Wednesday, January 29, 1997
Immigrants who stay here tend to do well
A majority of immigrants from western Mexico who come to
California legally or illegally return home within a few years, and
those who stay tend to be educated and have good paying jobs, a
study showed Tuesday.
While it is common for immigrants to return home, the study’s
author, Belinda Reyes, said she was surprised by the extent of the
movement back to western Mexico.
Fifty-one percent of illegal immigrants who come to California
from western Mexico return home within two years, Reyes said.
Twenty percent of that group stay longer than 10 years.
"The assumption is that people move to settle. This shows that
they are not settling," she said. "The ones who stay look like the
ones we want to stay.
"They’re more educated, more skilled, and they’re the ones more
likely to succeed.”
Among immigrants legally in the United States, about 50 percent
return to Mexico after 10 years, the study found. And among all
immigrants, regardless of legal status, fewer than a third stay
longer than 10 years.
The results debunk notions that Mexican immigrants drain social
services and educational resources in California and that
immigrants flock north in hopes of receiving public assistance,
Reyes said. Reyes didn’t determine the actual economic impact of
immigrants on California or Mexico.
Reyes, a fellow at the San Francisco-based Public Policy
Institute of California, based her study on an analysis of data
from the Mexican Migration Project, which surveyed 42,000 people
from 1982 to 1993 in six western Mexican states. The region
accounts for about 60 percent of the Mexican immigrants to
California.
Vilma Ortiz, a University of California, Los Angeles associate
professor of sociology, had not seen the study, but when she read
its conclusions, said she wasn’t surprised by the findings.
Ortiz noted that immigration is affected by several factors,
including family and economic conditions in both countries.
"It’s not so much that it’s so bad in Mexico," Ortiz said.
"There’s a push by conditions in Mexico … but there’s a pull back
home (for family)."
Bomb threat suspect pleads innocent
A man whose phony truck bomb claim forced the evacuation of a
Hollywood neighborhood pleaded innocent to making a terrorist
threat.
Abram Nacham, 64, of Long Beach, entered pleas on Tuesday in
Superior Court to that count and to charges of possessing a false
bomb and making a false bomb threat. His bail was reduced from $1
million to $500,000 but he remained jailed pending a scheduled Feb.
4 bail review hearing. Nacham’s lawyer, Stuart Carroll, did not
immediately return a phone call seeking comment.
Nacham, who owns an auto body shop, was arrested on Saturday
after an hours-long standoff outside of Paramount Studios. He had
parked a truck in front of the Melrose Avenue gate of KCAL-TV,
which has offices on the studio lot. A banner draped on the truck
read: "AAA damaged my Reputation … I want restitution for
millions … Don’t shoot … 5,000 lbs of dynamite."
Police sealed off nearly 400 square blocks in Hollywood during
the standoff. Nacham left the truck and surrendered at midday, but
police were not satisfied that the truck did not contain explosives
for another five hours.
Nacham, a Ukrainian immigrant, unsuccessfully sued the
Automobile Club of Southern California in 1990, claiming that it
had launched a personal vendetta intended to ruin his Signal Hills
business, his son, Gary Nacham, said.
Automobile Club spokeswoman Layna Browdy said the agency
cautioned members about the business after receiving several
complaints that the work was substandard.
The Automobile Club of Southern California is an affiliate of
the American Automobile Association.
Compiled from Daily Bruin wire reports
A Monday Arts & Entertainment story titled "Making the
Grade" stated that A.P. Gonzalez was the chair of the Undergraduate
Film and Television department in the School of Theater, Film and
Television. In fact, Robert Rosen holds this position. Gonzalez is
the chair of the Undergraduate Committee of Film and
Television.