social ladder, their status as "non-white" disappeared, along with the concept of these groups as

separate races.

 Some current assimilation debates predict a markedly different future for incoming Latin

American immigrants. Samuel Huntington (2004) claims that America is based on Protestant

values and that the new wave of Latin Americans is challenging American culture; he argues that

this specific group of immigrants (highlighting Mexicans) is not assimilating and will not

assimilate like earlier immigrant groups. Language is one of the major issues in this debate.

Huntington and his followers assert that Spanish-speaking immigrants will persist for

generations to come, thereby creating a great divide among Americans even though there is

evidence that succeeding generations do not continue speak their mother tongue as their

dominant language (Rumbaut et al. 2006). While current research finds similarities between

turn-of-the-century and current migration trends, as well as with the political and social reactions

to these migrations (Alba and Nee 2005; Cornell and Hartmann 2004; Foner 2005; Kraut 2005;

Lee 2004), empirical research that analyzes current anti-immigrant sentiment to constructions of

race and ethnicity in the New America is still lacking.

 Conclusion

 In 1998, Sarah Mahler wrote about the theoretical and empirical contributions of

transnational migration research and asked, "Do transnational spaces, activities and processes

reaffirm or reconestablished relationships of power and prestige (90)?" Mahler suggests that the

literature thus far indicates a positive outcome for the marginalized, empowering them despite

global forces to the contrary. This dissertation sought to answer questions concerning historical

power structures, and how those structures affect the global phenomenon of transnational

migration on the individual, familial, and community level. Prejudice and patriarchy in the host

community has mitigated migration's impact on gender and ethnic equality: consequently, the