Black immigrants report unfair treatment but still prefer the US

Survey: Most Black immigrants believe they’re better off in the U.S.
Many still report negative experiences
Workplace, health care and police interactions are among the issues

Updated: Apr 21, 2024 / 10:57 PM CDT

(NewsNation) — Discrimination, xenophobia, the high cost of health care and unfair treatment by police are common issues that Black immigrants report. But data from a survey also says more believe they’re better off here than they would be in their country of birth.

The conclusions come from a new analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau data and a 2023 KFF/LA Times survey of more than 3,300 immigrants. 274 were Black immigrant adults.

Black immigrants share with most other immigrants the primary reasons they came here: better economic and educational opportunities, and a better future for their children. At least 80% of those surveyed mentioned those factors. About two-thirds also said they feel safer in the U.S.

But nearly half also say they’re making less than $40,000 a year. The same percentage report having trouble paying for a basic necessity in the past year.

Most employed Black immigrants (56%) say they’ve experienced some kind of unfair treatment or discrimination at work. That’s nearly equal to the number of Hispanic immigrants reporting the same issue and more than Asian or white immigrants.

55% of Black immigrants say they’ve experienced worse treatment than native-born Americans in a store, a restaurant, when buying or renting a home, or when interacting with the police. And 38% believe they’ve been treated unfairly by a health care provider.

The KFF/LA Times Survey of Immigrants was conducted in the spring of 2023 and surveyed 3,358 immigrants. 274 were Black, 1,207 Hispanic, 1,318 Asian and 495 White.

A separate study from The Pew Research Center in 2022 documents the growing Black population in the U.S., both immigrant and native-born.

Nearly 45 years ago, about 3% of the more than 4.5 million Black people in the United States were immigrants. Now the Black population is nearly 25 million and 19% of them were born somewhere else.

The research also concludes that, by 2060, foreign-born Black people will outnumber the U.S.-born Black population. The U.S.-born population will increase by 29% in that time, while the foreign-born population will grow by 90%.

Also notable: 9% of Black people are second-generation Americans – the U.S.-born children of at least one immigrant.