Immigration Patterns and History of Mexican-origin Latin@s in the Midwest: Educational Implications and Future Considerations

The accelerated growth of the Latin@ population in the United States in the last few decades represents one of the most significant demographic changes in the nation. Alongside this population shift, some other trends have started to emerge: the Latin@ population, especially Mexican-origin people, has begun to move and settle outside traditional large cities (Murillo & Villenas, 1997; Stamps & Bohon, 2006). The numbers of Mexican-origin Latin@s concentrated in so-called “gateway” states, such as California and Texas, have started to decline and populations of immigrants settling in non-traditional destinations are now growing (Passel & Zimmerman 2001; Zuñiga & Hernandez-Leon, 2005). This demographic flow has been referred to in academic literature as the new Latino diaspora (Murillo & Villenas, 1997) or new Latino destinations (Suro & Singer, 2002). Against this background, this essay explores the literature with a focus on the history of Mexican-origin Latin@ presence in the Midwest, as well as the more recent immigration trends of this population in the region. The essay aims to extend current understandings of Latin@ immigration patterns in the Midwest, analyze their implications for education and policy, and offer additional questions and considerations for future research in the field. A nuanced examination of these facts will help us to better understand the significance of the Mexican-origin Latin@ presence in the Midwest, the vulnerable status of this group over the years, and the need to recognize this population as an asset, not a liability, in the present and future considerations of the United States as a nation.

A Snapshot of the Latinx Teaching Experience in the New Latino Diaspora

As the nation’s classrooms (and the nation itself) undergo a demographic change, we have to wonder what will happen to the teaching profession and attitudes as minority teachers start to fill the ranks of this profession. This paper seeks to contribute to this work with the interviews of four Latinx teachers who are working in the New Latino Diaspora. These teachers come from a variety of fields, math, English and social studies and work in different places. Their words and ideas help us understand the ideas and practices that they implement and how they will change the classroom. Exploring these changes provides one way that we can understand what minority teachers bring to the classroom and how they can help their students learn and grow.

Transcending the Challenge at the Library

One of the greatest challenges immigrant families face in local communities is the harmful quality of mainstream deficit perspectives about immigration. This chapter focuses on a group of Latinx immigrant families' first experiences with local public libraries' education services within the New Latino Diaspora of the U.S. Southeast, which has been the migratory destination of many immigrant families in the last two decades. It discusses a study that interrogates the efficacy of two acclaimed literacy development programs, Every Child Ready to Read and Prime Time Preschool. These programs were facilitated by public libraries in the state of Georgia and attended by Latinx immigrant families with young children. The study findings illustrate how the families' engagement in the programs disrupted injurious social narratives that privilege whiteness and inhibit the recognition of Latinx immigrants as members of local U.S. communities and mainstream American society.

The past is prologue

This article examines reactions to the changing linguistic ecology in the U.S. state of Iowa, which is experiencing a demographic phenomenon often referred to as the New Latino Diaspora (NLD) (Hamann et al., 2002). We first examine the historical processes and social structures that link current language policy initiatives within Iowa to local and national nativism. We then analyze public policies and texts to reveal how language ideologies circulate across diverse texts and contexts, forming discourses that shape the experiences of Latin@s in Iowa.