Welcome or not, the immigrants now living in the region make it likelier that their numbers will grow, thanks to the networking phenomenon, immigration specialists say.

She has aides who are immigration specialists and a volunteer who speaks Creole for the Haitian residents.

"They come afraid, and so it's up to us to put them at ease," said Wayne Patterson, Ms. Clarke's immigration specialist.

My heart plunged, but my expensive and very efficient Century City lawyer had provided an immigration specialist, a "facilitator" as he called himself, to walk me through.

"The real issue is our ability to change ourselves," said Yuri Stern, an immigration specialist with Israel's Federation of Chambers of Commerce.

His immigration specialist provided the names of two recent immigrants who were said to be delighted to be voting.

The children of immigrants, who enter the job market with Canadian credentials, typically do better at acquiring high-paying jobs, immigration specialists note.

Any decline in the flow northward would deprive Mexico of much needed foreign exchange and add to strains on public services, officials and immigration specialists say.

Doris Meissner, the immigration specialist, wrote that in December.

"The H-1B program is mismanaged," said B. Lindsay Lowell, an immigration specialist at Georgetown University.