Latin Americans migrated from the southern part of North America, searching for better living and working conditions. While struggling for recognition, the group faced racial discrimination because they were treated as ethnic minorities.
The Hispanic immigrants, therefore, are viewed as socially disintegrated from the social and economic position in the United States. They belong mainly to Spanish speaking immigrants whose main reason for migrating to the USA was their geographical proximity. Their ability to be both bilingual and bicultural in nature gives them the advantage to adjust to the social and economic conditions in the host country.
Racial discrimination and prejudice were among the main barriers that Latin Americans face while moving to the United States. The evidence shows that most of ethnic minorities could not apply for a well-paid job because of the racial distinctions and, therefore, they had to consider low-skilled jobs. The survey conducted by the Pew Hispanic Survey demonstrates that 54% of Latin immigrants face unequal treatment on the part of American employers.
However, there seem fewer cases of racial discrimination in the formal sector. In the course of time, the attitude to Latin Americans has changed due to the shifts in perceiving cultural and social beliefs. Ethnicity, therefore, should not be the decisive factor in shaping the perception. Because Latin Americans have their own cultural features, their assimilation with the American culture proves that they are ready to accept the norms and values of a dominating community.
The history of Spanish colonisation brings in specific cultural heritage and shared language to Latin Americans. Latin Americans are often accompanied with certain stereotypes that create difficulties in adequate treatment of these ethnic groups in the United States. Despite the created biases and prejudices, Hispanic population occupies a significant part of the country, which provides government with additional rationale for rethinking their policy toward this group.
Social structure discrimination does not promote social advancements in education, economic, and social fields. Rather, it results in low levels of social and cultural integration. The high level of structural discrimination due to race and ethnicity towards the Latin Americans as compared to treatment of Asian Americans has led to expression of higher more social solidarity among Latin Americans. Racial discrimination towards the Hispanic also depends on a number of factors.
This is of particular concern to the history of conquering between Mexicans and English invaders. The latter has long considered Latin Americans as the conquered people. The point is that this distorted image has been preserved until modern times and influences the overall racial attitudes toward migrated population.
Although the prejudice is evident, there are various reasons to believe that the racial distinctions will be exterminated in future. Such a perspective can be explained by the fact that their Mexican population will become large enough to compete for cultural and social heritage with the White population in the United States.
Although the issues of racial discrimination are on the current agenda, the unequal treatment and workforce exploitation of Latin Americans is evident due to its deep history of colonization. U.S. population does not often follow the principles of humanitarian law to defend to the rights of the minority groups. The inferior treatment, therefore, leads to cultural frictions and inability of various ethnicity groups to comply with the norms established in American society.