Twice, Nancy Cadavid left her native Colombia to live in the United States. Twice, she settled in cities that have long attracted large numbers of immigrants ”” New York first, Miami second.
Now that she’s here to stay, Cadavid, 44, has chosen to live far from the large cities that have been traditional immigrant gateways. She works two jobs and owns a house here in central Florida, near Orlando and Disney World. Her daughter graduated from Florida State University and works in advertising in Tampa. Her son attends community college and works part time at Disney.
Cadavid’s tale is more than an immigrant success story. It reflects the path that immigrants increasingly are taking after they first enter the country ”” legally or illegally. Her moves eventually landed Cadavid ”” now a U.S. citizen ”” in a suburban county, well ensconced in middle-class America.
Eventualy that’s where I hope they all end up, if they’d so choose. The only time immigrants are a real problem is when illegals congregate in poverty, creating areas where they need not assimilate and at the same time depress wages (for themselves as well as others) and create pockets of systemic poverty. Spread more evenly it helps everyone, the immigrants get better wages and working conditions (if you can pay ’em next to nothing and if they complain just go to Home Depot’s parking lot for more it doesn’t encourage good pay or conditions), they are more encouraged to learn English and integrate themselves into the overall community. And a lesser concentration is less apt to attract negative feelings from the existing population, due to lessened downwards wage pressure and less of the feeling that their neighboorhoods are being “taken over” as well as offer the benefits of increased cultural contacts.
if they all keep coming in at the rate they are, there will be no spreading out factor available after awhile. we are being taken over; in 25 years i won’t even recognize the country i grew up in. just as in our denomination, it will be subtle change and far too late when anyone wakes up and tries to do anything about it.