Latin American Immigrants In The United States

As a number of Latin American countries continue to struggle with drug cartel violence, economic hardship, and food shortages, many Latinos depart their native country to escape those conditions. For a number of those Latinos, their goal is the United States (US) as their final destination. According to the 2010 US Census, the Latino population in Orleans Parish in New Orleans grew from 14,826 to 18,051 in a period of fewer than ten years. The number shows a significant increase, yet it does not account the number of Latino immigrants that avoided to be counted due to their undocumented status. The number of the Latino immigrants that were not counted during this period of time was estimated to be in the range of 10,000 to

Many Latinos in the U.S. are descendants of Mexican people who lived in the Southwest when it was taken as plunders of war or acquired in a series of land sales. In many cases, their ancestors became Americans not by their own choice. Almost all other American Latinos or their ancestors migrated here from Latin America in search of a better life and opportunities. As a group, Latinos represent a combination of several ethnic backgrounds, including European,

Immigration involves the movement of a group of people from one country to another where they do not possess citizenship. There are many reasons in which people may leave their country such as employment, lack of resources, family, fear due to violence, exile, the American dream. In 1965, Congress changed immigration law in ways that allowed much more intake from Asia and Latin America than earlier. Before 1965, the intake was mostly from Europe. Since then, over half has come from Latin America—28 % just from Mexico. The share of population composed of non-Hispanic whites plunged from 84 % in 1965 to only 62 % in 2015 while Hispanics soared from 4 to 18 %. (Mead, L.M., 2016)

Eleanor Roosevelt said, “the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” That statement holds strong for immigrants in America. Equal access to opportunities allows immigrants to achieve the American dream. Their success correlates with America’s success because of the contributions immigrants provide to America. Unfortunately, the current immigration policy in America denies many immigrants the American dream. It is crucial to understand the historical context of immigration in America. Initially, most immigrants were from Europe and were not restricted by any immigration laws. Now, most immigrants come from Latin America but are restricted to severe immigration laws. The Latino/a community is one of the most

Several communities are known for having residents from a specific ethnic group. Oscar Casares delves deeper behind this topic in his essay, “Crossing the Border without Losing your Past,” where he discusses how vital it is for an individual to hold onto the roots of their ancestors as well as practicing its rich culture and traditions. Due to prominent similarities in culture, language, life style, and cuisine, many individuals from a certain race live in a community with others of their kind, hence the gathering of neighborhoods in unison. Thus, Casares states, “In my hometown, Brownsville, Tex., almost everyone I know is Mexicano: neighbors, teachers, principals, … rich and poor, short and tall, fat and

Immigrants have been migrating into the United States and concentrating themselves in large urban areas for more than a century (Crowley and Ebert, 2014). These immigrants, particularly the Mexican population, have experienced forces of being both pushed out of Mexico as well as pulled into America for reasons involving economic restructuring, employment opportunities, and differences in compensation (Jenkins, 1977; Pew Research Center, 2009; Sanderson, 2013; Crowley and Ebert 2014). However, in contrast to their traditional urban destinations, Hispanic immigrants have been moving to non-traditional destinations in rural America for the past few decades due to legislation and job openings among a variety of other factors (Crowley and Ebert, 2014). Unfortunately, immigrants are not always warmly welcomed into these communities, and they may experience difficulties that could make them rethink the decision of immigration all together. The purpose of this paper is to identify those forces that have influenced Hispanic immigration into the United States, especially into rural communities, as well as some of the obstacles that these immigrants

The assimilation of Cuban Americans has come rather slowly due to the discrimination that this group has faced. Like most other immigrating groups, Cubans have seen themselves rejected and discriminated by the dominant group, making them embrace their own culture and straying away from the dominant expectations for several years. In order to maintain their culture, and as an effort to reject discrimination, Cuban Americans have opened various organizations and enclaves that help promote their heritage. The stratification between Cubans and white Americans is quite high in places like Florida. In fact, affluent Anglos are usually placed in elite private schools that are populated by little to none Latinos. Due to the fact that many Cuban Americans consider themselves to be exiles, their assimilation has come rather slowly. According to Gordon’s assimilation theory, cultural and identification assimilation have come at a slow pace. To elaborate, Cuban American immigrants have faced much discrimination and stereotyping that has led them to stay away from assimilating to the dominant culture. In fact, their cultural patterns have been kept sturdy by promoting their heritage in organizations, clubs and enclaves. With new U.S. born generations, there can be a sense of cultural assimilation, but for the most part, Cuban Americans have not completely assimilated culturally. In the same sense, identification assimilation has not come hastily. As mentioned, Cuban

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

Miami is well known as a city where a lot of immigrants migrate to and continuously grow in numbers. The increase in the Hispanic population is usually due to family ties that influence other members to relocate to the city. Persuasion of a better life and opportunity for their children is what influenced my parents to move to Miami in the mid 1980’s. According to my parents the diversity in languages and cultural background made it

