Migration of Latino Groups into the United States, Essay Sample for You

The United States is a cosmopolitan country with different inhabitants from all corners of the world ranging from Asians to Latinos. Different reasons form the foundations of the forces that push this population movement to our country. Some of the groups of interest are the Central Americans, Puerto Ricans, and Cuban Americans. Importantly their existence in our country cannot be taken for granted, hence better understanding on their arrival and their activities. Also, how they compare and contrast from each other socially and economically.

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Puerto Ricans in a multitude of about 40,000 moved to New York City from the Caribbean in 1946 but a small number of the natives had settled in the city and on arrival of a bigger bunch of Puerto Ricans made it rise to about 135,000 by the end of world war II. By 1960 Puerto Ricans had hit a million margin which was regarded by sociologist as "the greatest airborne migration in history".in addition, recent data shows that many Puerto Ricans as of 2.8 million live in different states and 3.8 million live on the island. They formed the first group of immigrants who entered in the US without any formal identification such as a visa or alien cards. However, such advantage has been faced with handles that despite the de jure citizenship, many of the natives are referred as de facto foreigners. In light of their existence to the United States, the Supreme Court has had a hard time to decide whether they are foreigners or citizens.

Political unrest was one of the reasons why Puerto Ricans moved in search of stability. In 1868 when El Grito erupted due to sentiments from abolitionists, the Spanish soldiers violently calmed the situation. Additionally, the Spain Cortes abolished the slavery in 1873 making the tobacco and coffee growers have their labor force cut short despite being their economic source of capital. Consequently, US sugar growers took advantage of the situation and grabbed their lands. Poverty prevailed among the natives leading to the death of other civilians. Under the hands of the local authorities, the natives suffered physical and psychological torture that made them yearn to flee.

Poverty levels among the natives led to their death and emergence of illegal gangs of young boys who engaged civilians to gain a source of living. President Albizu who had served in the US navy came back to his homeland and took control of the party that led to the anti-protestant nationalism in an attempt to fight the American control which took years. In this year the sugarcane payments had dropped to 52 cents from 63 cents which promoted poverty even further. The company would make profits, but forty percent of the natives remained unemployed.

On arrival to New York, they were received cordially and harsh by the residents. Some got jobs in the nightclubs and hotels as servers. Also, others worked as garment makers in the Italian company who had made gangs that protected the outsiders from invading the city. Vito Marcantonio kept the ethnic tension under control since he advocated for the poor and jobless and such sentiments made him stay in the post from 1934-195. He helped Puerto Ricans clinch a political seat in 1937 in assembly. But with Vito gone they lost a voice in the house and streets.

Another group of interest is the Cubans. Their movement can be traced through the coast of Florida during 1994 summer as they appeared in rowboats and makeshifts rafts. Immigration centers were flocked with Cubans and Haitians who had immigrated through the coast. In response to the uncontrolled immigration of Cubans, President Clinton, conversely to other presidents before him, directed halt on the special treatment subjected to the Cuban immigrants. For instance, the congress disbanded finances on the refugees and CIA had given jobs to some of the natives as trusty cold war foot soldiers but came to a halt in Clinton regime, but this decision came when over 1 million Cubans had already settled in the United States.

The 1994 bunch of balseros were the fifth significant wave to have come through the coast after the tobacco workers who had come during the independence. However, the Fidel Castro revolution made it possible for them to move back to Cuba. Also, the refugees in the 1960s were from the middle class who brought skills and made them the most successful Hispanic group to ever migrate to the United States. But the 1980s wave was more miserable and dark-skinned (Los Marielitos) but confronted the whites to preserve their existence. Due to the variance in the various groups regarding education and class then it has become hard for even scholars point out Cuban refugee or exile.

Civil wars in nineteenth-century became the core reason why most Cubans led to the US. Most were tobacco workers and sought jobs to the cigar factories that were set by Cuban manufactures in Tampa and New York. Positively, even the University of Miami medical school helped the Cubans access licensing requirements. Most of them got help even from CIA.importantly they formed loyal markets that allowed them to sell and buy locally and access character loans. In the 1960s they were received well but later in 1980s they were faced with hostility and were returned and dispersed out of the country by the military.

The existence of Central Americans was unnoticed until the end of the twentieth century when US census counted 94,000 Salvadorans in 1980. Notably, these population even skyrocketed to 701,000 in the margin of ten years only. Moreover, estimated 1.2 million Salvadorans live in the US currently, and this population is articulated to 20 percent of their homeland population. Also, related Central Americans such as Guatemalans and Nicaraguans were not left behind in this tremendous population growth as Guatemalans population rose from 71,642 to 226,000 whereas Nicaraguans escalated from 25,000 to 125,000 natives respectively. Worth noting, such population growth was not prompted by the urge for materialistic need in our country or greener pastures but rather were compelled by continued civil wars in their homelands. Another reason for their mass movement include the social wars perpetrated by our military forces causing them to flee for their safety.

Unfortunately, their arrival was met with hostility from the government as they were denied refugee status conversely to their predecessors Cubans and Dominicans whom were received cordially and awarded the refugee status without complications on their entrance to our country. Consequently, they sneaked into the country illegally and set their habitats in Anglo society.in an effort to keep the low profile; they became the gardeners and cooks to the middle-class citizens. Despite unending handles to their peaceful existence, they showed relentless efforts to gain their refugee status by forming immigrant networks and self-help organizations that aimed at compelling the government to amend the immigration policies. Eventually, their efforts made their existence known as they at the end were recounted as part of the Latino population living in the United States.

Economically, central Americans till today they live under severe poverty, where it is compared that an American cat does eat much meat than an average central American.it is articulated that 54 percent of Nicaraguans have no access to safe water while 44 percent of Guatemalans are illiterate. These statistics get adverse when one of the rural residents have access to electricity, and less than ten of the natives have access to safe drinking water. Additionally, infant mortality rates stand at nine per 1000 births in the United States while in Central Americans stand at seventy per 1000 births. These conditions were made worse by the civil wars that made way for the devaluation of their monetary values, and May Central Americans lost their lives in this war. For instance, 70,000 in El Salvador, 140,000 died in Guatemala and 60,000 in Nicaragua. Surprisingly, most of the deaths were perpetrated by their military personnel who were expected to protect them.

The three groups faced tough moments entering our country, but others faced even more hostile welcome than the others. Furthermore, all groups showed variances in class and education aspects as some even were accepted in public schools where they gained knowledge and later went back to their homelands and changed the political and economic status of their country. Also, the commonalities such as reasons for fleeing depicts concrete reasons such as civil wars forced them to migrate to the United States. Besides their economic status was low and dependent on low pay jobs to manage their living. But the influence of our government made it easier or even harder for various groups.