1. Latin Immigration: From Reasons to Racism Agna Guden SOC 2360 May 2, 2014

2. Table of Contents Articles – Mexican Immigrants: How Many Come? How Many Leave? – Immigration Statistics and Data Books – Esperanza Rising – Just Like Us: The True Story of Four Mexican Girls Coming of Age in America

3. Mexican Immigrants: How Many Come? How Many Leave? By Jeffrey S. Passel and D’Vera Cohn Declines in immigration to the United States from Mexico have been noticed over the last few years. The reasons are thought to be because of the impact on job availability for Hispanics since the recession. It is difficult to exactly age definite numbers from the census because most of the immigrants are undocumented. It is estimated that one in ten individuals born in Mexico are now currently living in the United States. About 97% percent of Mexicans leaving Mexico come to the United States. Mexico is the leading country for foreign-born individuals living in the United States. http://www.pewhispanic.org/2009/07/22/mexican-immigrants-how-many-come-how-many-leave/

4. Immigration by Anup Shah 20% of immigrants live in the United States. This makes up 13 percent of the population. Why do people emigrate? – Forced to move because of persecution, or escaping conflict and prejudice. (pushing factor) – An economic migrant is a individual searching for work or better opportunities. (pulling factor) http://www.globalissues.org/article/537/immigration

5. Economics, Poverty, and Immigrant Scapegoats Immigrants may face difficulties adapting to change and different customs. Immigrants become quick targets when general economic conditions worsen. During an economic crisis, empathy and understanding towards the situations immigrants face are usually lost. It was reported by they New York-based Human Rights Watch that the US Immigration and Naturalization Service would detain innocent immigrants in jail and treat them as thought they were criminals. http://www.globalissues.org/article/537/immigration Immigration by Anup Shah continued..

6. Percentage of Foreign-Born Population This line graph here shows the percentage of foreign-born residents with the correlating year of the census. A rise is noticed in the beginning of the 1900’s during the boom of European immigrants. There has been also a noticeable rise within the last few decades.

7. Foreign-Born Immigrants

8. Just Like Us by Helen Thorpe -Based on a true story about 4 Hispanic young teen girls who were close friends growing up. Two of the girls had citizenship and the other two were illegal immigrants. This book represents the struggles that they went through being Hispanic and undocumented while trying to go to college. The story is based out of Colorado where a police officer had been killed by an illegal immigrant. Many conflicts arose since the incident causing hostility towards illegal immigrants in this region. The young girls dealt with several obstacles of being Hispanic and some dealing with not having documents. The difficulties of attending college as an illegal immigrant was also a huge topic in the book. The author Helen Thorpe is actually the wife of the Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper. She met with these four girls and interviewed them personally for the story.

9. Just Like Us by Helen Thorpe This book gave a realistic view into the issues with immigration on a personal level and from the standpoint of young Hispanics. Showed how quickly negative views towards a race could easily escalate from an event. Helen Thorpe brought to light the many issues about immigration that still need to be resolved. “curtailed by their lack of documents— their illegality perpetually threatened to stunt their potential.”

10. Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan A fictional story that shows the growth and maturation of a young girl who had no idea her life was going to change so rapidly. Esperanza lived in Aguascalientes, Mexico as an only child with her mom and dad. Her parents were wealthy and owned a lot of land. Unexpectedly, her father was murdered by bandits and his brother took over his land. Esperanza and her mother left to Mexico and moved to California to work on a farm. Esperenza’s mother gets horribly sick and so Esperenza becomes determined to work as hard as she can to bring her grandmother from Mexico to help her mother. This book starts in 1924 and follows Eperenza for about a year on her journey of being an immigrant in the United States and how she coped with a whole new lifestyle.

11. Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan Represents what many immigrants leave behind when moving to another country. Highlights the obstacles and culture shock that many immigrants experience. Shows how quickly dreams and plans for the future can change once the experience of life and obstacles change a person’s own priorities and means for happiness.

12. Sources 1.Shah, Anup. "Immigration.". Global Issues, 20 July 1998. Web. 2 May 2014.. 2. Passel, Jeffery S.. "Mexican Immigrants: How Many Come? How Many Leave?.". Pew Research Center, 20 July 2009. Web. 2 May 2014.. 3. Batalova, Jeanne. "Frequently Requested Statistics on Immigrants and Immigration in the United States.". Migration Policy Intstitute, 9 Dec. 2010. Web. 2 May 2014..