The

Hispanic
Challenge
The persistent inflow of Hispanic
immigrants threatens to divide the United
States into two peoples, two cultures, and
two languages. Unlike past immigrant
groups, Mexicans and other Latinos have
not assimilated into mainstream U.S.
culture, forming instead their own political
and linguistic enclaves—from Los Angeles
to Miami—and rejecting the Anglo-
Protestant values that built the American
EDWARD KEATING/NEW YORK TIMES PHOTOS

dream. The United States ignores this

challenge at its peril.
Huddled masses: Mexican workers gather at the
By Samuel P. Huntington Smithfield hog plant in Tar Heel, North Carolina, to cele-
brate a saint’s feast day in June 2000. They were hired
to replace American workers who quit over low wages.

30 Foreign Policy
A merica was created by 17th- and
18th-century settlers who were
overwhelmingly white, British,
and Protestant. Their values,
institutions, and culture provided the foundation
for and shaped the development of the United States
in the following centuries. They initially defined
America in terms of race, ethnicity, culture, and reli-
reiterated by statesmen and espoused by the public
as an essential component of U.S. identity.
By the latter years of the 19th century, however,
the ethnic component had been broadened to include
Germans, Irish, and Scandinavians, and the United
States’ religious identity was being redefined more
broadly from Protestant to Christian. With World
War II and the assimilation of large numbers of
gion. Then, in the 18th century, they also had to southern and eastern European immigrants and
define America ideologically to justify independ- their offspring into U.S. society, ethnicity virtually
ence from their home country, which was also white, disappeared as a defining component of national
British, and Protestant. Thomas Jefferson set forth identity. So did race, following the achievements of
this “creed,” as Nobel Prize-winning economist the civil rights movement and the Immigration and
Gunnar Myrdal called it, in the Declaration of Inde- Nationality Act of 1965. Americans now see and
pendence, and ever since, its principles have been endorse their country as multiethnic and multiracial.
As a result, American identity is now defined in
Samuel P. Huntington is chairman of the Harvard Academy terms of culture and creed.
for International and Area Studies and cofounder of For- Most Americans see the creed as the crucial ele-
eign Policy. Copyright © 2004 by Samuel P. Huntington. ment of their national identity. The creed, however,
From the forthcoming book Who Are We by Samuel P. was the product of the distinct Anglo-Protestant cul-
Huntington to be published by Simon & Schuster, Inc. N.Y. ture of the founding settlers. Key elements of that cul-
Printed by permission. ture include the English language; Christianity; reli-

March | April 2004 31

 [ The Hispanic Challenge ]
gious commitment; English concepts of the rule of to black and white American natives. Americans like
law, including the responsibility of rulers and the to boast of their past success in assimilating millions
rights of individuals; and dissenting Protestant val- of immigrants into their society, culture, and politics.
ues of individualism, the work ethic, and the belief But Americans have tended to generalize about immi-
that humans have the ability and the duty to try to grants without distinguishing among them and have
create a heaven on earth, a “city on a hill.” Histori- focused on the economic costs and benefits of immi-
cally, millions of immigrants were attracted to the gration, ignoring its social and cultural consequences.
United States because of this culture and the economic As a result, they have overlooked the unique charac-
opportunities and political liberties it made possible. teristics and problems posed by contemporary His-
Contributions from immigrant cultures modified panic immigration. The extent and nature of this
and enriched the Anglo-Protestant culture of the found- immigration differ fundamentally from those of pre-
ing settlers. The essentials of that founding culture vious immigration, and the assimilation successes of
remained the bedrock of U.S. identity, however, at the past are unlikely to be duplicated with the con-
least until the last decades of the 20th century. Would temporary flood of immigrants from Latin America.
the United States be the country that it has been and This reality poses a fundamental question: Will the
that it largely remains today if it had been settled in the
United States remain a country with a single national
17th and 18th centuries not by British Protestants language and a core Anglo-Protestant culture? By
but by French, Spanish, or Portuguese Catholics? The ignoring this question, Americans acquiesce to their
answer is clearly no. It would not be the United States;eventual transformation into two peoples with two
it would be Quebec, Mexico, or Brazil. cultures (Anglo and Hispanic) and two languages
In the final decades of the 20th century, however, (English and Spanish).
the United States’ Anglo-Protestant culture and the The impact of Mexican immigration on the
creed that it produced came under assault by the pop- United States becomes evident when one imagines
ularity in intellectual and political circles of the doc-
what would happen if Mexican immigration
trines of multiculturalism and diversity; the rise of abruptly stopped. The annual flow of legal immi-
group identities based on race, ethnicity, and gender grants would drop by about 175,000, closer to
over national identity; the impact of transnational cul-the level recommended by the 1990s Commission
tural diasporas; the expanding number of immi- on Immigration Reform chaired by former U.S.
grants with dual nationalities and dual loyalties; and Congresswoman Barbara Jordan. Illegal entries
the growing salience for U.S. intellectual, business, would diminish dramatically. The wages of low-
and political elites of cosmopolitan and transna- income U.S. citizens would improve. Debates over
tional identities. The United States’ national identity,the use of Spanish and whether English should be
made the official language of state
and national governments would
subside. Bilingual education and
The cultural division between Hispanics and Anglos the controversies it spawns would
virtually disappear, as would con-
could replace the racial division between blacks and troversies over welfare and other
benefits for immigrants. The
whites as the most serious cleavage in U.S. society. debate over whether immigrants
pose an economic burden on state
and federal governments would be
like that of other nation-states, is challenged by the decisively resolved in the negative. The average
forces of globalization as well as the needs that glob- education and skills of the immigrants continuing
alization produces among people for smaller and to arrive would reach their highest levels in U.S. his-
more meaningful “blood and belief” identities. tory. The inflow of immigrants would again become
In this new era, the single most immediate and highly diverse, creating increased incentives for all
most serious challenge to America’s traditional iden- immigrants to learn English and absorb U.S. cul-
tity comes from the immense and continuing immi- ture. And most important of all, the possibility of
gration from Latin America, especially from Mexico, a de facto split between a predominantly Spanish-
and the fertility rates of these immigrants compared speaking United States and an English-speaking

