Latinos in U.S. grow diverse

State sees Central, South America trend

05/10/2001

By Todd J. Gillman / The Dallas Morning News

Even as the nation's Hispanic population exploded in the past decade, it grew more diverse than ever.

The trend is especially pronounced in Texas, where a decade ago people with Mexican roots accounted for nine of 10 Hispanics. That has dropped to three out of four Hispanics, according to census figures released Wednesday.

"Clearly Mexican-Americans are still the dominant Hispanic group," said Steve Murdock, the chief state demographer, but "Texas has become much more diverse."

Nationwide, the Hispanic population grew by about 13 million people, a 58 percent increase. But the fastest growth was among Hispanics from places other than Mexico, Cuba or Puerto Rico. That group, primarily Central and South Americans, doubled to 10 million.

In Texas, the jump was even greater. The number of Central and South Americans grew 286 percent during the 1990s, from 388,000 to 1.5 million.

By comparison, the number of Texans of Mexican origin grew 30 percent, from 3.9 million to 5.1 million.

"This definitely shows greater diversification in the Hispanic population," said Census Bureau statistician Betsy Guzmán, who prepared the analysis.

Oak Lawn, Houston

"We all feel it in Dallas," said Caroline Brettell, head of the anthropology department at Southern Methodist University, part of a team of researchers studying new Americans in the Dallas area. "It was a big decade for immigration, and it's impelled the country forth in terms of diversity."

The number of Central Americans in this country was fairly small before 1980. But civil war and economic decline in the region fueled a wave of migration. Once those refugees became settled, they started families or sent for spouses, children and parents.

The trend has given Houston more of a Latino flavor, he said.

"You see it in the restaurants and the dance halls." he said. "When you go to San Antonio you feel you're in a Mexican town. When you're in Houston, you feel that Latinoness."

But immigrants are not all settling in comfortably. A recent survey in Houston found that Latino immigrants are more worried than other groups about being crime victims, and they are the only group that thinks Hispanics are more likely than any other group to face discrimination.

Dr. Brettell said the Hispanic diversity has manifested itself in ways that mirror the immigrant experience of a century ago, when Sicilians and Corsicans, for instance, found they had more in common in New York than they ever did back home.

"People find shared interests in a country of immigration," she said, adding that even if "Hispanic" is a label that paints over the differences of culture and political traditions, it could encourage new social and political ties.

"We're starting to see some intermarriage across national origins lines," Dr. Brettell said. "There is some blending of ethnic identities."

A decade ago, Mexicans accounted for 60.4 percent of the nation's Hispanic. While that figure has dropped to 58.5 percent, Mexicans remain the largest single group by far.

Calling Texas home

Hispanic growth in Texas fueled a 23 percent overall population surge during the 1990s. The state's population now stands at 20.9 million, and 60 percent of the growth has been attributed to Hispanics.

The census showed that non-Hispanic whites saw their share of the Texas population decline from 61 percent in 1990 to 52 percent. Hispanics now account for 32 percent, up from 25.5 percent. The black population remained almost stable, going from 11.6 percent in 1990 to 11.3 percent.

Projections show that by 2005, fewer than half of Texans will be white.

Demographers say the state's Hispanic growth has been driven in nearly equal measure by immigration and natural increase – the excess of births over deaths.

That's not true of all states. In North Carolina, for instance, the Hispanic population exploded from 76,726 to 378,963 in the last decade. Iowa saw its Hispanic population nearly triple to 82,473.

In both cases, migration far outstripped birth rates as people sought jobs in those states.

Georgia was another state where the Hispanic population spiked due to job growth. The state had 435,000 Hispanics at last count, four times the number in 1990.

The strong economy during the 1990s "has been possible only with the labor coming from Mexico," said Bernardo Mendez, a Mexican diplomat in Atlanta, where the consulate general serves the booming Mexican populations of Georgia, the Carolinas, Alabama and Tennessee.

Steven A. Camarota, director of research at the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, estimated that 1.3 million immigrants – legal and undocumented – settle in the United States each year, and more than half come from Spanish speaking countries.

"Obviously it reflects a continuing high level of immigration," Mr. Camarota said. "The bigger question not yet answered by this data is how are these folks doing – poverty rates, welfare usage rates.''

New immigrants tend to have less education, lower incomes and more problems obtaining health care, he said, adding, "The success of Hispanics within the U.S. is increasingly important to the country as a whole. Their size makes it that much more important that they not lag behind."