You Must Be This Tall To Enter: A Roller Coaster of Immigration

                                        A Brief History of Mexican Immigration                           Mexican immigrants first began arriving to New York City at the end of the nineteenth century and early twentieth century. During this time, there was very light migration and it was due to the gold rush. They also came due to political reasons as the Mexican revolution occurred in 1910 and conditions became unfavorable. There have been four different periods of time where Mexican immigrants have heavily immigrated to the United States. The first was early twentieth century, before World War II. The number of Mexican immigrants was 100,000 in 1900 and 220,000 in 1910. It doubled again and became 478,000 in 1920. Then between 1920 and 1940, there was a dip in the group’s migration because of the Great Depression where many Mexican families were pressured to return to Mexico. In 1924, the US Border Control was also created, decreasing the number of Mexicans immigration to the United States.

After the Great Depression, the second wave of immigrants came between 1942 and 1964. This was due to the Bracero program which allowed Mexicans to be legally contracted for agricultural work and most of the time exploited, due to the low wages. Around four million Mexicans arrived in the United States in those twenty years as a result of the Bracero program. The third wave of immigrants arrived once this program ended in 1965. Many immigrants still came because of the work opportunities, but now they started to come illegally. These immigrants were largely male because they were seasonal workers. Finally, the fourth and final wave of Mexican immigrants took place from 1990 to 2010. Full families arrived in the United States, leading to a more permanent settlement. According to studies, around 7.5 million Mexican immigrants have arrived within those two decades. Nevertheless, with stricter border control and better educational opportunities in Mexico, there is currently another dip in the number of Mexican immigrants arriving. A large part of the Mexican American demographic stems from the Puebla area of Mexico (Images right).

According to the Department of Homeland Security, there are two methods of entry that Mexicans today use for migration: illegal immigration and legal permanent residence (LPR) (DHS, Hoefer, 2012: pg 5). Compared to the average of all 280,000 illegal immigrants per year that came into America in between 2000-2011, an average of 190,000 of them per year in that range, or 68% of the rate of entry of all illegal immigrants, are from Mexico. This means that more than half of the illegal immigration in 2011 was from Mexico. As for immigration through LPR, 14% (~143,500) of all legal immigrants in 2011 are Mexicans. When comparing 6.8 million illegal immigrants to the 143,500 immigrants that entered through LPR, it is clear that Mexicans enter the U.S by illegal immigration, making it the predominant means of entry for Mexicans. Out of Mexicans that entered through LPR, 89% (~127,700) are family sponsored, 6% (~8,600) of them were obtained through employment, and 5%(~7,100) were obtained through other routes including refugee and asylum status. In 2011, only 1% (~300) of all the immigrants who received asylum in 2011 were Mexicans. If we order this by predominant means of entry, illegal immigration was the most predominant mean, followed by family sponsored immigration, then employment related immigration, and finally other means including asylum status. A clear distinction must be made here however; although Mexico is the largest source of illegal immigrants in the U.S., it is simultaneously the largest source of legal immigrants in the U.S.. New York’s demographics may ironically not reflect this, and yet this is an anomaly in comparison to the general national trend.

According to the US Census Bureau (Grieco), The total number of foreign born Mexican Immigrants is 11.7 million, of the 31.8 million Mexican Americans in the United States (U.S. Census 2010; 2). This accounts for 29.3% of the foreign born American population a total of 39.95 million (based on a census that asked for residents to self-identify). Their relative size makes them the largest foreign born population, with Asian immigrants in close second.They account for 29.3% while the Asian percentage is a close 28.2% (with a primary make-up of Chinese immigrants). These are the two largest foreign born groups in the U.S. However, as represented in The Newest New Yorkers (Lobo, 2011) NYC demographic statistics showed that the foreign-born Mexican population in NYC was one of the smallest demographic percentages of the entire city (pg. 14). They accounted for less than 3% of the foreign born in NYC, whereas some of the smallest national foreign born groups, such as Guinea and Dominican Republic, dominated the percentages. In terms of location, the borough with the greatest number of Mexican immigrants is Queens, with a total of 55,500. Brooklyn comes in a close second with 52,500 Mexican immigrants. More specifically, the neighborhoods predominantly composed of Mexican immigrants are Corona in Queens, with the greatest population of Mexican immigrants numbering 15, 337. This represents 23% of the foreign-born population of Corona, which totals 66,259 persons- 64% of Corona’s total population. The Secondary neighborhood for Mexican settlement is Sunset Park in Brooklyn with 12,420 Mexican immigrants that represent 19% of Sunset Park’s foreign-born population of 64,029. The foreign-born population of Sunset Park makes up 52% of the total Sunset Park population. One aspect we see in Corona that most likely made it attractive to Mexican immigrants is the fact that the nearby neighborhoods of Jackson Heights and Elmhurst also have Mexican-born populations totaling in the thousands, making for a large ‘core’ area in Queens for Mexican immigrants. Additionally, there are multiple Latin American cultural institutions in Jackson Heights, Corona, and Sunset Park that would be able to assist Mexican immigrants and other immigrants of Latin American origin.

