Posted on Wed, Nov. 27, 2002 story:PUB_DESC

BY ANDREA ELLIOTT aelliott@herald.com

Florida's immigrant population has boomed since 2000, led by an influx of Mexicans who for the first time surpassed Cubans in the rate of arrivals, bumping Florida up to the nation's second most popular destination for immigrants, Census data suggest.

Florida's Hispanic community may be facing a fundamental shift, with nearly equal numbers of Cuban and Colombian immigrants moving here in the past two years, according to a study released today by the Center for Immigration Studies, a public-policy institute in Washington, D.C.

The state is now home to 3.1 million immigrants -- 357,000 more than two years ago. That increase is second only to California's and displaces New York, which previously ranked second among states in arrivals.

Florida's proximity to Latin America and a steady supply of low-wage jobs are factors in the migration, which continued despite the nation's slowed economy. For many immigrants, the United States' sagging economy and terrorist attacks posed less of a threat than the turmoil of their home countries.

''It's hard here, but it's even harder in Argentina,'' said Argentine Rosana Pérez, who came to Florida with her two daughters last December. They live in South Beach, where Pérez works as a waitress.

Haitian Jean-Garry Fabien also came in December, fleeing death threats in Port-au-Prince after he criticized the government on his radio program. He remains unemployed and left his wife and children behind, but he feels lucky to be alive.

''By God's grace they didn't kill me,'' he said.

The center's study examined a sample survey conducted by the Census Bureau in March, which included 23,000 foreign-born immigrants, both legal and undocumented.

MIGRATION LURES

Like most migrants, family ties in the United States and a stable society drove David Muir, 33, to leave Kingston, Jamaica.

''One of the main things about being here over Jamaica would be a little bit more stability -- economic and political,'' said Muir, of Sunrise. ``The most important factor is the quality of life.''

Florida's immigrants accounted for at least half of the state's population growth in the last two years, according to the study. The state's immigrant population jumped 81 percent between 1990 and 2002, to its current total of nearly 3.1 million.

''That's a very dramatic increase for Florida,'' said Steven A. Camarota, director of research for the center, which critiques the impact of immigration on the United States.

``You'd think that the economic downturn in 2000 would have produced a slowdown. The fact is that life remains a whole lot better here than in most sending countries. So regardless of what's happening here, people still come.''

The data suggest Mexico may now be the number one country sending immigrants to Florida. About 14 percent of people who migrated to Florida after 2000 were from Cuba, compared to 22 percent -- or an estimated 80,000 people -- who were from Mexico.

''They are becoming a significant part of the South Florida landscape,'' said Eduardo Gamarra, an FIU political scientist leading a study on the state's Mexican population.

Florida's Mexican community has grown by 125 percent to its current Census-estimated total of 395,000. There are an estimated 800,000 Cubans in Florida.

Gamarra believes Mexicans will surpass Cubans in five years.

''There are 22.5 million Mexicans in the United States. Florida was the last bastion to succumb to Mexican immigrants,'' Gamarra said. ``It is an invisible immigrant population. Why are they invisible? Because they are primarily migrant workers.''

Mexicans, like many other immigrants, have come to Florida because they have relatives here.

''Almost all immigration is really propelled by family and other social ties,'' said Alex Stepick, director of FIU's Immigration and Ethnicity Institute. ``The immigration to South Florida has really restructured the economy of South Florida from being a tourist location for people in the Northeast and Midwest to becoming the capital of Latin America.''

Love propelled Stephen Hylton, 38, to leave Kingston, Jamaica, for Miami in 1999. He also wanted a new career challenge: The former Olympic table tennis athlete owned a trophy store in Jamaica but wanted to start a business in Miami.

''The idea of opening a store here seemed exciting,'' said Hylton, who now owns Trophy City near the Falls on South Dixie Highway.

Jamaica has a history of sending successful entrepreneurs to South Florida, but most of Florida's immigrants struggle to succeed because they lack education and documents to work legally.

Demographers worry whether Florida will be able to keep pace: More than 45 percent of immigrants and their children live in or near poverty and about 31 percent are without health insurance, according to the study.

''It's a constant challenge, and it's going to be changing in complexity as some of South Florida gets closer to build out,'' said Richard Ogburn, principal planner for the South Florida Regional Planning Council, a governmental agency.

One major concern is whether the school system can accommodate the growth, when more than 100,000 Florida immigrants have had children since 2000.

''Dade County schools are chronically overcrowded and get 13,000 more kids a year,'' Stepick said. ``And if you're in a state that doesn't want to raise taxes and doesn't want to pay for services, then one place to crunch is in the schools. It should therefore surprise no one that Florida's schools are among the worst in the nation.''

The growth of Florida's immigrant population speeded up after new laws were passed in 1965 to admit more migrants from non-European nations, said Thomas Boswell, a University of Miami immigration specialist.

HISTORIC WAVE

''This is like the second great migration,'' Boswell said. ``Now the big cities are Miami and Los Angeles, whereas before the cities that figured most prominently were the cities of the industrial revolution -- the cities of the Northeast and Midwest.''

Currently, seven of every 10 new residents in South Florida are foreign-born. An estimated 1.5 million more are expected to move to the region in the next 30 years, Ogburn said.

''Most of them come here to work. They want to make a contribution and they want to have opportunities that they don't have in their home countries,'' Boswell said. ``So you can think of it as an investment into the future -- the cost of today.''

Fabien, the former radio journalist from Haiti, hopes to learn skills here that he can use to work and pay taxes. But first he must be granted political asylum.

''My dream is to bring my family here and take care of them,'' he said. ``My dream is for the U.S. to respect me.''

-- Anonymous, November 28, 2002

Answers

Most of them come here to work. They want to make a contribution in their home countries

That's how it should read. they come here, work, send the money home.

My dream is for the U.S. to respect me.

Stay home and fight for freedom. You won't get any by running away, especially since you left your wife and kids there.

-- Anonymous, November 29, 2002