New York-Mexico

Poverty, Race, and Ethnicity 1

Unit 3: Social Problems

Mexican immigrants see more discrimination as immigrants in America. Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish with 140 Mexicans, 38 are illegal. Many Mexican immigrants say there's at least "some" discrimination against immigrants in the United States, compared with 57 percent of other immigrants. The gap widens when the question focuses on discrimination against people from the country where they were born (73 percent of Mexicans say there is at least some, compared with only 31 percent of other immigrants). Mexican immigrants express the same values, the same desire for a better life as other immigrants, but the financial and language barriers they face are higher, and, clearly, reports of discrimination resonate with them, even if they don't experience it themselves. Part of the reason for this perception may be that Mexican immigrants are more likely to be undocumented (33 percent, compared with 7 percent of other immigrants) and less likely to be citizens (27 percent, compared with 54 percent). Roughly half of Mexican immigrants (52 percent) say that most of the immigrants they know are here illegally, compared with only 16 percent of immigrants from other countries. This association may help explain why Mexican immigrants are more likely than other immigrant groups to support a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants (84 percent, compared with 67 percent of other immigrants), a "guest worker" program (73 percent, versus 56 percent of other immigrants agree “strongly” with the proposal) and to believe that illegal immigrants become productive citizens in the long run (72 percent, compared with 50 percent of other immigrants). It's perhaps no surprise, then, that Mexicans are more likely than other immigrants to cite practical reasons for pursuing U.S. citizenship. 92 percent of Mexicans cite having better legal rights as a major reason to become a citizen,...