32 Foreign Policy
United States would disappear, and with it, a major This situation is unique for the United States
potential threat to the country’s cultural and polit- and the world. No other First World country has
ical integrity. such an extensive land frontier with a Third World
country. The significance of the long Mexican-U.S.
border is enhanced by the economic differences
A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE between the two countries. “The income gap
Contemporary Mexican and, more broadly, Latin between the United States and Mexico,” Stanford
American immigration is without precedent in U.S. University historian David Kennedy has pointed
history. The experience and lessons of past immi- out, “is the largest between any two contiguous
gration have little relevance to understanding its countries in the world.” Contiguity enables Mexican
dynamics and consequences. Mexican immigration immigrants to remain in intimate contact with their
differs from past immigration and most other con- families, friends, and home localities in Mexico as no
temporary immigration due to a combination of six other immigrants have been able to do.
factors: contiguity, scale, illegality, regional concen-
tration, persistence, and historical presence. Scale | The causes of Mexican, as well as other,
immigration are found in the demographic, eco-
Contiguity | Americans’ idea of immigration is nomic, and political dynamics of the sending coun-
often symbolized by the Statue of Liberty, Ellis try and the economic, political, and social attractions
Island, and, more recently perhaps, New York’s of the United States. Contiguity, however, obvious-
John F. Kennedy Airport. In other words, immi- ly encourages immigration. Mexican immigration
grants arrive in the United States after crossing sev- increased steadily after 1965. About 640,000 Mexi-
eral thousand miles of ocean. U.S. attitudes toward cans legally migrated to the United States in the
immigrants and U.S. immigration policies are 1970s; 1,656,000 in the 1980s; and 2,249,000 in the
shaped by such images. These assumptions and 1990s. In those three decades, Mexicans account-
policies, however, have little or no relevance for ed for 14 percent, 23 percent, and 25 percent of total
Mexican immigration. The United States is now legal immigration. These percentages do not equal
confronted by a massive influx of people from a the rates of immigrants who came from Ireland
poor, contiguous country with more than one third between 1820 and 1860, or from Germany in the
the population of the United States. They come 1850s and 1860s. Yet they are high compared to the
across a 2,000-mile border historically marked sim- highly dispersed sources of immigrants before World
ply by a line in the ground and a shallow river. War I, and compared to other contemporary immi-

March | April 2004 33

 In the 1990s, Mexicans composed
more than half of the new Latin American
immigrants to the United States and, by
2000, Hispanics totaled about one half of
all migrants entering the continental Unit-
ed States. Hispanics composed 12 per-
cent of the total U.S. population in 2000.
This group increased by almost 10 percent
from 2000 to 2002 and has now become
larger than blacks. It is estimated His-
panics may constitute up to 25 percent of
the U.S. population by 2050. These
changes are driven not just by immigra-
tion but also by fertility. In 2002, fertili-
ty rates in the United States were esti-
mated at 1.8 for non-Hispanic whites,
2.1 for blacks, and 3.0 for Hispanics.
“This is the characteristic shape of devel-
oping countries,” The Economist com-
mented in 2002. “As the bulge of Latinos
enters peak child-bearing age in a decade
or two, the Latino share of America’s
population will soar.”
In the mid-19th century, English speak-
ers from the British Isles dominated immi-
gration into the United States. The pre-World
War I immigration was highly diversified
linguistically, including many speakers of
Italian, Polish, Russian, Yiddish, English,
German, Swedish, and other languages. But
now, for the first time in U.S. history, half of
those entering the United States speak a sin-
gle non-English language.
A house divided? Lorenzo and Angelica Alvarez watch a Gore-Bush presidential
debate in October 2000 with their three children in their home on the outskirts of El Illegality | Illegal entry into the United
Paso, Texas. At the time, they remained undecided on which candidate to support. States is overwhelmingly a post-1965 and
Mexican phenomenon. For almost a cen-
tury after the adoption of the U.S. Consti-
grants. To them one must also add the huge num- tution, no national laws restricted or prohibited
bers of Mexicans who each year enter the United immigration, and only a few states imposed modest
States illegally. Since the 1960s, the numbers of limits. During the following 90 years, illegal immi-
foreign-born people in the United States have gration was minimal and easily controlled. The
expanded immensely, with Asians and Latin Amer- 1965 immigration law, the increased availability of
icans replacing Europeans and Canadians, and transportation, and the intensified forces promoting
diversity of source dramatically giving way to the Mexican emigration drastically changed this situa-
dominance of one source: Mexico. [See chart on tion. Apprehensions by the U.S. Border Patrol rose
JOE RAEDLE/GETTY IMAGES

page 33.] Mexican immigrants constituted 27.6 from 1.6 million in the 1960s to 8.3 million in the
percent of the total foreign-born U.S. population in 1970s, 11.9 million in the 1980s, and 14.7 million
2000. The next largest contingents, Chinese and Fil- in the 1990s. Estimates of the Mexicans who suc-
ipinos, amounted to only 4.9 percent and 4.3 per- cessfully enter illegally each year range from 105,000
cent of the foreign-born population. (according to a binational Mexican-American com-

