June 2004 Profitwise News and Views
Recent Immigration Trends in Southeast Michigan
By Jason C. Booza
The following data was presented at An Informed Discussion of Financial Access for Immigrants, a forum held in Detroit, Michigan on November 14, 2003. The forum was one in a continuing series of dialogues by the Chicago Reserve Bank to study the ways in which immigrants to the United States access mainstream financial services. Mr. Booza's presentation highlights the changing demographic landscape among communities in the Detroit area.
During most of the twentieth century, southeast Michigan was portrayed in scholarly research and the popular media as black and white. While the region has a rich history of international immigration prior to 1950, the post-war years have focused on the large migration from the American south and the resulting interaction between African Americans and Caucasians in the workplace and community. While Detroit was not a gateway city for immigrants, secondary migration flows continued to add to the first- and second-generation base. The unprecedented immigration flows that the country experienced during the 1990s have also been experienced in metropolitan Detroit, resulting in monumental changes in the diversity structure of the region. This expanded base now serves as a base for continued growth in the future. However, little is known about the groups that will make a significant contribution to the growth of the region. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of recent immigration trends in southeast Michigan and the socioeconomic diversity associated with these groups.
Historical Context
In order to understand the importance of recent immigration trends in southeast Michigan, one must first understand their historical context. Prior to the beginning of the twentieth century, much of Detroit's population consisted of French, German, Dutch, Irish, and Polish immigrants, as well as free Blacks and Native Americans.1 Immigrants supplied the labor needed for Detroit's fledgling manufacturing industry. Local immigration trends of this time closely represented national trends, which consisted mainly of rural poor from Eastern European countries. Gateway cities like New York and Boston welcomed many of these immigrants to the United States as their search for employment eventually led them to industrial cities like Detroit. Once here, neighborhoods and factories began to organize around ethnic origin. The popular myth of American cities as melting pots is a fallacy.2 The more accurate picture of Detroit was a mosaic of cultural, linguistic, religious, national, and ethnic groups.
Foreign immigration to the United States fluctuated between World War I, the Great Depression and World War II. During these periods, Detroit and the United States were reaching their industrial zenith as demands for war supplies increased and the national borders were shut to immigrants. Some immigration to Detroit did occur, and by 1940 the largest ethnic groups in Detroit included Canadians, Poles, Germans, Britons, and Italians. However, foreign immigration was not enough to supply factories with labor, so employers began to look to the American south as the new source of labor.3 As a result, Blacks, Whites, and Mexicans became the largest source of population growth in Detroit, many of whom were born in the United States. Immigration to the region had slowed since the start of the twentieth century. However, by 2000, Detroit's foreign-born population had increased for the first time in 30 years, and over 44 percent of the region's immigrant population had arrived since 1990. The recent growth of immigrants does not represent the Eastern European patterns of the early 1900s. Instead, the Detroit area began receiving immigrants from Asia, Middle East, and North America. Furthermore, these groups have a higher degree of socioeconomic diversity than earlier immigrants.
 Geographic Overview
European immigration characterized most of the twentieth century in southeast Michigan. While many of the immigrants had different national and ethnic origins, most shared a similar bond. For the most part, many had either artisan or agricultural backgrounds with limited financial capital. The inscription on the Statue of Liberty describing the poor, tired, huddled masses describes many of the immigrants that made their way to Detroit. By 2000, several changes had taken place. No longer was the primary source of immigration from Europe, and the commonality of socioeconomic status was less important. Currently, immigration to Detroit comes mainly from three World regions: Middle East, Asia, and North America. Table 1 (left) ranks immigrant groups by the number that arrived between 1995 and 2000.
Besides diversity of origin, immigrant groups in southeast Michigan have different settlement patterns. Asians tend to immigrate mainly to Oakland County, but there are sizeable populations in Macomb, Wayne, and Washtenaw counties as well (see Map 1 below). The main influence on their settlement pattern is socioeconomic status. Asian groups with higher income and education (Asian Indian, Chinese, and Japanese) are found in suburban cities like Troy, Bloomfield Hills, and Farmington Hills. Groups with limited financial means (Hmong, Bangladeshi, and Pakistani) have a very different pattern. Because of their smaller numbers, limited financial means, and the housing market of southeastern Michigan, these groups primarily settle in older suburbs like Hamtramck and Warren or central cities like Detroit and Pontiac. Group size influences the settlement patterns of Middle Eastern immigrants as well. The largest groups immigrating to southeast Michigan include persons from Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen. For the most part, many of these immigrants settle in Dearborn, which has the largest concentration of Arab immigrants in the United States.
