Political and Migration Issues Affecting Puerto Ricans 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

The first great generation of Puerto Rican migrants established communities in cities throughout the country, including Chicago, Philadelphia, and Newark, as well as in mid-Atlantic farm villages and the mill towns of New England. However, since the 1930s, the capital of Puerto Rican culture in the mainland U.S. has been New York City. Despite its great distance from the Caribbean, New York had long been the landing point of seagoing Puerto Ricans, and the airborne newcomers followed suit. The new migrants settled in great numbers in Northeast Manhattan, in a neighborhood that soon became known as Spanish Harlem. Although many had been farm workers in Puerto Rico, they know found themselves working in a wide variety of jobs, staffing the hospitals, the hotels, the garment factories, and the police departments of their new hometown, and they soon became a significant force in the city’s political and cultural life.

This presentation will explain the differences and similarities, if any, in the countries of Spain and Puerto Rico’s. The presentation will show the differences and similarities between the two countries arts, culture, and economic environment. The presentation will show how both countries have a assimilation of cultural and distinctiveness. Even though both countries have similarities and differences, they both have one thing in common, and that is they are Spanish-speaking countries with an array traditions, culture, and diversity amongst the people, that will be talked about in this presentation.

Globally, the United States has been known as "a nation of immigrants" almost from its inception. Beginning in the 1600s with English Puritans and continuing today, America is a melting pot of culture and ethnicity. In fact, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, immigration was the major source of U.S. population growth. Looking over our 200+ years we find that to clearly be true, with approximately 1 million immigrants coming to America during the 17th and 18th century. Almost 3 million arrived during the 1860s, and another 3 million in the 1870s. In the next four decades, the number of immigrants rose to over 25 million people, most from various European nations, most arriving in New York or one of the Eastern seaports (Damon, 1981). Despite the politicization, as of 2006, the United States actually was the number one country globally to accept legal immigrants into the country, with a current immigrant population of almost 40 million (Terrazas and Batalova, 2009). In fact, the peak of immigration was 1907, when over 1.2 million Europeans entered the country beginning a push towards legislation limiting immigration in the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1924 and the 1921 Congressional Quota Act. These immigrants came for two sociological reasons: the push factor (wars, famine, persecution and overpopulation) and the pull factors (jobs and the promise of freedom). Most came by ship, and a passage often cost the equivalent of an entire life's savings causing many

It has long been a pattern in the United States that immigrants will assimilate into the culture when they live close to white neighborhoods. Latin American immigrants move throughout the country in different ways. Cubans are an anomaly due to the fact that they live very separated from White Americans even when they have been here for generations (Chaves et al, 2005: 511). Even though they are assimilated into American culture, Cubans still prefer to live in their own communities. This

Hispanic immigration to the United States stems primarily from uniquely developed push-pull migration mechanisms in which “interplay of national, regional, and global economic developments, the history of U.S. military and foreign policy in the Western Hemisphere, the checkered history of international border enforcement and interdiction efforts, and, not least, the aspirations of Latin American migrants and potential migrants themselves” (Gutierrez). In other words, migration from Latin American to the United States shouldn’t have been consistent, however, there are several factors that triggered massive waves of such.

Puerto Ricans first entered the realm of identity politics with their migration to Hartford, beginning in the 1950s. Their motivation was primarily economic; that is, Hartford had an abundance of job opportunities in restaurants, stores, factories, and farms in comparison to New York City and Puerto Rico (Cruz, 37). Puerto Ricans were now working and living alongside many other citizens of different ethnicities and were treated much like other

My grandparents were both born and raised in Cidra, Puerto Rico and so were their three children. They wanted to start a new beginning. Though the exact date is forgotten my grandparents moved to Cleveland, Ohio sometime in 1989. My grandparents were very poor when they lived in Puerto Rico since there were not many job opportunities and barely any resources, my grandparents could barely make ends meet.They wanted to give their children to have more opportunities and resources that they didn't have when they were younger, so they decided to leave their home in Cidra. They choose to move to Cleveland because they already had some family down here such as brothers, sisters, and even cousins.When my grandparents got to Cleveland they already knew they made the right decision for their family, Cleveland gave them a more stable life then what they had in Puerto Rico. There were better-educated schools in Cleveland for their children unlike in Puerto Rico, the food in Cleveland was way more affordable, medicine as well, and it was easier to find jobs that paid well.

Mexican Americans and Puerto Ricans have been faced with many social injustices in the past; these include police brutality, racism, discrimination, poor housing condition and many more. After a time they grew tired and decided to take action against these injustices. This led many of them to became part of a social movements, fighting for a change which were successful . A few of these movements included the Chicano Movement which involved Mexican Americans; they use boycotting, and their manifesto, El Plan De Aztlan to fight against social injustice and also to fight for nationalism and self-determination. It was said to be one of the most successful movement. Another was the Young Lord’s Movement which was mainly Puerto Ricans but also

Another large component of Puerto Ricanness is Race. All of the different cultures that have throughout history combined to form Puerto Rico effect their nationality, history, lifestyles, traditions, music, and foods.

From the late 1800's to the 1960's, Puerto Ricans began to rise to recognition as a dominating influence, creating chaos in American society. This comment is based on the immigration of Puerto Ricans to America, and the problems it caused.

Puerto Rico, a name synonymous with finding it’s identity. Has had its woes in that search of identity. After suffering the colonialism of Spain, Puerto Rico was then won by the US in the Spanish American war. Puerto Ricans, deep-rooted in culture and tradition start the journey of searching for better. In the 1950s, after being a territory of the US for 51 years. We see huge emigration from Puerto Rico to the US. The Puerto Rican government played a crucial role in the Puerto Rican migration after world war II. The emigration numbers sky rocket in the 1950s and there is a reason it did. In this paper, I’ll prove that Puerto Ricans migrated to the US in search of a better life because of the post war economic conditions, population increase,

Since Puerto Rico was first discovered by Christopher Columbus on November 19, 1493, and Spanish colonization ensued in 1508, Puerto Rico has experienced all of these pressures of identity and culture.

The migration of Puerto Ricans to the United States occurred in two major waves. The first wave was in the 1910s-1940s and the second wave was from the 1960s to the 1990s. Each wave of migrants brought new generations of Puerto Ricans to the United States. Both waves of migrants believed that they were going to live a better life in America and migrated to major cities such as New York City, Chicago, Hartford, etc. The early migrants looked for industrial jobs such as in cigar factories while the later migrants found agricultural work such as in tobacco fields. The communities in which they lived grew larger and larger due to chain migration and because of this, the need for politics evolved.

What was Puerto Rico like under Spanish rule, and how important is that rule to the formation of the Puerto Rican people today? To answer these questions, we must take a look at the history of the Spanish and their colonization of the island of Puerto Rico.