Census Bureau estimates being released today show a Hispanic population of 41.3 million as of July 1, 2004.
With that 17 percent growth since the official census date of April 1, 2000, Hispanics continued to widen their margin as the nation's largest minority group.
Immigration accounted for nearly half of the increase, and a high birthrate the rest.
Observers say the continuing rapid growth has broad implications on fronts ranging from the economy and race relations to politics and education.
"Now we are everywhere," said Jon Garrido, a leader of an aggressive faction
of the Valley's Hispanic community. "I project that in the year 2020 the
majority of the population in Arizona will be Hispanic."
Indeed, the nation's Hispanic growth rate is well above that of Arizona as a
whole. As the nation's second fastest-growing state, Arizona added just 12
percent to its population in the 4 1/4 years in which Hispanics grew by 17
percent. Nevada, the top state for growth, also lagged the Hispanic rate by
a fraction.
The effect is that for every six people of Hispanic ancestry in the United
States in 2000 there are now seven.
Since 2000, the Latino population has expanded nearly three times faster
than the nation as a whole. Hispanics now constitute 14.1 percent of the
nation's population, estimated at 293.7 million. That's an increase from
12.5 percent in 2000 and 9 percent in 1990.
In estimating immigration, the Census Bureau does not distinguish between
legal and undocumented entries. It attributed 45.6 percent of the Hispanic
growth since 2000 to immigration.
Also, the Latino population's median age, 26.9 years, means Hispanic women
are within the peak years of fertility. The median age of non-Hispanic
Whites, commonly referred to as Anglos, is more than 13 years older, at 40.
For now, Hispanics have the highest proportion of children younger than age
5 among all minority groups except people of biracial heritage. About 1 of
every 11 Hispanics, or 9 percent, is of preschool age.
That statistic will have an impact on schools nationwide for years to come
as educators try to accommodate large numbers of children who speak mostly
Spanish.
The effects are strongest in border states. In Arizona, Democratic Gov.
Janet Napolitano and a Republican Legislature are at odds on funding levels
for instruction of 175,000 English-language learners as required under a
federal court order.
The census estimates were for the nation as a whole. No figures were
provided on the state or local level.
Growth rate slowing
As dramatic as the numbers are, they represent a slowing of the Hispanic growth rate from the furious pace of the 1990s. Today's annual growth rate of 4 percent is about two-thirds of the average 5.8 percent measured in that decade.Still, the rate is "very, very substantial" and unseen since the Irish and German influx in the 19th century, said Tom Rex, research manager at the Center for Business Research at Arizona State University.
Whether the rate declines in the short term depends mostly on whether the nation changes immigration policies and enforcement, Rex said. In the long run, however, diminishing job opportunities in this country and declining birthrates in both Mexico and the United States will bring a natural slowing of the pace, he said.
In 2000, the official count of Hispanics was slightly below the 35.7 million total of Blacks, who then made up the largest minority group.
Since then, the Black population has grown by 1.8 million, or one-third the rate of Hispanics, and now totals 37.5 million.
Asians rivaled Blacks' growth with an increase of 1.7 million, to a total of 12.3 million. That amounted to a 16.4 percent growth rate, second only to the Hispanic rate.
The Native American population grew by 6 percent, to 2.8 million.
Anglos should see Hispanics not only as a huge economic and political force but also as individuals with circumstances and heritage as varied as their own, members of the Hispanic community said.
Lack of English, education and job skills are liabilities new immigrants face, but about two-thirds of the nation's Hispanics were born in this country and many are as highly educated as their Anglo or other racial counterparts, they said.
No constraints
"I am a fourth-generation U.S. Hispanic," said Garrido. "In the earlier years, we were contained in self-imposed reservations called south Phoenix," he said, adding that nothing constrains growth and mobility today.Mesa resident José Fernández, 61, recalled that he had trouble cashing a paycheck because of a language barrier when he came from Mexico 34 years ago although he was a college graduate. Now, as owner of his own optical shop in Phoenix, he caters to predominantly Hispanics, many of whom do not speak English.
"They don't need to. They don't want to," Fernández said. "They have their own radio, their own TV, newspapers, churches, and they bring in a lot of food from Mexico," he said.
"If we're creating another culture, I'm not saying whether it's better or worse, it's just different."
Regrettably, his own adult children speak little or no Spanish, Fernández said, but both cultures should have two languages at their command.
Unity also was on the mind of the Rev. Ramón Montoya as a busload of Bible-study students, Hispanics, Blacks and Anglos, filed into Iglesia en la Calle (Church on the Street), where he is pastor.
The church is in a neighborhood near downtown Phoenix where more than half of the residents are Hispanics who are not U.S. citizens.
"We need not to curse the blessings that come; we need to learn how to utilize them. If we work together, it will be a great solution," Montoya said.
"My father came from Mexico and I've been here all my life.
"But we tend not to sympathize with most of the people who are coming in. They are hungry, they want to work and they work hard," he said.