34 Foreign Policy
mission) to 350,000 during the 1990s (according to Latin city, so to speak. It’s a sign of things to come,”
the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service). with Spanish increasingly used as the language of
The 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act commerce and government.
contained provisions to legalize the status of existing The biggest concentrations of Hispanics, however,
illegal immigrants and to reduce future illegal immi- are in the Southwest, particularly California. In 2000,
gration through employer sanctions and other means. nearly two thirds of Mexican immigrants lived in the
The former goal was achieved: Some 3.1 million ille- West, and nearly half in California. To be sure, the Los
gal immigrants, about 90 percent of them from Mex- Angeles area has immigrants from many countries,
ico, became legal “green card” residents of the Unit- including Korea and Vietnam. The sources of Cali-
ed States. But the latter goal remains elusive. Estimates fornia’s foreign-born population, however, differ
of the total number of illegal immigrants in the Unit- sharply from those of the rest of the country, with
ed States rose from 4 million in 1995 to 6 million in those from a single country, Mexico, exceeding totals
1998, to 7 million in 2000, and to between 8 and 10 for all of the immigrants from Europe and Asia. In Los
million by 2003. Mexicans accounted for 58 percent Angeles, Hispanics—overwhelmingly Mexican—far
of the total illegal population in the United States in outnumber other groups. In 2000, 64 percent of the
1990; by 2000, an estimated 4.8 million illegal Mex- Hispanics in Los Angeles were of Mexican origin, and
icans made up 69 percent of that
population. In 2000, illegal Mexi-
cans in the United States were 25
times as numerous as the next largest There is no “Americano dream.” There is only
contingent, from El Salvador.
the American dream created by an
Regional Concentration | The U.S.
Founding Fathers considered the dis- Anglo-Protestant society.
persion of immigrants essential to
their assimilation. That has been the
pattern historically and continues to be the pattern for 46.5 percent of Los Angeles residents were Hispan-
most contemporary non-Hispanic immigrants. His- ic, while 29.7 percent were non-Hispanic whites. By
panics, however, have tended to concentrate region- 2010, it is estimated that Hispanics will make up
ally: Mexicans in Southern California, Cubans in more than half of the Los Angeles population.
Miami, Dominicans and Puerto Ricans (the last of Most immigrant groups have higher fertility rates
whom are not technically immigrants) in New York. than natives, and hence the impact of immigration is
The more concentrated immigrants become, the slow- felt heavily in schools. The highly diversified immi-
er and less complete is their assimilation. gration into New York, for example, creates the
In the 1990s, the proportions of Hispanics con- problem of teachers dealing with classes containing
tinued to grow in these regions of heaviest concen- students who may speak 20 different languages at
tration. At the same time, Mexicans and other His- home. In contrast, Hispanic children make up sub-
panics were also establishing beachheads elsewhere. stantial majorities of the students in the schools in
While the absolute numbers are often small, the many Southwestern cities. “No school system in a
states with the largest percentage increases in His- major U.S. city,” political scientists Katrina Burgess
panic population between 1990 and 2000 were, in and Abraham Lowenthal said of Los Angeles in their
decreasing order: North Carolina (449 percent 1993 study of Mexico-California ties, “has ever
increase), Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, South Car- experienced such a large influx of students from a sin-
olina, Nevada, and Alabama (222 percent). His- gle foreign country. The schools of Los Angeles are
panics have also established concentrations in indi- becoming Mexican.” By 2002, more than 70 percent
vidual cities and towns throughout the United States. of the students in the Los Angeles Unified School Dis-
For example, in 2003, more than 40 percent of the trict were Hispanic, predominantly Mexican, with the
population of Hartford, Connecticut, was Hispan- proportion increasing steadily; 10 percent of school-
ic (primarily Puerto Rican), outnumbering the city’s children were non-Hispanic whites. In 2003, for the
38 percent black population. “Hartford,” the city’s first time since the 1850s, a majority of newborn chil-
first Hispanic mayor proclaimed, “has become a dren in California were Hispanic.

March | April 2004 35

 [ The Hispanic Challenge ]
Persistence | Previous waves of immigrants eventual- sense of being on their own turf that is not shared by
ly subsided, the proportions coming from individual other immigrants.”
countries fluctuated greatly, and, after 1924, immi- At times, scholars have suggested that the South-
gration was reduced to a trickle. In contrast, the cur- west could become the United States’ Quebec. Both
rent wave shows no sign of ebbing and the conditions regions include Catholic people and were conquered
creating the large Mexican by Anglo-Protestant peo-
component of that wave are ples, but otherwise they
likely to endure, absent a have little in common. Que-
major war or recession. In bec is 3,000 miles from
the long term, Mexican France, and each year sev-
immigration could decline eral hundred thousand
when the economic well- Frenchmen do not attempt
being of Mexico approxi- to enter Quebec legally or
mates that of the United illegally. History shows that
States. As of 2002, however, serious potential for conflict
U.S. gross domestic product exists when people in one
per capita was about four country begin referring to
times that of Mexico (in pur- territory in a neighboring
chasing power parity terms). A case of mistaken identity? A street vendor peddles country in proprietary terms
If that difference were cut in T-shirts and nationalism during Cinco de Mayo festivi- and to assert special rights
half, the economic incentives ties in Los Angeles in 2001. and claims to that territory.
for migration might also
drop substantially. To reach
that ratio in any meaningful future, however, would S PA N G L I S H A S A S E C O N D L A N G U A G E
require extremely rapid economic growth in Mexico, In the past, immigrants originated overseas and often
at a rate greatly exceeding that of the United States. Yet, overcame severe obstacles and hardships to reach the
even such dramatic economic development would not United States. They came from many different coun-
necessarily reduce the impulse to emigrate. During tries, spoke different languages, and came legally.
the 19th century, when Europe was rapidly industri- Their flow fluctuated over time, with significant
alizing and per capita incomes were rising, 50 million reductions occurring as a result of the Civil War,
Europeans emigrated to the Americas, Asia, and Africa. World War I, and the restrictive legislation of 1924.
They dispersed into many enclaves in rural areas and
Historical Presence | No other immigrant group in U.S. major cities throughout the Northeast and Midwest.
history has asserted or could assert a historical claim They had no historical claim to any U.S. territory.
to U.S. territory. Mexicans and Mexican Americans On all these dimensions, Mexican immigration is
can and do make that claim. Almost all of Texas, fundamentally different. These differences combine to
New Mexico, Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah make the assimilation of Mexicans into U.S. culture
was part of Mexico until Mexico lost them as a result and society much more difficult than it was for pre-
of the Texan War of Independence in 1835-1836 and vious immigrants. Particularly striking in contrast to
the Mexican-American War of 1846-1848. Mexico is previous immigrants is the failure of third- and fourth-
the only country that the United States has invaded, generation people of Mexican origin to approximate
occupied its capital—placing the Marines in the “halls U.S. norms in education, economic status, and inter-
of Montezuma”—and then annexed half its territory. marriage rates. [See charts on opposite page.]
Mexicans do not forget these events. Quite under- The size, persistence, and concentration of His-
standably, they feel that they have special rights in these panic immigration tends to perpetuate the use of
territories. “Unlike other immigrants,” Boston College Spanish through successive generations. The evi-
JILL CONNELLY/GAMMA PRESS

political scientist Peter Skerry notes, “Mexicans arrive dence on English acquisition and Spanish retention
here from a neighboring nation that has suffered mil- among immigrants is limited and ambiguous. In
itary defeat at the hands of the United States; and 2000, however, more than 28 million people in the
they settle predominantly in a region that was once part United States spoke Spanish at home (10.5 percent
of their homeland…. Mexican Americans enjoy a of all people over age five), and almost 13.8 million

