By ERIN TEXEIRA, AP National Writer
1 hour, 35 minutes ago



NEWBURGH, N.Y. - Sunday morning in this small, Hudson Valley city: More than 1,000 parishioners, most from Mexico, pack Spanish-language Masses at St. Patrick's Catholic Church. Afterward, many families flock to El Azteca for its authentic tacos. If somebody needs a ride home, there are at least a dozen local taxi companies catering to newcomers born in the Mexican states of Puebla and Jalisco.

New residents from Mexico have, in the last four years, opened dozens of businesses that have begun to reinvigorate the ailing downtown district; they are the region's fastest growing community. It's the same story elsewhere in the Northeast.

Like the other parts of the country before it, the region is finally starting to see the impact of Mexican migration.

New communities of Mexicans have arrived to fill farm, construction and domestic jobs, government data show. Population growth in states such as Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Connecticut would be considerably slower if not for the newcomers, who are steadily bringing about the region's biggest demographic shift in generations. And while the change has brought new vitality to some places, it's also created tension.

Rodolfo O. de la Garza, a sociologist at Columbia University, says it's natural that Mexico is â€â€