<p><strong><em>Know your rights as an immigrant mother</em></strong></p><p>“Homelessness is a tragedy for anyone. Being homeless as a new immigrant can be even more challenging.” Immigrant Solo Moms know this already, but the <a href="http://homeless.samhsa.gov/resource/helping-new-immigrants-to-access-housing-resources-what-providers-should-know-47254.aspx" target="_blank">Homelessness Resource Center</a>—which made that statement in a brief designed to equip housing providers with the resources they need to secure housing for new immigrants—has tools to help Solo Moms meet the challenge. The organization offers advice that can help immigrant moms know their rights when it comes to housing assistance. </p><p>For example, if you are in one of the following immigrant groups, you are generally eligible for public housing and housing choice vouchers (Section 8) from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD):</p><ul><li>Lawful permanent residents</li><li>Refugees and asylees</li><li>Victims of trafficking and their derivative beneficiaries</li><li>Certain battered women and children who are not lawful permanent residents</li><li>Persons paroled into the country for at least one year</li><li>Persons granted withholding of deportation</li><li>Temporary residents under <a href="https://esme.com/resources/c/immigration" target="_blank" class="wordlink">Immigration</a> Reform and Control Act’s (IRCA) general amnesty or paroled by IRCA into the United States for less than one year</li><li>Cuban-Haitian entrants</li><li>Citizens of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and Palau</li></ul><p>(Read “<a target="_blank" href="https://www.nilc.org/issues/economic-support/overview-immeligfedprograms/">Overview of Immigrant Eligibility for Federal Programs</a>”<span class="redactor-invisible-space"> </span>by Tanya Broder and Jonathan Blazer to learn more.)</p>Immigrant moms should know that even if you do not have legal residence documents, you may qualify for housing benefits through your child. If at least one member of the household is eligible for housing benefits based on immigration status, the family may reside in HUD public housing, but the subsidy will be adjusted to reflect the eligible portion of the family.<p><br></p><p><span style="font-size: 11px;">Photo credit: Ryan Rodrick Beiler/Shutterstock.com</span></p>
<p><em><strong>Learn more about how many immigrants are raising children in the United States</strong></em></p><p>The following Q&amp;A is from <a href="http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/frequently-requested-statistics-immigrants-and-immigration-united-states">“Frequently Requested Statistics on Immigrants and Immigration in the United States,”</a> published by the Migration Policy Institute, February 26, 2015.</p><p><strong>How many children in the United States live with immigrant parents?</strong></p><p>In 2012, 17.4 million children under age 18 lived at home with at least one immigrant parent. They accounted for 25 percent of the 70.2 million children under age 18 in the United States.</p><p>The 15.2 million second-generation children—those who were born in the United States to at least one foreign-born parent—accounted for 88 percent of all children with immigrant parents. The remaining 12 percent (2.2 million) were children living in the United States in 2012 who were born outside the United States to foreign-born parents.</p><p><strong>How has the number of children living with immigrant parents changed?</strong></p><p>Between 1990 and 2000, the number of children ages 17 and under with immigrant parents grew 60 percent, from 8.2 million to 13.1 million. Between 2000 and 2012, the number grew 33 percent from 13.1 million to 17.4 million.</p><p>For first-generation immigrant children (those born outside the United States), population growth was sizeable between 1990 and 2000, when the population grew by 43 percent (from 1.9 million to 2.7 million), but declined 20 percent between 2000 and 2012, from 2.7 million to 2.2 million.</p><p>The number of second-generation immigrant children (born in the United States to foreign-born parents) has grown steadily since 1990. Between 1990 and 2000, the number of second-generation immigrant children grew 65 percent (from 6.3 million to 10.4 million). Between 2000 and 2012, this population grew by 46 percent (from 10.4 million to 15.2 million).</p><p>In 1990, 13 percent of all children in the United States were living with immigrant parents, rising to 19 percent in 2000, and 25 percent in 2012. The share of second-generation children among all children with immigrant parents has grown from 77 percent in 1990 to 80 percent in 2000 and to 88 percent in 2012.</p><p><strong>How many children living with immigrant parents are in low-income families?</strong></p><p>There were 31.1 million children under 18 living in poor families (i.e., with family incomes below 200 percent of the federal poverty threshold) in the United States. Of them, almost 9.6 million (or 31 percent) were children of immigrants.</p><p><strong>What are the top five states in terms of the number of children living with immigrant parents?</strong></p><p><strong></strong> In 2012, the top five states by the total number of children living with immigrant parents were California (4.4 million), Texas (2.3 million), New York (1.5 million), Florida (1.2 million), and Illinois (777,000). These five states accounted for 59 percent of all children with immigrant parents.</p><p><strong>What are the top five states by share of children living with immigrant parents in the state’s total child population?</strong></p><p>In terms of the share of children with immigrant parents, the top five states in 2012 were California (50 percent of all children in the state), Nevada (39 percent), New Jersey and New York (36 percent each), and Texas (34 percent).</p><hr><p><span style="font-size: 11px;">Photo Credit: LEE SNIDER PHOTO IMAGES / Shutterstock.com</span></p>