36 Foreign Policy
of these spoke English worse than “very well,” a 66 Spanish or more Spanish than English, 25.6 percent
percent increase since 1990. According to a U.S. spoke both languages equally, 32.7 percent more
Census Bureau report, in 1990 about 95 percent of English than Spanish, and 30.1 percent only English.
Mexican-born immigrants spoke Spanish at home; In the same study, more than 90 percent of the U.S.-
73.6 percent of these did not speak English very born people of Mexican origin spoke English flu-
well; and 43 percent of the Mexican foreign-born ently. Nonetheless, in 1999, some 753,505 presum-
were “linguistically isolated.” An earlier study in Los ably second-generation students in Southern
Angeles found different results for the U.S.-born California schools who spoke Spanish at home were
second generation. Just 11.6 percent spoke only not proficient in English.

March | April 2004 37

 [ The Hispanic Challenge ]
English language use and fluency for first- and petence in Spanish. Second- or third-generation
second-generation Mexicans thus seem to follow the Mexican Americans who were brought up speak-
pattern common to past immigrants. Two questions ing only English have learned Spanish as adults and
remain, however. First, have changes occurred over are encouraging their children to become fluent in
time in the acquisition of English and the retention it. Spanish-language competence, University of
of Spanish by second-generation Mexican immi- New Mexico professor F. Chris Garcia has stated,
is “the one thing every Hispanic
takes pride in, wants to protect
and promote.”
One index foretells the future: In 1998, “José” A persuasive case can be made
that, in a shrinking world, all Amer-
replaced “Michael” as the most popular name for icans should know at least one impor-
tant foreign language—Chinese,
newborn boys in both California and Texas. Japanese, Hindi, Russian, Arabic,
Urdu, French, German, or Spanish—
so as to understand a foreign culture
grants? One might suppose that, with the rapid and communicate with its people. It is quite different
expansion of the Mexican immigrant community, to argue that Americans should know a non-English
people of Mexican origin would have less incentive language in order to communicate with their fellow cit-
to become fluent in and to use English in 2000 than izens. Yet that is what the Spanish-language advocates
they had in 1970. Second, will the third generation have in mind. Strengthened by the growth of Hispan-
follow the classic pattern with fluency in English ic numbers and influence, Hispanic leaders are active-
and little or no knowledge of Spanish, or will it ly seeking to transform the United States into a bilin-
retain the second generation’s fluency in both lan- gual society. “English is not enough,” argues Osvaldo
guages? Second-generation immigrants often look Soto, president of the Spanish American League Against
down on and reject their ancestral language and are Discrimination. “We don’t want a monolingual socie-
embarrassed by their parents’ inability to communi- ty.” Similarly, Duke University literature professor (and
cate in English. Presumably, whether second-gener- Chilean immigrant) Ariel Dorfman asks, “Will this
ation Mexicans share this attitude will help shape the country speak two languages or merely one?”And his
extent to which the third generation retains any answer, of course, is that it should speak two.
knowledge of Spanish. If the second generation does Hispanic organizations play a central role in
not reject Spanish outright, the third generation is also inducing the U.S. Congress to authorize cultural
likely to be bilingual, and fluency in both languages maintenance programs in bilingual education; as a
is likely to become institutionalized in the Mexican- result, children are slow to join mainstream classes.
American community. The continuing huge inflow of migrants makes it
Spanish retention is also bolstered by the over- increasingly possible for Spanish speakers in New
whelming majorities (between 66 percent and 85 York, Miami, and Los Angeles to live normal lives
percent) of Mexican immigrants and Hispanics without knowing English. Sixty-five percent of the
who emphasize the need for their children to be flu- children in bilingual education in New York are
ent in Spanish. These attitudes contrast with those Spanish speakers and hence have little incentive or
of other immigrant groups. The New Jersey-based need to use English in school.
Educational Testing Service finds “a cultural dif- Dual-language programs, which go one step beyond
ference between the Asian and Hispanic parents bilingual education, have become increasingly popular.
with respect to having their children maintain their In these programs, students are taught in both English
native language.” In part, this difference undoubt- and Spanish on an alternating basis with a view to mak-
edly stems from the size of Hispanic communities, ing English-speakers fluent in Spanish and Spanish-
which creates incentives for fluency in the ancestral speakers fluent in English, thus making Spanish the
language. Although second- and third-generation equal of English and transforming the United States into
Mexican Americans and other Hispanics acquire a two-language country. Then U.S. Secretary of Edu-
competence in English, they also appear to deviate cation Richard Riley explicitly endorsed these pro-
from the usual pattern by maintaining their com- grams in his March 2000 speech, “Excelencia para

38 Foreign Policy
Todos—Excellence for all.” Civil rights organizations, they would otherwise receive because they can speak
church leaders (particularly Catholic ones), and many to their fellow citizens only in English.
politicians (Republican as well as Democrat) support In the debates over language policy, the late
the impetus toward bilingualism. California Republican Senator S.I. Hayakawa once
Perhaps equally important, business groups seek- highlighted the unique role of Hispanics in oppos-
ing to corner the Hispanic market support bilin- ing English. “Why is it that no Filipinos, no Kore-
gualism as well. Indeed, the orientation of U.S. busi- ans object to making English the official language?
nesses to Hispanic customers means they increasingly No Japanese have done so. And certainly not the
need bilingual employees; therefore, bilingualism is Vietnamese, who are so damn happy to be here.
affecting earnings. Bilingual police officers and fire- They’re learning English as fast as they can and
fighters in southwestern cities such as Phoenix and winning spelling bees all across the country. But the
Las Vegas are paid more than those who only speak Hispanics alone have maintained there is a prob-
English. In Miami, one study found, families that lem. There [has been] considerable movement to
spoke only Spanish had average incomes of $18,000; make Spanish the second official language.”
English-only families had average incomes of If the spread of Spanish as the United States’
$32,000; and bilingual families averaged more than second language continues, it could, in due course,
$50,000. For the first time in U.S. history, increasing have significant consequences in politics and gov-
numbers of Americans (particularly black Ameri- ernment. In many states, those aspiring to political
cans) will not be able to receive the jobs or the pay office might have to be fluent in both languages.

