Missouri now 'destination state' for immigrants (St. Louis, Benton: transplants, neighborhoods, live)

[STLCardsBlues1989]

Missouri now 'destination state' for immigrants

Interesting article.

[imperialmog]

I have a hunch that this will be a large issue in the St. Louis area in the next decade or so. One of the big reasons is also going to be that the total number of people employed or looking for work is peaking now or in a couple of year and will start declining as more leave the workforce than enter it.

One thing that is related but would likly occur as well is a larger more visible transplant population. Does anyone have and idea or guesses as to where transplants will come from?

My guess is metro population growth will likely be no lower than the last decade and likely slightly higher.

[aaronstlcards]

I welcome ALL immigration to St. Louis! Please we need more diversity.

[DespicableMe]

tl;dr

By the way I'd welcome more Scandinavian women to immigrate to St Louis.

[lifelongMOgal]

Better not be illegals. Missouri cannot afford them as we are broke! Please move on to Illinois.

[imperialmog]

Originally Posted by lifelongMOgal

Better not be illegals. Missouri cannot afford them as we are broke! Please move on to Illinois.

From what I heard not too many overall as a percentage. The best guess is only 1% which is much below the average of 3-4% in the US, especially low considering the urban/rural nature of the area. It is still among the bottom 10 states in percentage and among the few with metro areas of over 1 million with small numbers.

One trend that is hard to nail down is how many fewer illegal immigrants there are from the peak in 2006.

[aragx6]

I think I've mentioned this in another thread, but when I was in St. Louis for my birthday, we went down to the Cinco de Mayo festivities in Benton Park and had a blast. I was genuinely astonished at the area. It was such a festive day, and there were so many fantastic Mexican restaurants. It didn't feel like St. Louis.

My favorite thing about St. Louis has always been its unique neighborhoods. Increased diversity can only help to create new, tight-knit communities, and I am a big fan.

As always, illegal immigration is an issue, but there are much better threads for discussing that.

[BoomBoxing]

The Bosnain/Croation/Serbian immigrants that have come here in the last 15 years have had a very positive net effect on south St. Louis city and county. Many have opened small businesses including my absolute favorite: Bosnian bakeries. Seriously, their bread is like the best thing ever.

The current anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim climate in the U.S is very troubling to me. I've lived in south St. Louis/south county most of my life and have watched 35,000+ immigrants, mostly Muslim, move into this area and make it a better place while hateful people like to pretend they are all awful and damaging to "American culture".

American culture has always been an immigrant culture and St. Louis has always been a melting pot of different groups. Germans, French, African Americans, Irish, and English have had the most influence on our city but as time goes on other groups like Mexicans, Bosnians, Somalis, Vietnamese, and others will make their mark as well. It's how our country has always been and the only "tue Americans" are the ones who recognize this fact (in my opinion).

[aragx6]

^^This is a very topical post at a very important time. Our immigrant history is very important to this country, though sadly that's never been without discrimination and controversy.

[moorlander]

The more immigrants and transplants the better.