Language, Integration, Education, Mental Health, And Immigration

Immigration has always been an issue in the United States, which is often portrayed as harmful and as major threat to American culture. As a result, various anti immigration policies have been aimed against immigrants in order to prevent and preserve the miscegenation of American culture, such as English only policies. Among the largest minority groups in the U.S, are Latinos who currently compose of 15% of the U.S population (Delgado and Stefancic 3). Unfortunately, Latinos have been accused of taking American benefits, jobs, and have wrongfully been depicted as a result of not assimilating to American culture. Latinos are often accused of resisting assimilation, but what has failed to be acknowledged is that there are obstacles set in

Immigration of Latinos has long caused cultural conflict, especially when it comes to the illegal immigration of Latinos. Unfortunately, the issue has long been debated and there seems to be no clear cut answer on how to resolve the problem. Many Americans often overlook the struggles that Latinos endure and place stereotypes upon this group of people that are untrue. Furthermore, most Americans are misinformed or uninformed about the other side of this hot issue. The purpose of this essay is to give the reader a better understanding of Latino immigration from a cultural perspective and what these immigrants, both legal and illegal experience when relocating to a new country as well as a brief discussion on the issue of immigration reform.

When it comes to identifying the Latino’s population by a type of skin color most would consider themselves as Caucasian while a few identify themselves as Black. Many others associate themselves with indigenous race while others are increasingly identifying themselves as “other”. Their origins range from Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba and Guatemala. Notable differences among the Latino groups center on the aspects of language refinement, educational status, cultural values and attitudes toward mental health treatment (Brice, 2001).

According to the National Education Association (NEA), the Hispanic culture is one of the fastest growing culture groups in America (2016). “There are 41.8 million Hispanics in America, representing 14.2 percent of the U.S. population, with estimates for growth to nearly 20 percent by the year 2050” (NEA, 2016.papa.1). The Hispanic culture believes that their family is a very

An overall consensus based on this survey was that Latinos would have greater opportunity when educational and job-related obstacles were overcome thereby enabling this significant and increasing segment of the population to be supported and welcomed to be a full-fledged actor in every facet of life in the United States. The survey indicated that barriers to such opportunities frequently were conditioned on available social and economic resources, whether one is male or female, and the length of residency in this country. This survey constituted the second one conducted by the foundation to gain greater insights into the effects a slow economy, public policy decisions, and illegal offenses were imposing on the lives of minority families in various communities around the

Currently within the United States one of the fastest growing minority population (Schwartz & Scott, 2012) is the Latinos. In 2010 Census Bureau Brief ( Ennis, Rois-Vargas, & Albert, 2011) it stated how an estimated 15 million Latino individuals were living within the United States, which is approximately about 16% of the entire U.S. population. There is one big problem with addressing the Latino population, and that is the family patterns are either misrepresented or not properly understood, due to the label of Hispanic and Latinos being placed together. These two groups may share the same spoken language of Spanish and have similar cultural ancestry but the diversity among Hispanic and Latinos (Schwartz & Scott, 2012) make generalizations about their lifestyles difficult. The term Hispanic came to be used in the 1970’s by government officials (cdc.gov, 2011) in trying to provide a diverse label on this population that had connections to speaking Spanish and the Spanish culture. Latino became more of a termed to be used when distinguishing between Mexican (Hispanics) and Latinos who descendants from Latin America such as Cuba and Puerto Rico.

Immigrating to a new country is difficult. One of the largest groups of immigrants that migrate to the United States are the Hispanics. There are approximately 11.7 million immigrants in the United States as of January 2010, and the amount continues to increase at a rapid rate (Warren, 2013). On average there are approximately 300,000 Hispanic immigrants entering the United States each year (Warren, 2013). Hispanics come from all Latin America including Mexico, the islands of the Caribbean, Cuba, and Puerto Rico, Central and South America (Warren, 2013). The United States has represented liberty and freedom to these individuals, and they often make critical decisions and take chances in the hope of a better future. Individuals often, leave their home country in hopes of a new beginning. The aim of this paper is to provide an extensive research on the current literature on immigration and acculturation among the Hispanic population.

The following discussion and statements are done so such that they incorporate the ideas and struggles of the Latino races regarding certain subjects down upon chapter 3 “Latinos in the united states” and chapter 4 “borders, immigration and citizenship”. This discussion is about the oppression that people Latinos and Native Americans and other ethnic groups have gone through. Some points in the discussion are oppression towards Mexican American and Native Americans, how they were treated and the impact they had.

