The Integration of Immigrants into American Society (2015) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
1 Introduction
1 Introduction
Pages 15-58
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 15... ...
The United States is home to almost one-fifth of the world's international migrants, including 23 million who arrived from 1990 to 2013 (United Nations Population Division, 2013)
|
From page 16... ...
population. The numbers of immigrants coming to the United States, the racial and ethnic diversity of new immigrants, and the complex and politically fraught issue of undocumented immigrants have raised questions about whether the nation is being as successful in absorbing current immigrants and their descendants as it has been in the past.
|
From page 17... ...
In 2014, one-third were long-time U.S. residents with at least three generations of residence in the United States; another third were the chil dren of immigrants (although many of them were adult children, since immigration from Latin America has been ongoing throughout the 20th and 21st centuries)
|
From page 18... ...
legal and illegal immigration and (b) how immigrants shape American society?
|
From page 19... ...
Integration is a two-fold process: it happens both because immigrants experience change once they arrive and because native-born Americans change in response to immigration. The process of integration takes time, and the panel considers the process in two ways: for the first generation, by examining what happens in the time since arrival; for the second and third generations -- the children and grandchildren of immigrants -- by comparisons across generations.
|
From page 20... ...
Many foods, celebrations, and artistic forms considered quintessentially American today originated in immigrant homelands. Current immigrants continue to contribute to the vibrancy and innovation of American culture as artists, engineers, and entrepeneurs.
|
From page 21... ...
citizen. The major limitation of Decennial Census, American Community Survey, and Current Population Survey data for the study of immigration is that the current visa status (and visa status at time of arrival)
|
From page 22... ...
Another substantial problem is that these flow data do not count those who enter without inspection, as undocumented immigrants. The stock data are based on the foreign-born as measured in censuses and surveys, but they include anyone residing in the United States, including those who do not plan to stay and do not consider themselves immigrants.
|
From page 23... ...
After 1970, the number of foreign-born increased rapidly, doubling by 1990 to 19.9 million and doubling again by 2007 to 40.5 million. Since the beginning of the Great Recession in 2007, net immigration to the United States appears to have plateaued and undocumented immigra 45,000,000 16 14.8 14.7 40,000,000 14.4 14 13.6 12.9 13.0 13.0 13.2 13.3 13.2 35,000,000 12 11.6 Percentage of Total PopulaƟon 30,000,000 11.1 10 Number of Immigrants 9.7 25,000,000 8.8 7.9 8 20,000,000 6.9 6.2 6 15,000,000 5.4 4.7 4 10,000,000 2 5,000,000 0 0 1850 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2011 2012 Number of immigrants Immigrants as a Percentage of the U.S.
|
From page 24... ...
. Immigration from other parts of Latin America also increased: since 1990, the number of Central American immigrants in the United States has nearly tripled (Stoney and Batalova, 2013)
|
From page 25... ...
SOURCE: Data are from Jeffrey Passel (Pew Research Center) presentation to the Panel on the Integration of Immigrants into American Society on January 16, 2014.
|
From page 26... ...
The racial and ethnic categorizations of the population are a good example of how immigration changes American society and American society changes immigrants. Census and survey data on race and ethnicity are based on the subjective identities (self-reports)
|
From page 27... ...
They may also face racial discrimination, based on neither their identity as immigrants nor their national origin identity but rather on their new "racial identity." The shift from European to Latin American and Asian migration has also significantly changed the racial and ethnic make-up of the United States (see Figures 1-5 and 1-6)
|
From page 28... ...
. Asians, meanwhile, have become the fastest-growing racial group in 4 The 1970 Decennial Census marked the Bureau's first attempt to collect data for the entire Hispanic/Latino population.
|
From page 29... ...
However, the number of black immigrants has increased steadily since 1970,6 and immigrants accounted for at least 20 percent of the growth of the black population between 2000 and 2006 (Kent, 2007)
|
From page 30... ...
had at least one foreign-born parent.12 This has particular significance for the future racial and ethnic composition of the country because so many of the second generation are racial and ethnic minorities. The panel discusses the implications of this increasing diversity 8 The median age for foreign-born from Mexico and Central America is the lowest at 38, while the median age for foreign-born from the Caribbean is the highest at 47.
|
From page 31... ...
SOURCE: Data from U.S. Census Bureau Decennial Census 1960-2000 and American Community Survey, 2010.
|
From page 32... ...
SOURCE: Data from 2008-2012 American Community Survey.
|
From page 33... ...
Gender ratios for all of the foreign-born have varied over time, with the percentage of women among immigrants growing. The gender composition among immigrants shifted from male dominated toward gender balanced in the 1930s and was gender balanced by the 1970s.
|
From page 34... ...