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However, there are exceptions. Chaldeans, whose origins are in present day Iraq, distinguish themselves from other Iraqi immigrants based on religious differences.4 Islam is the official religion of many countries in the Middle East. However, religious minorities that live in these countries have made their way to the United States. Two such groups in southeastern Michigan include Coptic Egyptians and Chaldeans. Both of these groups are religious minorities in their home countries because they practice Christianity rather than Islam. In the Detroit area, the settlement pattern for Chaldeans (see Map 2 above) is primarily in North Central Detroit and into Macomb and Oakland Counties, which is different than that of Muslim Iraqis who are mainly located in Dearborn.
 Socioeconomic Analysis
The key to modern immigration trends in southeast Michigan is diversity. At the height of immigration, poor Europeans composed the bulk of persons entering the region. Currently, immigrants with limited financial means are not only arriving from war torn countries in Europe like Albania, Bosnia, and Russia, but also other regions of the world, including the Middle East, Asia, and South America. Further, the Detroit metropolitan area is attracting immigrants with advanced degrees and training in the fields of medicine, engineering, and computer systems. For example, 72 percent of Asian Indian immigrants living in the Detroit region have a bachelors degree or higher. When compared to groups like Bangladeshi and Yemeni, among whose populations less than 13 percent and 6 percent respectively, have college degrees, the socioeconomic gap between immigrant groups becomes apparent. Closely related to educational attainment is income. Using household income as a measure of financial earnings, Table 2 (left) shows the diversity of earnings for immigrant groups.
With a regional median household income of $50,000, not all groups are financially limited, but many groups earn less. Immigrants born in Japan or India have the highest median income of any immigrant group in the region, while those born in Bangladesh, Yemen, and Lebanon have the lowest. The settlement patterns of these groups within the Detroit region represent their socioeconomic status.
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Maps 3 and 4 (above) show the distribution of the Japanese and the Asian Indian populations in metropolitan Detroit. They tend to reside in wealthy suburbs with large white-collar workforces and ease of access to regional employment nodes like Oakland County's "Automation Alley." Conversely, Map 5 (below) shows the distribution of Bangladeshi immigrants who tend to reside in older cities that contain a manufacturing and service sector workforce. Also, because of their smaller size, these groups tend to be much more tight-knit and condensed.
Conclusion
Immigration to the Detroit Metropolitan Area helped build its industrial future before World War I. After the World Wars, the region had to rely on labor from the American south, but immigrant labor still continued to trickle in over the decades. By 1980, immigration began to increase again, but in patterns different than previous years. Early immigration was characterized by people with limited financial means from Eastern Europe. Recent patterns are dominated by immigrants from Mexico, Asia and the Middle East. Furthermore, there is a vast difference in the socioeconomic status of these groups arriving and their settlement patterns within the region. Even with the diversity of newly arriving immigrants, they contribute a great deal to the growth of the population and workforce of the Detroit region. Their role will become more important in the coming years as domestic born racial/ethnic groups dwindle through changing fertility patterns or migration to other regions of the United States.
Notes:
1 Zunz, O. 1982. The Changing Face of Inequality. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
2 Katzman, D. M. 1975. Before the Ghetto. Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
3 Farley, R., Danziger, S. and Holzer, H. J. 2000. Detroit Divided. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
4 Abraham, S. Y. and Abraham, N. 1981. Arabs in the New World. Detroit: Wayne State University Center for Urban Studies.
Jason Booza is a geographic information specialist with the Center for Urban Studies, Wayne State University, Michigan. Experienced in analysis of census data, his projects have chronicled changes in neighborhood diversity across the largest metropolises in the U.S. and demographic changes in Detroit over the past 30 years. Mr. Booza's most recent research project involves the suburbanization of minority populations. He holds degrees in criminal justice and sociology, and is currently pursuing a doctorate in political science.
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