Life of a Mexican Immigrant in New York
by Rahim Chagani
Mexicans immigrants have long been a vital component of New York City’s population and its economic dynamism.
After four decades of rapid growth, the size of the Mexican immigrant population in the United States has remained stable in recent years, according to U.S. Census and Current Population Survey. Furthermore, more Mexican immigrants have returned to Mexico than have migrated to the United States since the end of the 2007–2009 Great Recession, according to a recent report from Pew Research Center.
Mexicans Immigrating in New York
In recent times, Mexican immigrants in New York City are the third largest ethnic group.
The map on the left side portrays the most densely Mexican populated neighborhoods in each of New York’s five boroughs.
The neighborhoods that are dense in Mexican population are: Brooklyn’s Sunset Park, Crown Heights and Bushwick, Queens’ Elmhurst, Jackson Heights, Corona and Kew Gardens, Manhattan’s Spanish Harlem.
There are specific niche neighborhoods Mexican immigrants or any immigrant choose to live in. There are several factors affecting the decision: comfort in familiarity — friends and family, same culture, native language.
A report done by Melissa Muriente hightlights Mexican immigrants to NYC. The social, economic, and culural characteristics in comparision to traitional Mexican migration tio the Southwest.
The Department of City Planning estimated tabulation shows the dynamics of percentage of population chanage in hispanic population by neighborhood and total enrollment by level of school.
Trump- Era — Immigration at stake!
Preident of the United States Donald J. Trump has been very vocal about strict immigration policy including banning immigrants entering the U.S. soil. Not to forget his famous agenda on building a huge wall between U.S and Mexico that brought about a huge contraversy. “Mexico is going to pay for the wall,” “The wall is going to cost $10 billion. Mexico’s going to pay, 100 percent.”
Tracing Trump’s chain of thoughts on illegal immigration can easily be found on his twitter page, where he, without any filter, vocally tweets about his thoughts on immigration policy. Here’s what Trump has said about Mexico and Mexicans, before and during his presidential campaign:
Are Mexican immigrants taking jobs from Americans?
It is partly correct to assert that immigrants only take the jobs Americans do not want, at least in regard to Mexican immigrants. These jobs have low pay and require little skill.
“These folks are in demand,’’ said Prof. Edwin Meléndez, one of the study’s two authors and director of the Community Development Research Center at New School University. “There are job opportunities out there, and American natives are not fulfilling the demand for a lot of this employment.’’
Academicians like Professor Meléndez, who teaches urban policy, says,“They take risks when they go to work with people they haven’t met before,’’ he said. “Sometimes they’re abused in terms of not getting paid or getting pushed around by contractors.’’
President Donald J. Trump has called for a restriction on illegal immigrants, saying they “compete directly against vulnerable American workers.” He promised to cut back legal immigration with new controls in order to “boost wages and ensure open jobs are offered to American workers first.”
Lets agree to disagree that not only Mexican immigrants but generally all immigrants in the U.S. bring new ideas and add to an American labor force that would have shrunken without them.
Miguel Garcia, Pet Fashion Designer
Meet Miguel Garcia, an immigrant from Mexico, who is a Pet Fashion Designer and a pet rescuer. He feels he is a “Pet parent.” He loves his kids. His kids are not human but the dogs and cats.
He started rescuing cats and dogs when he learned that there is a need in New York. In Mexico, it was a necessity, but when he came to Jackson Heights, Queens, he saw a whole world of unwanted animals. Seeing many irresponsible people here, he started rescuing those animals and helping them.
As he started to rescue, he saw racism even in animals. White and groomed dogs were going faster than those not groomed, black and ugly dogs. Noticing the dogs that people don’t want to adopt, he came up with an idea to dress up these dogs in funky colors. Back in Mexico, he started learning to sew at a very young age of 8. He learned sewing on one of those old sowing machines his mother had.
He says, “Its like when you learnt to sow is like you leant to ride a bike, you never forget.”
He has been in New York Pet Fashion Show for three years now and he already got invited for the upcoming one. He has been shipping to various parts of the world and the customers are all going gaga over his deisgns. Let’s watch the mini-documentary as Miguel Garcia tells his story as an immigrant in New York.
Miguel Rodriguez’s raw audio tape where he explains more about his story
He is a hit on Youtube and Facebook, where he does live videos. Here’s a sneak peek
Next we meet Head Chef Gonzalo Colin, who is a Mexican immigrant
Chef Gonzalo Colin has been the Head Chef of Robert restaurant in Manhttan, which is a must stop for tourist around the world. Chef Colin started to cook when he was eight years-old watching his idol. Immigrated to New York, he sgarted studying English at Brooklyn Community College. At the same time he was a part time cook at a local restaurant. Respecting the food is the most important thing to him. He learned techniques and culinary art under Chef Brian, who was a popular Chef in West Village, New York.
A short radio piece on Chef Gonzalo Colin explaining his daily routine
After rigorous hate speeches done by him you, President Trump admits the truth
The New York Times “Immigration Explorer” interactive map shows foreign-born group to see how they settled across the United States, particularly in New York. A detailed foreign born chart by Migration Policy Institute, shows New York’s demographic data divided into place of birth, naturalization, fertility, household and family size.
A Day in the life of Miguel
Miguel, 29, arrived in New York from Mexico four months ago and immediately started looking for work. He settled on a job in a deli in Brooklyn, where he works the night shift, earning $10 an hour for such tasks as restocking shelves, serving coffee, mopping the floor and cleaning the bathroom.
He juggles from one job to another working as a cook at local Deli’s in New York, particularly in Brooklyn where he lives. A photostory takes a look at his struggling life as an immigrant.
Chronicling cliché job of a Mexican immigrant — Working with Food
According to Migration Policy Institute, in 2014, more than 11.7 million Mexican immigrants resided in the United States. This accounts for 28 percent of the 42.4 million foreign-born population — by far the largest immigrant origin group in the country.