Census Bureau Decennial Census. Also see Gibson and Jung (2006)
|
From page 35... ...
thus reflects a much stronger demand for labor in a variety of occupations such as domestic service, child care, health care, factory assembly work, and food processing/production. The gender imbalance in deportations may also contribute to the feminization of Latino immigration, in particular (Mexican Migration Monitor, 2012)
|
From page 36... ...
Immigration has also broadened from traditional gateway cities, such as Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City, to other metropolitan areas -- including Atlanta, Dallas, Las Vegas, and Washington, D.C. Many immigrants to these metro areas are finding homes in the suburbs.15 And while overall immigration to rural areas is relatively small, some rural counties have witnessed a surge in Latino immigration, particularly in places where meat processing plants are major employers.16 This influx of immigrants has created new challenges for communities and local institutions that have not previously had to create or maintain integrative services (see Chapter 5)
|
From page 37... ...
Almost 50 percent of the foreign-born from Asia and 39.1 percent from Europe have a bachelor's degree or higher, versus 27.9 percent of the U.S.-born population. But only 12.3 percent of Latin American immigrants have a bachelor's degree, and immigrants from Mexico and 17 See http://www.census.gov/prod/2012pubs/acs-19.pdf [May 2015]
|
From page 38... ...
As Figure 1-14 shows, the median household incomes for immigrants from Asia, Canada, Europe, and Oceania (the region including Australia, Fiji, and New Zealand) are higher than native-born median household income, while the median immigrant household from Latin America had a much lower income than the median native-born household.
|
From page 39... ...
SOURCE: Data from American Community Survey, 2013, 1-year estimates. Available: http://www.census.gov/acs/www/ [October 2015]
|
From page 40... ...
Asian immigrants, particularly those from China and India, are overrepresented in professional occupations, including those in health care, engineering, and information technology. Immigrants from Latin America, meanwhile, are more concentrated in lower-skilled, lowerpaying occupations in construction and in the service and retail industries (see Chapter 6 for further discussion)
|
From page 41... ...
The differences in houshold income distribution relative to the poverty FIGURE 1-15 Percentage of households below or near poverty level, by nativity, 2013. SOURCE: Data from American Community Survey, 2013, 1-year estimates.
|
From page 42... ...
, the fact that their parents are often prevented from accessing social welfare programs makes these families' financial situations even more precarious (Yoshikawa, 2011)
|
From page 43... ...
Chapter 3 outlines the current major legal statuses and examines how these statuses may aid or hinder immigrant integration. Legal status provides a continuum of integrative potential, with naturalized citizenship at one end and undocumented status at the other.
|
From page 44... ...
By the first decade of the 21st century, there was a new second generation population: the children of the post1965 wave of immigrants from Latin America and Asia. Currently about one-quarter of all U.S.
|
From page 45... ...
. Although the Census Bureau projects a slowing trend in the relative growth rate of the foreign born population (from more than 2% to less than 1%)
|
From page 46... ...
of Hispanics reported that they were "white" on the race question, a little more than a third (36.7%) chose "Some Other Race" (many wrote in a Latin American national origin)
|
From page 47... ...
Immigration has been hotly debated in American elections and in the media, and based on these debates, one might think that Americans are deeply concerned with the issue and that many, perhaps even the majority, are opposed to immigration. Polling data suggest that this is not the case: most Americans assess immigration positively.
|
From page 48... ...
, with 22 percent saying both were of equal importance and 11 percent saying neither (Pew Research Center, 2006; Segovia and Defever, 2010, p.
|
From page 49... ...
Hopkins (2010) found that when immigration is nationally salient, a growing population of immigrants is associated with more restrictionist views, but demography does not predict attitudes when immigration is not nationally salient.
|
From page 50... ...
And since 1990 in particular, the United States has witnessed an enormous influx of undocumented immigrants, a legal category that was barely recognized 100 years ago.22 The demographic trends described above have broad implications for immigrant integration that cut across the various social dimensions discussed in this report. Just as in the past, American society is adjusting to the fact that a high proportion of the population is composed of immigrants and their descendants.
|
From page 51... ...
For instance, upon arrival, many Latin American immigrants select "other" when asked about their race, corresponding to a racially mixed identity. However, with rising socioeconomic status, they
|
From page 52... ...
This careful attention to specifying the groups we are analyzing is made difficult by the scarcity of data sources containing the relevant variables. The most glaring problem is that the Decennial Census and American Community Survey do not contain a question on parental birthplace.
|
From page 53... ...
Finally, in Chapter 10 the panel assesses the available data for studying immigrant integration and makes recommendations for improving available data sources.
|
From page 54... ...
. Variations in the gender composition of immigrant populations: How they matter.
|
From page 55... ...
New York: Russell Sage Foundation. Mexican Migration Monitor.
|
From page 56... ...
Public Opinion Quarterly, 24(3)
|
From page 57... ...
. The Immigration Reform and Control Act and the wages of Mexican origin workers: Evidence from Current Population Surveys.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.