Abstract
Approximately 47 million Latinos currently live in the United States, and nearly 25 percent of them are undocumented. The USA is a very different country from just a generation ago – culturally, socially, and demographically. Its presumed core values have been transformed largely by the changes wrought by immigration and ethnicity. A multicultural society has, in 2008, elected a multicultural president. This article examines immigration discourse, framed in terms of fear and security, and the evolution of the US immigration policy. Latino immigration is presented as a force that has shaped the nation’s past and continues to shape the economic, demographic, and cultural future of the United States. Psychological barriers to the social integration of immigrants are also explored. This article concludes that government policy makers should encourage a more tolerant, multicultural society by integrating Latino immigrants into the social, economic, and political fabric of the nation.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
American Border Patrol, http://www.americanbordercontrol.com. Accessed 13 September 2009
Appiah, Kwame Anthony: 2006, Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers (W.W. Norton: New York).
Barry, T.: 2008, ‘Homeland Security’s Enemy Next Door’, America’s Program, June 10, http://www.americas.irc-online.org/am/5286?utm_source=streamsend&utm_medium=email&utm_content=789371&utm_campaign= [Americas%20Updater]%20Globalization%2C%20Immigration%20series%2C%20Colombia%27s%20indigenous%20war%2C%20Foreign%20Investment%2C%201968%20revisited. Accessed 13 September 2009
Bean Frank D. and Gillian Stevens: 2003, America’s Newcomers and the Dynamics of Diversity (Russell Sage Foundation: New York).
Civil Homeland Defence, http://www.apfn.net/Messageboard/03-04-05/discussion.cgi.40.html. Accessed 13 September 2009
CNN, http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/results/polls/#USP00p1. Accessed 13 September 2009
‘Demographics and Socio-Economic Status of Unauthorized Immigrants in the United States, 2000–2006’, http://immigration.procon.org/viewresource.asp?resourceID=845#Introduction. Accessed 13 September 2009
Department of Justice: 2008, ‘President’s Request Supports Increase for Department’s National Security Efforts’, Press Release, February 4, http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2008/February/08_ag_085.html. Accessed 13 September 2009
Dirdamal, T.: 2005, Director, De nadie, Producciones Tranvía.
Durand, Jorge, Edward Telles and Jennifer Flashman: 2006 “The Demographic Foundations of the Latino Population”. In: Marcelo M. Suárez-Orozco and Mariela M. Páez (Ed.), Latinos Remaking America. University of California Press: Berkeley.
Fernandes, Deepa: 2007, Targeted: National Security and the Business of Immigration (Seven Stories Press: New York).
Fry, R. and J. S. Passell: 2009, Latino Children: A Majority are U.S.-Born Offspring of Immigrants (Pew Hispanic Center, Washington D.C.), http://pewhispanic.org/files/reports/110.pdf. Accessed 13 September 2009
Hellman, Judith Adler: 2008, The World of Mexican Migrants: The Rock and the Hard Place, (The New Press: New York).
Hing, B.: 2006, ‘The Moral Choice on Immigration Policy’, Jurist Legal News and Research, http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/forumy/2006/04/moral-choice-in-immigration-policy.php. Accessed 13 September 2009
Hoffer, M., N. Rytina and B. C. Baker: 2008, ‘Estimates of the Unauthorized Immigrant Population Residing in the United States: January 2007’, Population Estimates, September, Department of Homeland Security, Office of Immigration Statistics, http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/statistics/publications/ois_ill_pe_2007.pdf.
Huntington, S. P.: 2004, ‘The Hispanic Challenge’, Foreign Affairs, March/April, http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/blogs/gems/culturalagency1/SamuelHuntingtonTheHispanicC.pdf. Accessed 13 September 2009
Hylton, F.: 2008, ‘Containing Multitudes: Death, Destruction and Rebirth in Brooklyn’, NACLA: Report on the Americas 41:6, November/December 2008, 36–42
Jasso, G., D. Massey, M. Rosenzweig and J. Smith: 1999, ‘RAND Corporation, “The New Immigrant Survey Pilot”’, http://129.3.20.41/eps/lab/papers/0403/0403002.pdf. Accessed 13 September 2009
Kandel, W. and J. Cromartie: 2005, ‘New Patterns of Hispanic Settlement in Rural America’, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/rdrr99/rdrr99.pdf. Accessed 13 September 2009
Martínez, Rubén: 2002, Crossing Over; A Mexican Family on the Migrant Trail, (Picador: New York).
