INCIPIENT REPUBLICANS:

California Dreaming No More: The Carranza family, like many Latino immigrants, found its way into the American middle class by leaving the Golden State. (Daryl Kelley and Carlos Chavez, February 16, 2004, LA Times)

The winter chill is biting. But Rogelio Carranza, his brother and son are out early, hammering two-by-fours together in a house-raising they expect to finish this month, and celebrate with a sweet toast of sugared coffee.

They are working on one of six houses and mobile homes here owned by six Carranza brothers and their families. It's a long way from 1993, when the brothers crowded everyone into a three-bedroom home in Oxnard. An electrical cord overheated and burned down the house, putting 43 Carranzas on the street.

Living along a rutted dirt road outside this Arkansas boomtown, the Carranzas are the new face of decades of Latino immigration: no longer in poverty, no longer renting, and no longer in California.

It is a story illustrated in the latest census data. USC urban planner Dowell Myers, in a study to be released Tuesday, said that foreign-born Latinos are experiencing a degree of upward mobility not previously detected by demographers. "They're turning the corner — and it's a big corner," he said.

For example, 32% of the nearly 1.8 million Latinos who settled in California in the '80s — such as the Carranzas — were living in poverty in 1990, compared with 23% by 2000. Likewise, Latino immigrants from the '70s had a poverty rate of just 17% by 2000.

Contrary to stereotypes, about 70% of Latino immigrant children in California graduate from high school, Myers said. And 55% of middle-aged California Latinos who immigrated at least 20 years ago own homes. That number increases to 68% after 30 years of residence, he said.

"I'm always surprised at their homeownership rates, given how low their education levels are," Myers said. "And my guess is, the reason [the Carranzas] were so crowded in Oxnard was because they were penny-pinchers, saving to buy their own homes."

At the same time, the Carranzas illustrate the burdens created by illegal immigration. All of the brothers came across the border illegally. Their families drew on housing subsidies, food stamps and free public education. And while the Carranzas are no longer leaning on government, critics will always find their entry to be a problem.

Surprise! They're just like every other immigrant group ever.

Posted by Orrin Judd at February 16, 2004 9:45 AM