From USC faculty Dowell Myers, a new report from the Center for American Progress and the Center for Study of Immigrant Immigration:

Many Americans believe immigrants are, like Peter Pan, forever frozen, and never advance economically or socially, but “the data on immigrant advancement may be surprising and should help dispel the illogical Peter Pan fallacy,” write the authors. The report uses key benchmarks such as naturalization to citizenship, homeownership, and earnings to measure assimilation. Among the findings:

There are now 14 states that have foreign-born populations greater than the national average share of 12.5 percent.

Immigrants are moving to new communities in 27 states where the populations of recently arrived immigrants make up at least 2 percent of the state population.

Latino immigrants, in the first 18 years of U.S. residency, swiftly attain the hallmark of the “American Dream“—homeownership—with 58 percent achieving this feat in 2008, up from only 9.3 percent of in 1990.

Latino immigrants in Arizona—ground zero for the national immigration debate—have proven much more successful than many assume. Two-thirds of immigrants are homeowners after 18 years of U.S. residence, just over 59 percent speak English well, and almost 58 percent earn better than a low income.link: CSII – Reports

Download the full report here.

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