Migration Policy Institute: September 2009, ‘Migration and the Global Recession’, http://www.migrationpolicy.org/pubs/MPI-BBCreport-Sept09.pdf. Accessed 13 September 2009
Minutemen, http://www.minutemanproject.com. Accessed 13 September 2009
Mora Mínguez, F.: 2007, ‘Psiquiatría e inmigración: una perspectiva transcultural’, http://www.saludmental.info/Secciones/psiquiatria/2007/psiquiatria-inmigracion-perspectiva-transcultural-junio07.html. Accessed 13 September 2009
NACLA: Report on the Americas: 2008, 41:6, November/December, ‘Terror Incognita, Immigrants and the Homeland Security State’
National Research Council: 2006a, Multiple Origins, Uncertain Destinies. Hispanics and the Future of America, (National Academies Press: Washington D.C.).
National Research Council: 2006b, Hispanics and the Future of America, Panel on Hispanics in the United States, (National Academies Press: Washington D.C.).
Nava, G.: 1983, Director El norte American Playhouse
Nazario, Sonia: 2006, Enrique’s Journey, (Random House: New York).
OECD, November 15, 2005 Report, ‘Migration, Remittances and Development’, OECD Publishing. Executive Summary, http://www.oecd.org/document/34/0,3343,en_2649_33931_35744418_1_1_1_37415,00.html. Accessed 13 September 2009
Passel, J. and D. Cohn: 2009, ‘A Portrait of Unauthorized Immigrants to the United States’, April, http://pewhispanic.org/reports/report.php?ReportID=107. Accessed 13 September 2009
Pew Hispanic Center: 2008, 2008 National Survey of Latinos, ‘Hispanics See Their Situation in U.S. Deteriorating; Oppose Key Immigration Enforcement Measures’, September 18, http://pewhispanic.org/files/reports/93.pdf. Accessed 13 September 2009
Quiñones, Sam: 2007, Antonio’s Gun and Delfinos’ Dream: True Tales of Mexican Migration, (University of New Mexico Press: Albuquerque).
Ranch Rescue, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranch_Rescue. Accessed 13 September 2009
Ratha, D., S. Mohapatra and Z. Xu: 2008, ‘Outlook for Remittance Flows 2008–2010: Growth Expected to Moderate Significantly, But Flows to Remain Resilient’, Migration and Development Brief Migration and Remittances Team, Development Prospects Group, The World Bank, Washington D.C., November 11, http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTPROSPECTS/Resources/334934-1110315015165/MD_Brief8.pdf. Accessed 13 September 2009
Riggen, P.: 2008, Director, Bajo la misma luna, Creando Films
Suárez-Orozco, Marcelo M. and Mariela M. Páez 2006 Latinos Remaking America. University of California Press: Berkeley CA.
Swain, Carol: 2002, The New White Nationalism in America: Its Challenge to Integration, (Cambridge University Press: Cambridge).
The Economist: 2000, ‘Survey: The United States. Who Gains?’, March 9
The Economist: 2002, ‘Survey: Migration. Irresistible Attraction’, October 31
The Economist: 2009, ‘Global Migration and the Downturn: the People Crunch,’ January 17
United States. Department of Homeland Security: 2009. Yearbook of Immigration Statistics: 2008. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of Immigration Statistics, Washington, D.C., http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/statistics/yearbook/2008/ois_yb_2008.pdf. Accessed 13 September 2009
USA Today, http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/results.htm. Accessed 13 September 2009
Wall Street Journal ‘Borderline Republicans’, 2004, June 17, A12, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB108742681731539433.html. Accessed 13 September 2009
Winn, Peter: 2006 Americas: the Changing Face of Latin America and the Caribbean. University of California Press: Berkeley CA.
Zúñiga, Víctor and Rubén Hernández-León (eds.): 2005, New Destinations: Mexican Immigration in the United States, (Russell Sage: New York).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Davies, I. Latino Immigration and Social Change in the United States: Toward an Ethical Immigration Policy. J Bus Ethics 88 (Suppl 2), 377–391 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-009-0291-x
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-009-0291-x