Early Warnings
he special social and Other scholars have reiter- ethnicity will be determined rela-

T cultural problems
posed by Mexican
immigration to the United States
have received little public atten-
ated these warnings, emphasiz-
ing how the size, persistence,
and regional concentration of
Mexican immigration obstruct
tively more by immigrants and
relatively less by later genera-
tions, shifting the balance of
ethnic identity toward the lan-
tion or meaningful discussion. assimilation. In 1997, sociolo- guage, culture, and ways of life
But many academic sociologists gists Richard Alba and Victor of the sending society.”
and other scholars have warned Nee pointed out that the four- “A constant influx of new
of them for years. decade interruption of large- arrivals,” demographers Barry
In 1983, the distinguished scale immigration after 1924 Edmonston and Jeffrey Passel
sociologist Morris Janowitz “virtually guaranteed that eth- contend, “especially in pre-
pointed to the “strong resist- nic communities and cultures dominantly immigrant neigh-
ance to acculturation among would be steadily weakened borhoods, keeps the language
Spanish-speaking residents” in over time.” In contrast, continu- alive among immigrants and
the United States, and argued ation of the current high levels their children.” Finally, Ameri-
that “Mexicans are unique as of Latin American immigration can Enterprise Institute scholar
an immigrant group in the “will create a fundamentally dif- Mark Falcoff also observes that
persistent strength of their ferent ethnic context from that because “the Spanish-speaking
communal bonds.” As a faced by the descendants of population is being continually
result, “Mexicans, together European immigrants, for the replenished by newcomers
with other Spanish-speaking new ethnic communities are faster than that population is
populations, are creating a highly likely to remain large, being assimilated,” the wide-
bifurcation in the social-political culturally vibrant, and institu- spread use of Spanish in the
structure of the United States tionally rich.” Under current United States “is a reality that
that approximates nationali- conditions, sociologist Douglas cannot be changed, even over
ty divisions….” Massey agrees, “the character of the longer term.” —S.P.H.

March | April 2004 39

 [ The Hispanic Challenge ]
Bilingual candidates for president and elected fed- BLOOD IS THICKER THAN BORDERS
eral positions would have an advantage over Eng- Massive Hispanic immigration affects the United States
lish-only speakers. If dual-language education in two significant ways: Important portions of the
becomes prevalent in elementary and secondary country become predominantly Hispanic in language
schools, teachers will increasingly be expected to be and culture, and the nation as a whole becomes bilin-
bilingual. Government documents and forms could gual and bicultural. The most important area where
routinely be published in both languages. The use Hispanization is proceeding rapidly is, of course, the
of both languages could become acceptable in con- Southwest. As historian Kennedy argues, Mexican
gressional hearings and debates and in the gener- Americans in the Southwest will soon have “suffi-
al conduct of government cient coherence and critical
business. Because most of mass in a defined region
those whose first lan- so that, if they choose, they
guage is Spanish will also can preserve their distinc-
probably have some flu- tive culture indefinitely.
ency in English, English They could also eventual-
speakers lacking fluency ly undertake to do what
in Spanish are likely to no previous immigrant
be and feel at a disad- group could have dreamed
vantage in the competi- of doing: challenge the
tion for jobs, promotions, existing cultural, political,
and contracts. [See side- legal, commercial, and
bar on opposite page.] educational systems to
In 1917, former U.S. change fundamentally not
President Theodore Roo- only the language but also
sevelt said: “We must The natives are restless: Members of the California Coalition the very institutions in
have but one flag. We for Immigration Reform protest the arrival of Mexican which they do business.”
must also have but one President Vicente Fox to California in March 2001. Fox had Anecdotal evidence of
language. That must be called for looser restrictions on immigration between such challenges abounds.
the language of the Dec- Mexico and the United States. In 1994, Mexican Ameri-
laration of Independence, cans vigorously demon-
of Washington’s Farewell strated against California’s
address, of Lincoln’s Gettysburg speech and second Proposition 187—which limited welfare benefits to
inaugural.” By contrast, in June 2000, U.S. presi- children of illegal immigrants—by marching through
dent Bill Clinton said, “I hope very much that I’m the streets of Los Angeles waving scores of Mexican
the last president in American history who can’t flags and carrying U.S. flags upside down. In 1998,
speak Spanish.” And in May 2001, President Bush at a Mexico-United States soccer match in Los Ange-
celebrated Mexico’s Cinco de Mayo national hol- les, Mexican Americans booed the U.S. national
iday by inaugurating the practice of broadcasting anthem and assaulted U.S. players. Such dramatic
the weekly presidential radio address to the Amer- rejections of the United States and assertions of Mex-
ican people in both English and Spanish. In Sep- ican identity are not limited to an extremist minori-
tember 2003, one of the first debates among the ty in the Mexican-American community. Many Mex-
Democratic Party’s presidential candidates also ican immigrants and their offspring simply do not
took place in both English and Spanish. Despite the appear to identify primarily with the United States.
opposition of large majorities of Americans, Span- Empirical evidence confirms such appearances.
ish is joining the language of Washington, Jeffer- A 1992 study of children of immigrants in Southern
son, Lincoln, the Roosevelts, and the Kennedys as California and South Florida posed the following
the language of the United States. If this trend con- question: “How do you identify, that is, what do you
tinues, the cultural division between Hispanics and call yourself?” None of the children born in Mexi-
SCOTT NELSON/AFP

Anglos could replace the racial division between co answered “American,” compared with 1.9 per-
blacks and whites as the most serious cleavage in cent to 9.3 percent of those born elsewhere in Latin
U.S. society. America or the Caribbean. The largest percentage of

40 Foreign Policy
The Threat of White Nativism?
n the 1993 film Falling foretell the replacement of white will react like Bosnian Serbs is

