Thread: Region sees Hispanic growth - IN

Region sees Hispanic growth
Most migrate here to prosper and be someone

The Journal Gazette
by Angela Mapes Turner
Published: October 16, 2011 3:00 a.m.

Saturday wrapped up Hispanic Heritage Month, a celebration that began Sept. 15, the anniversary of independence of five Latin American countries.

In northeast Indiana, the Hispanic community has shown tremendous growth over the past decade, according to the 2010 census, and in Noble County, the pace of growth of Hispanics lured by manufacturing jobs has made the small city of Ligonier one of two majority-Hispanic cities in the state.

What does it mean to be Hispanic? The term refers to people who can trace their roots to Spain, Mexico and the Spanish-speaking nations of Central America, South America and the Caribbean.

While the growth in Ligonier was driven by Mexican immigration, there’s no typical profile for a Hispanic citizen in the U.S. They’re born here and abroad; they trace their roots to at least 20 different countries.

Mary J. Montes, 20, moved to the U.S. from Peru at age 11 with her parents. She graduated from Northrop High School in 2009 and is studying criminal justice at Ivy Tech Community College, with a dream of eventually becoming an attorney.

Her father, who had dreams of becoming an attorney in Peru, juggled three jobs when he came to the U.S. His decision to come to America was motivated, in part, by the controversial presidency of Alberto Fujimori.

Their story, Montes said, is common to nearly all immigrants.

“We want to become someone,â€

This is what scares me to death. I just moved back to Michigan from Arizona which has been completely taken over. Detroit has just opened back up some of their factories and I've noticed a lot more illegals around there than there used to be. I'm afraid they will take over our manufacturing jobs like they have in Ohio and Indiana. MI is just starting to get back up again, it would be god awful if the illegals took over these new manufacturing jobs. And God forbid one gets a into a supervisor position. From that point on they will only hire their own. A lot of the folks up here don't know just how bad it can get and just how far the illegals will go. They have not been to places like Maricopa county in AZ and are naive. I'm afraid that by the time they realize what has happened it will be too late.