Traditionally, the media tend to focus their attention on the Latino migration in States such as Texas, California, New Mexico, in other words on southern states close to the Mexican border.
The East Coast seems to be completely forgotten as if it remained the gateway of the Europeans into America. It seems that there is no Latino community along the Atlantic if one is to listen to the newspapers.
This vision is naturally untrue and I chose the example of New York City, home to a large Latino community, to emphasize the diversity of the Latino migration to the United States of America. New York in particular strikes my interest as Ellis Island among other symbols of the European migration to the US are located in this particular city whereas ironically, most of today's migrants come from the Americas.
How did this shift from a mainly European destination to a predominantly Latino place of settlement occur?
First, I will examine the actual shift in terms of history and study the reasons underpinning this tremendous change. Secondly, I will emphasize the geographical implications of this shift within the city, more precisely where the new migrants settled and how the face of New York changed over the decades. Lastly, I will address the future of this new wave of migration and try to hypothesize whether this change is to last or not.
[...] That is why there is no doubt that the whole debate over immigration is offset from reality but given the increasing Latino presence in New York it is likely that rejection behaviors toward them are only going to get worse in the next couple of decades. On the other hand, the Latino migration to New York is not going to be curbed any time soon. Two major changes are at work among the community: diversification in terms of their country of origin and large increase in terms of numbers of Latinos living in the city. [...]
[...] The Latino presence in New York City is old, as it is in the United States itself, but recent times showed a tremendous increase in immigration from more and more countries. Dominicans are to overtake Puerto Ricans soon but other nationalities such as Mexicans are growing as well. Former Black and White neighborhoods (Harlem, which used to be 100% Black some years ago for instance) are now turning into predominantly Latino Barrios. This situation triggers conflicts and rises in fears among locals but they do not prevent more and more Latinos from settling nor do they prevent the new generations from assimilating, as the Dominicans' case showed. [...]
[...] The future of the Latino migration to New York City An increase in rejection from the local community but a continuing immigration from more diversified countries in Latin America and the Caribbean Amidst the ongoing debate about immigration the Latino presence in New York as well as other places seems threatened. Many criticisms are formulated against them in particular concerning their lack of assimilation within the American society. Out of the 2 million Latinos in New York City million of them speak a language other than English at home which means that many of them speak mainly Spanish. [...]
[...] This shift profoundly modified the of New York The last two decades have seen many Latino immigrants settling in the city, profoundly modifying the face of the city As stated above, the Latino migration to New York City reached its peak during the 90's, due in particular to the arrival of numerous waves of migrant workers from the Dominican Republic. Although this proportion is slowly declining, it is still striking to notice that half of all Dominicans living in the United States reside in New York City ( 53.2 percent of the Dominican American population in 2000 according to the data of the US census). [...]
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