I Down, Michael Douglas

plays a white former
defense company employee
reacting to the humiliations that
culture by black or brown cul-
tures that are intellectually and
morally inferior.
Changes in the U.S. racial
about zero. The chance that they
will not react at all is also about
zero. Indeed, they already have
reacted by approving initiatives
he sees imposed on him by a balance underlie these concerns. against benefits for illegal immi-
multicultural society. “From the Non-Hispanic whites dropped grants, affirmative action, and
get-go,” wrote David Gates in from 75.6 percent of the popu- bilingual education, as well as
Newsweek, “the film pits Dou- lation in 1990 to 69.1 percent in by the movement of whites out
glas—the picture of obsolescent 2000. In California—as in of the state. As more Hispanics
rectitude with his white shirt, Hawaii, New Mexico, and the become citizens and politically
tie, specs, and astronaut hair- District of Columbia—non-His- active, white groups are likely to
cut—against a rainbow coali- panic whites are now a minor- look for other ways of protecting
tion of Angelenos. It’s a cartoon ity. Demographers predict that, themselves.
vision of the beleaguered white by 2040, non-Hispanic whites Industrialization in the late
male in multicultural America.” could be a minority of all Ameri- 19th century produced losses for
A plausible reaction to the cans. Moreover, for several U.S. farmers and led to agrarian
demographic changes underway decades, interest groups and protest groups, including the
in the United States could be the government elites have pro- Populist movement, the Grange,
rise of an anti-Hispanic, anti- moted racial preferences and the Nonpartisan League, and
black, and anti-immigrant move- affirmative action, which favor the American Farm Bureau Fed-
ment composed largely of white, blacks and nonwhite immi- eration. Today, white nativists
working- and middle-class males, grants. Meanwhile, pro-global- could well ask: If blacks and
protesting their job losses to ization policies have shifted jobs Hispanics organize and lobby
immigrants and foreign coun- outside the United States, aggra- for special privileges, why not
tries, the perversion of their cul- vated income inequality, and whites? If the National Associa-
ture, and the displacement of promoted declining real wages tion for the Advancement of
their language. Such a movement for working-class Americans. Colored People and the Nation-
can be labeled “white nativism.” Actual and perceived losses al Council of La Raza are legit-
“Cultured, intelligent, and in power and status by any imate organizations, why not a
often possessing impressive social, ethnic, racial, or economic national organization promot-
degrees from some of America’s group almost always produce ing white interests?
premier colleges and universities, efforts to reverse those losses. In White nationalism is “the
this new breed of white racial 1961, the population of Bosnia next logical stage for identity
advocate is a far cry from the and Herzegovina was 43 percent politics in America,” argues
populist politicians and hooded Serb and 26 percent Muslim. In Swain, making the United
Klansmen of the Old South,” 1991, it was 31 percent Serb and States “increasingly at risk of
writes Carol Swain in her 2002 44 percent Muslim. The Serbs large-scale racial conflict
book, The New White National- reacted with ethnic cleansing. In unprecedented in our nation’s
ism in America. These new white 1990, the population of Califor- history.” The most powerful
nationalists do not advocate nia was 57 percent non-Hispan- stimulus to such white nativism
white racial supremacy but ic white and 26 percent Hispan- will be the cultural and linguis-
believe in racial self-preservation ic. By 2040, it is predicted to be tic threats whites see from the
and affirm that culture is a prod- 31 percent non-Hispanic white expanding power of Hispanics
uct of race. They contend that and 48 percent Hispanic. The in U.S. society.
the shifting U.S. demographics chance that California whites —S.P.H.

March | April 2004 41

 [ The Hispanic Challenge ]
Mexican-born children (41.2 percent) identified Miamians spoke a language other than English at
themselves as “Hispanic,” and the second largest home, compared to 55.7 percent of the residents of
(36.2 percent) chose “Mexican.” Among Mexican- Los Angeles and 47.6 percent of New Yorkers. (Of
American children born in the United States, less Miamians speaking a non-English language at home,
than 4 percent responded “American,” compared to 87.2 percent spoke Spanish.) In 2000, 59.5 percent
28.5 percent to 50 percent of those born in the of Miami residents were foreign-born, compared to
United States with parents from elsewhere in Latin 40.9 percent in Los Angeles, 36.8 percent in San
America. Whether born in Mexico or in the United Francisco, and 35.9 percent in New York. In 2000,
States, Mexican children overwhelmingly did not only 31.1 percent of adult Miami residents said they
choose “American” as their primary identification. spoke English very well, compared to 39.0 percent
Demographically, socially, and culturally, the recon- in Los Angeles, 42.5 percent in San Francisco, and
quista (re-conquest) of the Southwest United States by 46.5 percent in New York.
Mexican immigrants is well underway. A meaningful The Cuban takeover had major consequences
move to reunite these territories with Mexico seems for Miami. The elite and entrepreneurial class flee-
unlikely, but Prof. Charles Truxillo of the University ing the regime of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro in
of New Mexico predicts that by 2080 the southwest- the 1960s started dramatic economic development
ern states of the United States and the northern states in South Florida. Unable to send money home,
of Mexico will form La República del Norte (The they invested in Miami. Personal income growth in
Republic of the North). Various writers have referred Miami averaged 11.5 percent a year in the 1970s
to the southwestern United States plus northern Mex- and 7.7 percent a year in the 1980s. Payrolls in
ico as “MexAmerica” or “Amexica” or “Mexifornia.” Miami-Dade County tripled between 1970 and
“We are all Mexicans in this valley,” a former coun- 1995. The Cuban economic drive made Miami an
ty commissioner of El Paso, Texas, declared in 2001. international economic dynamo, with expanding
This trend could consolidate the Mexican-dominant international trade and investment. The Cubans
areas of the United States into an autonomous, cul- promoted international tourism, which, by the
turally and linguistically distinct, and economically 1990s, exceeded domestic tourism and made
self-reliant bloc within the United States. “We may be Miami a leading center of the cruise ship industry.
building toward the one thing that will choke the melt- Major U.S. corporations in manufacturing, com-
ing pot,” warns former National Intelligence Council munications, and consumer products moved their
Vice Chairman Graham Fuller, “an ethnic area and Latin American headquarters to Miami from other
grouping so concentrated that it will not wish, or need, U.S. and Latin American cities. A vigorous Spanish
to undergo assimilation into the mainstream of Ameri- artistic and entertainment community emerged.
can multi-ethnic English-speaking life.” Today, the Cubans can legitimately claim that, in
A prototype of such a region already exists—in the words of Prof. Damian Fernández of Florida
Miami. International University, “We built modern
Miami,” and made its economy larger than those
of many Latin American countries.
BIENVENIDO A MIAMI A key part of this development was the expan-
Miami is the most Hispanic large city in the 50 U.S. sion of Miami’s economic ties with Latin America.
states. Over the course of 30 years, Spanish speak- Brazilians, Argentines, Chileans, Colombians, and
ers—overwhelmingly Cuban—established their dom- Venezuelans flooded into Miami, bringing their
inance in virtually every aspect of the city’s life, fun- money with them. By 1993, some $25.6 billion in
damentally changing its ethnic composition, culture, international trade, mostly involving Latin
politics, and language. The Hispanization of Miami America, moved through the city. Throughout the
is without precedent in the history of U.S. cities. hemisphere, Latin Americans concerned with
The economic growth of Miami, led by the early investment, trade, culture, entertainment, holidays,
Cuban immigrants, made the city a magnet for and drug smuggling increasingly turned to Miami.
migrants from other Latin American and Caribbean Such eminence transformed Miami into a
countries. By 2000, two thirds of Miami’s people Cuban-led, Hispanic city. The Cubans did not, in
were Hispanic, and more than half were Cuban or the traditional pattern, create an enclave immigrant
of Cuban descent. In 2000, 75.2 percent of adult neighborhood. Instead, they created an enclave city

