José was looking for peace and quiet, in addition to work, when he decided to settle in the hinterlands of upstate New York 14 years ago. “A lot of farmland and trees,” he recalled, speaking in Spanish. “It reminded me of my village in Mexico.”
But he quickly learned that being poor and undocumented and living far from the well-established immigrant networks found in the nation’s big cities made life especially difficult. There was the absence of public transportation (he cannot legally drive), the scarcity of lawyers with immigration expertise and a feeling of isolation fed by his inability to speak English and the lack of opportunities to learn it.
“It’s a big challenge,” said José, 38, who works on a dairy farm in Livingston County, where he lives with his wife and four children, about 230 miles from New York City. “We’re a forgotten community in terms of service.” (He asked that his last name not be published because of his immigration status.)
Such challenges are a fact of life for the large and growing population of immigrants across the country who have bypassed traditional gateway cities like New York and San Francisco to settle instead in suburban and rural areas.
In 2013, about 61 percent of foreign-born residents of the nation’s most-populous metropolitan areas lived in the suburbs, up from 56 percent in 2000, according to the Brookings Institution. In New York State, the foreign-born population living outside New York City has more than doubled since 1990 and now stands at about 1.3 million people, according to the latest Census Bureau figures.
–
New York State sought to address some of the shortfall in services in 2013 by creating the Office for New Americans, which provides assistance to immigrants through 27 centers around the state, including free English classes, help with naturalization, free legal consultations and support for entrepreneurs.
While applauding the agency’s work, advocates said it had made just a dent in the services-supply problem and they have pushed to increase its legal staff and the capacity of its language program, among other needs. In his executive budget this year, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo proposed to nearly double state financial support for the office, which was designated an executive agency by legislation passed last year.
José, the dairy farm worker in Livingston County, said he wished the local community and its public officials were more enthusiastic about the immigrant population’s presence.
“We are people who aren’t doing anything bad,” he said. “We came to work and we pay taxes, we’re contributing to the economy of the country.” And despite all the challenges, he said, “we like to be here.”
A version of this article appears in print on February 16, 2015, on page A12 of the New York edition with the headline: As Immigrants Settle Beyond City Limits, Help Is Hard to Find. Order Reprints| Today’s Paper|Subscribe
