The Mexicans

Abstract

One in every nine people in this country was born beyond its borders. That amounts to 31.1 million people, the largest number of foreign born in the nation's history. For the last thirty years, over half of all the immigrants to this country have come from Latin America-most from Mexico.1 The reasons for immigration to this country vary; however, the reasons Mexicans immigrate remain the same: To find prosperity and a better future for their children. In Nevada, Mexican-descent peoples have a wide range of labels. Those who come to Las Vegas from New Mexico call themselves Hispanos. Those who migrate from Texas are Tejanos. Many from those states, as well as from California, identify themselves as Chicanos or Mexican Americans. Recent arrivals from Mexico call themselves Mexicanos. The term Mexican American or simply Mexican will be used here to describe the above-mentioned populations. The broader term Hispanic will be used to refer to all the ethnic and national groups originating in Latin America and Spain. Mexican-descent peoples constitute the vast majority of Hispanics in the Las Vegas Metropolitan Statistical Area, or msa (77.8 percent) and in Nevada (78.7 percent) and a lower proportion of Hispanics in the United States (65.4 percent). © 2005 by The University of Nevada Press. All rights reserved.