Hispanics in U.S. more diverse, study shows

Many Hispanics don't think of themselves as Americans, unlike in the past. Assimilation is not encouraged as much now.   - - Donna Poisl

by Linda Chavez

A new report from the Pew Hispanic Center says a lot both good and bad about the assimilation of the nation’s largest minority group. Hispanics have become both more numerous and more diverse in the past 40 years. In 1970, Hispanics were primarily U.S.-born Mexican-Americans and Puerto Ricans — who are U.S. citizens, whether born in Puerto Rico or on the mainland. But the adult population of Hispanics today is almost equally divided between those who were born in the U.S., 48 percent, and those who are foreign-born, 52 percent.

Unsurprisingly, the presence of this large immigrant group is affecting the way Hispanics think of themselves. One aspect of the report that is bound to provoke controversy — and, in some quarters, resentment — is how few Hispanics identify themselves first and foremost as Americans. Only 8 percent of immigrants, 35 percent of second-generation Hispanics and 48 percent of third-generation Hispanics do, according to the Pew study. The question is, why?
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/editorials/2012/04/10/hispanics-in-u-s--more-diverse-study-shows.html
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