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Immigrant Communities

The implications of immigration for community life in the United States have been discussed and debated since the beginning of our democracy. Leaders such as Benjamin Franklin considered the costs and benefits of immigration for colonial communities, noting a particular concern about the ability of immigrants to assimilate into public life. To this day, the influx of immigrants into the United States continues to challenge and enrich traditional notions of the American society as a “melting pot” of many ethnic subcommunities.

Indeed, many scholars have argued that the late twentieth century was a time of great historical significance for immigration to the United States, because contemporary immigration originates largely in developing countries. These new immigrants bring with them a host of cultural and social practices largely unfamiliar to people in mainstream Western culture. Modern immigrants often work hard to maintain connections, both literal and symbolic, to their countries of origin, modifying traditional notions of assimilation and enculturation. In short, the recent wave of immigration is changing the composition of American communities and raising new issues related to social and racial intolerance, patterns of community integration, and civic participation. This entry deals with the current nature of American immigration and the fundamental nature of community, including such issues as the indicators and composition of immigrant communities; their roles, responsibilities, and functions; the reasons why immigrants come to the United States, and the difficulties they face; the reasons that some fear strong immigrant communities; and the impact of declining or resilient communities.

The Nature of American Immigration

Anxiety over immigration into the United States has clearly increased in recent years. Today there are more than 130 million migrants worldwide, and the foreignborn population in the United States has increased to approximately 30 million. As in previous historical moments, today's immigrants often face ambivalence and acrimony from mainstream society. This situation is further complicated by the 1965 amendments to the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, which eliminated the national origins quota system. As a result, the countries from which people are migrating are generally poor. This has led to the mistaken perception among many Americans that the immigrants themselves are generally poor and uneducated. In reality, this is often not the case. Many immigrants arrive with advanced degrees and professional skills and are able to find opportunities that will lead them to successfully negotiate mainstream culture.

Immigrants and their families leave their countries of origin for various reasons. In addition to immigrants who seek educational, entrepreneurial, and professional gains, there are labor migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers. Many are motivated to consider leaving their country of origin because liberalized provisions allow them to immigrate. Others do so to close gaps between actual and expected socioeconomic status. In other cases, desperate poverty and unemployment motivate immigrants. Most often, individuals immigrate for a combination of reasons.

The potential benefits of immigrating to America are enticing, but the process of immigration is often stressful and may have high costs. For example, the process frequently destabilizes family life. Data from the Harvard Immigration Project, a comprehensive research initiative considering issues of immigration and education, suggest the immigrant journeys are a multiphase process, resulting in intricate patterns of family fragmentation and reunification. Children often are left behind or are sent ahead and expected to live in the care of relatives. In many cases, it is a long time before families are reassembled, which tends to undermine parental authority and family cohesion. A common fear expressed by immigrant parents is that they will lose their children to the new culture.

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