My topic for the junior research paper has to do with the consequences of deporting illegal Latin American immigrants. As of right now I know that there are many illegal Latin Americans living in the United States and this group of people make up a large part of our workforce. Many different aspects of our economy could be affected by the removal of illegal Latin Americans. Some examples of this are farming, restaurants and landscaping. If the United States government did decide to get rid of the undocumented Latin Americans we would lose a large percentage of people who work the dirty jobs that help run our country as well as some important people in the MLB. As well as economical factors, many families in the US would be torn apart due to deportation of Latin Americans. Mothers, fathers and grandparents could all be forced to leave even though their child is a

Through studying immigration statistical data, it has been found that the highest percentage of mexican immigration has occurred on the most recent decades. However, there was a high percentage of mexican immigration on the years of the 1920s and the 1940s. These two decades were having an increase in mexican immigration due to the establishment of the Bracero Program. This program was started during the 1920s and again in the 1940s, but was later stopped in the 1960s. Between and after, these time periods, Mexican immigration into the United States was almost non-existent. After an increase in the 1920s, there was a tremendous decrease in the 1930s only to increase again in the 1940s. Then in the 1950s there was a huge decrease in the rate of Mexican immigrants entering the United States. Mexican immigration began to have an increased number of border crossings and travel into the United States after the economic crisis in the 1970s. From this decade to present day, mexican immigration in the United States is only doubling each decade. Between these time periods, however, there was almost no significant amount of immigration. The years of low rate of mexican immigration were in the 1930s, 1950s, and the 1960s.

Mexicans, in fact, represent the biggest portion of the Latino population in the United States, but they have not received the same treatment as other groups such as the Cubans and Puerto Ricans who share the Latino label but have had a different experience in America. Most Mexicans have entered the United States for purposes of labor, and although they have now established themselves in most border states, their education level still remains low with very few having a college degree. On the other hand, Cubans were able to enjoy a privileged legal migration into the United States, many who fled the Cuban revolution were, in fact, part of the elite and, therefore, arrived with some resources of their own in the 60’s and also received considerable government assistance upon their arrival. The Cuban children were provided with education programs that would help them improved their English language skills and have a smooth integration. The direct inclusion of Cubans into American society can be seen today with political leaders of Cuban descent being contenders to the presidential position. Puerto Ricans, although being considered US

Moreover, after the influx of Latin American immigrants, the U.S. government responded by passing anti-immigrant legislation that continued to hinder the livelihoods of Latin American refugees and immigrants alike. Beginning with the Refugee Act in 1980, which stated that refugee status would be given on a case by case basis, rather than a group as a whole (Macekura 2011: 358). As stated by Stephen Macekura, the provisions of the Refugee Act hindered the ability for Salvadorians to claim refugee as a nationality, thus giving the government the ability to claim that Central Americans were migrating for economic reasons rather than fleeing the war (Macekura 2011: 358). This further complicated the steps for Central American refugees to claim this status because it no longer applied on nationality, but people were supposed to prove they were refugees. This allowed the immigration officials to accuse immigrants for migrating for economic reasons instead of the war, when in realty most immigrants were coming from collapsed economies and governments that did not provide them their basic human rights. Furthermore, in 1986 the Reagan administration passed the Simpson-Mazzoli Act which allowed amnesty to some refugees who fled the Central American civil wars, but only after strong immigration lawyers began fighting for Salvadorians rights to apply refugee status (Macekura 2011:366). The Reagan administration continued to deny Salvadorians refugee because of national xenophobia and

Why do immigrants, especially Mexicans, “not belong” in America? Society harps on us to be accepting of everyone and everything, including race, yet simultaneously alienates Mexicans and forces them back to where they “came from”. In the early 1900’s immigration became a prevalent government topic because the immigrants weren’t wanted, yet, with time, they kept flooding into America with the promise of a safe haven. Many historical paradigms have influenced and set a precedent for the current conflict, but specifically, the militarization of the United States/Mexico border, as well as the Immigration and Nationality Acts, have contributed to the view of Mexicans as aliens. Immigration acts separated families and border patrol has placed a strain on immigrants who do not meet criteria to enter the United States but have nowhere else to go. Those who try to pass the border illegally were either shot if caught or tracked. Now, millions face the fear of deportation. Because America holds a negative outlook against Mexicans it wasn’t welcoming towards them and forced them into underpaying jobs with inhumane living and working conditions. Working immigrants lived in remodeled chicken coops and broke their backs in the fields up to twelve hour a day in brutal weather conditions. Because of a subtle hierarchy in the United States, whites commonly view themselves as superior to Mexicans and therefore do not want to be outnumbered by these aliens who don’t belong in this country.