ABSTRACT
The infiux of immigrants to the United States over the past few decades has had a profound impact on the country. The dramatic increase in immigration in recent years has impacted the demographic, economic, educational, and linguistic arenas in this country. The immigrant population is growing 6.5 times faster than the native-born population. The Census in 2000 found 31.1 million immigrants in the United States—more than triple the 9.6 million in 1970 and more than double the 14.1 million in 1980 (Population Resource Center, 2002a). Additionally, estimates are that undocumented immigrants numbered 9.0 million in 2003, with Mexican unauthorized immigration alone growing at about 500,000 immigrants per year (Immigration Facts, 2003). Not surprisingly, Hispanic immigrants, designated as Spanish speakers, accounted for 45% of the 25.7 million increase in the Hispanic population growth in the United States between 1970 and 2000 (Suro & Passel, 2003). While the largest number of immigrants in the United States comes from Latin America (51%), large numbers were born in Asia (25.5%) and Europe (15.3%), with the balance of 8.1% born in other countries (National Institute for Literacy, n.d.).