<p><strong><em>Meet a <a href="https://esme.com/voices/perspectives/whats-a-solo-mom" target="_blank" class="wordlink">Solo Mom</a> who built a dance community</em></strong></p><p>Huong Phan is one of the most amazing moms I know—glamorous, cheerful, smart as a whip, and totally unfazed by the challenges life has thrown in her path. She is on the verge of earning a doctoral degree in computer science and has a software engineering job offer waiting for her on the West Coast when she’s done. She has done all of this in a foreign country while raising her smart and sassy daughter on her own, teaching herself the art of photography, cutting her own hair, and creating one of the most successful Latin dance studios in Pioneer Valley, Massachusetts.</p><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GZUVa2KCis0?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><p>Yes, you read that right. This petite, Vietnamese computer geek Solo Mom is a <em>hot </em>salsa dancer. She fell in love with the art as a young international student in Australia, then she brought the salsa scene back to her hometown of Ho Chi Minh City. “I just called people together and taught them, because I wanted to dance. My students from those days have gone on to run big dance studios—they dance better than me! But they always treat me like someone special when I go back,” she says, laughing. </p><p>More impressive still, she went on to do it all over again—starting from scratch and creating a new dance community. In 2006 she moved with her three-year-old daughter to pursue a master’s and PhD at University of Massachusetts in the small university town of Amherst, Massachusetts. It was not easy being a Solo Mom halfway around the world. In fact, she returned to Vietnam after finishing her master’s degree in hopes of rescuing her failing marriage. In 2010, when <a href="https://esme.com/resources/c/divorce" target="_blank" class="wordlink">divorce</a> became inevitable and her advisors called her back to Amherst, she reclaimed her place at UMass and embraced a new life in this vibrant university community. When she could get out to dance, people asked her and her dance partner where they taught. “We said ‘we don’t teach’ a few times, and then we looked at each other and said, ‘well, why not?’” In October 2011, Amherst Salsa was born, launching many new dancers in the Pioneer Valley.</p><p>Huong’s attitude is the most inspiring part of her. She simply doesn’t know that as a solo immigrant mom, she’s “supposed to be” downtrodden. When I asked her what she relied on to find her way forward, she laughed and said, “I don’t know . . . myself, I guess! I just figured out what I had to do and tried to enjoy the things that make me happy!”</p><p>Phan was lucky, in a sense: Her divorce was the sad but civil ending of a long and loving relationship, and she found support in a community that values the diversity that she and her daughter bring. But she also made great use of her good fortune by working hard, drawing on friends, building community, and taking time to enjoy beauty and express joy through dance.</p><p>And people, you really should <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZUVa2KCis0" target="_blank">see her dance</a>.</p>
<p><strong><em>Statistics about domestic workers</em></strong><br></p><p>According to the <a href="http://www.domesticworkers.org/sites/default/files/WBT%20policy%20ENGLISH.pdf" target="_blank">We Belong Together campaign toolkit</a>, “Approximately 60% of undocumented women are in the labor force, the majority working in professions where employment is informal, often contingent, or unverifiable. They work as domestic care workers, taking care of other people’s families, or work in various core service industries of our economy. The remaining 40% of undocumented women are at home caring for their own children and families and taking care of their home.”</p><p>If you are a domestic worker or employ one, know and defend <a href="http://www.domesticworkers.org/sites/default/files/Domestic_Worker_Employment_Protections_Federal.pdf" target="_blank">these federally protected rights</a>. </p><p>Moreover, some states have passed further legislation to spell out the rights of domestic workers. For example, check out the <a href="http://www.domesticworkers.org/sites/default/files/cabill_faqs.pdf" target="_blank">California Domestic Workers Bill of Rights</a>. Contact the <a href="http://www.domesticworkers.org" target="_blank">National Domestic Workers Alliance </a>for more information. </p><hr><p><span style="font-size: 12px;">Photo credit: Shutterstock.com</span><br></p>
