Migrants in the United States, a historical trend
The United States is one of the leading countries in the world that receive people looking for a future for themselves and their families. Currently the Mexican population occupies the largest percentage of immigrants; however, this social phenomenon was not always being like this.
The history of the US is marked by a great migration in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Most people came from Germany, Russia, UK, Italy and, to a lesser extent, Canada.
According to data from the Pew Research Center, by 1910 the German population in the United States accounted for 18 percent of the total, equivalent to 2.5 million people. In addition, they were the largest migratory group in 17 states of the country. By that time, the Mexicans were only located in three states: Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.
In present times, one in five people in the states of California, New York, New Jersey and Florida, has not been born in the country. Mexicans are five times more than Chinese, who are the second population with largest population of immigrants.
“India is the birthplace of most immigrants in New Jersey, Virginia and Pennsylvania, while Canada is the first in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, North Dakota and Montana. The Filipinos, for their part, represent a huge portion of the migrants in Hawaii (45%) and Alaska (30%),” says the Pew study.
Knowing the past, allows us to understand how the migratory phenomenon has been a constant in the consolidation of the United States. As a result of this and the work that immigrants continue to do, their economy and cultural diversity are among the richest in the world.