Section 4.1: History and Demographics of Latin@ Subgroups
- Page ID
- 206920
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\(\newcommand{\avec}{\mathbf a}\) \(\newcommand{\bvec}{\mathbf b}\) \(\newcommand{\cvec}{\mathbf c}\) \(\newcommand{\dvec}{\mathbf d}\) \(\newcommand{\dtil}{\widetilde{\mathbf d}}\) \(\newcommand{\evec}{\mathbf e}\) \(\newcommand{\fvec}{\mathbf f}\) \(\newcommand{\nvec}{\mathbf n}\) \(\newcommand{\pvec}{\mathbf p}\) \(\newcommand{\qvec}{\mathbf q}\) \(\newcommand{\svec}{\mathbf s}\) \(\newcommand{\tvec}{\mathbf t}\) \(\newcommand{\uvec}{\mathbf u}\) \(\newcommand{\vvec}{\mathbf v}\) \(\newcommand{\wvec}{\mathbf w}\) \(\newcommand{\xvec}{\mathbf x}\) \(\newcommand{\yvec}{\mathbf y}\) \(\newcommand{\zvec}{\mathbf z}\) \(\newcommand{\rvec}{\mathbf r}\) \(\newcommand{\mvec}{\mathbf m}\) \(\newcommand{\zerovec}{\mathbf 0}\) \(\newcommand{\onevec}{\mathbf 1}\) \(\newcommand{\real}{\mathbb R}\) \(\newcommand{\twovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\ctwovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\threevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cthreevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\mattwo}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{rr}#1 \amp #2 \\ #3 \amp #4 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\laspan}[1]{\text{Span}\{#1\}}\) \(\newcommand{\bcal}{\cal B}\) \(\newcommand{\ccal}{\cal C}\) \(\newcommand{\scal}{\cal S}\) \(\newcommand{\wcal}{\cal W}\) \(\newcommand{\ecal}{\cal E}\) \(\newcommand{\coords}[2]{\left\{#1\right\}_{#2}}\) \(\newcommand{\gray}[1]{\color{gray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\lgray}[1]{\color{lightgray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\rank}{\operatorname{rank}}\) \(\newcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\col}{\text{Col}}\) \(\renewcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\nul}{\text{Nul}}\) \(\newcommand{\var}{\text{Var}}\) \(\newcommand{\corr}{\text{corr}}\) \(\newcommand{\len}[1]{\left|#1\right|}\) \(\newcommand{\bbar}{\overline{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bhat}{\widehat{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bperp}{\bvec^\perp}\) \(\newcommand{\xhat}{\widehat{\xvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\vhat}{\widehat{\vvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\uhat}{\widehat{\uvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\what}{\widehat{\wvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\Sighat}{\widehat{\Sigma}}\) \(\newcommand{\lt}{<}\) \(\newcommand{\gt}{>}\) \(\newcommand{\amp}{&}\) \(\definecolor{fillinmathshade}{gray}{0.9}\)Brief History and Demographics of Latin@ Subgroups
Figure 4.1.1. U.S. Hispanic population reached nearly 64 million in 2022. (Used with permission; U.S. Hispanic populahttps://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/09/22/key-facts-about-us-latinos-for-national-hispanic-heritage-month/sr_23-09-22_hispanic-key-facts_1-png/tion reached more than 63 million in 2022. Pew Research Center. Washington, D.C. (2023))

Reasons for Migrating and Settlement Patterns
In his study on the roles of children in the settlement patterns or Mexican families in California, Valenzuela (1999) found that the they often play 3 distinct roles:
1) Tutors. Oftentimes, children serve as translators for their parents or relatives. They also serve as teachers and cultural brokers for their own parents and younger siblings.
2) Advocates. Children may also need to intervene or mediate on behalf of their parents or family even during challenging transactions or difficult situations. For example, advocating on behalf of their parent when speaking with a monolingual English speaking law enforcement officer or bill collector. This many often lead to strain or role confusion for the child advocate.
3) Surrogate Parents. Children may need to serve as nannies or in parent-like roles for their younger siblings. This may become a necessity if the parents work long hours and may also lead to role confusion within the household.
Valenzuela also discovered that the female children were given the most responsibility in serving these roles and the oldest children were more often expected to take on the role of surrogate parents.
Applying Sociology: How do the reasons for migrating, types of migration, and roles of children relate to your own experiences or the experiences of your family members? How are these similar and different from previous waves of immigration to the U.S.?
Country of Origin

