The project of this essay is to use Portes' and Rumbaut's Immigrant America: A Portrait to discuss how immigrants have incorporated themselves into the American economic system by working as salaried professionals, wage and day laborers and self-employment, and to examine how some ethnic groups assimilate better while others falter when faced with the demands of adaptation to a new society and culture. These issues are particularly topical given the current state of American political agenda and middle-class economic paranoia. In her article on refugees and immigrants, Marilyn Lacey (1994) cites a recent Time magazine poll which revealed that "73% of Americans consider immigration a serious problem that needs to be controlled," and in an article similar in tone, Jack Miles (1995) writes that the American debate on immigration "may well dominate the 1996 presidential campaign." In spite of all the rhetoric, immigrant continue to flow into the United States, and with varying degrees of success, succeed or fail depending on a host of non-political factors that this essay will discuss.
To a large extent the rise in immigration in this country is attributive to the restructuring of immigration laws in 1965, which allowed greater access to more immigrants (Portes & Rumbaut 1990). Portes and Rumbaut (1990, p. 12) argue that America is a magnet for immigrant for two reasons: 1) it is representative of consumer culture and higher aspirations; and 2) "global diffusion" allows for a greater number of people to know of the economic opportunities available in America. It is no secret that many immigrants are also fleeing political persecution in addition to crippled and most often Third-World economies. What is waiting for them is not always what they expect.
Immigrants incorporate themselves into the American economy is three general ways: as labor migrants, professional immigrants, entrepreneurial immigrants, and refugees/asylees (P...