The City - La Ciudad, Teacher's Guide

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THE IMMIGRATION QUIZ (printer-friendly version)

Myths and Facts of Immigration

1. What percentage of the world's immigrants come to the United States?

Over 35%
22%
15%
less than 2%

2. In 1900, the U.S. population was 15% foreign born. In 2000, the foreign-born percentage of the population is:

1.4%
9.7%
17.6%
22.3%

3. About 60% of all undocumented immigrants enter the country legally and then overstay their visas. What percent of undocumented immigrants cross the southern border of the U.S.?

4. INS efforts to deter immigration at the border and at other checkpoints have:

Received $3.8 billion in funding, a 153% increase in the past 5 years
Hired 1000 additional border patrol agents
Increased the number of border patrol agents by 99% in the past 5 years
All of the above

5. The total population of the United States is more than 226 million people. According to INS estimates, how many immigrants (documented and undocumented), enter the United States every year?

75.3 million new immigrants a year
46.8 million new immigrants a year
12.5 million new immigrants a year
1.2 million new immigrants a year

6. Before 1996, approximately 5% of immigrants used public benefits, a figure equivalent to usage by U.S. born citizens. New legislation reduces total government spending on welfare by $53.4 billion in the next 6 years. What percentage of these cuts came from eliminating benefits to immigrants?

95%
44%
20%
d. 1%

Answers for the Immigration Quiz:

1. (d)
Of the approximately 125 million migrants in the world today, the United States admitted 915,900 documented immigrants in 1996. The INS estimates that undocumented immigration to the United States is an additional 270,000 per year.

2. (b)
U.S. Census Bureau statistics report that out of approximately 267 million people, 25.8 million were born outside the United States.

3. (c)
Only about four out of ten undocumented migrants cross the U.S.-Mexico border, but 85% of all border enforcement personnel are located on that border.

4. (d)
The U.S. Department of Justice announced in March 1998 that sharply increased efforts to deter undocumented immigration would be enacted at a cost of $3.8 billion.

5. (d)
According to INS estimates, fewer than 1.2 million people immigrated to the US in 1996. Even this number may be high, as past INS projections of undocumented immigration have overestimated actual growth. The INS estimates are also based on the number of undocumented immigrants who are apprehended, a figure which is more directly related to the increase in INS enforcement than to the increase in actual immigration.

6. (b)
The Congressional Budget Office estimates federal cost savings from reducing coverage for legal aliens at $23.7 billion, more than 44% of the total $53.4 billion cuts in the welfare bill.

This quiz is taken from the BRIDGE Curriculum, National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (See "Resources" section of The City Web site (http://www.itvs.org/thecity/)

Answer sources:
(1) Migration World, 1996, "Immigration to the United States in Fiscal Year 1996, " INS, April, 1997, and INS, June, 1998
(2) Poverty and Race, March/April 1995, U.S. Census Bureau, April 1998
(3) Michael Fix and Jeffrey Passel, "Immigration and Immigrants, Setting the Record Straight," The Urban Institute, 1994
(4) U.S. Department of Justice Press Release, March 10, 1998
(5) U.S. Census Bureau, April, 1998; INS Statistics, "Immigration to the Unites States in Fiscal Year 1996"; INS Statistics, April 1997; and INS Statistics, "Illegal Alien Resident Population," June 1998
(6) Wheeler and Bernstein, National Immigration Law Center, February 1997, citing Congressional Budget Office, 1996, and Fix and Zimmerman, Urban Institute, 1995