Births, not new immigrants, push US Latino growth

[madamesilverspurs]

Associated Press
WASHINGTON — With immigration slowing, babies born in the U.S. rather than newly arrived Mexican immigrants are now driving most of the fast growth in the Latino population.

A new analysis of census data highlights a turning point in Hispanics’ rapid U.S. growth. Demographers point to the potential for broader political impact as U.S.-born Mexican-Americans widen their numbers over non-citizen, foreign-born counterparts, who wield no voting rights.

“As these young Latinos age, they will enter public schools, participate in the nation’s economy as workers and consumers, and enter the growing pool of Hispanic eligible voters,” said Mark Hugo Lopez, associate director of the Pew Hispanic Center, who co-authored the study released Thursday.
... http://www.greeleytribune.com/article/20110714/NEWS/707149995/1051&ParentProfile=1001


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Today is about the first time I've been grateful that our newspaper saw fit to temporarily suspend the comments function. It's painful to even imagine the responses this article would generate. As it is, the county is the center of some very "interesting" discussions as redistricting proceeds. Our local activists have been on the receiving end of some rather unpleasant commentary when we register voters with non-northern European antecedents. This coming weekend we'll be getting more of the same as we continue with that particular activity.


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[snooper2]

1. They really need to give out condoms or something around here..

You would be amazed at the number of 15-20 year old latino girls who are going to have, or have already had a baby.


In 2005, teenage birthrates were highest in Texas (62 per 1,000), New Mexico, Mississippi,
Arkansas and Arizona. The states with the lowest teenage birthrates were New Hampshire (18
per 1,000), Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Jersey.

(all rates are per 1000 women age 15-19)
Non-hispanic whites - 52
Black - 98
Hispanic - 131


http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/USTPtrends.pdf

[SoCalDem]

3. Culture

Hispanic families tend to be very Catholic, and old school parents probably don't encourage their teens to use contraception, especially when no-sex-until-marriage is what most families believe in, and pray that their teens believe it too..

teens WILL have sex.. secret sex ..sex that their parents don't know about.. Secret sex often turns them into parents.

teens have sex, they lie to their parents about sex, and they hide pregnancies until they can no longer hide them.. It's always been that way.

Also, lots of families have adolescent/teen children who are basically raising themselves these days, since parents are out there working their asses off to keep a roof over the family. Teens with time on their hands get into "mischief"..

[w8liftinglady]

4. Plus- Texas has an "abstinence-only" education system now.

My partner offered to teach contraception to his male students- and was denied.
Now,Planned Parenthood is being severely defunded.
Expect to see more in our area,not less.
...and not just the "Good Catholic" Hispanics.

(For the record I was an Italian catholic teen who used the pill thanks to Planned Parenthood- it was a hell of a lot easier to get contraception in the 70's)

[damntexdem]

2. All those undocumented babies being born!

Sure, they may get birth certificates afterward. But do they have any papers on them when they're born? No way!

;-)