It continues to be the largest city in the United States by a large margin. Number two Los Angeles has less than half that number.
New York City has long been a melting pot. It has been the entry point and the home for many immigrants in the United States throughout its history.
That is even more so today than almost any point in American history. Today New York City is home to 3.3 million people who were born outside the United States of America. That is equal to about 40% of the population of New York City.
The foreign born population in New York City is larger than the total population of Chicago, the third largest American city.
There are also more immigrants living in New York City than any other city in the world. (Some argue that London has overtaken NYC in this regard).
At various stages in American history, English, Irish, Eastern European Jews, Germans or Italians were at the vanguard of immigrant waves into New York City and the United States.
We tend to think of the late 19th century and early 20th century being the period of a lot of immigration into the United States. However, New York City has about the same percentage of immigrants today as it did during that period.
Moreover, the percentage of immigrants living in New York City is about double what it was 50 years ago.
The mix of immigrants has also changed considerably over the years.
I came across this interesting graphic recently that shows the change over the last 50 years in the mix of where immigrants who live in New York City come from.
People from countries like Italy, Poland, Germany, Russia and Ireland made up the bulk of immigrants living in New York City in 1970.
The largest immigrant populations in New York today are from the Dominican Republic, China, Jamaica, Mexico and Guyana.
I was surprised to find that the largest immigrant population in New York City is from the Dominican Republic. Nearly 500,000, almost one in six immigrants in New York City, are from this Caribbean country of just a little over 10 million inhabitants.
What about Guyana in the fifth spot? There are over 140,000 people that were born in Guyana living in New York City. The entire country of Guyana has a population of just 770,000.
How does something like this happen?
It has to be chain migration which allows green card holders or other legal residents of the United States to sponsor a family member for immigration to the United States.
About two-thirds of legal immigration to the United States (which has been over 1 million per year) over the last decade has been through chain migration.
You have to ask whether there will be anyone left at all in the Dominican Republic, Guyana or Jamaica in a few years if chain migration continues? These are very small countries but an inordinate number of their population is ending up in the United States.
At the same time, talented people from China (1.4 billion and India (1.3 billion) have a hard time gaining entry to the United States due to the fact that chain migration ends up determining so many of the legal entrants.
Let's put those numbers in context.
The number of Guyanans who live in New York City is equal to 18% of the total population of Guyana.
The number of Dominicans who live in New York City is equal to over 4% of the total population of the Dominican Republic.
The comparable numbers for China and India?
China--.024%
India--007%
When you see these statistics it does seem to underscore the wisdom of President Trump in suggesting the heavy reliance on chain migration be ended in place of a merit-based system as part of the reform of our outdated immigration system.
Perhaps New Yorker Donald Trump understands all of this a fair measure better than the political pundits give him credit for?
Immigration restrictions are making it harder for qualified people to get here? Seems like the only logical response would be to implement restrictions to make it harder for peoples families to get here...
ReplyDeleteTalk about a non-sequitur... Seems like the solution is to loosen up restrictions where they're hurting. Not add them where they're not.
The USA admits more legal immigrants annually than any other country in the world (over 1 million). If you want to allow greater access to merit-based immigrants without greatly expanding that number you need to reform the system. It is not a non-sequitur, it is math. The 2nd cousins may not get a ticket into the USA so that others may have the opportunity to contribute to our country.
ReplyDeleteIt's a non sequitur.
ReplyDeleteThe argument "We need more merit based immigration" is not the same as "We need more merit based immigration while keeping immigration levels unchanged."
But now that you've shifted out of a logical fallacy, why don't you want to expand merit based immigration by expanding total immigration?
Anyone who wants to expand existing legal immigration numbers has not seen this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GgV9TFTPwU or read my previous blog post on the subject. https://beelineblogger.blogspot.com/2017/12/off-rails-on-immigration.html
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