Nearly One-Quarter of Americans are Immigrants or First Generation

by Daniel Cubias · 2010-11-03 09:31:00 -0400
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We often hear that the United States is a nation of immigrants. The subtext behind this statement, however, is that European settlers founded this country, and that their contemporary descendants are the rightful owners of this land (i.e., the "real" Americans). As such, any other kind of immigrant is bothersome, or even menacing.

However, the U.S. Census Bureau recently revealed that a lot of us hanging out in these amber fields of grain have solid roots in other lands. Approximately 36.7 million of the nation's population (12%) were born in foreign countries. About 33 million (11%) are native-born with at least one foreign-born parent.

This means that about 23% of the U.S. population (including your most humble blogger) are immigrants or first-generation Americans. As such, it is clear that the immigrant experience — long celebrated so long as the story stopped circa 1920 — is still an ongoing saga.

Immigration rates have slowed in recent years, due to the horrific recession, but the United States still has a higher percentage of such individuals than most European countries do. Other nations are far behind the pace. For example, less than two percent of Japan’s population was born elsewhere.

With such numbers, it’s astounding that immigrant bashing remains so effective in America, considering that almost a quarter of us can point to ourselves or to our parents as the source of outrage. Yet, scapegoating newcomers is just as potent, if not more so, than it was when the Irish arrived at Ellis Island.

This affliction — immigrant bashing — does not seem to infect our northern neighbor, Canada (please feel free to correct me if I am wrong). What’s interesting about this is that Canada has a rate of foreign-born residents (17%) that is even higher than the United States. First-generation Canadians are even more plentiful, leading one to ponder if individuals in Toronto and Montreal are less likely to blame the Other if there are so many Others in their family.

Or maybe it’s just because Canadians tend to be ridiculously polite. After all, they're crazy foreigners.

Photo Credit: Aku

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