expected to increase rapidly in the next ten
years
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WASHINGTON,
Aug 17 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Even after the September 11
attacks, nationals from the Middle East and North Africa continue to
immigrate to the United States in droves, with one million more expected
to arrive by 2010.
Basing
its predictions on the theory that U.S. immigration policy would not
tighten in coming years, the study by the Center for Immigration
Studies, a think-tank that generally favors imposing more limits on
immigration to the United States, concluded that by 2010, 2.474 million
immigrants from the Middle East and North Africa would arrive in the
United States compared to 1.47 million in 2000 - up from 192,000 in
1970.
In
a report based on U.S. Census Bureau data timed to coincide with the
one-year anniversary of the attacks that killed more than 3,000, the
center tracked 30 years of immigration from the region where all of
those suspected in the attacks hail from.
Among
the countries whose nationals were included in the study released
Wednesday were Turkey, Israel, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Pakistan, Bangladesh
and Afghanistan.
The
report said Middle Eastern immigrants were highly educated, with 49%
holding at least a bachelor's degree, compared to 28% of natives, with
median earnings for Middle Eastern men at $39,000 a year, compared to
$38,000 for native workers, reports news agencies.
Over
the last 30 years, those communities have multiplied seven-fold from
their 1970 level of 192,000 to 499,000 in 1980 to 817,000 in 1990 -
although global immigration to the United States has only tripled in
that time.
The
center also noted that the figures did not include the 570,000 children
under 18 who were born in the United States and who had at least one
parent born in the Middle East - a number that is to reach 970,000 by
2010.
About
10% (150,000) of the illegal immigrants who enter the United States are
from the region. But many immigrants from the Middle East, from
countries including Iran, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Israel and Turkey are
not Arabs, the study found.
Neither
the wave of arrests and random attacks that swept through Arab- and
Muslim-American communities, nor immigration restrictions imposed by the
U.S. Justice Department have had a “large impact on the total flow of
immigrants from the region over the course of the decade,” said study
author Steven Camarota.
“The
events of Sept. 11 have led to somewhat higher scrutiny for applicants
from that part of the world,” he said. “However, this is unlikely to
have a large impact on the total flow of immigrants from the region
because many individuals have been waiting years to join family members
already here and the political freedoms and economic opportunities in
the United States remain very attractive.”
“The
political freedoms and the economic opportunities in the United States
remain very attractive to a significant share of the world’s
population, including those in the Middle East.”
Immigrants
from that part of the world are likely to seek to influence U.S. foreign
policy – especially in terms of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,
Camarota said.
The
religious leanings of the new wave of immigrants are also likely to
enhance that need for influence, as most of the new would-be U.S.
citizens are Muslim, while in the 1970s, they were predominantly
Christian.
In
1970, just 15% of immigrants from that part of the world were Muslim –
today it is about 75%, Camarota said.
“Muslims
are dissatisfied with U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. They feel
it’s one-sided and as this group grows in size, that could lead to
changes.”
In
October 2001, the U.S. State Department received about 1.5 million
requests from the region to participate in a green card lottery for
resident aliens – although there was a marked drop off in global
applications after the September 11 attacks.
