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About 67 percent of native-born US heads of households owned their homes in 2000, while 47 percent of immigrant-headed households were homeowners. The gap in homeownership rates was rising, from 15 percent in 1990 to 20 percent in 2000- 40 percent of Hispanic households were homeowners in 2002, compared with a 55 percent homeownership rate for the county as a whole.

There are several reasons why the immigrant homeownership rate is lower, including lower levels of education and income, a concentration in cities where housing prices are high, and a combination of remittances and a desire to return home, which reduces savings and the desire to invest in US housing. Many immigrants live in very large households -- those with at least seven people. In many cities, a maximum of four or five unrelated adults may share a house.

Franklin Raines, CEO of Fannie Mae, noted that 1.6 million new homes were built in 2001, and that 74 percent of white households, and 48 percent of non-white households, own or are buying homes. Fannie Mae has made an "American Dream Commitment" to lend $2 trillion to encourage home ownership for 18 million targeted households by 2010.

Many low-income immigrants rent apartments, and finding rental apartments for large families, common among immigrants, is a challenge. Only seven percent of the nearly 16 million US apartments have three or more bedrooms, largely because 75 percent of apartment renters are singles or couples. Large immigrant families in areas with apartments often cannot afford to rent houses, so they compete for the limited number of larger apartments. Overcrowding, defined as more than one occupant per room, is found in about 30 percent of Los Angeles area housing.

Crime in the US fell sharply in the 1990s, a result of sustained economic expansion and policing strategies that combined tough enforcement with efforts to improve community relations. Overall, there were 28 victims of violent crime for each 1,000 Latinos age 12 or older in 2000, compared with 27 among whites and 34 among blacks.

California-Education. California has an $80 billion general fund budget, and education absorbs 40 percent or $32 billion of the budget, as required by Proposition 98, approved in 1988-it requires the state to spend at least 40 percent of its general fund budget on K-12 education. Facing a $15 billion budget deficit in 2002-03, the governor has said that the Proposition 98 guarantee may have to be suspended. California has an average drop-out rate of 11 percent, defined as the percentage of high school students who missed classes for at least 45 consecutive school days. However, about 30 percent of those who start the ninth grade do not graduate, which state officials attribute to students leaving the state as well as dropping out of school.

Proposition 227 curtailed bilingual education in California after 1998, and the first results of the California English Language Development Test, given in 2001, were released in April 2002. They showed that 24 percent of the 1.6 million K-12 students classified as Limited English Proficient scored high enough to be in English-only classes, but that school districts reclassified only nine percent of bilingual students English proficient each year. Critics of bilingual education argued that the nine to 24 percent gap showed that the "bilingual lobby" was trying to keep students out of regular classes.

In the US, starting in the 19th century, there has been a three-generation integration process at work, with the speakers of other languages in the immigrant generation not learning English and not climbing the US job ladder, the second generation being bilingual and doing better than their parents, and the third generation speaking only English and faring in the job market like other Americans.

The Los Angeles Times on April 3, 2002 reported that young high school graduates are bearing the brunt of the recession- youth ages 16 to 24 accounted for 1.1 million of the total two million jobs lost in 2001. Many of these youth are Hispanic: the U.S. jobless rate for second-generation Latinos--the U.S-born, U.S.-educated offspring of at least one immigrant parent---at 9.4 percent, compared with 8.7 percent for first-generation immigrant Latinos. This means that, among Hispanics, the first generation has a lower unemployment rate than the second generation.

Many analysts say that second-generation Hispanics expect more than their parents have had, but they often lack the education to match their aspirations. For example, eight percent of California Latinos 25 and older have a bachelor's degree or more, compared with 33 percent of non-Latinos.

Texas and California allow unauthorized foreigners who graduated from high schools in the state to attend public colleges for in-state tuition fees. The report accompanying Section 505 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 says that "illegal aliens are not eligible for in-state tuition rates at public institutions of higher education."

New York Governor George Pataki on April 20, 2002 proposed that unauthorized foreigners who are state residents could attend New York public colleges and pay the lower tuition charged to state residents. His Democratic opponent accused Pataki of "pandering" for the Hispanic vote..

California-Politics. California is considering a plan to allow unauthorized foreigners to drive, but Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca supported a proposal to put a code such as an "I" on the drivers' licenses issued to unauthorized foreigners. Hispanic groups decried the "I" as a scarlet letter. Governor Gray Davis supports allowing unauthorized foreigners to apply for driver's licenses if they have a clean criminal record, are applying for citizenship, can provide a federal taxpayer identification number (in lieu of a Social Security number), and have resided in California for several years.

Nine states allow driver's license applicants to use forms of identification other than Social Security numbers, such as a federal taxpayer identification number: California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Nevada, North Carolina, Tennessee, Utah and Virginia.

Republican candidate for governor Bill Simon promised in a February 17, 2002 radio interview that, if elected, he would consider resubmitting Proposition 187 to federal courts. Proposition 187, approved by a 59-41 margin in November 1994, would have created a state-sponsored system to prevent unauthorized foreigners from obtaining state-supported services, including K-12 education. Opponents obtained an injunction blocking its implementation, and current Governor Gray Davis negotiated an agreement so that its constitutionality was not considered by higher federal courts. However, in a later radio show, Simon said that immigration was a federal issue, and that he supported President Bush's call for legal status for some unauthorized foreigners in the US.

Simon said he would support putting the National Guard on the California-Mexico border to prevent illegal entries and would also crack down on day labor markets, where many undocumented migrants seek jobs.

In April 1992, there were four days of riots in south-central Los Angeles, a reaction to a jury's acquittal of white police officers for their roles in the beating of a black man, Rodney G. King, that left 55 people dead, 2,300 injured and more than $1 billion in damage. After the riots, the organization Rebuild L.A. was formed to funnel private investment into the inner city to create jobs. There have been jobs created, but problems persist: 47 percent of adults and 28 percent of children have no health insurance.

Arizona. The Arizona Senate gave preliminary approval to House Bill 2341 which would make it a Class 6 felony to practice immigration law illegally. Many Hispanics are subject to fraud by people claiming to be notarios, a legal position in Mexico. In the US, notarios are not necessarily attorneys-most are notary publics. Mexicans often pay large fees to notarios for advice on US immigration.

In 2000, Arizona approved a law requiring notary publics who advertise as notarios to include a statement that are not authorized to give legal advice, but the law excluded those who do not claim to be notary publics. The new legislation includes them.


"24% of Schools' English-Learners Test Fluent," Los Angeles Times, May 1, 2002. Michael Gormley, "Pataki, McCall court critical Hispanic vote," Associated Press, April 20, 2002. Carla Marinucci, "Simon's harsh words on immigration may haunt campaign, Sa Francisco o Chronicle, April 20, 2002. Ashley Back, "Senate bill seeks to rein in 'notarios,'" Arizona Republic, April 16, 2002. Marla Dickerson, "Latino Job Seekers Find 'Born in USA' Not Enough," Los Angeles Times, April 2, 2002.