Nearly half of Queens' population are immigrants

We are still a city of over eight million people and nearly 50 percent of those living in Queens County hail from a country other than America, according to the recent 2005 American Community Survey (ACS), from the United States Census Bureau.
This comes as no surprise to Dan Andrews, a spokesperson from Queens Borough President Helen M. Marshall's office.
&#8220We have been aware of the figures for some time. The problem is keeping up with diversity in terms of infrastructure, transportation, medical needs, and affordable housing.”
Andrews states that Queens, the most diverse community in the world, has always been undercounted because of what he calls &#8220doubling up.” Many immigrant households house relatives and friends from their native country who are not accounted for in the census.
In Queens as well as citywide, the Asian community has been the most explosive, increasing by over 100,000 since 2000, with approximately 72,000 of that number making their home in the borough.
Co-Director of Immigration Studies at New York University, Marcelo Suarez-Orozco believes the census shows the &#8220breathtaking changes” to come that will touch on every aspect of New York life.
According to Suarez-Orozco, immigrant children are the fastest growing population. Half of New York children live in an immigrant household.
&#8220We need to think of ways in which the city can maximize the transition of these new New Yorkers into our communities, our work force, churches, and synagogues,” said Suarez-Orozco. For him the critical issue is to prepare these youths to become productive citizens in New York City.
Norman Eng, spokesperson for the New York Immigration Coalition is not surprised at the information revealed by the survey either. He hopes that &#8220policy makers take note of who is actually living and paying taxes in New York City,” and shape their budgets and policies accordingly.
The ACS is a new annual service to provide more timely and updated information on America's continually changing diversity in areas with population of 65,000 or more. Traditionally, this type of information is gathered only once a decade.
The census statistics determine the amount of federal funds that an area receives. Andrews hopes that the new statistics will encourage the federal government to address the needs of Queens diverse population, especially concerning affordable housing.
He does not believe that the new figures concerning immigrants will result in any backlash or negativity in light of the America's ongoing debate concerning new Americans. Citywide since the 2000 census both the black and white populations have fallen. Whites fell to 3.4 million from 3.5 million, Blacks fell to 2 million from 2.1 million, and Hispanics rose to 2.2 million from 2.1 million.
In Queens the Black population fell by approximately 8,000, the White population fell by a little over a 1,000, and the Hispanic population increased by over 25,000 since 2000.