The social trajectory of immigrants to the US and their descendants varies greatly across different racial-ethnic groups, generations, historical periods, and geographic regions. In contrast to an earlier view of immigration as leading predictably to cultural assimilation and upward mobility of descendants of immigrants, social scientists have more recently described the experience of immigrants in terms of a “segmented assimilation theory,” which observes that, while new immigrants who arrive with low economic resources and low levels of education are often optimistic about finding opportunities for economic and educational success for themselves and their offspring, maintaining that optimism across generations depends on local circumstances. If economic conditions are poor and if there is an existing community of an associated racial-ethnic group with a history of socio-economic marginalization, subsequent generations may not realize this anticipated success, and they may reject traditional standards of achievement. Conversely, if immigrants arrive with more resources into communities with no prior history with their racial-ethnic group, their children may thrive academically and economically while maintaining a distinct cultural identity in other realms.

Figure 1. Arrest and Incarceration Percentages among Mexican-American Men in Southern California, Ages 20-39

Figure 1 shows data from a large survey of immigrants and their descendants in Southern California, with responses grouped by generation (“1.5G” = 1.5 generation (immigrated as pre-adolescents); “2G”= second generation; “3G” = third generation). Findings from this survey generally conform to other research, which shows that earlier generations of Hispanic immigrants have lower levels of criminality than subsequent generations and often have lower levels of criminality than native-born non-Hispanic whites, after controlling for age, education, and income.
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