If you are interested in immigration reporting, what follows is a selective list of places to begin your search for background information, statistics, and articles. Note: Some sources have NYC-specific information, while others are more general in nature.
The U.S. Census Bureau’s Foreign-Born Population page links you to reports and data tables which show numbers of immigrants by country of origin, period of entry, and citizenship status, and many other demographic characteristics. The data on this site does not go down to the metropolitan area level, so is better for getting a picture of immigration to the U.S. as a whole.
The database Infoshare Online (access restricted to current Columbia affiliates) includes immigration numbers from the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (now known as U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)). Infoshare enables you to retrieve immigration data from 1988 through 2002, including trend data, at geographic levels including neighborhood, community district, ZIP code, or borough.
Interested in estimates of the numbers of undocumented immigrants? A Congressional Research Service (CRS) Report for Congress, “Unauthorized Aliens in the United States: Estimates Since 1986″, uses data from the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey, and is periodically updated.
The Urban Institute, an economic and social policy research organization, has published many reports on immigration-related topics, including the January 2004 report, “Undocumented Immigrants: Facts and Figures.”
Two New York-based publications which publish often on immigration issues are the Gotham Gazette (link displays most recent article, links to topic archives, and also links to useful websites), and City Limits (on left side of screen, use pull-down “Topics” list to select Immigration).
Finally, for an introduction to library resources on population, migration, and refugee studies, use this helpful subject guide from my colleagues at Lehman Library. The guide lists both print and electronic sources for these topics.