32% Of Births in N.J. Are to Immigrant Moms

Nearly one-third of all births in New Jersey in 2002 were to immigrant mothers, the most ever, according to a new study that examines how the massive influx of immigrants is transforming communities and posing new challenges for the nation’s education and health care systems.

“We’ve never been here before,” said Steve Camarota, director of research for the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington, D.C., think tank that conducted the study. “We’re headed into uncharted territory in terms of the size of the second generation.”

In New Jersey, immigrants make up 18 percent of the total population and accounted for 31.9 percent of all births in 2002, the study found. By comparison, just 9.6 percent of babies were born to foreign-born mothers in 1970.

According to the study, 55.6 percent of all children born in Hudson County in 2002 were to immigrant mothers, the highest level in the state. Middlesex County was second, with 50.8 percent.

Nationwide, the researchers found, 22.7 percent of all births in 2002 were to foreign-born women.

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The study compared the number of births in 2002 numbers with that from 1910, the peak year of the last great wave of migration. Current numbers show the percentage of babies born to immigrants is 1 percent higher than it was 95 years ago.

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Michael Doyle, Sacramento Bee, July 8, 2005

Foreign-born mothers are delivering a record of number of children in the United States, with Central Valley families far ahead of the national average, a new report shows.

Politically charged and tactically timed, the analysis shows 46 percent of children born in California in 2002 had foreign-born mothers. This was twice the national average and considerably higher than it used to be.

Only 15 percent of Californians born in 1970, for instance, had immigrant moms. The increase in immigrant families since then touches schools, public health, housing and, not least, politics.

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