Fresno Immigrants

Immigrant Fresno is a site dedicated to recognize and celebrate the presence and contributions of Fresno immigrants, as well as those living in nearby communities in California’s Central Valley.

Some important statistics to take into account:

Contemporary immigrants in Fresno constitute an important component of the city’s population. According to the Census Bureau estimates, in 2016 Fresno immigrants (defined as the foreign born) represented 20.7% of the city’s 522,053 residents.

In Fresno County, immigrants represented 21.4% of the 979,915 residents.

In California, with a total population of 39,250,017, the percentage of the foreign born residents was higher, reaching 27%.

Nationwide, immigrants only represent 13.2% of the nation’s 323,127,513 residents.

Origins of Fresno Immigrants

GCIR provides additional insights on the origins of the immigrant population in Fresno County, using 2005-2009 information from the American Community Survey:

Total Fresno County Population: 890,750
Total Foreign Born Population in Fresno County: 191,601

Origin of Immigrants in Fresno County:

• Europe: 6,991
• Asia: 47,081
• Caribbean: 392
• Mexico: 124,110
• Central America: 7,749
• South America: 1,527

Naturalization

Moreover, the same source points out that there are 62,148 immigrants in the county who have become naturalized citizens and an additional 129,453 immigrants remain non-citizens.

Immigrants and their Descendants

The historical waves of immigration that have brought immigrants to Fresno County have produced a regional population that has multi-generational ties. For example, according to GCIR, the number of children of immigrants who belong to different generations is as follows:

• Children, 1st Generation: 15,440
• Children, 2nd Generation: 98,839
• Children, 3rd Generation or later: 141,558

English Language

With respect to linguistic ability, GCIR finds that 51.25% of the county’s immigrants report they speak English well, while 48.75% of the foreign born indicate they speak English less than well.

Undocumented Immigrants in Fresno County

The unauthorized or undocumented population in Fresno County is estimated by the Migration Policy Institute to number approximately 85,000.

The principal places of origin of the undocumented immigrants in Fresno County are as follows:

Nation of Birth

• Mexico 74,000 (87%)
• India 2,000 (3%)

Regions of Birth

• Mexico and Central America 78,000 (92%)
• Asia 6,000 (7%)

Occupational Characteristics

The University of Southern California’s Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration offers a snapshot of the occupational characteristics of Fresno County immigrants:

Fresno County sits in the heart of California’s Central Valley, and is the number-one agricultural producing county in the nation. And yet agriculture is not the number one industry for the region: the top three industries for all workers (ages 25-64) are professional services (30%), retail trade (13%) and then agriculture (11%). On the other hand, immigrants are more likely to be employed in agriculture (29%) with lower shares in other industries – professional services (19%) and retail trade (13%). This indicates high labor market segmentation between immigrants and U.S.-born non-Hispanic residents, a conclusion backed up by the high proportion of spare overskilled immigrants (26%) – that is, immigrant workers with a bachelor’s degree or higher in unskilled jobs. About 11% of immigrants in Fresno are self-employed.

Immigrant Entrepreneurship

While it is pointed out above that 11% of immigrants in Fresno County are self-employed, the Census Bureau provides additional information which sheds light on the entrepreneurial capacity of minority communities in our region.

According to 2012 data, in the city of Fresno there were a grand total of 35,334 firms, out of which 19,484 were minority owned.

At the same time, in Fresno County the number of minority owned firms was 30,912, out of a total of 59,569.

Immigrant Integration: Challenges

USC’s Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration further examines the local context faced by immigrants in Fresno County and compares the degrees of integration that are found here with other regions in the state of California. Two indicators of the challenges immigrants find in Fresno to become integrated are discussed in reference to the Warmth of Welcome found and the extent of Civic Engagement:

Warmth of Welcome takes seriously the understanding that immigrants contribute to the strength of their region – and so measures if the region views them favorably and worth the investment.

Fresno scored 2.0 in this category – a moderate score for the media and immigrant-serving organization coverage. There are approximately 18 immigrant-serving organizations for the region’s some 133,000 non-citizen immigrants. Practical areas for growth may include boosting the supply of English language classes, strengthening K-12 education for English language learners, and building the civic infrastructure for naturalization.

 

Civic Engagement captures the extent to which immigrants are able to engage in government processes that affect both their personal and community-wide well-being.

Fresno scores 1.0 on both indicators – linguistic integration (measured by the proportion of households where at least one person over the age of 13 speaks English very well or exclusively) and the percentage of immigrants eligible to naturalize who have done so.

Fresno ranks last in Civic Engagement — and overall — when compared to the other 10 regions. Having a heavily transitory immigrant population of farm workers presents a different type of challenge to integration than in more urban centers.

Sources:

http://maps.gcir.org/

https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US,CA,fresnocountycalifornia,fresnocitycalifornia/POP645216#viewtop

Click to access FRESNO_web.pdf

https://www.migrationpolicy.org/data/unauthorized-immigrant-population/county/6019