Los Angeles County Immigration

In 1977, Frederic Hsieh, a brash young Chinese developer, decided to meet the elders of Monterey Park and explain his sudden interest in their city. Hsieh invited 20 of the city's most prominent civic and business leaders--all of them white--to a traditional Chinese lunch. But what he had to tell his guests was hardly gracious.

A pivotal study of immigration in Los Angeles County inflated the costs and undercounted the contributions of legal and illegal immigrants to local government, according to a report issued Thursday by the Urban Institute.

Anglo: 41.9 Black: 11.3 Latino: 35.0 Asian and Other: 11.8 The use of the term "minority" to designate people of color has become increasingly erroneous. Anglos are the largest racial group in the county, accounting for 41.9% of the population. But when "minority" figures are combined, these groups account for 58.1% of the overall population. Source: L.A. County Department of Health Services, April, 1988, and the county Commission on Human Relations.

Los Angeles County spends $946 million to provide public services to recently arrived immigrants, but these same immigrants pay $4.3 billion in taxes to federal, state and county government, according to an official study released Monday. The report showed that much of the tax revenue generated by immigrants is distributed to federal and state government, with the county receiving only $139 million, about 3.2% of the immigrants' total tax contribution.

Norman Hsu remembers his first impressions of Monterey Park when he came to this country from Indonesia in 1979. Bustling streets, Chinese shops, the sound of Mandarin and Cantonese being spoken on the street. Hsu was struck by its similarity to his hometown of Pancoran, a Chinese enclave in Jakarta. But he also found relentless traffic, crime and a lack of peace among the races--also reminders of life in Indonesia. He decided to settle about 10 miles east of there in Hacienda Heights instead.

Los Angeles County spends $946 million to provide public services to recently arrived immigrants, but these same immigrants pay $4.3 billion in taxes to federal, state and county government, according to an official study released Monday. The report showed that much of the tax revenue generated by immigrants is distributed to federal and state government, with the county receiving only $139 million, about 3.2% of the immigrants' total tax contribution.

More than 600 immigrants flooded an Immigration and Naturalization Service office in Sepulveda Monday morning, mistakenly believing a rumor that today was the deadline to apply for legal residence status under the amnesty program. The rumor apparently started last Wednesday afternoon when the San Fernando legalization office on Parthenia Street ran out of the temporary work authorization cards issued to illegal aliens who have applied for residency under amnesty programs.

In what was seen as a significant test of organized labor's ability to replenish sagging membership by signing up low-wage immigrant workers, employees of a large automobile wheel manufacturing company south of Compton voted Thursday to affiliate with the International Assn. of Machinists. The 655-403 vote in favor of union representation at American Racing Equipment Inc.

Representatives of agencies that help Soviet refugees learn English and find jobs said Friday that they are bracing for a dramatic increase in the number of new immigrants moving to Los Angeles County in the next year as a result of the Soviet Union's perestroika policy.

Emerging ethnic groups with small populations are subjected to discrimination and often overlooked by service agencies, a report released Friday by the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations found. The report was based on the testimony of more than a dozen community leaders at a public hearing held by the commission in February.

Spawned by the growth of international smuggling rings and convenient air travel, a new generation of illegal immigrants has begun flooding into the United States via a Jet-Age strategy that abandons the traditional land route over the U.S.-Mexico border in favor of a coach seat on a 747.

In what was seen as a significant test of organized labor's ability to replenish sagging membership by signing up low-wage immigrant workers, employees of a large automobile wheel manufacturing company south of Compton voted Thursday to affiliate with the International Assn. of Machinists. The 655-403 vote in favor of union representation at American Racing Equipment Inc.

Sheriff's deputies detained the driver of a van and 17 illegal aliens crammed inside, authorities said Monday. The illegal immigrants were discovered Monday when Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies, acting on a tip, searched the vehicle at a gas station in the Pico Rivera area, southeast of downtown Los Angeles, said Sgt. Michael Herek. The passengers and the driver were turned over to Immigration and Naturalization Service agents, said Herek. Sgt.

Anglo: 41.9 Black: 11.3 Latino: 35.0 Asian and Other: 11.8 The use of the term "minority" to designate people of color has become increasingly erroneous. Anglos are the largest racial group in the county, accounting for 41.9% of the population. But when "minority" figures are combined, these groups account for 58.1% of the overall population. Source: L.A. County Department of Health Services, April, 1988, and the county Commission on Human Relations.

Emerging ethnic groups with small populations are subjected to discrimination and often overlooked by service agencies, a report released Friday by the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations found. The report was based on the testimony of more than a dozen community leaders at a public hearing held by the commission in February.

Aranak Tavassoli had spent the last 24 hours on the phone, desperate for news of her family in the aftermath of Iran's disastrous earthquake. Her relatives live in Tehran, which was not harmed by the quake, and in Manjil, a small city in northwestern Iran that she heard has been destroyed. There is no answer at her father's Tehran telephone. So, the 30-year-old emigre, who works as a microbiologist in Los Angeles, wonders: Was he in Tehran when the quake hit?

Jose Antonio Martinez remembers clearly that it was a Thursday--a payday at the Mexican factory where for seven years he labored alongside his uncle--when despair jarred something inside him. The 15-year-old, worn out by factory life and so poor he had never owned new clothing, feared he might remain an impoverished laborer for the rest of his life. So, on that Thursday four years ago, he picked up his $15 paycheck to head for the border and a country where he knew no one.

A pivotal study of immigration in Los Angeles County inflated the costs and undercounted the contributions of legal and illegal immigrants to local government, according to a report issued Thursday by the Urban Institute.

Jose Antonio Martinez remembers clearly that it was a Thursday--a payday at the Mexican factory where for seven years he labored alongside his uncle--when despair jarred something inside him. The 15-year-old, worn out by factory life and so poor he had never owned new clothing, feared he might remain an impoverished laborer for the rest of his life. So, on that Thursday four years ago, he picked up his $15 paycheck to head for the border and a country where he knew no one.