Study finds integration slow for Mexican immigrants
Illegal status, lack of education can hinder level of assimilation
Stephen Wall, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 05/24/2008 08:29:01 PM PDT


Mexican immigrants take longer to assimilate into American society than people from other countries, according to a new study.
The slower integration is because many Mexicans, the nation's largest and fastest- growing immigrant group, are here illegally, the findings show.

The analysis by the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, a libertarian think tank, measures how well immigrants fit in with native-born Americans in three areas: economic, cultural and civic. Researchers produced an index using Census data from 1890 to 2006 to compare the level of assimilation across generations.

"The biggest factor that's threatening to make Mexican immigrants sort of second- class citizens in the United States is not language, necessarily. It's the fact that they don't have legal status," said Jacob Vigdor, a Duke University associate professor of public policy studies and economics who devised the index. "Therefore, they can't make the civic and economic progress that we normally expect of immigrants."

Compared to immigrants from countries such as Vietnam and Cuba, who come here to escape politically repressive regimes, Mexicans are fleeing to the United States for economic opportunities, Vigdor said.

"Mexican immigrants either have the expectation or the option of returning home at any time," he said. "That reduces the need for them to try to fit in because they know they can go back."

Immigrants who are political refugees know they're in the U.S. to stay, so they make a stronger effort to integrate, he said.

Immigrants who arrived in the past 25 years have adopted American ways faster than newcomers of a century ago, the study shows.

That is remarkable considering the immigrant population has doubled to almost 40 million since 1990, Vigdor said.

"The capacity of our society to assimilate immigrant groups is strong," he said, "but not all groups take advantage of it."

Some local experts disputed the findings of the study, which was released this month.

Elsa Valdez, a sociology professor at Cal State San Bernardino, said the report ignores significant differences between immigrant groups and how they have been treated by the U.S. government.

"When Cubans and Vietnamese immigrants arrived in this country, they were welcomed with open arms. The government set up special programs to integrate them into society. When that happens, you're going to have quicker assimilation," Valdez said.

Cubans, she added, were considered "desirable immigrants" because many were wealthy, educated and light-skinned. They also were coming from a communist country whose leader, Fidel Castro, was despised by the United States.

Assimilation also has lagged for Mexicans because of their low levels of income and education compared to middle-class immigrants from Europe and Asia, Valdez said.

"The lower the socioeconomic status of a group, the slower the assimilation. If you're a marginalized group, your assimilation is going to take a lot longer," she said.

Armando Navarro, an ethnic studies professor at UC Riverside, said Mexicans have powerful historical and cultural ties to the United States that immigrants from Asian and European countries don't share.

The southwestern United States used to belong to Mexico and the two countries share a 2,000-mile border. These unique linkages, he said, are strengthened by the dramatic growth in this country's Mexican and Latino population in recent decades.

Navarro prefers another term to describe the immigration phenomenon.

"What's taking place is an acculturation," he said. "It's a blending of cultures, customs and values. That's why this country is so rich. It's not one culture that is dominating. It's a combination of cultures that's contributing to the salad bowl."


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Assimilation index
Canada: 53

Philippines: 49

Cuba: 43

Vietnam: 41

Korea: 41

Dominican Republic: 34

China: 21

El Salvador: 18

India: 17

Mexico: 13

The index is based on a scale from 0 to 100, using a formula based on economic, cultural and civic integration. The higher the score, the more the immigrant group resembles U.S. citizens born in this country. The 10 countries above send the most immigrants groups to the U.S.

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