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The Darien Gap prevents the poorest who travel by bus and on foot.
There are prosperous countries in South America so it isn't necessary to be an illegal alien in the USA when you can walk to Chile and be an illegal alien there.
But what makes you think that there are not a generous number of undocumented South Americans in the USA? Our government can only guess at how many undocumented aliens and from which countries they originated.
A large number of undocumented aliens who can afford to travel by plane have moved to Europe instead of the USA. There is a large population of overstay tourists in Spain. Once in Spain, they can travel all over Europe without restrictions.
Good point. It would be interesting to see how many South Americans there are in Europe compared to Mexicans and Central Americans. Also how much movement there is in South America from one country to another.
South America was always a place of opportunity for Europeans, Asians, Arabs so rather than being a place that would send migrants to other places, South America actually received them.
South Americans might feel closer to other places. For example many European descendants rather go to Europe than to the US. I Know a Uruguayan who has Swiss citizenship because of his ancestors and currently he works in Switzerland. A japanese south American might rather go to Japan than to the US, one of those Germans from Chile might rather choose to go to Germany and so on.
It's not close geographically unlike our neighbor Mexico.
There are wealthy countries in the region so the potential migrants just go to nearby countries.
Mexico is linked to America historically, politically, economically. It's only normal we'd have a large Mexican minority in America as we're very connected. Mexican culture is part of American culture. Americans grow up with Mexican food, when we think of food that takes us home we think of burritos, tacos, enchiladas because it's what we normally eat especially on the west coast. Mexican celebrations such as the day of the dead are now part of America, Quincanneras (sp?) are becoming mainstream. I cannot imagine our nation without such a hardworking group of people! I admire and respect the Mexicans, they are for the most a decent family centric people with wonderful values.
There are prosperous countries in South America so it isn't necessary to be an illegal alien in the USA when you can walk to Chile and be an illegal alien there.
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Originally Posted by cleff89
There are wealthy countries in the region so the potential migrants just go to nearby countries.
but there is no comparison between the USA and countries like Chile economy-wise. A couple of years ago a minimum wage in Chile was worth around 370 USD; while in Colombia or Brazil the legal minimum wages were worth 300 USD. Minimum wage in USA is, how much... 10 times that?
there are other factors in play. Language, geographical proximity, migration policies, etc. In Argentina in particular I think it's very easy to become a citizen, or, at least, to get access to the healthcare system or the public education system if you are an immigrant.
South America was always a place of opportunity for Europeans, Asians, Arabs so rather than being a place that would send migrants to other places, South America actually received them.
South Americans might feel closer to other places. For example many European descendants rather go to Europe than to the US. I Know a Uruguayan who has Swiss citizenship because of his ancestors and currently he works in Switzerland. A japanese south American might rather go to Japan than to the US, one of those Germans from Chile might rather choose to go to Germany and so on.
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Much South American immigration to Europe is to Spain. The main reason South Americans go there instead of the US is because it is much easier to get there legally. That is basically it. There are hundreds of thousands if not millions of South Americans in Spain.
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There are wealthy countries in the region so the potential migrants just go to nearby countries
Yeah but in Latin America you have immigrants moving all over the place, not necessarily to "Wealthy countries".
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Mexico is linked to America historically, politically, economically. It's only normal we'd have a large Mexican minority in America as we're very connected. Mexican culture is part of American culture. Americans grow up with Mexican food, when we think of food that takes us home we think of burritos, tacos, enchiladas because it's what we normally eat especially on the west coast. Mexican celebrations such as the day of the dead are now part of America, Quincanneras (sp?) are becoming mainstream. I cannot imagine our nation without such a hardworking group of people! I admire and respect the Mexicans, they are for the most a decent family centric people with wonderful values.
Quinceaneras are becoming main stream in the US? Just curious what part of the US are you in?
Just add the totals of all the South American countries to get the numbers.
2,700,000 is a pretty decent number, although not as numerous as the number of Central Americans, Mexicans, Asians, Indians etc. But certainly a decent number and far more than number of South Americans in Spain.
Venezuela has a collapsed health care system, a collapsed economy, and millions suffering from starvation.
Check the news, Venezuelans barely even have any food to eat, crime is so bad it's the most dangerous country on the planet, the economy is paralyzed, people are dying from things elsewhere in the world you get treated for.
I seriously doubt millions of Columbians are going to Venezuela, and the ones who might have gone there are probably back in Columbia considering how bad things are in Venezuela.
Colombians, people from Colombia are Colombia.
Those Colombian illegal immigrants inmigrated illegally before Chavez.
No, not back in Colombia.
Just add the totals of all the South American countries to get the numbers.
2,700,000 is a pretty decent number, although not as numerous as the number of Central Americans, Mexicans, Asians, Indians etc. But certainly a decent number and far more than number of South Americans in Spain.
Those numbers correspond to the years previous to the crisis, now there are much less in Spain.
The premise is wrong. There are millions of South Americans in the U.S.
NYC, and Miami, in particular, have massive South American populations. If you meet a Latino person in Queens, he/she is likely to be from South America. Very big Colombian, Peruvian, Ecuadorian, Brazilian and Guyanese populations.
The premise is wrong. There are millions of South Americans in the U.S.
NYC, and Miami, in particular, have massive South American populations. If you meet a Latino person in Queens, he/she is likely to be from South America. Very big Colombian, Peruvian, Ecuadorian, Brazilian and Guyanese populations.
You're right, there are more South Americans in the US than anywhere else outside South America.
They just aren't as common outside of Florida or NYC, but still there are plenty.
In Spain the number of south Americans doesn't even reach one million as I showed on the link above.
Another factor that contributes to South Americans not being as easily noticeable is that many might seem just white or black which differs from the Hispanic look we're accustomed to here in America. That doesn't mean there aren't many!
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Just curious what part of the US are you in?
