Week 4 Day 3: Mexican Americans

 Week 4/Day 3 Mexican Immigrants in the United States

1. Despite the decrease in population size -Mexicans are still the largest immigrant group in the U.S.

a.      24 % of the 45 million foreign-born residents

b.      Population has declined by almost 780k or 7 percent between 2020 and 2019

c.      Decline due in part to enhanced immigration enforcement and strengthening of the Mexican economy

d.      More Mexicans now leave than enter, but still, the U.S. is a top destination for Mexican emigrants

2.      Today’s Mexicans are more likely to be college graduates

3. The number of unauthorized immigrants from Mexico has declined

a.      But still account for 51% of the 11 million unauthorized immigrants in 2018

4.      Mexicans are more likely than other immigrant populations to be long-time U.S. residents -60%

5.      But given the large number of unauthorized, more likely to not be citizens

6.      More likely to live in poverty and less likely to have insurance compared to other immigrants

7.       Most Mexicans are permanent legal residents =they have a green and

a.      Most likely a result of family reunification

                                                              i.      Means having an immediate relative who is a U.S. citizen

                                                             ii.      Or through other family-sponsored channels

8.      Mexican immigrants benefited from the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)program

a.      temporary deportation relief and work authorization to unauthorized migrants to arrive as children and those that meet education and other eligibility

                                                              i.      500k participated in DACA in 2020 and are the vast majority of DACA recipients

9.      U.S. is the most popular (97%) destination for Mexicans living abroad

a.      U>s. accounts for 8% of Mexicans residing outside of Mexico

b.      Canada has the next largest =86,000

c.      Followed by Spain =53k

d.      Guatemala =18k, then Germany =17k

10.  More than half of all Mexican immigrants live in one of two states -California and Texas

Distribution by State and Key Cities

                36% live in California, 22% in Texas, 6 % in Illinois, and 5 % in Arizona.

The next most populous states = are Florida, Georgia, Washington, North Carolina, Colorado, and Nevada

 

11.  English Proficiency -less likely to be proficient in English compared to the overall foreign-born population

12.  About the same average age as the overall foreign population but older than the U.S.-born Mexican population

a.      Median age was 45 years old compared to 46 for all immigrants and 37 for the native-born population

b. More likely than native overall foreign-born population to be within working ages 18-46.

13.  Mexican adults have lower education attainment rates compared to both native and overall foreign population

a.      53 percent of Mexican immigrants ages 25 and older lack high school equivalency

                                                              i.      Compared to 26 percent of foreign-born adults and 8 percent of U.S.-born adults

                                                             ii.      Less than 8% have b.a’s or higher compared to 33% of U.S.-born and all immigrant adults

                                                           iii.      College degree of recent Mexicans, last 5 years, is much higher at 17 %

b.      Mexicans more likely to work than either native-born or overall foreign-born populations

                                                              i.      69 % of Mexicans aged 16 and up in the civilian labor force in 2019

1.      Compared to 67 percent of foreign-born and 62 percent of U.S. born population

2.      More likely to be in service; natural resources, construction, and maintenance; production, transportation, and material moving.

14.  Income and Poverty -on average, Mexicans have lower incomes than either foreign- or native-born populations

a.      Median annual income was %51k compared to $64k for all immigrants and 66K for native-born led households

15.  Immigration pathways and naturalization

a.      Mexicans are much less likely to be naturalized U.S. citizens

                                                              i.      34 percent become citizens compared to 52 percent of the foreign-born population.

                                                             ii.      Most likely to have lived in the U.S.  at least a decade

1.      59% arrived before 2000

2.      28 percent between 2000 and 2009

3.      13 percent since 2010.

16.  Health coverage -Mexicans have the lowest insurance coverage compared to all immigrants

a.      38 Percent of Mexican immigrants are uninsured, compared to 20% of immigrants in general and 8 percent of U.S.-born.

17. The Mexican diaspora was 38.5 million U.S. residents who were either born in Mexico or have Mexican ancestry or origin in 2018.

18.  Remittances -38.5 billion remittances sent to Mexico through formal channels

a.      About 3 percent of Mexico’s GDP. In 2019.

II. Exclusion of Latinos from American Media and History books

1.      Hispanics arrived long before the Pilgrims

2.      Earn fewer and face more barriers to education and health care, and are underrepresented in higher-paid areas of the workforce and popular culture

3.      Castro and the infrastructure of opportunity

a.      Education and racial equality focus

4.      Spurred by Mass shooting in El Passo in 2019

a.      Deadliest assault on Latinos in modern history

5.      According to the U.S. government accounting office, Mexicans make up 8 percent of workers in the news and publishing industry

a.      Lowest rate of any industry in the country

b.      But they make up close to 20% of the U.S. population

6.      What are the stats and what consequences of American ignorance of Latino History

7.      Fundamental Problem that we leave out of U.S. history much of the contributions and struggles of Latinos

a.      Sure, we talk about the Alamo, but not much else

b.      Rarely do we talk about their accomplishments

c.      Or any particular period in American history

d.      Rarely do we discuss how they have contributed to actions, prosperity, or success

e.      No sense of their place within American Society

8.      Within Texas, Latinos play a tremendous role in the economy, culture, and development of the state

9.      But this is being threatened by the countermovement against ethnic studies and critical race theory.

10.  Latinos rarely sit on school boards or are elected officials

a.      Comprise only one percent of local and federal elected officials

11.  Hollywood is the primary image-defining and narrative-creating institution in America

a.      Yet Latinos make up around three or four percent of folks in front of or behind the camera

b.      Underrepresented, their stories are rarely told, or most likely to be negative portrayals and stereotypes of Latinos as drug dealers, criminals, and dregs of society as illegals

c.      These misrepresentations of Latinos lead to the political dialogue where they are misrepresented for political gain.

d.      Leads to such things as the mass attack in El Passo, where a madman drove ten hours and killed 23 people he considered to be Hispanic invaders in Texas

e.      Because of the work done by Castro and other politicians, studios and other media outlets are becoming more transparent and being held accountable,

                                                              i.      Improvement seen in the representation and stories being told

f.        Murder of George Floyd -pushed corporate America to look at how they portray and cover different communities

                                                              i.      Not just African Americans but also Latino communities and others

                                                             ii.      Btu representation is still low

                                                           iii.      In the Media, they are still more likely to be in the service sector rather than as anchors or directors of films

                                                           iv.      Latinos least likely to be in front and center roles, decision-making positions in the C suite

                                                             v.      Hollywood is less diverse than the oil and gas industry in Texas

                                                           vi.      More diversity in the cast leads to greater box-office success

                                                         vii.      Progress is slow

                                                        viii.      Strange Latinos are over-index as purchasers of movie tickets, social media consumers and streaming consumers

1. This should incentivize companies to diversify films, television, and streaming projects.

g.       African Americans in Hollywood were once confined to just stories about slavery and civil rights

                                                              i.      Then Hidden Figures hit

                                                             ii.      Black Panther hit

h.      These changes and those needed for Latinos came through not only media but also what happened in American education and society