A Deviation In Trends: Gender Domination

According to the NYC Department of City Planning, Mexicans immigrants in New York City in 2013 were composed of a ratio of 171 males per 100 females (NYCDCP, 2013: pg. 96). As opposed to these statistics, the foreign population in general were composed of 89 males per 100 females, telling us Mexican Immigrants in New York City are disproportionately male, with the highest male to female ratio in 2013. The lowest were Russians or Filipinos, which had a male to female ratio of 62 to 100  nationally, and the native born population of New Yorkers, the male to female ratio of this group is 92 to 100, which is also much lower than the male to female ratio of Mexican foreign-born. We possibly see this trend due to the primary causes of Mexican Immigration which is to seek employment. While this does not limit the job search to males, we often see large groups of male migrant workers who immigrate to the U.S. and then continually send remittances to Mexico until their family can join them (Semple, 2014: pg. A20). While this is the standing demographic, our research has lead us to predict that this is a passing trend in New York City, and the ratio will even out as it has on a national level as time passes and the population of foreign-born in New York grows over time (a factor which we are already beginning to see).

Occupational Dispersion; Mexican Immigrants in New York Job Sectors

            As represented in The Newest New Yorkers, the majority of Male Mexican foreign-born in NYC place in careers in the service industry, with construction and extraction in close second (Grieco, 2011; 107-111). Approximately 48% of the population places in the service industry- a broad term Grieco uses to describe positions such as food preparation workers, bartenders, waiters/waitresses, janitorial positions, maids and other customer care industries (2011). The secondary group accounting for roughly 20%, are in construction and extraction deals with positions such as carpenters, construction laborers, specialists such as electricians and plumbers as well as maintenance workers. In comparison to other foreign-born New Yorkers, Mexico maintains the largest dominance over the service industry, followed closely by El Salvador. This is a percentage basis however- Mexican Immigrants account for the second largest foreign-born group in NYC, closely behind China. Their percentage over the service industry makes them the largest number of service industry workers in the city. Reasoning behind this is perhaps provided by education statistics in the Census Bureaus’ self identifying surveys, where Mexico has a 46% drop out rate amongst incoming immigrants between the ages of 17-24 (U.S. Census; 2010). This statistic demonstrates that incoming Mexican immigrants have either already left formal education much earlier, or dropped out while in the U.S. Mexico along with El Salvador account for the highest percentage of formal education drop-outs in NYC. This lack of formal education and restrictive language barriers may prevent the achievement of upper echelon positions, considering that service and construction industries provide job-training typically in house, or can be adapted to with a variety of common skills. These statistics only represent the Male population however, which comprises nearly 80% of the working population in New York. The female statistics show a slightly higher service sector percentage, along with a slightly higher managerial/office sector percentage. The major differing region in labor comes in Construction, Extraction and Maintenance, where Female Mexican Workers comprise roughly 1% compared to 20% of males.

 Social Extractions From Statistical Data

Statistics and percentages may be valuable to the social scientist in recognizing trends on a national level, yet the story of Mexican Immigration, and that specifically of New York, cannot be divulged with numbers alone. These numbers can be our evidence in recognizing the trends and concepts of immigration history in Mexican Immigration today, and in someways allow us to make predictions about the future of this process. Our statistical research revealed a major theme of Mexican Immigration in New York that is not openly observed in immigration on a national level: Male domination. While we expand on the reasoning behind this below our statistics, it must be highlighted that this is not something that is reflected on a national level for Mexican foreign-born immigrants. The primary reasoning used was regarding employment and the causes of immigration, yet given the extraordinary small percentage of Mexican Immigrants in New York relative to nationally, this trend is predicted to pass as the numbers of Mexican Immigrants grows in New York over time (something that is indeed happening today). Another trend we extrapolate and emphasize specifically with Mexican Immigrants is the presence of illegal immigration as a primary source of foreign-born for this demographic. While this is accounts for a large portion of Mexican Immigration, we must also examine this in context of the fact that nationally, Mexican Immigrants are also the largest source of legal immigration. In general they account for the largest percentage of foreign-born in the U.S. and this is pertinent in battling the misunderstanding that they are only the largest source of undocumented immigrants as they simply dominate the percentages in both categories. Assimilation and acculturation are two terms heavily used to describe the experience of a new demographic particularly in U.S. culture. The historical relevance of this in terms of Mexican Immigration is blurred, as assimilation varies from region to region. In New York, we see that Mexican Immigrants have settled in areas long part of the Latino Community in New York, and have begun to carve out cultural enclaves in areas like Corona in Queens and parts of Brooklyn as well. Considering they can be largely grouped with the other national identities of the Latino community, their cultural adaptation to America and in New York is deeply tied to that of the community. With regard to the trends examined above and the numerical data used to supply them, we may be able to sketch the image of Mexican Immigration in New York- yet such an image is not static and will forever vary with time, requiring reexamination and detailed care to understand.

