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NYC's Alternative Poverty Measure: Identifying Unauthorized Immigrants

This article discusses the need to identify unauthorized immigrants in NYC's poverty measure and highlights the limitations of the current income-based approach. It also explores the impact of unauthorized immigrants on poverty rates and explores policy initiatives focused on immigrant poverty.

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NYC's Alternative Poverty Measure: Identifying Unauthorized Immigrants

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  1. NYC’s Alternative Poverty Measure:The Need to Identify Unauthorized Immigrants Vicky Virgin Center for Migration Studies September 29, 2014

  2. The Current Poverty Measure:An Income Adequacy Approach Threshold: income needed to maintain an “adequate” standard of living (“poverty line”) • Established mid-1960s as three times the cost of the USDA’s “Economy Food Plan” • Adjusted annually by the change in the Consumer Price Index • Uniform across US: No regional differences Resources: Total family pre-tax cash income

  3. What’s wrong with the current measure? Pre–tax cash does not capture: •EITCand other refundable tax credits •Food Stamps and other nutritional programs •Housing subsidies such as public housing and Section 8 housing vouchers •Income used for taxes is not available for spending — Food is no longer one-third of the budget — No accounting for cost of living differences across the country, especially housing costs — Medical expenses, commuting and childcare costs are not included in the threshold

  4. Comparison of Thresholds, Income, and Poverty Rates, Official and CEO, 2012 Sources: U.S. Bureau of the Census and American Community Survey Public Use Micro Sample as augmented by CEO. Note: Incomes are measured at the 20th percentile and stated in family size and composition-adjusted dollars.

  5. CEO Poverty Rates by Nativity/CitizenshipNYC, 2008-2012

  6. The CEO Project: Assigning legal status to noncitizens in the ACS

  7. Residual Estimates NYC’s share of foreign-born USNY Statein the StateNYC Warren 11,725,000 705,000 .72 507,600 PEW/Passel 11,700,000 875,000 .72 630,000 DHS 11,400,000 580,000 .72 417,600 NYC estimates are based on the reporting of foreign-born in New York State.

  8. Citizenship Status New York City, 2012 Who is a noncitizen? Legal Permanent Resident (LPR) Refugee Nonimmigrants Quasi-legal immigrants: Asylees Parolees Temporary Protected Status Nicaraguan Adjustment Act Adjustment applicants Unauthorized Immigrants Source: 2012 American Community Survey-Public Use Microdata Sample as augmented by CEO

  9. WHAT DO WE END UP WITH?

  10. CEO Poverty Rate withEstimates of Unauthorized Immigrants Total impact unknown • Change in overall rate? • Change in depth and composition? • Change in the rate among different types of immigrants?

  11. Immigrant Poverty:Focus of Many Policy Initiatives • Municipal ID cards • Access to basic services – bank accounts, leases, access to City buildings, including schools. • Outreach for DACA and Universal Pre-K • Mayoral Task Force on Immigrant Health Initiatives • Expanded access to translation services • Including at point of contact with city services needed to remove barriers to success: • small business services, housing and school programs.

  12. Poverty Research Unit:NYC Center for Economic Opportunity• CEO Reports:www.nyc.gov/ceo: poverty data and research • Vicky Virgin, Research Associate virginv@hra.nyc.gov

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