For over a century, immigrants from various Latino subgroups have migrated to the United States under varying conditions. As each group faced factors that helped their transition into the United States, there were factors that hindered their transition as well. Mexico, one of the first Latino countries to send masses of migrants to the United States, and the Dominican Republic, one of the last, share many of these factors that have impacted their economic, cultural, and political lives in the United States including the level of influence on and communication with their home country, the geographic concentration of the immigrant communities, the stereotypes held by Americans towards the immigrants, and the time in history at which each of
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For Mexico, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo gave them the option to either become citizens by staying on their own land, now United States territory, declare their wish to be a permanent resident alien to the United States government, or leave their land and move south to continue living on Mexican territory as Mexican citizens (Bedolla 17). This was a unique case compared to other Latino populations coming to the United States. Since their home country moved with them in a sense, Mexican-Americans had the ability to communicate with their home country at almost as much as they did before the treaty. This was a value to them obviously since the culture was not dramatically changed. The population did not have to recreate Mexican life in the United States since everything was already there. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was written in a style so as not to alarm the Mexican-Americans but to convince them to stay and become US citizens. The treaty did a good job of assuring the Mexican-Americans that for the most part, their previous lives would continue unchanged, and in the beginning, that was true. This allowed for an easy transition into Mexican-American life for this community, at least until the American population began to …show more content…
There was a substantial amount of politically active Dominicans living in the United States, and the Dominican government wanted to continue to involve the United States population in Dominican politics to benefit the Dominican Republic as a whole. The Dominican Americans continued to be involved in island politics, and this involvement helped them to gain political power in the United States as well. The open line of communication between the Dominicans living in the United States and those living in the Dominican Republic allowed for activist groups like the North American Conference on Latin America to convince Congress to take a stand on US operations concerning the Dominican Republic (194). These groups used the United States government’s power and economic resources to support the Dominican Republic and make life easier for new waves of immigrants coming to the United States. Even though they may not have seen the United States as their permanent home, these immigrants still took advantage of fighting for political rights for their
For Mexico, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo gave them the option to either become citizens by staying on their own land, now United States territory, declare their wish to be a permanent resident alien to the United States government, or leave their land and move south to continue living on Mexican territory as Mexican citizens (Bedolla 17). This was a unique case compared to other Latino populations coming to the United States. Since their home country moved with them in a sense, Mexican-Americans had the ability to communicate with their home country at almost as much as they did before the treaty. This was a value to them obviously since the culture was not dramatically changed. The population did not have to recreate Mexican life in the United States since everything was already there. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was written in a style so as not to alarm the Mexican-Americans but to convince them to stay and become US citizens. The treaty did a good job of assuring the Mexican-Americans that for the most part, their previous lives would continue unchanged, and in the beginning, that was true. This allowed for an easy transition into Mexican-American life for this community, at least until the American population began to …show more content…
There was a substantial amount of politically active Dominicans living in the United States, and the Dominican government wanted to continue to involve the United States population in Dominican politics to benefit the Dominican Republic as a whole. The Dominican Americans continued to be involved in island politics, and this involvement helped them to gain political power in the United States as well. The open line of communication between the Dominicans living in the United States and those living in the Dominican Republic allowed for activist groups like the North American Conference on Latin America to convince Congress to take a stand on US operations concerning the Dominican Republic (194). These groups used the United States government’s power and economic resources to support the Dominican Republic and make life easier for new waves of immigrants coming to the United States. Even though they may not have seen the United States as their permanent home, these immigrants still took advantage of fighting for political rights for their