SusieQQQ
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http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21657392-americas-fastest-growing-migrant-group-may-challenge-countrys-fraught-race?fsrc=scn/fb/wl/pe/st/buildingafromerica
Some extracts:
- With roughly 170,000 African residents, Washington and its surrounding suburbs have, proportionately, the largest African-born population of any large city in America. Their numbers are still small: even in Washington, Africans make up just 14% of all immigrants, and 3% of the total population. But they are among the fastest growing. Between 2000 and 2013—the latest available figures—the number of people from sub-Saharan Africa in the United States more than doubled, from 690,000 to 1.5m. Since 1980 it has increased more than tenfold.
- In Washington, DC, Ethiopians and Eritreans are the most numerous. In New York, Egyptians and Ghanaians are. Around Houston there are plenty of Nigerians. In Minneapolis there is a substantial Somali community.
- Relatively few Africans are illegal immigrants (those who are have almost all overstayed their visas). Instead, they have particularly benefited from the Refugee Act of 1980, which brought more refugees to America, and the Immigration Act of 1990, which created special diversity visas, issued by lottery, for people from under-represented countries. According to analysis by the Pew Research Centre, 28% of legal African immigrants who arrived between 2000 and 2013 came as refugees; 19% of them arrived on diversity visas. For all legal immigrants, the equivalent figures were 13% and 4%.
- As the migrants have put down roots, they have inspired others. Bahda Gide, an Eritrean-born retired social worker, arrived in America in the 1970s. Now Eritrean migrants go home for visits, he says, and impress their friends and relatives with their smart clothes and plump wallets. An established community helps penniless people find their way in an expensive foreign land: “Traditionally, you cannot ignore any countryman in a foreign country,” says Mr Gide. America’s relatively generous system of family reunion, which allows citizens and migrants with legal residency to apply to bring siblings and parents to America, helps to keep up the flow.
- African migrants ... live mostly in the suburbs, rather than in inner cities. In Washington Ethiopians and Eritreans cluster in Silver Spring, a part of Maryland at the edge of the District of Columbia.
- They also tend to be well educated ... In 2013 35% had a bachelor’s degree or better, against a figure of 30% for all Americans and just 19% of American-born blacks (see chart). But despite these qualifications, they earn slightly less than most Americans. ... In Washington, Ethiopian and Eritrean men disproportionately work as taxi drivers, or in the city’s many East African restaurants.
- Still, over time, they find their way. Research by Randy Capps of the Migration Policy Institute, a think-tank, found that in 2009 more-established African immigrants were far less likely to be working in unskilled jobs than new arrivals. This suggests that well-qualified migrants are getting on in the world, says Mr Capps.
- ...their growth in numbers may help soften the historical racialised division of America’s population between those whose descendants moved willingly and those whose descendants were enslaved. In the meantime, the definition of the term African-American may already be changing. In a few weeks, Barack Obama will pay his first visit as president to Kenya, the homeland of his father. However Americans see him, there he will be both African and American.
Some extracts:
- With roughly 170,000 African residents, Washington and its surrounding suburbs have, proportionately, the largest African-born population of any large city in America. Their numbers are still small: even in Washington, Africans make up just 14% of all immigrants, and 3% of the total population. But they are among the fastest growing. Between 2000 and 2013—the latest available figures—the number of people from sub-Saharan Africa in the United States more than doubled, from 690,000 to 1.5m. Since 1980 it has increased more than tenfold.
- In Washington, DC, Ethiopians and Eritreans are the most numerous. In New York, Egyptians and Ghanaians are. Around Houston there are plenty of Nigerians. In Minneapolis there is a substantial Somali community.
- Relatively few Africans are illegal immigrants (those who are have almost all overstayed their visas). Instead, they have particularly benefited from the Refugee Act of 1980, which brought more refugees to America, and the Immigration Act of 1990, which created special diversity visas, issued by lottery, for people from under-represented countries. According to analysis by the Pew Research Centre, 28% of legal African immigrants who arrived between 2000 and 2013 came as refugees; 19% of them arrived on diversity visas. For all legal immigrants, the equivalent figures were 13% and 4%.
- As the migrants have put down roots, they have inspired others. Bahda Gide, an Eritrean-born retired social worker, arrived in America in the 1970s. Now Eritrean migrants go home for visits, he says, and impress their friends and relatives with their smart clothes and plump wallets. An established community helps penniless people find their way in an expensive foreign land: “Traditionally, you cannot ignore any countryman in a foreign country,” says Mr Gide. America’s relatively generous system of family reunion, which allows citizens and migrants with legal residency to apply to bring siblings and parents to America, helps to keep up the flow.
- African migrants ... live mostly in the suburbs, rather than in inner cities. In Washington Ethiopians and Eritreans cluster in Silver Spring, a part of Maryland at the edge of the District of Columbia.
- They also tend to be well educated ... In 2013 35% had a bachelor’s degree or better, against a figure of 30% for all Americans and just 19% of American-born blacks (see chart). But despite these qualifications, they earn slightly less than most Americans. ... In Washington, Ethiopian and Eritrean men disproportionately work as taxi drivers, or in the city’s many East African restaurants.
- Still, over time, they find their way. Research by Randy Capps of the Migration Policy Institute, a think-tank, found that in 2009 more-established African immigrants were far less likely to be working in unskilled jobs than new arrivals. This suggests that well-qualified migrants are getting on in the world, says Mr Capps.
- ...their growth in numbers may help soften the historical racialised division of America’s population between those whose descendants moved willingly and those whose descendants were enslaved. In the meantime, the definition of the term African-American may already be changing. In a few weeks, Barack Obama will pay his first visit as president to Kenya, the homeland of his father. However Americans see him, there he will be both African and American.
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