Children of Mexican Immigrants: Crisis and Opportunity

Abstract

The Crisis of the Second GenerationA significant proportion of the children of Mexican immigrants are on track to becoming a large, poorly educated, and disadvantaged segment of the U.S. population. According to the U.S. Census, there are over 11 million Mexican-origin youth aged 17 and under, accounting for 15% of all children in this age bracket (Pew, 2010). As this sizable group comes of age and seeks to enter the job market, it will be at a severe disadvantage given its low levels of education and lack of skills, putting it at risk of what immigration scholars are calling (Portes, Fernandez- Kelly, & Haller, 2009). Compared to other major ethnic and racial groups in the United States, Latinos, and Mexican-origin youth in particular, drop out of high school at a higher rate, they have the highest rates of teen pregnancy, and they are more likely to have exposure to gangs. At a time when the labor market increasingly demands workers with at least some college education, only 9% of Mexican Americans hold college degrees, compared to 17% of blacks, 30% of whites, and 50% of Asians.1A landmark study conducted by Alejandro Portes and his collaborators examined the different ways children of recent immigrants adjust and become incorporated into American society. Known as the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study (CILS), it compared the fates of children of parents from a range of origin countries in Asia and Latin America.2 The study documented levels of education, employment, and earnings, as well as incidents of arrest and incarceration, and found especially stark contrasts between the children of Asian and Mexican immigrant parents (Portes & Rumbaut, 2001). With respect to education, the children of Chinese and other Asian immigrants interviewed in Southern California were highly successful in school, and fewer than 10% had failed to pursue postsecondary studies. In contrast, among second-generation Mexicans, close to 40% did not advance beyond high school.3 When the researchers examined encounters with law enforcement, they found that 20% of young Mexican-origin males had experienced incarceration, compared to none of the young Chinese-origin males and fewer than 7% of second-generation Filipino males.4 They argue that this is the strongest evidence to date that downward assimilation is indeed occurring for second-generation Mexicans (Portes, Fernandez-Kelly, & Haller, 2009, p. 1088).ApproachThis article aims to stimulate discussion on new approaches for improving the prospects of Mexican-origin youth by linking theory and practice. The theory in this case is segmented assimilation, as developed and refined by Alejandro Portes et al. over the course of analyzing and reporting the findings from their CILS work (Portes & Zhou, 1993; Portes, Fernandez-Kelly, & Haller, 2009). The practice, on the other hand, concerns specific activities and projects undertaken by Mexican immigrants, primarily by hometown associations. Examples of some of these practices are drawn from the literature, others from the author's own experience with the Mexican immigrant community as a researcher, a volunteer, and as a guest. The article focuses particular attention on the activities of one hometown association, the Los Haro Support Committee, and its efforts on behalf of the second generation. It weighs the group's accomplishments and its shortcomings. It concludes with a proposal for a program that builds on resources from within the Mexican immigrant community itself in order to reverse the tendency toward downward assimilation and put the second generation on a path to positive integration into U.S. society.Segmented Assimilation Theory and the Mexican Immigrant ExperienceDownward assimilation is one of several possible outcomes predicted by the segmented assimilation model put forth by Portes et al. This theory rose as a challenge to the classic model of immigrant assimilation that was dominant until about 20 years ago; it held that the descendants of immigrants, as they set aside strong ethnic traits, will, over time, transition into the mainstream of American society and achieve some degree of upward mobility. …