Census:
More Mexicans in the U.S
By Disco
Stu - Editor in Chief : 07.23.01
 WASHINGTON,
D.C.--The number of people of Mexican ancestry in the
United States grew by 53 percent in the 1990's,
fueling much of the large overall increase in the
nation's Hispanic population and the illegal immigrant
population, new census data shows.
Mexicans
are by far the largest Hispanic group in the United
States, at 20.6 million, accounting for nearly 60
percent of the country's 35.3 million Latinos.
Unfortunately, Mexicans are also by far the shortest
of any Hispanic groups in the U.S.
The
data released by the Census Bureau paints in finer
detail a statistical portrait of a Hispanic population
that is growing not only in states with large Latino
populations like California and Texas, but also in
states like Georgia, Nebraska and North Carolina.
It's growing in population not by the traditional
means of the womb, but through a mass exodus of day
laborers, homeless vagrants, and drug traffickers
crossing the southern border.
"The
Latinization of the country is not just happening in
New York, Miami or L.A.," said Juan Figueroa,
president of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and
Education Fund. "Its greatest impact is in the
heartland in places like Reading, PA; Lorain, OH; and
Lowell, MA. And also, such Spanish-speaking
cities as Fresno, CA; Miami, FL; and the southern half
of Texas."
The
2000 Hispanic total was about three million more than
the Census Bureau had previously estimated, a
difference that demographers attribute to a much
better head count and far more illegal immigrants than
previously thought.
Half
of the nation's Hispanic population lives in
California and Texas, which helps explain why
President Bush, a former governor of Texas, is
negotiating with Mexico's president, Vicente Fox, to
overhaul immigration and border policies. He
also wants a kilo of the finest maryjane Mexico has
to offer.
The
booming number of Hispanics, who can be from any race,
carries sweeping implications for politicians. In Los
Angeles, for example, Antonio Villaraigosa, the former
speaker of the California Assembly, is hoping to ride
the city's surging Latino population into office as
its first Hispanic mayor since 1872.
Unfortunately for Villaraigosa, mayors were elected by
a random lottery and illegal ballot stuffing in 1872.
Hispanics
now make up 42 percent of New Mexico's population; the
governor of that state is now considering changing the
name of New Mexico to just Mexico.
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