42 Foreign Policy
 with its own culture and
economy, in which assimila-
tion and Americanization
were unnecessary and in
some measure undesired. By
2000, Spanish was not just
the language spoken in most
homes, it was also the princi-
pal language of commerce,
business, and politics. The
media and communications
industry became increasingly
Hispanic. In 1998, a Spanish-
language television station
became the number-one sta-
tion watched by Miamians—
the first time a foreign-lan-
guage station achieved that
rating in a major U.S. city. Se habla español: A Los Angeles newsstand offers dozens of Spanish-language titles.
“They’re outsiders,” one suc-
cessful Hispanic said of non-
Hispanics. “Here we are members of the power could leave Miami, and between 1983 and 1993,
structure,” another boasted. about 140,000 did just that, their exodus reflect-
“In Miami there is no pressure to be American,” ed in a popular bumper sticker: “Will the last
one Cuban-born sociologist observed. “People can American to leave Miami, please bring the flag.”
make a living perfectly well in an enclave that speaks
Spanish.” By 1999, the heads of Miami’s largest
bank, largest real estate development company, and C O N T E M P T O F C U LT U R E
largest law firm were all Cuban-born or of Cuban Is Miami the future for Los Angeles and the south-
descent. The Cubans also established their domi- west United States? In the end, the results could be
nance in politics. By 1999, the mayor of Miami and similar: the creation of a large, distinct, Spanish-
the mayor, police chief, and state attorney of Miami- speaking community with economic and political
Dade County, plus two thirds of Miami’s U.S. resources sufficient to sustain its Hispanic identity
Congressional delegation and nearly one half of its apart from the national identity of other Americans
state legislators, were of Cuban origin. In the wake and also able to influence U.S. politics, government,
of the Elián González affair in 2000, the non- and society. However, the processes by which this
Hispanic city manager and police chief in Miami result might come about differ. The Hispanization of
City were replaced by Cubans. Miami has been rapid, explicit, and economically
The Cuban and Hispanic dominance of Miami driven. The Hispanization of the Southwest has
left Anglos (as well as blacks) as outside minorities been slower, unrelenting, and politically driven. The
that could often be ignored. Unable to communi- Cuban influx into Florida was intermittent and
cate with government bureaucrats and discrimi- responded to the policies of the Cuban government.
nated against by store clerks, the Anglos came to Mexican immigration, on the other hand, is con-
realize, as one of them put it, “My God, this is what tinuous, includes a large illegal component, and
it’s like to be the minority.” The Anglos had three shows no signs of tapering. The Hispanic (that is,
choices. They could accept their subordinate and largely Mexican) population of Southern California
JILL CONNELLY/GAMMA PRESS

outsider position. They could attempt to adopt far exceeds in number but has yet to reach the pro-
the manners, customs, and language of the His- portions of the Hispanic population of Miami—
panics and assimilate into the Hispanic communi- though it is increasing rapidly.
ty—“acculturation in reverse,” as the scholars Ale- The early Cuban immigrants in South Florida
jandro Portes and Alex Stepick labeled it. Or they were largely middle and upper class. Subsequent

