Immigration Statistics A Story of Neglect (1985) / Chapter Skim
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5 Other Government Sources of Information on Immigration
5 Other Government Sources of Information on Immigration
Pages 74-100
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From page 74... ...
In fact, the State Department issues two-thirds of all immigrant visas abroad; the remaining one-third go to nonimmigrants and refugees in the United States who adjust to permanent resident status through the INS. Given the current laws and regulations, the Bureau of Consular Affairs exercises enormous discretion in determining who is eligible to receive a visa -- as either visitor or immigrant .
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From page 75... ...
Reports are prepared at scheduled dates each year showing immigrant visa applications and persons waiting for visas by preference category, foreign state of chargeability, class of visa, and determination (granted or denied) and showing nonimmigrant visa applications by class of visa and outcome.
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From page 76... ...
need the approval of the Division of Foreign Labor Certifications. A total of 54,000 immigrant visa numbers are allotted for the occupational preferences: 27,000 for the third preference category, which includes members of the professions or persons of exceptional ability in the sciences and arts and their families; and 27,000 for the sixth preference category, which includes skilled and unskilled workers in short supply and their families.
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From page 77... ...
The Division of Foreign Labor Certifications is relatively small, having a national office staff of approximately 15, 11 of whom are manpower development specialists. However, more personnel are involved in the labor certification program, since applications are processed in approximately 1,900 local offices of state employment service agencies.
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From page 78... ...
From 1976 to 1981 approximately nine dif fe rent tabulations were prepared on labor certifications for immigrants. These tabulations included certifications by sex, age, country of birth, intended state of residence, etc.
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From page 79... ...
Since 1978 this office has carried out a special targeted enforcement program of the Fair Labor Standards Act aimed at employers of undocumented workers. Compliance with minimum wage and hour laws reduces the economic incentive for employers to hire illegal aliens.
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From page 80... ...
In carrying out its third role -- monitoring grants to voluntary agencies to provide reception and placement services -- the Bureau of Refugee Programs requires that case files be maintained by voluntary agencies on the services they provide to refugees. These files also contain biographical and other information that is needed to determine what services should be provided.
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From page 81... ...
S DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE Although not involved in the administration of programs or the implementation of public policy dealing with immigration, the Census Bureau, in carrying out its mandate to produce high-quality statistical data, has a need for and itself produces a wealth of information on
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From page 82... ...
In contrast, the Census Bureau defines as immigrants all noncitizens resident in the United States, except temporary visitors and foreign embassy employees who live on embassy grounds. The Census Bureau includes foreign students, temporary workers, refugees, and even illegal aliens as usual residents in its censuses and surveys.
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From page 83... ...
As with all such data, those from decennial censuses are subject to various types of errors, including incomplete coverage of the population, errors in reporting, and, in the case of data from a sample of the population, sampling errors. A discussion of the errors and their effects on the results are generally found in the reports presenting the data as well as in separate evaluation reports issued by the Census Bureau.
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From page 84... ...
More extensive data are published for all foreign-born and for recent immigrants in a table that shows race, Spanish origin, age, and sex as well as more detailed country listings for year of immigration and
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From page 85... ...
In addition, the Census Bureau plans to prepare a special report on the foreign-born population, and various computer tape files and special tabulations that provide substantially greater detail will be available. For example, a separate micro-file containing only the records of households containing at least one foreign-born member has been used to produce special tabulations on the characteristics of immigrants, by country of birth.
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From page 86... ...
Until now the Census Bureau has also not included any allowance for net illegal immigration in preparing its population estimates and projections; however, it is currently reviewing its approach (see below)
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From page 87... ...
In addition, such information is an essential element in improving the accuracy of postcensal population estimates. The immigration figures used in the Census Bureau's programs of current population estimates and projections have not included a specific allowance for net illegal immigration, since illegal immigrants are not included in the data compiled by INS, and it has not been possible to get satisfactory estimates elsewhere.
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From page 88... ...
The object of the program is to produce statistics on international arrivals and departures by air, excluding those between the United States and Canada. The data are intended for use by transportation policy planners and analysts, primarily in international negotiations over carrier market shares, but they also can be used for balance of payments estimates, estimates of net migration to the United States by air, and studies of tourism.
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From page 89... ...
citizens by port of origin or destination was then obtained by subtraction; failure to turn in I-94s on departure would therefore inflate the number of departing citizens and reduce the number of departing aliens. The INS changes affect this procedure in three ways: the I-92 no longer records total passengers by port, the I-94s no longer record port for noncitizens, and I-94s are not required of permanent resident aliens or arriving permanent immigrants.
