Household Demographics. The majority of undocumented respondents reported either being married or in a consensual union, a pattern that was also seen across documented respondents (Table 8). The majority of undocumented and documented respondents currently live with their spouse or partner (Table 9). Table 8 Table 9 The mean household sizes for undocumented respondents was larger than for their documented counterparts; undocumented household ranges were also wider (Table 10). There were also differences in the types of residences. For the purposes of this analysis, the options of living in a personally owned home and living in a home owned by a relative were placed together because when asked about the type of home lived in, respondents would clarify that a home was not in their name but they were “homeowners”. The majority of undocumented immigrants reported either living in a rented home or apartment (62.4 percent, n=93) (Table 11), while 64.8 percent (n=35) of documented respondents reported living in a home that they or a relative owned. Table 10 Table 11 There were also differences in the frequencies of undocumented females and males living with children under 18 in their home. Undocumented females and males reported living with children under 18 in their home more frequently than did their documented counterparts, which may be correlated to undocumented respondents being younger than documented respondents (Table 12). Table 12 Nearly half of undocumented immigrants, 49.7 percent (n=74) reported only speaking Spanish at home, while another 49 percent (n=73) reported speaking both English and Spanish at home. All 10 of the DACA recipients spoke both English and Spanish at home (Table 13). Only
Household Demographics. The composition of respondents’ family units, paralleled patterns found by Passel and Xxxx (2009) in which immigrant families were multi-generational and of mixed legal status. A higher percentage of undocumented immigrants in this survey lived with children in their home than did documented immigrants. Undocumented immigrants had lower education attainment levels than documented immigrants, with only 38.3 percent (n=57) of undocumented immigrants reporting completing the equivalent of a high school diploma compared to 44.4 percent (n=24) of documented immigrants. These survey findings are in keeping with those found by the Migration Policy Institute which found that only 25 percent of undocumented immigrants over 25 years of age had attained the equivalent of a high school diploma. Another similarity found in this survey to previous studies are the percentages of undocumented immigrants who reported not being fluent in English language. Approximately 71 percent of undocumented immigrants in this study reported speaking English “not very well” or “not at all”, percentages that mirror those found by the Migration Policy Institute where 45 percent of undocumented immigrants did not speak English well or not at all (Migration Policy Institute, 2016). However, it is important to note that the Migration Policy Institute figures were looking at all undocumented immigrants, of any country of origin in Georgia. Lower education levels coupled with limitations on places of employment due to legal status may also influence the lower ranges of monthly incomes for undocumented immigrants as compared to their documented counterparts. This also is in keeping with Andes et al.’s findings that a greater proportion of Georgia Latinos live at or below the poverty line as compared to the general Georgia population. Survey results show that documented respondents reported a slightly higher range of monthly income, with most reporting incomes being between $2,500 and $3,500 a month, while undocumented immigrants who most commonly stated incomes between $1,501 and $2,000 a month. The average annual household income for Georgia Latinos, regardless of their legal status, was $34,873 annually or about $2,906 a month (Andes et al., 2012). This falls within range of documented respondents but is higher than the monthly income ranges for undocumented immigrants. Health Insurance Coverage, Health Service Expenditures, and Sources of Care One of the starkest differences between undocume...
