Immigrants from the Caribbean make up approximately six percent of the 7.9 million immigrants who moved to the United States in the last five years, a study said. The study by the Washington-based Centre for Immigration Studies said this is the highest level of immigration to the United States since post-World War One immigration in the early 1900s. Between 2000 and 2005, 467,000 Caribbean immigrants went to the United States. Cuban accounted for the most immigrants with 128,000. The Dominican Republic followed closely with 121,000 while Haiti and Jamaica followed with 91,000 and 62,000 respectively. The report said there were just over 35 million foreign born people living in the United States. Immigrants make up 14.7 percent of the total workforce in the United States but they are mainly working in low end jobs that many Americans refuse to do. Entrepreneurs The study also showed that immigrants tend to be just as entrepreneurial as Americans. Approximately 11 percent of all immigrants are self-employed compared to 13 percent of Americans. Cubans are the most entrepreneurial, with 17.3 percent of that community being self employed. They are followed by Dominicans with 8.6 percent, Jamaicans with 7.4 percent and Haitians with 4.3 percent self employed in those communities. Overall, the statistics indicate that a larger share of immigrants have low incomes, lack health insurance, and access welfare-based programs. The study comes as the US House of Representatives is debating a bill to curb illegal immigration by boosting border security and getting companies to enforce immigration laws more strictly. For years, many in the States have argued that the country needs to secure its borders against illegal immigrants, while others believe the American economy would collapse without the cheap labour provided by the illegal workers. Reprinted from bbccaribbean.com