Latino Immigrants in New Receiving Areas

At the turn of the 21st century, Latinos in the United States have become a multi-generational immigrant population, with a majority of first-generation immigrant adults, increasing diversity of national origins, and growing geographic dispersion. A new Latino National Survey (LNS) is currently being developed to gain a better understanding of today’s Latino Americans. One of the realities of Latino immigration today is that it is no longer a phenomenon confined to a select few states in the Southwest. Latino communities are emerging all over America, and their experiences are far different than the better-established, more heavily concentrated Latino communities in states like New Mexico and California.

With support from the Foundation, Rodney Hero and Michael Jones-Correa will complement the new LNS with a survey of Latinos in low-density states that will allow researchers to better study small, emerging Latino communities. They will survey 1600 Latinos in Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, and Arkansas to document patterns in the social and political incorporation of Latinos in new immigrant receiving areas in the United States, as well as their experience with discrimination. This will allow for comparisons between the social and political evolution of life in older Latino communities versus newer places of residence, and between areas of high Latino concentration and areas of low Latino density.