 SEP
10 - Five years after 9/11, as the U.S. wrestles with
questions of terrorism, civil liberties and immigration control,
Muslims appear to be moving to the United States again in "surprising numbers",
according to statistics collected by the Department of Homeland
Security and the Census Bureau, reported the New York Times today.
In 2005, more people from Muslim countries became legal permanent
United States residents — nearly 96,000 — than in any year in the
previous two decades.More than 40,000 of them were
admitted last year, the highest annual number since the terrorist
attacks, according to data on 22 countries provided by the
Department of Homeland Security to the newspaper.
Muslims have been settling in the United States in significant
numbers since the mid-1960’s, after immigration quotas that favored
Eastern Europeans were lifted.
Up to six million Muslims live in the United States, by some
estimates.
But the events of Sept. 11 transformed their lives, and the flow of immigrants from countries like Egypt,
Pakistan and Morocco thinned sharply.
Immigration from these regions slowed considerably after Sept. 11.
Fewer people were issued green cards and nonimmigrant visas. By
2003, the number of immigrants arriving from 22 Muslim countries had
declined by more than a third. For students, tourists and other
nonimmigrants from these countries, the drop was even more dramatic,
with total visits down by nearly half.
According NYT, a larger percentage of immigrants from these Muslim
countries have graduate degrees than other American residents, and
their average salary is about 20 percent higher, quoting census
data.
But Sept. 11 altered the course of Muslim life in America, observed
the article. Mosques
were vandalized. Hate crimes rose. Deportation proceedings began
against thousands of men.
Some Muslims changed their names to avoid job discrimination, making
Mohammed “Moe,” and Osama “Sam.” Scores of families left for Canada.
Hundreds of Pakistani immigrants disappeared after being asked to
register with the government. Thirty shops closed along a stretch of
Coney Island Avenue known as Little Pakistan. The number of new
Urdu-speaking pupils at the local elementary school, Public School
217, dropped by half in the 2002-3 school year. |