March | April 2004 43

 [ The Hispanic Challenge ]
immigrants were more lower class. In the South- IRRECONCILABLE DIFFERENCES
west, overwhelming numbers of Mexican immi- The persistence of Mexican immigration into the Unit-
grants have been poor, unskilled, and poorly edu- ed States reduces the incentives for cultural assimila-
cated, and their children are likely to face similar tion. Mexican Americans no longer think of themselves
conditions. The pressures toward Hispanization as members of a small minority who must accommo-
in the Southwest thus come from below, whereas date the dominant group and adopt its culture. As their
those in South Florida came from above. In the long numbers increase, they become more committed to
run, however, numbers are power, particularly in their own ethnic identity and culture. Sustained numer-
a multicultural society, a political democracy, and ical expansion promotes cultural consolidation and
a consumer economy. leads Mexican Americans not to minimize but to glory
Another major difference concerns the relations in the differences between their culture and U.S. cul-
of Cubans and Mexicans with their countries of ori- ture. As the president of the National Council of La
gin. The Cuban community has been united in its Raza said in 1995: “The biggest problem we have is
hostility to the Castro regime and in its efforts to a cultural clash, a clash between our values and the val-
punish and overthrow that regime. The Cuban gov- ues in American society.” He then went on to spell out
ernment has responded in kind. The Mexican com- the superiority of Hispanic values to American values.
munity in the United States has been more ambiva- In similar fashion, Lionel Sosa, a successful Mexican-
lent and nuanced in its attitudes toward the American businessman in Texas, in 1998 hailed the
Mexican government. Since the 1980s, however, emerging Hispanic middle-class professionals who
the Mexican government has sought to expand the look like Anglos, but whose “values remain quite dif-
numbers, wealth, and political power of the Mex- ferent from an Anglo’s.”
ican community in the U.S. Southwest and to inte- To be sure, as Harvard University political scien-
grate that population with Mexico. “The Mexican tist Jorge I. Domínguez has pointed out, Mexican
nation extends beyond the territory enclosed by its Americans are more favorably disposed toward
borders,” Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo said in democracy than are Mexicans. Nonetheless, “fero-
the 1990s. His successor, Vicente Fox, called Mex- cious differences” exist between U.S. and Mexican cul-
ican emigrants “heroes” and describes himself as tural values, as Jorge Castañeda (who later served as
president of 123 million Mexicans, 100 million in Mexico’s foreign minister) observed in 1995. Cas-
Mexico and 23 million in the United States. tañeda cited differences in social and economic equal-
As their numbers increase, Mexican Americans ity, the unpredictability of events, concepts of time epit-
feel increasingly comfortable with their own culture omized in the mañana syndrome, the ability to achieve
and often contemptuous of American culture. They results quickly, and attitudes toward history, expressed
demand recognition of their culture and the historic in the “cliché that Mexicans are obsessed with histo-
Mexican identity of the U.S. Southwest. They call ry, Americans with the future.” Sosa identifies sever-
attention to and celebrate their Hispanic and Mex- al Hispanic traits (very different from Anglo-Protestant
ican past, as in the 1998 ceremonies and festivities ones) that “hold us Latinos back”: mistrust of people
in Madrid, New Mexico, attended by the vice pres- outside the family; lack of initiative, self-reliance, and
ident of Spain, honoring the establishment 400 ambition; little use for education; and acceptance of
years earlier of the first European settlement in poverty as a virtue necessary for entrance into heav-
the Southwest, almost a decade before Jamestown. en. Author Robert Kaplan quotes Alex Villa, a third-
As the New York Times reported in September generation Mexican American in Tucson, Arizona,
1999, Hispanic growth has been able to “help as saying that he knows almost no one in the Mexi-
‘Latinize’ many Hispanic people who are finding it can community of South Tucson who believes in “edu-
easier to affirm their heritage…. [T]hey find cation and hard work” as the way to material pros-
strength in numbers, as younger generations grow perity and is thus willing to “buy into America.”
up with more ethnic pride and as a Latin influence Profound cultural differences clearly separate Mexicans
starts permeating fields such as entertainment, and Americans, and the high level of immigration
advertising, and politics.” One index foretells the from Mexico sustains and reinforces the prevalence of
future: In 1998, “José” replaced “Michael” as the Mexican values among Mexican Americans.
most popular name for newborn boys in both Cal- Continuation of this large immigration (without
ifornia and Texas. improved assimilation) could divide the United States

44 Foreign Policy
into a country of two languages and two cultures. more than three centuries. Americans should not let
A few stable, prosperous democracies—such as that change happen unless they are convinced that
Canada and Belgium—fit this pattern. The differ- this new nation would be a better one.
ences in culture within these countries, however, do Such a transformation would not only revolu-
not approximate those between the United States and tionize the United States, but it would also have
Mexico, and even in these countries language dif- serious consequences for Hispanics, who will be in
ferences persist. Not many Anglo-Canadians are the United States but not of it. Sosa ends his book,
equally fluent in English and French, and the Cana- The Americano Dream, with encouragement for
dian government has had to impose penalties to get aspiring Hispanic entrepreneurs. “The Americano
its top civil servants to achieve dual fluency. Much dream?” he asks. “It exists, it is realistic, and it is
the same lack of dual competence is true of Walloons there for all of us to share.” Sosa is wrong. There is
and Flemings in Belgium. The transformation of no Americano dream. There is only the American
the United States into a country like these would not dream created by an Anglo-Protestant society. Mex-
necessarily be the end of the world; it would, how- ican Americans will share in that dream and in that
ever, be the end of the America we have known for society only if they dream in English.

[ Want to Know More? ]

For an overview of U.S. immigration, see David Heer’s Immigration in America’s Future: Social Sci-
ence Findings and the Policy Debate (Boulder: Westview Press, 1996). Roger Daniels provides a recent
history of U.S. immigration policy in Guarding the Golden Door: American Immigrants and Immi-
gration Policy Since 1882 (New York: Hill and Wang, 2003). A sophisticated analysis of the costs and
benefits of immigration is George J. Borjas’s Heaven’s Door: Immigration Policy and the American Econ-
omy (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999).

On the ability of immigrants to assimilate, consult Milton M. Gordon’s Assimilation in American

Life: The Role of Race, Religion, and National Origins (New York: Oxford University Press, 1964).
Richard Alba and Victor Nee analyze developments since the 1960s in Remaking the American Main-
stream: Assimilation and Contemporary Immigration (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2003).
See also Barry Edmonston and Jeffrey S. Passel’s (eds.) Immigration and Ethnicity: The Integration of
America’s Newest Arrivals (Washington: Urban Institute Press, 1994). Bill Richardson encourages U.S.
Hispanics to affect U.S. foreign policy in “Hispanic American Concerns” (Foreign Policy, Fall 1985).

For an overview of Mexican immigration issues, consult the studies in Crossings: Mexican Immi-
gration in Interdisciplinary Perspectives (Cambridge: Harvard University’s David Rockefeller Cen-
ter for Latin American Studies, 1998), edited by Marcelo M. Suárez-Orozco. Very different but equal-
ly important aspects of U.S.-Mexican relations are discussed in Abraham F. Lowenthal and Katrina
Burgess’s (eds.) The California-Mexico Connection (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1993) and
Jorge I. Domínguez and Rafael Fernández de Castro’s The United States and Mexico (New York:
Routledge, 2001). Excellent explorations of the U.S.-Mexican border include Robert S. Leiken’s The
Melting Border: Mexico and Mexican Communities in the United States (Washington: Center for
Equal Opportunity, 2000) and Peter Andreas’s Border Games: Policing the U.S.-Mexico Divide (Itha-
ca: Cornell University Press, 2000). Doris Meissner offers her perspectives and experiences on
immigration and security in the interview “On the Fence” (Foreign Policy, March/April 2002).
Finally, for a superb study of the psychology, sociology, and politics of Mexican Americans, see Peter
Skerry’s Mexican Americans: The Ambivalent Minority (New York: Free Press, 1993).

»Foreign
For links to relevant Web sites, access to the FP Archive, and a comprehensive index of related
Policy articles, go to www.foreignpolicy.com.

March | April 2004 45