The document prepared by the U.S. Census Bureau confirms a demographic trend that emerged two decades ago: most new immigrants come from Mexico. Thus, in 2005, the number of permanent residents in America from this Latin American country approached 11 million (an increase of 20.7% over five years). This, in turn, allows demographers to predict that in the very near future, Mexicans will outnumber black Americans and become the largest ethnic minority in the United States.
Another important conclusion of the "American Community Survey 2005" is the active settlement of new immigrants in more states or the "heartland" of the country, where meeting someone born abroad was a rarity until recently. Now, many foreigners wishing to "put down roots" in the U.S. do not stay long in traditional immigrant states such as California, New York, Illinois, and Florida, but move to central, southern, and western regions, as well as to New England. All this seriously changes the life and demographic structure of small towns and brings, besides natural benefits (such as an influx of new labor), a negative effect. First of all, it concerns social and ethnic tension. Native-born Americans accuse "newcomers" of unwillingness to learn English, adapt to American culture and traditions, and a tendency to live in communities.
Nevertheless, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, the largest cities in the country – New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, San Francisco, Houston, Washington, and Dallas – still concentrate the highest number of immigrants. Each of them has a permanent population of one million or more foreign-born individuals. The undisputed leader is New York, whose eight million population is 60% immigrant.
Incidentally, a significant part of emigrants from the former Soviet Union also have permanent "residence" in the "Big Apple", more precisely in one of its districts – Brighton Beach, which many New Yorkers call "Little Russia". According to the latest census, about 500,000 former USSR citizens live in New York and neighboring New Jersey. In total, in 2005, there were approximately 350,000 ethnic Russians in the U.S., as they identified themselves in questionnaires, slightly less than 280,000 Ukrainians, 70,000 Armenians, and about 40,000 Belarusians. According to statistics, about half of them entered the U.S. between 1990 and 2000, and many still have not taken American citizenship.
But Russia is not even among the top ten countries from which the most immigrants come to the U.S. Mexico has been leading for several years. In 2005, 11 million Mexicans called the U.S. their permanent home. Then follow China (1,761,400), the Philippines (1,593,400), India (1,422,500), Vietnam (1,066,100), El Salvador (987,500), Korea (982,800), Cuba (895,900), and Canada (819,800). Interestingly, immigration to the U.S. from Western European countries continues. Thus, last year, 673,000 Britons, 624,000 Germans, 460,000 Poles, and 390,000 Italians lived in America.
The U.S. administration and the headquarters of the ruling Republican Party are very closely monitoring the census data. The fact is that immigrants traditionally support Democrats, and the increase in the number of foreign-born American citizens reduces the chances of conservatives to retain control over both houses of the U.S. Congress and the White House. Recall that elections for the legislative branch will take place on November 2, and in two years, Americans will have to elect another president.
Therefore, it is no coincidence that Republicans are trying to tighten immigration laws, creating maximum difficulties for immigrants in their attempts to legally "establish themselves" in the U.S. One can also recall the project to build a multi-kilometer wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. True, sharp debates around the new immigration law have been going on on Capitol Hill for the second year, and there is no end in sight, since Democrats, in turn, are not too interested in tightening the legislation.