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From page 90... ...
However, net arrivals as a proportion of total traffic are almost twice as high for the TSC data as for either the IATA or airport data, the differences being accounted for by very high TSC net arrival rates for charter flights. Vining suggests that the discrepancy arises from the failure by some departing charter flights to complete I-92 forms, thus underreporting total departures by air, but argues that the consistency between the three data sources in other respects supports the reliability of the TSC data at least for scheduled flights.
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From page 91... ...
Alternatively, the I-94 form could be modified to collect information on port of boarding or destination, with airline personnel recording total passengers by port, and the original system could be continued. It might not be necessary to return to requiring permanent residents to complete I-94s, since for most purposes a division of traffic into two categories -- citizens plus permanent residents and other aliens -- would be closer to what analysts want (a residence classification)
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From page 92... ...
The questionnaires are distributed by airline personnel at the beginning of the flight and collected before disembarkation. Statistics are generated from the responses by using additional information from the TSC data on international departures by air derived from I-92 forms.
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From page 93... ...
The exact match study also illustrates the important role of SSA administrative data sets in efforts to link components of the federal statistical system. Several indicators of migration status are maintained in the micro-data files supporting the administration of social security programs; as a result, these files have substantial inherent potential for analyses of immigrant populations.
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From page 94... ...
District offices of SSA do in fact produce monthly tabulations of applicants for social security numbers by citizenship status, race, and age. The potential of the SSA system to generate policy-relevant analyses of populations of international migrants has already been demonstrated through the exact match study and the various projects concerning the characteristics of specific refugee groups covered in SSA programs.
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From page 95... ...
immigration. Recommendations The panel recommends that the Social Security Administration: 0 Incorporate data on country of birth and, when possible, citizenship and visa status into its series of tabulations on workers and beneficiaries; 0 Develop a program of special tabulations to be available on a cost-reimbursable basis to support analyses of the economic and social integration of immigrant groups; 0 Develop appropriate mechanisms for evaluating and, if necessary, Improving the quality of data on country of birth and legal residence status that are captured in its statistical systems; o Explore with the Statistical Policy Office of the U.S.
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From page 96... ...
However, place of birth is coded as described above in the first three of these files, so use of the information on nativity is quite limited. The vital registration system of the United States does have the potential of producing annual tallies of most vital events occurring to aliens living in the country, and infest ion on vital events occurring to immigrants has substantial potential for studies and policy on immigrat ion.
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From page 97... ...
As a potential source of information about immigration, the Customs Service form 6059B has some important similarities and some important dissimilarities to the INS I-94; some are positive features, some negative. Unlike the I-94, the customs form is filled in regardless of citizenship or residence and thus could provide information about numbers of returning citizens.
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From page 98... ...
The 60598 is completed by all heads of family groups, the I-94 by all aliens except permanent residents. A single form ful fit ling both purposes could be required for all arriving passengers without any great increase in the paperwork burden on passengers, and the machine processing of the information by the new nonimmigrant information system would surely offer advantages to the Customs Service for checking on the movements of individuals under surveillance, as well as offering the potential for recording accurately, with characteristics of statistical interest such as age and country of residence, the numbers of people entering the United States through air and sea ports of entry.
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From page 99... ...
Certainly, each agency must be responsible for its own activities, but OMB, given its position in the executive office of the President, has an overriding ability and responsibility to act as a catalyst and to initiate the process leading to significant improvements in the data base. The panel thus strongly recommends that the director of the Office of Management and Budget: o Ensure that OMB exercises its responsibilities to monitor and review statistical activities and budgets concerning immigration statistics, particularly those of the INS, to minimize duplication and make sure that appropriate procedures are used, standards met, and priorities observed in the collection, production, and publication of such data; o Require and establish the mechanisms for continuing interagency coordination in the field of immigration data; participate in discussions designed to achieve consistency and comparability in concepts and definitions used by the relevant agencies in the collection of such information; and oversee the introduction and use of standardized approaches; 0 Actively encourage and monitor the timely publication and dissemination of immigration data; and 0 Actively encourage and support the preparation and release of micro-level public-use tapes conforming to the requirements of the Privacy Act and accompanied by adequate documentation, for use by researchers.
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From page 100... ...
1983 Estimates of Illegal Aliens from Mexico Counted in the 1980 United States Census. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
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