                                             Maria’s Immigration Experience                                            This interview is about a Mexican Immigrant named Maria. Maria was born in Mexico. When she was 5 years old, her mother was abandoned by her father before they moved to America. At this point, her mother decided to go to America. They crossed bridge from Mexico to Eagle Pass Texas while enduring a hot and dusty environment. She had a relative who lived in Texas. She and her mother lived with the relative until her mother got a job. Then they lived with the Johnson family on the ranch in a hut in their backyard. Her mother worked for the Johnsons, clean their house, and cooked their food. She would run over to the hut they were living in to check on Maria and her older brother. She routinely did this until she and her children came to Michigan. Maria and her family moved to Michigan with her uncle to have her mother help her brother out with his children in exchange for her uncle helping his sister out with her children. He was an immigrant who worked with Great Lake Steel. Every one of her relatives worked at one job or another. In the summer time, during the long “13-week layoffs,” her mother and step father worked fields in Michigan. As a child, she took care of her younger brothers to make sure they didn’t get into trouble like eating the fruits that were picked by their parents. As she pointed out, her mother was really good at her job and sometimes got 100 baskets per day at 12 dollars per basket. There was a language barrier between Marie’s family and other Americans, which wasn’t a big problem for her since she quickly learned English due to her young age. She became fluent since 1st grade. However, for her mother and stepfather, learning was a problem. Even after she learned English, she was still fluent in Spanish. The conditions were hard on her mother during the period between Texas and Michigan. She was a single mom and only met her second husband after a year in Michigan. In Maria’s words, he was a “wonderful man.” She then tells us that her younger brothers were from her mother’s marriage with stepfather, not marriage with father. After she moved, Maria was shy towards her new community in Michigan. Her mother wanted to absolutely make sure that her daughter acclimates and learns English as fast as possible. She wanted her children to speak English to her. Mother and stepfather were in constant fear due to being illegal immigrants. As a result, they were totally “law-abiding.” Maria went to high school and met her husband there. They got married after high school. “He was a hard worker, came from a hard working family.” He worked for Ford Motor. She and her husband were always able to live without government assistance. They moved from Ecorse to Detroit after she got married, then to Dearborn Heights and finally to Livonia, her current residence. As an adult, she thanked her mother everyday for immigrating to America because she knew how much worse her life could have been otherwise. When asked about her opinions on Mexican immigration’s influence on the economy and the job market, she said that she believed Mexicans are not hurting the American economy. Her relatives “carry their own, pay their own bills and they pay taxes.” Mexicans aren’t taking American jobs since they are doing jobs that “no one would ever dream of doing,” meaning that they work primarily in unoccupied sectors.

                            Deportation, Assimilation, and Citizenship                                                   For Mexican illegal immigrants, deportation has always been a scenario that must be avoided at all costs. As shown in the interview, Maria’s family was no different. They would choose to avoid any situation that would lead to trouble and potentially deportation. However, recent trends has shown that since 2005, Mexican deportation has been on the decline for whatever reason (Gonzalez-Barbara, Krogstad, 2014). Nevertheless, Mexicans still take action to avoid it and one way they go about it is assimilation.                                                                                            In definition, assimilation is the process in which one tries to learn the characteristics of another culture and adopt those characteristics so that one can resemble people of that culture. An example is Maria’s mother’s wish for her children to learn English as quickly as possible so that they can fit in with Americans. In this way, they can lower suspicions of them being undocumented and show that they are just as American as anyone else. However, there are also other reasons why Mexicans would learn English with the most important being more job opportunities. In fact, it may not necessarily be English that they have to learn. In New York City, there are enclaves in which it is possible for people to get jobs even without speaking English. All that is required is for the job-seeker to speak the native language of the community. According to a New York Times article, many Mexicans aren’t native-Spanish speakers so they still have to learn a new language after they come to America (Semple, 2014: pg. A20). This shows that for many Mexican immigrants, it is necessary to assimilate to another culture, especially the American culture, in order to thrive in America.                                                     For most Mexicans, the hope is that after many years of assimilating to American culture, it would be possible for them to become American citizens. Whether they are undocumented or documented, these immigrants eventually find a way to become citizens and officially be a part of the nation that they have come to love.