Dan Genz, The Examiner
2008-02-29 08:00:00.0
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WASHINGTON -

Virginia’s Hispanic population more than tripled between 1990 and 2006, according to a University of Virginia study, with large increases in Northern Virginia, where the tense debate over illegal immigration drew national attention last year.

About 60 percent of Virginia’s Hispanics are U.S. citizens, and more than a quarter of the state’s Hispanics live in Fairfax County, the study from the Weldon Cooper Center of Public Policy notes.

The report disputes the notion that most Hispanics are illegal immigrants, said Qian Cai, the study’s author and director of the Cooper Center demographics and work force section.

“Most people would think Hispanics are all unauthorized immigrants,” she said. “That is the image that has been planted for quite a while, and we wanted to look at.”

The study divided Hispanics into those who are citizens and those who are not, a broad category that includes legal permanent residents, workers on temporary visas and illegal immigrants.

The noncitizen Hispanics grew at a faster rate than citizens, climbing 238 percent from 55,600 to 188,000, while the percentage of citizens grew 182 percent to 272,000.

The study also showed that Hispanic citizen families have a median income of $62,800, more than $7,000 above the state median income and $14,500 more than noncitizen Hispanic immigrant families.

About one in every 10 Virginians is foreign-born, with 40 percent Asian and 36 percent Hispanic, said the study, which relied on census data from 1990, 2000 and 2006.

Census figures do not typically include the entire illegal immigrant population, which can be “uncountable,” said Stephen Fuller, director of the center for regional analysis at George Mason University.

“Immigrants are coming here from all over the world because the economy is strong and it’s had faster job growth over this decade than any other population area,” Fuller said, describing job demands varying from janitorial positions to rocket science research.

“The economy is dependent on attracting people from other places, and we need all kinds,” he said.

An upcoming University of Virginia study will focus on the state’s Asian immigrant population, Cai said, which is larger than the Hispanic population that has been the focus of the immigration debate.

dgenz@dcexaminer.com