A Study On Mexican Immigration To The United States

With the end of the cold war and the deepening of process of globalization, international migration becomes a worldwide phenomenon that deserves attention increasingly and also a hot issue. Being the largest immigration group nowadays in America, Mexican immigration is of great academic and realistic significance. Basing on a long-term perspective of history, this dissertation explores the historical course of Mexican immigrants to the United States, their geographical and industrial distributions, their contributions to and influences on the United States. This study also analyzes impact and challenge of Mexican immigration on the U.S. and how the American administration deals with Mexican immigration. The author hopes to make a comprehensive and systematic research on Mexican immigration and to promote the understanding of international migration. The main body of this dissertation includes five chapters.Chapter I The Historical Course of Mexican Immigration to the United StatesChapter I expounds the origin and historical course of Mexican immigration to the U.S. in terms of the binational social and economic background of both America and Mexico. The historical course of Mexican immigration to the U.S. could be divided into four stages generally: The first stage is the era of openness and enganche, which is from the turn of the 20th century to the Great Depression; the second stage is the Bracero era, which begins with the subscription of the Bracero Program in 1942 and ends with the termination of that program in 1964; The third stage is the era of undocumented migration, which is from the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 to mid-1980s; The last era begins with the publishing of Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA) till now. Generally speaking, Mexicans continued to emigrate to America with high level till now except for the period of Great Depression. Mexican-born population holds the biggest share of the foreign born population in the United States, whatever their legal status. Mexican immigration to the U.S. results from a mixture of historical, geographical, economic and social factors. Making a comprehensive survey of the historical track of Mexican immigration, the push (supply)of Mexico and the pull (demand)of America have always played a role in driving Mexicans to emigrate to the United States. The rise and fall of Mexican immigration inflow is closely connected with the change of America's demand for labor, and is the result of the transformation of Mexican economic pattern.Chapter II The Distribution of Mexican Immigration in the United StatesChapter II summarizes the geographical distribution, patterns of industry and occupation, and the social stratum in the U.S. of Mexican immigrants. High regional concentration is one of the distinct characteristics of Mexicans. They have established concentration mainly in California, Texas and Arizona of Southwest region and Illinois of Midwest region till mid-1980s. After IRCA brought into effect, the pattern of Mexicans'geographical distribution began to change from high level concentration to diffusion to some extent, they began to move other parts of America from traditional destinations to new destinations which includes some states of South, Midwest, Northeast and Pacific Northwest. As far as the patterns of industry and occupation of Mexicans are concerned, early Mexican immigrants concentrated mainly in some special industries such as agriculture, mining and railway construction. They began to work in construction, manufacturing, retailing and service which are characteristic of labor intensiveness in 1960s and 1970s. Mexican immigrants tend to hold lower jobs both in skill and wage, with proportion of laborer being much higher and the percentage in managerial and professional specialty occupation being much lower compared with both non-Mexican immigrants and native people. As a whole, Mexican immigrants are in the bottom of the socio-economic ladder of America because of their low education attainment, marginalized occupational status and the discrimination from the mainstream.Chapter III The Influences of Mexican Immigration on the United StatesChapter III explores the contributions of Mexican immigrants to American society and their influences on the United States. With the increase of Mexican immigrant population and their dispersion to non-traditional destinations, the influences of demographical ,economic and political dimensions of Mexicans appear gradually in American society. Firstly, in terms of demography, the large inflow of new immigration including Mexicans is changing the population composition of the United States. Mexican immigration expanded the foreign-born population of America, changed the racial/ethnic composition and thus affected the racial/ethnic relations. This growth of Mexican-origin population is fueled by both higher fertility rates and continued immigration. Secondly, in terms of economy, Mexicans made great contribution to American economy, especially to the economy of Southwest as cheap labor power. They are beneficial to the development of economy of receiving country in the mass. As for the economic effect of immigration on individuals, the largest adverse impact of immigration is likely on low-skilled workers, either native workers or immigrants from other ethnic group, or Mexicans from earlier waves. Thirdly, in terms of politics, the political influence of Mexicans is relatively weak, and is not commensurate with their huge population. The Mexican-origin population take part in politics of American mainstream primarily by voting and holding public office. Participation in unconventional politics is another way of Mexicans joining American politics. The voter turnout rates of Mexicans is lower than that of both Whites and Blacks. Mexican Americans is less politically powerful, which derives from younger population, lower naturalization, and lower socio-economic status. However, their political potential should by no means be ignored in the future.Chapter IV The Assimilation of Mexican Immigration and the Issue of HispanizationThe assimilation of Mexican immigrants is one of the most disputable issues about immigration. Chapter IV makes an analysis of the education attainment, linguistic assimilation, intermarriage and naturalization of Mexican immigrants. The education attainment levels for Mexican immigrants lag behind those of both the native-born population and the immigrants from other countries. The linguistic assimilation of Mexican immigrants is also slow which embodied in the retention of Spanish and their limited English proficiency. With regard to intermarriage, the author argues that the intermarriage rate for Mexicans who married to non-Hispanic White is not low. Moreover, among all the immigrants in the United States, Mexicans have nearly the lowest naturalization rate. To sum up, there is a tendency that the assimilation of Mexican immigrants lag behind other migration groups. Mexican immigration does bring some challenges to American society, but they didn't threaten the constitutional system and the core value of the United States. The American culture itself is multiple. Furthermore, the assimilation of immigration including Mexicans is a slow process and can't get accomplished in an action. Mexican immigrants also pursue the American Dream. In a way, Hispanization is not a rational assertion especially from view of politics in the near future.Chapter V How the American Administration Deals with Mexican ImmigrationChapter V reviews the immigration (and immigrant) policies and practices that the American government deals with Mexican immigration. The Immigration and Nationality Act Amendments of 1965 is the first legislation to restrict Mexican legal immigration. Henceforth, a series of immigration acts including the Immigration and Nationality Act Amendments of 1976, Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, the Immigration Act of 1990, the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 and the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act have been issued and put into effect. Except for the above policy construction, the American administration reinforced the control of U.S.-Mexico border and implemented some measures to strengthen the border security. The United States alsp sought the cooperation of Mexico on the issues of migration and border since 1990s. However, the restrictive immigration policies and special operations didn't help reduce legal and illegal migration flow from Mexico effectively, rather, there are some contradictory and offsetting effects. The post-IRCA immigration policy has actually encouraged additional migration, especially undocumented migration from Mexico to the United States. Because the motivation for Mexicans'emigrating to the U.S. didn't change fundamentally and the demand of American labor market persist all the way, U.S. policy of restricting Mexican migration haven't achieved favorable effect.On the whole, though Mexican immigration is one of the major issues in the United States, it's still difficult to be dealt with effectively. To some extent, it is the American utilitarianism that caused the situation today. The tendency of Mexicans to immigrate into the U.S. on a large scale doesn't seem to change in the foreseeable future. It's difficult for the United States and Mexico to reach a consensus on migration according to their different position and it's not easy for them to arrive at a win-win situation.