Despite their better standing, the research has surprisingly found that they are “only slightly more likely than those whose parents were first-generation immigrants to have had some education beyond high school or to report household or personal incomes above $25,000” (28). These differences in educational and occupational attainment may be attributed to the overcrowded, underfunded inner-city schools second and third generation Latinos attend or to the fact that young Latinos feel economic pressure to drop out of school to get a job and financially assist their families; thus, keeping them in lower occupational ranks since the well-paid professional positions require a higher educational standard. These results are a bit disheartening, but nonetheless, the educational attainment of Latinos is still in a positive trend since we are seeing a slow, yet gradual increase of educational attainment.

Language contributes to health disparities because a study shows the relationship between being proficient in English and health-related behaviors, disease prevalence, and receipt of health care services among Hispanics. (DuBard, & Gizlice, 2008). Language contrition to disparities creates health issues for the Hispanic population because more than 1 in 10 US residents speak Spanish at home, and of them lack the ability to speak English well. (DuBard, & Gizlice, 2008). Being unable to speak English contributes to the everyday challenges that the

Poverty among the Latino community has converted into an endemic predicament in the development of children living in the United States. The Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) indicated that poverty is uppermost with children making up 21.6% living below the poverty line in comparison to young adults (19.0%) and elders (18.1%). The California Poverty Measure (CPM) by PPIC analysis concluded that 7.5 millions of Californians lacked resources and made an income of about $30,000 a year. That is just above the poverty line which is to earn $24,000 a year. Although Latinos are constantly operational in the work field, they have a higher scarcity rate than any other ethnic group due to their association with lower education and deficiency of income (PPIC, 2017). In addition, according to The Pew Research Center, many Latino families are experiencing economic hardship as a result of moribund financial wealth, increased mortality rates, and higher birth rates among the Latino immigrant population (Lopez, Velasco, 2011). Poverty has produced several obstacles to Latino children in regards to their shifting family dynamics, learning, and development, but there are wide-ranging solutions that aid children of limited income households to prosper. This essay will scrutinize and discuss the assorted effects of poverty for Latino children living in the United States in the context of family dynamics, education, and development, as well as propose a solution to

Dr. Jason Richwine discusses the Latino’s absorption and integration into the American culture. He compares the Latino nation with other countries’ immigrants that has rose out of poverty, while the Hispanics have not been rising up out of the lower class after several generations have passed. Richwine mentions that American prejudice might be influencing the Hispanic immigrants not striving. For example, he states, that “popular explanations from the

A diverse minority group of Latino and Spanish-speaking peoples has played an important part of what it means to be American and what it means to be a citizen in the United States today. Moving into the future, in order to analyze the trajectory that this group is in, we must first understand the group’s history in the United States and in territories that would become the United States. In addition, we must look at the origins of the most recent wave of Latino immigration in order to understand their current effect on American society and the intersection between both minority and majority groups. Finally, we get to the apex of this investigation: what lies in the future for Latino Americans in the United States? Although Latino

The 2008 presidential election was predetermined by Latinos, and it delivered by the success of the battleground states (Seif, 2009). In addition, the immigrant teenager’s commitment to their community can be difficult to measure due to the vast amounts of diversity and the contradictory ways that investigators have described and exemplified them. Numerous undocumented youth have experienced prolonged breakups from their family, distressing voyages, the bewilderment, and other types of diversification that can influence their

The Latinos in my class differed in the way that they were proud to say they were Puerto Rican, Mexican, and Dominican. Thus, I pursued a relationship with these classmates and I began to feel differently about Latinos. I realized that I was taking part in the prejudice thoughts my previous classmates had toward Latinos by concealing my identity. I also recognized that Latinos were struggling to pursue a better life and that we are looked down upon. As a result of discrimination, it is difficult for us to accomplish our goals in life. Presently, every opportunity I get, I talk about my culture. I discuss the hardships Latinos face and I describe my experience growing up Puerto Rican. Although I am Puerto Rican, I don't know as much about my culture as I should. Reading Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America by Juan Gonzalez has brought new insights to my knowledge of Puerto Ricans and Latinos in general. Gonzalez focuses on language and writes that speaking Spanish is treated as a handicap instead of as an asset.