Immigration Shaping America - Population Reference Bureau

Mexico-U.S. migration is now at
a crossroads. For most of the 20th
century, Mexico and the United
States were “distant neighbors” whose
major economic link was the migration
of rural Mexicans to rural America.
Mexico-U.S. relations changed in
the mid-1980s, when Mexico sought
to emulate the East Asian miracle
economies by fostering export-oriented
growth. During the 1990s, economic
integration symbolized by
NAFTA accelerated as Mexico-U.S.
migration increased. Mexico experienced
political as well as economic
change, and in 2000 elected its first
president from an opposition party
in 70 years, Vicente Fox. Fox made
improving conditions for Mexican
migrants in the United States his
government’s top foreign priority.
President George W. Bush was sympathetic,
and, during the summer of
2001, Mexico pushed hard for what it
called a “whole enchilada” migration
package—legalizing unauthorized
Mexicans in the United States, a new
guest-worker program, ending deaths
and violence along the border, and
exempting Mexicans from U.S. immigrant
visa ceilings.
Just before the terrorist attacks of
Sept. 11, 2001, Presidents Bush and
Fox met in Washington, D.C., where
Bush said, “Our desire is to make it easier
for an employer looking for somebody
who wants to work and somebody
who wants to work to come together,
but that in itself is a complex process.”
Fox responded, “We must, and we can,
reach an agreement on migration before
the end of this very year [2001].” 62
After the terrorist attacks, however,
U.S. attention shifted to security
against terrorism and the priority of
Mexico-U.S. migration receded. 63
Naturalization and
Politics
At its founding, the United States
established two important principles:
All persons in the United States are
to have full and equal rights, and all
persons born in the United States are
automatically citizens of the United
States. The United States is still striving
to undo the effects of the major
exception to these rules: slavery.
These efforts have included antidiscrimination
measures and preferences
for minorities that apply to
immigrants as well as the descendants
of slaves.
U.S. laws have always made few distinctions
between citizens and noncitizens
who are legal residents. Legal
immigrants have been able to live
where they please, seek any job
(except for federal government jobs),
and buy a house, land, or business
without restriction. The basic constitutional
rights, including the right of
free speech and the free exercise of
religion, are extended to both legal
and unauthorized immigrants. Citizens
of other countries cannot vote in public
elections, but they can vote and
hold office in U.S. labor unions and in
private organizations such as churches,
foundations, and fraternal groups.
To become a naturalized citizen,
an immigrant must be at least 18 years
old, have been legally resident at least
five years (three years for spouses of
U.S. citizens), and pass a test of English
and civics. Typical questions asked
on these tests include “Where is the
White House located?” and “Name
one right guaranteed by the First
Amendment.” Citizenship requirements
are less stringent than in most
Western European counties, but more
stringent than in Australia, Canada,
and New Zealand.
In the past, fewer than half of the
immigrants to the United States
became naturalized citizens,
although the proportions vary substantially
by country of origin. Most
of the immigrants admitted between
1980 and 1989 were eligible to naturalize
by 1994; by 2002, about 45
percent were citizens (see Figure 7,
page 34). Nearly two-thirds of immigrants
from Asia and just over onehalf
of immigrants from Europe had
become citizens. Only one-third of
Latin American immigrants had
become citizens by 2002.
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