Immigration Status and Citizenship

Figure \(\PageIndex{4}\): Immigration share has fallen in larges Latino origin groups since 2007. (Used with permission; Pew Research Center, Washington, D.C. (2020))
According the USDA, in 2016 over 70% of the farm worker labor force in the United States was foreign-born, mostly from Latin America. Approximately 21% of the farm worker labor force were authorized immigrants with permanent residency or green cards and 48% of the farm worker labor force was made up of unauthorized immigrant workers. As we know from other research studies, such as Milkman et al (2010), undocumented workers are more susceptible to workplace violations, low wages, and threats from employers.
Figure 5.1.5: "Farm workers picking cucumbers." (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0; Bread for the World via Flickr)
Mexican Americans, especially those who are undocumented, are at the center of a national debate about immigration. Myers (2007) observes that no other people of color (except the Chinese) has immigrated to the United States in such an environment of illegality. He notes that in some years, three times as many Mexican immigrants may have entered the United States illegally historically as those who arrived legally. It should be noted that this is due to enormous disparity of economic opportunity on two sides of an open border, not because of any inherent inclination to break laws. In his report, “Measuring Immigrant Assimilation in the United States,” Jacob Vigdor (2008) states that Mexican immigrants experience relatively low rates of economic and civil assimilation. He further suggests that “the slow rates of economic and civic assimilation set Mexicans apart from other immigrants and may reflect the fact that the large numbers of Mexican immigrants residing in the United States illegally have few opportunities to advance themselves along these dimensions.”
By contrast, Cuban Americans are often seen as a model people of color within the larger Latin@ group. Many Cubans had higher socioeconomic status when they arrived in this country, and their anti-Communist agenda has made them welcome refugees to this country. In south Florida, especially, Cuban Americans are active in local politics and professional life. As with Asian Americans, however, being a model minority can mask the issue of powerlessness that these people of colors face in U.S. society.
Despite the rhetoric of anti-immigrant politicians and commentators, Light, He, & Robey (2020) did not find empirical evidence that undocumented criminality has increased in recent years. Using comprehensive arrest data in Texas between 2012 and 2018, they found that "undocumented immigrants have substantially lower crime rates than native-born citizens and legal immigrants across a range of felony offenses."
Recent Immigration Trends
At the end of 2023, migrant encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border increased dramatically, especially since the official end of the Coronavirus epidemic (see Figure 5.1.6). In this period, encounters have surpassed 200,000 a month on three separate occasions, peaks not recorded since 2000. One significant policy change was in response to the Coronavirus epidemic was to invoke Title 42 under the Trump administration, which allowed the US government to expel migrants back to their home countries without being held in custody or allowed migration proceedings. After the end of the pandemic, Title 42 was revoked after the end of the pandemic and the policy reverted back to the status quo pre-pandemic policy. Historically, the majority of encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border were primarily migrants from Mexico and the "Northern Triangle" (migrants from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras). However, this has shifted more recently due to the drop in migration from Mexico in general and an increase in migration from South American countries and China. At the end of 2023, the majority of enounters at the border (54%) were migrants from nations "other than the 4 countries". The highest increase has been the number of encounters of migrants from Venezuela and China.
Figure \(\PageIndex{6}\): Migrant encounters at the U.S.-Mexico Border hit a record high at the end of 2023. (Used with permission; Pew Research Center, Washington, D.C. (2024))