Introduction
Texas is characterized by immigration that is pushing the state’s population growth. According to the Census Bureau, Texas occupies the second position in terms of population figures in the United States and has occupied that position since 1994 after overtaking New York. This aspect of immigration to Texas can be attributed to the good hospitality immigrants receive from the Texans.
The natives of Texas State were quite excited with what their area offered to the new settlers but little did they know that as the conditions of their area changed so too were the costs and benefits that were related to the increase in the size of the population. In the last 10 years almost three point nine million (3.9m) new residents came and settled in Texas State. It is estimated that almost thirty-six percent (36%) of these new residents were actually immigrants. The high population growth rate brought about negative effects like traffic congestion, pollution of the environment, straining of institution facilities because of high enrolment and there were also shortages of housing facilities resulting in a gradual decrease in living standards and further straining of the available natural resources, Timothy (2001).
The period between 200 and 2006 saw the population of the foreign-born in the Texas state increase by twenty-four percent and it was during this same period that the state gained over 650,000 immigrants bringing the number of residents of foreign-born origin increase to over 3.4 million people. The foreign-born population in Texas is composed mainly of immigrants from Latin America. As per the statistics taken in 2007 about the foreign-born population, 3.1% were from Africa, 4.3% from Europe, 75.1% from Latin America, 1.1% from North America and 0.3% from Oceania. In the year 2007, the total number of the immigrant population that represented females was slightly over 47% and that of males was slightly over 52% compared to 50% female and 49% male among the indigenous people. In 2007 Texas’s immigrants were composed of more than1% being young children, the percentage size of the youth was 6.5% while the percentage that comprised of working-age adults between the years 18 and 54 was 22%, and the last 14% comprised of immigrants that were 55 years old and above.
During the same period, the Hispanic or Latino of foreign-born was 73% compared to 28% of the indigenous born, Timothy (200).
Texas State is a land of immigrants for the reason that in the early days before the Europeans settled, through the contemporary period the land of Texas had been traversed by people coming from different parts of the world. Quite a larger number of the native people are said to have migrated to that state over a period of time, believed to have originated from various corners of the continent. In addition, some people from that state voluntarily migrated or were forcibly driven out of the territory.
Eventually, the Native Americans, unlike most immigrants were almost holistically driven out of the Texas state, Patrick (1998).
The American Natives, after settling in the Texas territory were followed over a period of time by other groups and these were namely the Spanish, French, African, Anglo American, and others.
During the period after the 2nd world war, the Texas state population and economy had grown at an accelerated rate in comparison to the preceding decades. This rapid growth in the population and economy was catalyzed and in turn, brought about the increasing diversity in the economy and population. The social and economic systems that prevailed in the Texas state in the mid of twentieth brought about great changes throughout the period. During this period Texas experienced larger and quite new waves of immigrants, including people from different states who originated from northern and parts of eastern regions of the US.
The contemporary period has been characterized by an influx of immigrants in Texas from Mexico, Caribbean Island, Central America, Asia, and even America that is people coming from other parts of American states, Patrick (1998).
It is argued that the solid movement of people from other parts of America like the northern states in the early periods of the 1950s and 1960s propelled to come to Texas because of its economic expansion and diversification ironically reinforced the social and business conservatism of the Texas state and furthermore transformed the political party system of the state. The immigrants who lived in Texas during that time supported the Republican Party and opposed the conservative democrats making the Republican Party dominate in the politics of the Texas state until the end of the Reconstruction period, Timothy (200).
The poor immigrants who belonged to the extreme end of the social echelon believed to have come from developing countries like Mexico, Central America and parts of Asia settled in huge numbers in Texas in the past decades.
The high birth rates among the minority ethnic groups contributed significantly to the rapid growth of the population in the state of Texas. Thus by 2004, the high levels of immigration and high birth rates in relation to the non-Hispanic white population made the state of Texas to be in the fourth position in which the non-Hispanic whites account for less than 50% of the total population.
Positive Effects of Immigrants
The immigrant workers work towards complementing rather than substituting native workers with respect to their levels in education and skill. In addition, the immigrants increase the productivity and therefore the native’s wages. Immigration will act as a driving force behind the housing market and in the process increase the demand for housing. The increased demand for housing will push the rents for houses up leading to more profits for house owners. Immigrants also have some positive effects in that some are endowed with entrepreneurship skills which are essential for business. Entrepreneurship skills will bring about the creation of jobs for the local natives. Jobs created will improve the living standards of the locals so will be the increase in their bargaining power. Migration of people to the state results in a huge pool of labor force who can effectively and efficiently work in the state. The immigrants come with skills and professions that are hard to find in Texas.
These skills and professions are significant to bringing about the economic growth of the state. Thus companies in Texas will be able to access the labor force cheaply ending up reducing the costs of productions. Locals who lack those crucial skills will force the company to send them abroad for further training but with the presence of immigrants with those skills and qualifications, the costs of sending the locals abroad for training will reduce thus saving a company lot of money. The presence of immigrants in Texas is also important in that it will increase the market demand for products in the region. These will act as an incentive for companies in the region for they will be forced to expand their production and of course they will have a guaranteed market for their products. This will have a positive impact on the locals for they have access to jobs thus increasing their bargaining power and standards of living. Taxes coming from immigrants can be quite a reliable source of income to the governing state. Taxes are sources of revenue for an increase in revenue will induce the state to increase their expenditure base thus improving the living standards of the region, Undocumented immigrants of Texas (2009).
References
Timothy Egan, “Near Vast Bodies of Water, Land Lays Parched “New York Times, 2001.
Patrick Barta, “A New Way of Looking at Texas: One Big City,” Texas Journal, 1998.
Undocumented immigrants of Texas. 2009. Web.