Race
has become a very touchy topic over the past years in the United States;
especially with an increase in immigration. The United States used to be
predominantly a place for European immigration however that all changed over time
and we started seeing more cultures coming in from different regions of the
world. Recently there has been an up rise of immigration coming in from the
central and South American portion of the world. Most of these people being
Hispanic/Latino. Like many other immigrants, a lot of them come to the United
States with one goal. They want to better their way of living. The thing with
this is that once they arrive into the United States they face a lot of
discrimination. They are looked at in a negative way by many and often are
associated with the bottom of the food chain. This is a problem because a
specific race is being targeted. Another problem associated with discrimination
Is the idea of clumping all Latinos into one nationality. The thought that all
Latinos are the same and come from the same region is quite offensive and
ignorant to think. Hispanics coming into the U.S are as diverse as the people
residing in the states. Not all of them are the same and it is important to
understand this concept to get rid of that awful generalization. In Marisa Alicea’s article “The Latino
Immigration Experience: The Case of Mexicanos, Puertorriqueños, and Cubanos”
you can compare and contrast the patterns and regions for Mexcans, Cubans, and
Puerto Ricans.
Some
characteristics that tend to pertain to Mexican immigration are that they
travel for economic interest, they are mostly low wage, and that they are
spread out across the nation. According
to Alicea, many Mexicans come to the United States to work and to sustain a
better way of living. That is a big
drive for them when coming into the country.
They are convinced that they will be earning more money here in the US
than back home. Another point mentioned
in the article is that Mexican immigrants are fairly spread out across the
nation. They are all over the country
which might be a big reason why people automatically assume all Latinos are
Mexican.
Cubans
are a bit different when it comes to immigration. Many of them are refugees due to the
conflicting problems they have internally in their nation. A lot of Cubans come to the U.S fleeing their
country and in the hopes of creating a better life. Another big difference when comparing Cuba to
Mexico are that Cubans often come to the United States with their whole
families. There used to be a policy
called the wet foot, dry foot policy which allowed Cubans who fled their nation
to obtain residency a year later after their arrival in the states. This allowed many of them to bring their
whole entire families with them.
Moreover, Cubans aren’t as dispersed across the nation like Mexican
immigrants are. There are high
concentrations of Cubans in certain areas such as San Francisco and Florida but
that’s it.
Puerto
Rican immigrants share some of the same characteristics as the Mexican and
Cuban immigrants. Puerto Ricans are similar to many Mexicans in the sense that
they come to the United States for work. They are not necessarily fleeing their
country like the Cubans are. Another aspect of Puerto Rican immigration is that
most of them are low income people who typically end up working in heavy manual
labors. Many Puerto Ricans that come in to the United States don’t have a high
level of education, so they end up working low income jobs.
To sum
it all up, there are many differences when it comes to Hispanic immigrants.
They are all unique in their own way and all require different standards of
living. This concept is very significant
because we need to get rid of the ignorance that comes when clumping all
Hispanic immigrants from one nation. There
is one thing for sure Mexican, Cubans, and Puerto Ricans have in common and
that Is the search for the American Dream.
Alicea, Marisa. “The Latino Immigration Experience: The Case
of Mexicanos, Puertorriqueños, and Cubanos”
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