West Noble schools conducted an unusual collection drive in March: They gathered books and letters for Hispanic students educated in American schools but whose families were prompted by the recession to return to Mexico.
The recipients, Jose and Lisbeth, were among dozens of immigrants who left Noble County during winter and spring because of Noble County’s rising unemployment, alarming local schools and businesses.
The exodus the school district saw during the winter break slowed to a trickle over the summer, West Noble administrators said.
“We were extremely pleased with enrollment numbers at the beginning of this year,” said West Noble Elementary Assistant Principal Candice Holbrook, the district’s English as a New Language director.
But the numbers have only held steady – not bounced back – and are symptomatic of what’s happening across the state, according to recent census data.
Indiana’s foreign-born population decreased by nearly 3 percent from 2007 to 2008 as the recession, which began in December 2007, devastated the manufacturing-dependent Hoosier job market.
Overall, the foreign-born population in the U.S. dropped slightly last year for the first time in nearly four decades, the data said.
Enrollment of Hispanic students did bounce back in Fort Wayne. Fort Wayne Community Schools, which has the largest population of Hispanic students in Allen County, lost 20 Hispanic students during the first semester of last school year.
But the district’s enrollment of Hispanic students today is up nearly 90 students since January, spokeswoman Krista Stockman said.
Of course, not all Hispanic students are immigrants, although in West Noble’s case, a large number are. Many also are U.S. citizens, a generation or two removed from their ancestral homelands.
Expert opinion is mixed as to whether the total decreased because immigrants are leaving or because fewer are arriving. When it comes to illegal immigration, it’s difficult to know how many are leaving because no one can say how many were here.
The Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for stricter immigration policies, estimates the illegal immigrant population in the U.S. has declined by 11 percent through May 2008 after peaking in August 2007. That amounts to 1.3 million fewer immigrants, a report by the center said.
But the Pew Hispanic Center says the return flow of immigrants to Mexico from the U.S. appears to have been stable since 2006. That non-partisan research institute also points out that U.S. Border Patrol data show fewer Mexicans trying to cross into the United States illegally.
The schools are probably as good an indicator as any of the exodus, said Gilberto Pérez Jr., director of the Northeastern Center’s Bienvenido Program, a mental health program for Hispanic immigrants based in Goshen. Perez said he’s noticed a decrease in the number of young men and young families coming into his programs.
In March, The Journal Gazette reported that the recession and crackdowns on illegal immigration had prompted immigrants to leave. Their absence was especially noticeable in the small city of Ligonier, where the West Noble School Corp. in 2007 had the highest percentage of limited-English-speaking students in the state.
After the economic markets’ collapse in September 2008, West Noble began noticing immigrant families uprooting and moving – if not back to Mexico, where most of Noble County’s immigrants are from, then somewhere else.
By March, the school district had lost about 50 Hispanic students. At West Noble Elementary, the equivalent of an entire class – 20 students – was gone.
One was second-grader Lisbeth, whose mother told West Noble staff she’d been placed in a first-grade class at her Mexican school because she doesn’t read or write Spanish.
“Lisbeth misses her teachers,” she and her brother, Jose, wrote in a letter to West Noble staff in March. “Our school in Mexico doesn’t compare even a little bit to yours.”
