Check out this article “Twenty-First Century Gateways: Immigrants in Suburban America” at Immigration Daily a publication of the ILW.com. (You might even want to subcribe to the free publication.)
We’ve mentioned Gateway cities in the past. Traditionally immigrants arriving in the US went to certain cities. Two that come readily to mind are New York and Los Angeles. All that has changed and immigrants and refugees are spreading out not just to large and medium-sized cities but to suburban areas as well. Audrey Singer and co-authors have written a book entitled, “Twenty-first Century Gateways: Immigrant Incorporation in Suburban America” in which they describe the changing demographics throughout the US.
Here’s one example from this article about the book: The apparently ‘welcoming’ city of Sacramento, CA
Sacramento, although it is the capital of California and located in a traditional settlement state, had been largely bypassed by immigrants during the mid-20th century, but its foreign-born population began rising during the 1980s and 1990s due mainly to refugee resettlement.
Geographers Robin Datel and Dennis Dingemans identify a host of forces that have led to the re-emergence of Sacramento as a gateway of immigration. These include a history of immigrant settlement, the region’s role as a refugee magnet, the availability of inexpensive suburban housing, and the demand for both brain and brawn migrants.
Sacramento had about 250,000 foreign-born residents in 2000, and it gained another 100,000 by 2006, making it 17.6 percent foreign born. Forty-one percent of this population is from Asia; 33 percent from Latin America; and 11 percent from Eastern Europe. Furthermore, Sacramento ranked tenth among all US metropolitan areas in the absolute number of refugees that were resettled between 1983 and 2004.
Wow, 100,000 immigrants added to the city in just six years.
* Note to cities: You can say ‘no’ after awhile.