Salce M.

Emiliano Salce Miranda

Dr. Sharity Nelson

ENGL 1302 223

23 February 2022

Immigration: The Focus on Latinos and the Economy

The definition of immigration according to the Oxford Dictionary “the process of

coming to live permanently in a country that is not your own” (Oxford Dictionary). Immigration

in the United States has experienced a surge for the last three decades (Mussa 13). According to

the latest U.S. census, the country’s foreign-born, or immigrant population was 39.9 million in

2010, a 12.9% representation of the population, the largest it has been since the 1920s (Wallace

443). The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) constructs that there is an estimate of 12.1

million undocumented persons residing in the United States as of January 2014 (Borjas 1). An

increasing amount of population of immigrants has raised the question of whether undocumented

immigrants cause a positive or negative effect in the economy. Even though were are in the 21st

century immigration is still seen by some people as a burden, a weakness, and something that

hurts a country (Barrera and Connor 6). Also, as the Latino community is one of the biggerst one

to migrate into other countires, a research done to view how immigrants influence population,

older Latino communities and children, documented migrants, and another minority, African

Americans. This paper analyzes scholarly articles and demonstrates the scholars focus on how

immigration affect countries economy, how they are viewed by native-born citizens and how

they affect the societies they join.

Immigration and Economy

Immigration is a well viewed topic, something that has been in the mind of researchers a

lot and has evolved over time. A first economic analysis done by researchers Abeba Mussa et al.

is done to view the effect of immigration on the housing market, both in terms of rent and single-

family house prices. The researchers mention that “We (Mussa et al.) focus on an area that we

know relatively little about and provide a coherent framework for measuring how immigration

influence housing market” (13). The researchers also pointed out that taking apart immigrants

having an effect of the house market, they also cause natives to move out of the residence when

moving in and that home prices might differentiate by the timing of immigration (Mussa et al.

14). As per rent prices on MSAs (Metropolitan statistical area) there is an indirect result, an

indication that immigration arrivals are associated with a positive effect on surrounding. Rent is

found to increase by twelve percent with an immigration inflow equal to one percent of the

surrounding population.

Regarding house prices, highly significant suggestions indicate that house prices in

certain MSAs are positively affected by prices in surrounding communities (Mussa et al. 18, 21).

Eventhough immigration has positive effect on housing markets, there is a doubt of whether or

not they affect the quality of life in metropolitan areas. Research done by Michael Wallace and

Qiong (Miranda) Wu examenied how immigratns influence four dimensions: economic and

social well-being, healthy living, and urban mobility. This concluded that immigrant

concentration on communities tend to have a negative effect on quality of life, but they dissipate

when diversity is considered. Nonetheless, immigrants' diversity does seem to have a positive

and robust effect on all four dimensions of quality of life that were examined (Wallace and Wu

443).
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While immigrants have a different effects on housing market, the research of immigrants

wage gap might help to understand how it can also affect the housing market. Researchers

George J. Borjas and and Hugh Cassidy analyzed whether there is a wage gap for undocumented

immigrants in the U.S. and if there is any competition with natives for jobs. The method for this

was using a recently developed method that input undocumented status for foreign-born persons

sampled in microdata surveys (George and Hugh). The conclusion for the research is that the

wage penalty was minor, nevertheless, a big variation in the wage penalty over the life cycle

existed, while taking in consideration as well that undocumented immigrants have fewer option

in the labor market than natives (George and Hugh 1, 12). The difference of wage might cause a

difference on the quality of life in U.S. metropolitan areas as wealthier communites seem to have

a better lifestyle than the low-income communities.

Latino communities and Immigration

It is known that the U.S. has a history of mistreating non-white members, history that has

not been fully overcome (Stace Tucker Ussery 49). An analysis to study how population of

countries view immigration as a burden or as a strenght was done by researchers Ana Gonzalez-

Barrera and Phillip Connor. The study conducted of surveys over 18 countries, the results for this

was those countries with higher levels of education, younger adults, and a higher income are

more likely to say that immigrants make their countries stronger because of their work and talent.

In comparison, those saying that they want fewer immigrants arriving in their countries are less

likely to view immigrants as making their countries stronger (Gonzalez and Connor 5, 6).

Adding to this, research done by Lauren Mclaren and Ian paterson where they analyzed the

change of attitudes to immigration regarding generations and age groups has similar reulst to

those done by researchers Gonzalez and Connor. Mclaren and Paterson research concluded that
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the most positive attitude toward immigration are amongst those with highest levels of education

and that the youngest participants had a more positive attituted about immigration than oldest

participants with equally high levels of education. Education might have a big influence on

attitude toward immigrants, but age is also a big factor that could shift the results of the research

done.

