Article Review: Immigrant Struggles Compounded by Old Age

Kirk Semple's article, "Immigrant Struggles Compounded by Old Age" discusses the struggles that older immigrants face amongst the growing population in New York City. The article cites a new recently released study that discusses how immigrants are becoming the driving force behind the population in New York City becoming comprised of older individuals. Moreover, the city's population is predominantly represented by those who are foreign born and over the age of 65. 

This according to Semple, poses significant challenges to both local governments as well as social service organizations in that older immigrants while "being one of the fastest growing demographic groups, are also among the most vulnerable" (Semple, 2013). Older immigrants face larger obstacles that young immigrants often do not face such as language obstacles, lack of education and cultural barriers. It would appear that younger immigrants tend to acculturate into society easier than older immigrants. There is much research on this phenomenon. It can be reasoned that younger immigrants from a psychological standpoint understand their culture, but are not necessarily set in their ways as older immigrants are. In other words, the learning curve to adapt to a new environment is not as steep for younger immigrants because they know how to both identify with their heritage culture as well as American culture.

In the course, we have discussed many different ethnic groups such as Asians, African Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans. At the core of the article by Semple is immigrants based in New York, which comprises all of the ethnic groups that we have discussed in class. The article manages not to focus solely on one ethnic group in particular but instead lends itself to the subject of immigration as it pertains to the growing population in New York City and the government's responsibility to deal with it.

Specifically, Semple's discussion is on older immigrants. Again, there are no references to ethnic groups, but based on the discussions that we've had throughout this course, this article was a good selection as older immigrants are made up of all of the groups that we have talked about. New York City itself has been called the melting pot of ethnicity in that there are so many different races and types of people living within. Given the census data that Semple talks about that "there are now at least 463,000 immigrants aged 65 and older living in New York City" (Semple, 2013) one could say that the melting pot reference is a fitting one not solely because of the vast array of ethnicities, but because of the age differences in said immigrant also.

The article talks about the Council of Peoples Organization, which is a group focused on South Asian Muslims that "ha[ve] opened a senior center in Midwood, Brooklyn" (Semple, 2013). The point that Semple makes by bringing this up pertains to discussion on how we all feel about immigrants. Do we like them being here? Do we have family that immigrated over here? Our class discussion has gone in many different directions as far as the perspectives that we have on immigration. It stands to reason that immigration is a significant topic because of the fact that so many of us are derived from or rather the products of immigrants. To say that we should discard them, which is the topic of discussion on Capitol Hill, should not be as big of an immigration issue as it is being, made out to be.

Those who are debating whether immigrants are viable individuals within this country, and per Semple's article, New York City, need to examine their own lineage and they will undoubtedly discover that somewhere in their familial line lies immigrants who came to this country to better themselves and have in essence become a part of the American tapestry. Semple’s article, while probably not the intent, causes the reader to pause and reflect on the melting pot that not only comprises New York City, but America.

Reference

Semple, K. (2013, July 25). Immigrant struggles compounded by old age. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/26/nyregion/poverty-looms-large-for-citys-aging-immigrant-population-study-says.html