Arizona may be on the front-lines, but the Latinization of these United States is a much deeper phenomenon
Wednesday, June 30, 2010 at 12:10AM
Thomas P.M. Barnett in Citation Post, US, demographics, immigration

WSJ story about a small town in Nebraska that's coming apart at the seams over a proposed, AZ-like tough law on illegal immigrants.  The town (Fremont) is almost exclusively European, with most residents of Swedish and German background. A substantial meatpacking company presence has--unsurprisingly--boosted the Hispanic presence recently (around 1k out of 25k total population), leading to the tension. Naturally, such a potentially divisive law attracts a lot of outside players joining the fight.

I was just more attracted to the chart, which details the biggest increases of foreign-born residents in states with more than 100k foreign-born already.  I mean, look at the spread that includes the mid-Atlantic/south with the two Carolinas and GA, New England with RI, the plains (NE), the north (WI), Appalachia (KY), and the mountainous West (CO). This is hardly just a SW America issue, thus the rule-set clash currently being played out in Arizona is but a harbinger of a large struggle to come.

My point: welcome the experimentation by states. Some will bad and some will be good, but the churn will help us collectively find the right mix over time.

Article originally appeared on Thomas P.M. Barnett (https://thomaspmbarnett.com/).
See website for complete article licensing information.