Latinos in the Midwest

The Changing Demography of Latinos in the Midwest

n 33 ROGELIO SAENZ The Changing Demography of Latinos in the Midwest The Midwest has attracted Latinos since the early parts of the 20th century, when Mexicans were recruited to work in jobs in agriculture, railroads, meatpacking, stockyards, and manufacturing (Garcia 1978; Mapes 2004; Lane and Escobar 1987; Rosales 1978; Saenz 1991; Samora and Lamanna 1987; Sepulveda 1978; Valdés 1991; Vargas 1993; Wells 1978). While 90% of the Mexican-origin population in 1930 in the United States were located in five southwestern states (Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas), 7% (numbering 98,122) made their home in the Midwest. At that time, Illinois had the sixth largest Mexican-origin population, with 28,906 making their home in this state. Thus, the early roots of the Mexican population in the Midwest were well established by 1930. Over the remainder of the century, two other flows would contribute to the increasing presence of Latinos in the Midwest. First, following World War II and up to the 1960s, Mexican Americans settled out of the migrant farmworker stream and established their homes in such midwestern states as Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, and Ohio (Lane and Escobar 1987; Samora and Lamanna 1987; Wells 1978). Second, the most recent migrant flow of Latinos to the Midwest has been in motion since the 1980s. This movement of Latinos—primarily Mexicans—to the 34 n Rogelio Saenz region has been stimulated by the restructuring of the meatpacking industry and the recruitment of Latinos to fill jobs in this sector of the economy (Baker and Hotek 2003; Cantu 1995; Dalla, Ellis, and Cramer 2005; Fink 1998; Gouveia and Saenz 2000; Gouveia and Stull 1995; Grey 1999; Guzmán and McConnell 2002; Haverluk and Trautman 2008; Lopez 2000; Millard and Chapa 2004; Saenz 2005; Stull, Broadway, and Griffith 1995; Zuñiga and Hernández-León 2005). Three decades ago, Gilbert Cardenas (1978a) placed a call for researchers to pay more attention to the Latino population in the Midwest. While a string of articles on Latinos in the Midwest appeared in Aztlán (Cardenas 1978a, 1978b; Estrada 1978; Faught 1978; Garcia 1978; Kanellos 1978; Parra, Rios, and Gutiérrez 1978; Rosales 1978; Sepulveda 1978; Wells 1978, 1981) and other outlets in the 1970s and 1980s (Sena-Rivera 1979), much of the scholarship on Latinos in the Midwest has appeared in the last couple of decades (see, for example, McConnell and LeClere 2002; Villanueva 2002). Nonetheless, because of data limitations, much of this literature has been cross-sectional, community-specific, and ethnographic. There is relatively little information with which to assess the changing demographic and socioeconomic conditions of Latinos in the Midwest over an extended period of time. This chapter fills this gap in the literature. In particular, individual-level census data for four time periods (1980, 1990, 2000, and 2005–7) are used to assess the changing demographic and socioeconomic profile of Latinos in the Midwest. Before gauging these changing patterns, however, the chapter provides a brief historical overview of the roots of Latinos in the Midwest. Historical Context The roots of Latino migration to the Midwest extend back to the early parts of the 20th century. A series of “push” and “pull” factors worked in tandem to bring persons of Mexican origin to the Midwest (Saenz and Cready 1997). Various factors impelled Mexican Americans and Mexican nationals to migrate out of the Southwest (especially Texas) and Mexico, respectively. In the case of the former, throughout the mid-19th century and into the 20th century Mexican Americans experienced horrendous exploitation and discrimination, especially in Texas. Rodolfo Alvarez (1973) notes that Mexican Americans in the Southwest were essentially a caste group until World War II. There was hardly any social mobility for this group, which had become a landless proletariat as Texas made the transformation from a ranching to an agricultural economy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries (Acuña 1988; Barrera 1979; Montejano 1987). Mexican Americans were second-class citizens living in Jim Crow–like conditions in the Southwest, especially in Texas. Without social The Changing Demography in the Midwest n 35 mobility and fair work opportunities, many Mexican Americans found it attractive to leave the region in search for better fortunes (Saenz 1991). In the case of Mexicans, the Mexican Revolution in the second decade of the century pushed many toward the United States. Indeed, the revolution resulted in the first major wave of Mexican immigrants to the United States. The mass...