Located at heart of United States, Texas is rich in natural resources and has a business friendly environment. In fact, for a long time now, Texas has been a hub for immigrants from all over the world. The state hosts both immigrants and natives of America. As a result, Texas’ population is rapidly growing. In 2005, Texas had outperformed other American states in population growth. The number of people moving to Texas has been rapidly increasing since the year 2000. People having been rapidly moving to Texas in such of resources and better living standards. To understand the demographic patterns of Texas, it is important to identify the origin of the immigrants in the state.
Apart from foreign immigrants, there is also domestic migration where people move from other states and counties to Texas. Since both these immigrants have diverse origins, they usually differ significantly in work skills, educational attainment, family status and language diversity (Pan, 2016). Statistics, show that the major source of population growth in the United States is international migrants.
There was low immigration in the 19th century. However, in the 1930s, during the Great Depression, the immigration trend began an upward mobility. The migration trend still continues up-to today. Notably, from 2000 to 2013, the United States of America received yearly average of over one million migrants. Scholars predict that should the current trend in the United States continue, by 2027, the US will have the highest number of migrants than natural increase. For the migrants who moved to Texas were predominantly people of Asian origin. In fact, 83.2% of the recent migrants were either born in Asia or Latin America.
By examining Chinese immigrants, we notice that California is the most predominant destination of immigrants in the United States. It is followed closely by New York City as Texas comes third. In 2013, most Chinese preferred California while immigrants from Latin America moved to Texas.
According to White et al., (2015) persons born in Asia are the second largest group of immigrants in Texas. In the recent years Chinese immigrants have been increasing rapidly. In 2005, there were 21, 092 immigrants of Asian origin however, the numbers have increased to over 50,000 in 2013. This is a clear indication that the number of people leaving China to come live in Texas is increasing. As a result, Chinas total share of Immigrants’ population increased from 17.3% to 40% in 2013 (White et al., 2015). The question many researchers ask themselves is how did so many Chinese find themselves in Texas? Immigration in Texas occurred in two waves: one is after the civil war. During that time, African American workers were replaced by Chinese men. Records show that in 1870, 250 casual laborers were brought from California to work in Texas. Later more and more laborers arrived. After building the Railroad, many workers returned to their homes while some decided to stay.
In late 1800s, the congress enacted a stern, law barring the Chinese Immigration. By then, there were only 710 Chinese in Texas (Reimers, 2016). The early Chinese who were working on the Railroad could send money to China. The Chinese who moved to Texas started restaurants, grocery stores, and insurance company. It should be noted that the culture of Chinese people is deep and inborn. The Chinese are very hardworking people. Therefore, most of the Chinese immigrants are business owners. Some are lawyers, others are doctors, and others are shopkeepers while others are instructors in martial arts. Further, more immigrants work for technological companies like Texas Instruments or Huawei.
The former immigrants who came to Texas before the exclusion were men. However, the exclusion was repealed in 1943 that gave way to second phase of Immigration (Reimers, 2016). In fact, figure 1 shows a massive drop of Asian immigrants in 1940s. Most men who came to Texas in 1890s were unskilled and mostly peasants. Most of these men were from Southern China and Spoke Cantonese Language. However, the newer ones who came were Northern and Central China and majorly spoke Mandarin. The Mandarin speaking Chinese were top-notch professionals who excelled science and engineering at large. In fact, they were members of intellectual and cultural elite and came with their families as permanent residents.
Since then, more people have been coming to the American cities as college or graduate students. These immigrants are a close-knit and supportive group of hardworking individuals who are highly educated with a strong culture. It is said that the Chinese immigrants quickly integrate in the American society thus being appreciated by the larger American community (Pan, 2016). As mentioned earlier, the major reason why Chinese migrate to America is to work and raise their children in an environment where there are good school system, comfortable living conditions, and proper and affordable housing. In America it is easy for the Chinese children to experience diversity in cultures. For instance, Chinese children can freely play basketball and volleyball, eat Italian delicacies such as pizza and pasta, the children can also interact with other people who are not necessarily of Chinese decent.
In fact, there is a lot of freedom in Texas as compared to their homeland in China. Chinese in America love it here. When most immigrants are asked, they say that they feel good in America than they do in China. The Chinese are very committed people. They are dedicated to family, education, and work, therefore, they feel welcomed and loved by non-Asian neighbors and friends. Chinese people are law abiding citizens and live harmoniously with their neighbors.
For any Chinese, being polite is part and parcel of their culture and traditions. The people from Texas seem friendlier than other people from other states. Texas is a vast state, therefore it wipes out the ill memories of the Chinese about the cramped places they have come from. China is too crowded one cannot find a place for a garden. However, in Texas, Chinese people can plant vegetables in gardens.
In Texas, most kids attend public schools, however, many parents have chosen to supplement their Children’s education with weekend Chinese classes. Immigration has long supported growth and dynamism of the United States’ economy. Moreover, these Chinese immigrants are job creators, entrepreneurs, consumers, and taxpayers. They add trillions of Dollars to US Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The population of female immigrants were initially more than that of men but recent studies show that the percentage has now leveled. It show that female are 50% while males contribute to the remaining fifty.