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Show The Effects of Immigration on the Ethnic and Racial Diversity of Utah Pam Perlich, Ph.D. Immigration to the U.S. has been at historic levels for the past 30 years in what has been called the Second Great Migration Wave, hi contrast to the vast immigration from 1880 through 1920, the majority of these recent migrants have come from Latin America and Asia rather than Europe. This immigration has significantly impacted Utah as its foreign-born population increased from 58,600 in 1990 to 158,664 in 2000, accounting for at least 20 percent of the population growth of the state in the 1990s (Figure I).1 Because of the magnitude and regional sources of these flows, this most recent wave of immigration has dramatically increased the racial and ethnic diversity of the nation and Utah. This paper summarizes these larger trends as recorded in the decennial census counts. IMMIGRATION TO THE U.S. Immigration has exerted an enormous influence on the development of the United States. From the colonial period to about 1880 immigrants came primarily from Northern and Western Europe, especially England, France. Germany, Scotland, and Ireland. In the pre-Civil War era there was also a large forced migration from Africa. The wave of migration that extended from 1880 to 1920 was much larger in scope and originated largely in Eastern and Southern Europe. Given a population of 50.2 million in 1880, the 23.5 million immigrants that arrived over the next forty years contributed substantially to the population growth of the nation (INS, 2002). Nearly nine million immigrants arrived in the first decade of the twentieth century alone. By 1910 the foreign-born population of 13.5 million was 14.7 percent of the national population (U.S. Department of Commerce, 1976). Immigration to the U.S. was virtually unregulated until passage of quotas in 1921. The effect of these restrictions was a severe reduction in the number of immigrants to the U.S. and an explicit acceptance of Europeans rather than persons from other regions. The quota system was abolished in 1965 and replaced by a system based on family reunification, skills, and refugee status.2 Consequently, U.S. residents of Asian and Latin American decent initiated a chain-effect by bringing relatives who subsequently sponsored additional relatives. Immigrants from other regions, particularly Eastern Europe, have now also established this pattern. Further changes in U.S. immigration policy, including a blanket amnesty of 3 million undocumented persons in 1986, combined with international political and economic instability, military actions, free trade policies, and a relatively strong U.S. economy have led to the substantial increases in immigration (both legal and illegal) to the U.S.3 The cumulative effect of these forces has been an expansion of the foreign-born population to an historic level of 31.1 million in 2000. This is a more than doubling of the 14.1 million foreign-born in the U.S. in 1980. The foreign-born population is now 11.0 percent of the total population, still well below the 14.7 percent share in 1910. Over half (51.7 percent) of this population is from Latin American, while about a fourth (26.4 percent) is from Asia, and 15.8 percent is from Europe. The sub7regions within these with the largest numbers of immigrants are Central America (Mexico), South Eastern Asia, and Eastern Europe. Mexico is the single largest source country for the foreign-born, with nearly one third (29.5 percent) of the total (Gibson and Lennon, 1999). (Figure 2 and Table 1) THE NATION'S CHANGING RACIAL AND ETHNIC COMPOSITION This Second Great Migration Wave has contributed substantially to the population growth of the nation and has dramatically increased its racial and ethnic diversity. Although the categories are fraught with difficulties and have changed over time, the "best'" (although quite imperfect) measure of changes in the racial and ethnic composition of the nation is the decennial census (Perlich, 2002). The federal government currently defines six major race groups: White. Black or African American, American Indian and Native Alaskan, Asian. Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, and Some Other Race. In a significant break with the past, a person could select multiple races in the 2000 census. Ethnicity, a completely separate category, is defined as Hispanic or Non-Hispanic and was added to the categories in 1970. Importantly, Hispanics (or non-Hispanics) may be of any race. Because the 1990 Census allowed the selection of only one race and the 2000 Census allowed multiple selections, it is not possible to accurately measure 10 year rates of change within race categories. This is only one of many reasons why both the enumeration of minorities and the analysis of these data has been and continues to be very problematic, hi this scheme, a minority person is defined as either non-White (Hispanic or non-Hispanic) or Hispanic (may be of any race). The foreign born population is a separate demographic accounting system from that of race and ethnicity. In fact, many immigrants have been counted in the "White" category. These include persons from Eastern and Southern Europe and the Middle East, among others. One of the major (failed) proposals for the 2000 census was to define Middle Eastern persons as a new race category. While the foreign born population is relatively large and growing, the majority of persons defined as "minority" are in fact born in the U.S. Persons born in the U.S. (to either immigrant or resident parents), are by definition residents. The reason recent immigration has increased the ethnic and racial diversity of the nation is because the new source regions correspond to non-White race categories (especially Asian) and Hispanic (as opposed to non-Hispanic) ethnicity. The minority population declined to its officially lowest share of 10.2 percent of the U.S. population in 1940, with the Black share of the population at 9.8 percent. The minority share increased slightly to 11.4 percent in 1960. Subsequently the proportion increased dramatically, especially from 1990 to 2000 when it reached 30.9 percent. The nation's new largest minority is the Hispanic population. Previously, African Americans have been the largest minority with an increasing share of the national population since 1940. Certainly American Indians outnumbered Blacks in the early history of the country. However, they were not included in the early enumerations and there was not a 24 Utah's Health: An Annual Review Volume DC |
