Sociology Of Mexican Immigration

Immigration remains a constant topic of debate in the U.S. and the different positions taken on the subject vary a great deal. Unfortunately, when disputes about this subject arise, it rarely includes conversation regarding the second generations immigrants and the assimilation process in the immigrant communities that already exist within the United States. Immigrants in the U.S., in this case Mexicans, tend to create their standards of success from both the native country and the host country. Often they compare their current living conditions to the conditions they left behind and find that they are neither satisfied or unsatisfied. The immigrants are mindful of their financial situation and that it is better in the U.S., but, it is and often settle in places that are of similar culture and ethnicity to their home country. According to Paul A. Jargowsky’s article Immigrants and Neighborhoods of Concentrated Poverty: Assimilation or Stagnation?, getting settled in an ethnically concentrated neighborhood that provides a strong sense of community can become a “benefit to a newly arriving immigrant” (1132). These neighborhoods can help lessen the culture shock and can become a support system called the ‘barrio advantage.’ This system counterbalances the disadvantages living in such a neighborhood may cause. There are immigrants who are content with finding a “little Mexico” in the U.S. and only assimilate to the new neighborhood’s ways. On the other hand, Angela S. Garcia’s article, Hidden in Plain Sight: How Unauthorized Migrants Strategically Assimilate in Restrictive Localities in California, presents the idea that some immigrants want to get rid of their clear Mexican customs because “when a minority group is oppressed or subject to discrimination, members may react by attempting to lose their identity with the minority in order to become absorbed into the powerful majority” (1198-99). Assimilation can occur in levels, and to different groups, not just towards the dominant

It is not enough to trivialize immigration to the amount of people that cross the border and whether it is legal or illegal. Since assimilation is generational, then so should the debate on immigration. The act of someone crossing a border may have ended with the first generation, but, the full adaptation into the U.S. society may not be completed for many years to come. Whether the immigrants came into the U.S. in a legal manner or not is of little concern, it is the fact that they are already here that matters. Instead of segregating the immigrants to ethnically and poverty concentrated neighborhoods through gentrification, there should be a way to assist them to create financial stability for themselves. In this manner, they would stop being a burden to the American tax payers. The U.S. was founded on diversity, and instead of marginalizing a group of people who are just trying to make it, the U.S. should assist them by providing opportunities like DACA that they can take advantage of. Aside from that, immigrants, as Mr. Trump puts it, are “either unable or unwilling to assimilate to American life” (WEBSITE), or they may attempt to avoid assimilation as a way to rebel against the dominant culture, but, they are bound to assimilate in some way. Immigrants, regardless of the generation and level of assimilation will always have two cultures, they will always have two