Immigration is an incresing subject all over the world, and one of the communities that is

most classified for immigrating to the U.S. or other countries is the Latino community. the

Latino community is one of the biggest one that has migrated to the U.S. with a population over

57 million, over 15% of the population. Even considering students, the community of Latino

students (considering migrants and those born in the United States) estimate for 16% of the U.S.

population, 20% elementary and high school combined, concluding to the largest group of

Englih learning in P – 12 schools (Theresa Catalano 254). It is expected that the Latino

community doubles withing the next 40-50 years (Ussery 49). Being a large community and one

that consist for a major part of the U.S. population may cause some problems between

immigrants and native-born citizens. Being that some groups of lower socioeconomic status may

feel they are competing with in-coming immigrants for much needed and often scarce jobs.

Adding to this that many Americans fear immigrants bring higher crime rates, do not share the

core values of American culture, and do ot contribute to society equally compared to the services

they receive (Ussery 49). Because of this immigration many immigrant Latinos report greater

identification with their newfound American identity than that of their country of origing. As

Ltinos suffered discriminationm, researcher Ussery analyzed what was the attitude of Latinos

toward illegal immigration. The findings pointed out that latinos who experienced discrimination

in their life most lilkely chose that immigration has a positive effect; Those who have been
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discriminated against hold more positive attituted toward immigration (Ussery 53). Pointing out

that most Latinos feel symphaty for immigrants and are discriminated in their life just because

they are Latinos, eventhough some of them were born in the United States.

Conclusion

In the past, immigration was considered as a treat to countries and something that hurt the

country's economy, their healthy lives, and the government services. Nonetheless, research

studying how immigration affect economy, the house market and rural area of the U.S. has been

done. Most of the research concluded that immigration has no negative effect on the economy,

alternatively, most of the research proves that immigrants have a positive result on the economy,

increasing the house market which helps the overall economy, and providing a good and healthy

life on rural areas. Regarding the different communties that immigration consist of, one of the

biggest one is the Latino community. Eventhough we are in the 21st century still exist and will

keep exsting for many more years. Although, younger generation and population with higher

education levels are starting to show a more positive attitude toward immigration compared to

the one showed by older generations and lower education levels. Meaning that in the future,

negative attitudes toward immigration might be null, or might not even exist. Immigration is

beginning to have more positve outcomes than negative in countries, opening our mind to new

ways of improving can help to bring everyone a more safer and better quality life.
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Works Cited

Abeba Mussa, Uwaoma G. Nwaogu, Susan Pozo, “Immigration and housing: A spatial

econometric analysis.” Journal of Housing Economics, Volume 35, 2017, Pages 13-25,

ISSN 1051-1377, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhe.2017.01.002

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1051137717300025

Connor Phillip, Gonzalez Barrera Ana. "Around the World, More Say Immigrants Are a Strength

Than a Burden.” 2019, pp. 1 - 19.

https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2019/03/14/around-the-world-more-say-immigrants-

are-a-strength-than-a-burden/

George J. Borjas, Hugh Cassidy, “The wage penalty to undocumented immigration.” Labour

Economics, vol. 61, 2019, 101757, ISSN 0927-5371,

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.labeco.2019.101757

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S09275371193008311

Masanori Kuroki, Wan Wei. “The housing and Rental Price Effect of Unskilled and Skilled

Immigration in the United States: 2013-2017.” Journal of Housing Research, vol. 28, no.

2, 2020, pp. 179-194, DOI: 10.1080/10527001.2020.1

Michael Wallace, Qiong (Miranda) Wu. “Immigration and the quality of life in the U.S.

metropolitan areas.” The Social Science Journal, vol. 56, no. 4, 2019, pp. 443-457, DOI:

10.1016/j.soscij.2018.09.016. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soscij.2018.09.016
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Ussery Tucker, Stacey. “Experiencia Compartida: The effect of discrimination on Latino

attitudes toward illegal immigration.” Sociological Spectrum, vol. 40, no. 1, 2020, pp.48-

57. https://doi.org/10.1080/02732173.2020.1719381

Theresa Catalano (2013) “Anti-Immigrant Ideology in U.S. Crime Reports: Effects on the

Education of Latino Children.” Journal of Latinos and Education, vol. 12, no. 4, 2013, pp.

254-270. DOI: 10.1080/15348431.2013.785408.

https://doi.org/10.1080/15348431.2013.785408