Introduction
The United States is one of the most multiracial societies in the world today. The population in the USA is composed of all races with origins spanning from the Far East, Europe and the Americas. This multi-ethnicity has been attributed to immigration that has been taking place for several centuries. Most institutional teaching on American ethnic backgrounds concentrates on the United States after the British invasion and subsequent colonization. However, history indicates that the Spanish had been in the continent way before the British. In fact, southern parts of the United States such as Texas and California were occupied by other communities other than Indians and English speaking communities. As a matter of fact, some of these communities were Spanish speaking with a distinct culture, heritage and customs . Today Latinos are a part of the American society and contribute to the national goals and aspirations.
The term Latino is a general term and also bears the same meaning as Hispanic. The Hispanic community consists of the several Spanish speaking groups living in the United States today. The majority of the Hispanic is composed of Mexicans Americans most of whom were incorporated in the USA after the Mexican war of 1848 . The population of the Mexican Americans has been on steady rise due to immigration across the border. The other communities that make up the Latino consist of Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans and citizens from other Latin America nations. All these groups are referred to as Hispanics/Latinos. The history of their immigration to the United States is different depending on the cradle of the community.
Mexican Latinos
Mexicans make up the biggest chunk of the Hispanic population living in the United States today. In the year 2008 there were nearly 11.4 million Mexicans living in the US. This number is said to account for about one third of all immigrants in the US and about one tenth of all Mexicans in the world. It is also argued that near half of these immigrant are in the US illegally . The immigration trend to the US from Mexico has been a continuing affair for the last century or so. As of the year 2000, nearly 50,000 immigrants were able to illegally cross the border into the United States and settle in traditional immigrant locations . However, studies indicate that the rate of immigrant has been on the decline since 2007 when the country was facing the most economic crisis in more than fifty years.
The motivation behind such illegal immigration is mainly due to poor economic conditions in their own countries. Mexico, just like any other Latino countries have their economies remaining a dire state with high inflations, high unemployment levels, poor security situation and extremely high levels of corruption. Therefore, when these immigrants relocate to the US and mainly reside on metropolitan areas. For instance, Los Angeles- Long Beach Santa Ana is known to the metropolitan region with the largest number if its population being Mexican. About 16% of all Mexican immigrating to the US end up at Long Beach . Other cities that host Mexican immigrants include Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Phoenix and San Diego.
Mexicans immigrating to into the United States are not English proficient. For this reason, they resort to any blue collar jobs that they can find. Mexicans are found in many construction sites, shipping yards, warehouses and other handy jobs. However, when these jobs are unavailable, Mexican immigrants join illegal gangs so as to earn some living. These gangs are violent and lead to the death of many immigrants.
Puerto Ricans
Unlike other Hispanics, Puerto Ricans enjoy somewhat a different kind of status. All Puerto Ricans are said to be citizens of United States no matter their place of birth. The Island of Puerto Rico was made a territory of the United States after the Spanish-American War. The Jones Act of 1917 granted all Puerto Ricans outright citizenship . This gave many Puerto Ricans the chance to immigrate to the United State without the need for a visa.
Great immigration out of Puerto Rico began after the Second World War. The reason for this massive movement is mainly due to poor economic situation that existed in their motherland. Most of the immigrant from the island settled mainly in New York. Today, about one half of all immigrants from the Puerto Rico reside in the city of New York. This is due to the fact that airline fares between Juan and New York have been considerably subsidized. Since then, immigration from the island of Puerto Rico has been fluctuating depending on the economic condition experienced by the island. Puerto Ricans continue to face numerous challenges including discrimination and access to welfare. They also face limited job opportunities and hence being susceptible to cycles of poverty.
Cubans
After the overthrow of the Cuba’s dictator Fulgencio Batista by the revolutionary Castro, the movement of people into the United States has been a never stream. In 1959, Fidel Castro led a upraising against the long serving leader of Cuba. In this political upheaval, Fidel Castro declared the United States an enemy of humanity and confiscated all property belonging to US companies.
In retaliation, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), teamed up with some Cubans in trying to overthrow Castro. The results were catastrophic. This led to total collapse of diplomatic relation between Cuba and the USA. Therefore all anti-Castro Cubans were forced to seek refuge in the United States. This flows of refugees never stopped for several years that followed. But it was until 1994 when huge numbers of Cubans began to flow into the United States. Nearly 30,000 Cubans crossed into the US that year alone . The reason for this influx of the immigrants was due to the suspension of trade relations between Cuba and the Soviet Union which led to a total collapse of Cuba’s economy.
Today, Cubans still risk the dangerous sea route to the US in search of better economic status. Just like the Mexicans, Cubans also reside in metropolitan areas and accept any handy jobs they can land. They are also not proficient in English and this limits the extent to which they can seek employment. They settle mainly in the state of Florida especially in Miami city.
Conclusion
Most of the immigrants into the United States have been transformed into second generation Hispanics. Most of the initial immigrant gave birth to a second lot of Latinos who know nothing about their ancestral homes. A majority of these second generation Hispanic citizens do not speak Spanish. Furthermore, in order to find work or good living, immigrants are advised to learn English and other form of American culture that is acceptable in the new land.
Additionally, the second generations Hispanics do more than just speak English. These groups of citizens are registered as American by virtue of birth and have since felt as Americans. Thus they seem to have severed all connection to their cradle.
References
Ochoa, G., & Smith, C. (2009). Atlas of Hispanic-American History. New York: Infobase Publishing.
Ochoa, G., & Smith, C. (2009). Atlas of Hispanic-American History. New York: Infobase Publishing.
Odem, M. E., & Lacy, E. C. (2009). Latino immigrants and the transformation of the U.S. South. Atlanta: University of Georgia Press.
