Immigration is an issue of policy debate in the United States, especially in light of high immigration numbers in the recent past. With a large number of individuals desiring to move to the United States from different parts of the world to pursue the American dream, overwhelming numbers are being experienced by the country. Latin American immigrants, for example, are expected to be a major minority group by 2050, when they only accounted for three per cent of the immigrant population in 1960. As a result, it is necessary to examine the immigration issue with a lot of concern. This paper considers Latin American immigration into the United States, considering factors which point to the quality of life, access to basic services among other indicators and interesting facts.
The Latin American population is one that has experienced one of the most controversial demographic changes in the United States. During the 1960 census, this section of the population accounted for only six million geographically concentrated people nationally. However, that population has now expanded and dispersed all over the country to have more than fifty million people, which represents 16 percent of the national population. As a result, the Latin American population has become a social, economic and cultural impact population within the US. It is expected that this influence will continue increasing with the increase in the Latin American population.
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The beginning of Latin American immigration can be traced to several origins linked with economic and territorial expansion of the United States. At the end of the US-Mexican war and during the Californian Gold rush, the doors for Latin American immigration were opened. In the treaty signed to end the war, Mexico ceded large sections of its territory to the United States, including modern day states of California, Texas, Utah, Nevada, Arizona and parts of other states. Within this treaty was the agreement to naturalize close to one hundred thousand former Mexican citizens who remained in the United States at the end of the war. With different levels of immigration since this period to the 1960s, it was largely seen that immigration into the United States from Mexico and South America was light, but change after the 1960s.
Latin American demographic began changing in the 1960s due to economic and political trends in the region. The 1959 political instability witnessed in Cuba became an example of shocking events that would unfold in the region with the overthrowing of dictator leaders and the establishment of Marxist principles of rule by the new leader Fidel Castro. This saw the application of political purging campaigns and nationalization in key industries including private schools, which led to the exodus of Cuban people into other South and North American regions. Due to this exodus, the Cuban population within the United States became significantly higher than pervious occupations in Florida and New York. Almost immediately, the Latin American population in the United States jumped from 71,000 in 1950 to 163,000 in 1960 (De-León & del-Castillo, 2006). The effect of political instability in the region largely affected immigration into the United States.
Again, another wave was executed when Fidel Castor allowed families who wanted to reunite with members in the United States to do so. Thereby, over 300,000 Cuban refugees moved into the United States during this period. Therefore, by 1970 the Cuban population alone accounted for 7 percent of the national population standing at 638,000 people. Successive shifts from the Latin American regions into the United States led to the migration of close to 1.8 million Cubans into the American grounds (De-León & del-Castillo, 2006). Similar trends were seen in other Latin American groups, such as Mexicans, Puerto Ricans and Central American nations led to the mass immigration of individuals into the United States to give it the population structure it now has.
It may not be possible to predict the future regarding Latin American immigration into the United States. Nonetheless, the two most daunting question remain the issue of unauthorized immigrants in the United States and the continued immigration. First and foremost, the singular most present effect of such immigration is that it affects the quality of life for the immigrant. Research has shown that such immigration has a direct effect on the wages and occupational skills of the individual (Steigleder & Sparber, 2017). Without correct immigration procedures and paperwork, the individual is no longer able to find meaningful employment regardless of their skills. Braceros are replaced by unauthorized immigrant workers, leading to lower quality lives with limited access to facilities such as healthcare. This explains high levels of poverty among illegal immigrants as well as limited access to healthcare and exposure to lifestyle diseases (McConnell, 2015).
Notwithstanding, the US labor market will continue to rely heavily on the labor of foreigners in the face of higher competition in the global markets. Therefore, the need for Latin Americans in the economic development of the country will become more apparent in future. According to the census data from the country, immigrants who are highly-skilled have become essential parts of key sectors in the country including healthcare, computer development, economics and engineering. With the decline of the baby boom population, it is expected that higher need for the highly skilled immigrants will become higher.
In an economic analysis, it is also important to note that immigrant workers, regardless of their immigration status, have filled almost all job categories within the market (Camarota & Jensenius, 2009). As a result, immigrant workers are present in the agricultural sector, manufacturing and beauty industry. In some sectors such as drywall working, it is estimated that immigrant workers constitute up to 50 percent of the workforce. Regardless of their legal status, immigrant workers are found in their numbers in base production sectors, which would be understaffed by up to 30 percent without immigrant workers (Wanatabe, 2008). Moreover, it is important to note that there is a significant number of unauthorized workers employed in the informal and black market sectors. The large effect of this workforce is attributed to have created at least 50 per cent of all jobs created in the 1990s decade, regardless of the legality of the immigration.
However, dissenting opinions have been present in the face of this immigration. One of the concerns that have been present arise from the fact that such immigration has drastically changed the living standards of people living in the country. With an ageing white population and a relatively young and vibrant Latin American population, fear has caused a level of nativist hatred for those born outside of the country, especially without legal status. This means that such individuals are exposed to the effects of economic, social and political hazards exposure. Moreover, non-Hispanic American citizens feel frustrated that the implementation of immigration law has not been adequately done, adding to this hatred.
This debate has paved way for the recent border control debates and policies, aimed at increasing pressure on unauthorized persons and refusing them entry into the United States. Furthermore, such individuals are pressured to leave the united States through various methods including criminalizing renting to unauthorized persons, hiring unauthorized laborers, revoking licenses of business that employ unauthorized workers among others. In more extreme instances, local governments have criminalized the use of other languages apart from English for public uses (McConnell, 2015).
Different challenges are faced as states and local governments enact laws to reject the birthright of citizens born in the United States from unauthorized immigrants. Although federal courts have moved to strike down such laws, it is not certain the direction the courts will take in future in light of serious concerns regarding the immigration of individuals (Esbenshade & Obzurt, 2008). Therefore, the lion’s share of the challenges faced by immigrants falls on unauthorized persons. Nonetheless, it is also important to note that other groups face different challenges including culture-sensitive education and healthcare among other public services that require the inclusion of the concept of cultural diversity. Nonetheless, it is evident that strides have been made in incorporating individuals into the American society.
In conclusion, immigration stands out as one of the issues of concern in modern-day America. The handling of authorized and unauthorized immigrants is a social, economic and political challenge as the United States battles with drawing the line between healthy and unhealthy immigration. By all means, federal, state and local governments are working towards the reduction of unauthorized immigrations, especially in vulnerable states. At the same time, providing culture-sensitive public services is also a consideration for the government in dealing with existing authorized immigrants. The Latin American population, being the most populous immigrant group, has offered a case study into the challenge of immigration in the United States today.
References
Camarota, S. A., & Jensenius, K. (2009). Jobs Americans Won't Do? A Detailed Look at Immigrant Employment by Occupation. Washington, DC: Center for Immigration Studies.
De-León, A., & del-Castillo, R. G. (2006). North to Aztlán; A History of Mexican Americans in the United States, 2nd ed. Wheeling, IN: Harlan Davidson.
Esbenshade, J., & Obzurt, B. (2008). Local immigration regulation: A problematic trend in public policy. Harvard Journal of Hispanic Policy, 20 , 33-47.
McConnell, E. D. (2015). Restricted movement: Nativity, citizenship, legal status, and the residential crowding of Latinos in Los Angeles. Social Problems , spu007.
Steigleder, Q., & Sparber, C. (2017). The effect of legal status on immigrant wages and occupational skills. Applied Economics Letters, 24(2) , 80-84.
Wanatabe, T. (2008). Shortage of Skilled Workers Looms in U.S. Retrieved from LA Times: http://articles.latimes.com/2008/apr/21/local/me-immiglabor21
