Latin American Participation in U.S. Congress: How Much Is There?

Many Latin Americans have not only created businesses in the United States, they have also become active in the U.S. Congress to participate actively for the rights of Latinos in the U.S. territory.

Immigration policies and many of the economic incentives provided by the United States to foreigners doing business in the U.S. are often the result of legislation and initiatives of representatives born in Latin American countries who have managed to gain a place in Congress. Who are they and what are their struggles? 

According to a Pew Research Center study, "14% of voting members of the 117th Congress are foreign-born or have at least one parent born in another country, a slight increase over the previous two Congresses," a steady upward trend, the report says, thanks to the inclusiveness and openness of the Democratic Party, which far outnumbers Republicans among immigrants and children of immigrants with congressional representation.

There are a total of 18 foreign-born members in Congress: 17 representatives and one senator. How many of these are Latin American?

According to the study, Mexicans have the highest rate of representation: 15 congressmen, of which 12 are children of immigrants and 3 are immigrants; Guatemala with one immigrant; Colombia with one child of immigrants; Cuba with nine children of immigrants and two immigrants; one immigrant from the Dominican Republic; one child of immigrants from Jamaica and one child of immigrants from Trinidad and Tobago. 

The following graph shows how the U.S. Congress is distributed in relation to immigrants and children of immigrants.

Immigrants and children of immigrants in the U.S. Congress:

If we look at it, citizens from European and Latin American countries are the ones who have the highest participation in the U.S. parliament. Let's meet some of them: 

If we look at it, California has by far the largest number of immigrant congressmen or children of immigrants in the entire United States, 22 of the 55 members of Congress from this state to be exact, followed by New York, Florida and Illinois which have five members respectively in their parliaments.

Under the U.S. Constitution, an immigrant who assumes office in the House must be a U.S. citizen for seven years or more; be 25 years of age or older; and live in the state where he or she was elected. Serving in the Senate requires nine years of citizenship, age 30 or older, and living in the state represented when elected.

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