ABSTRACT
Latinos are the largest minority group in the United States, with over 40 million members, or 14 percent of the population, and are projected to reach 24.4 percent of the population by the year 2050 (Suro 2005).2 In California, the most populous state in the country, Latinos now comprise over a third of the state’s population and are projected to triple to over 31 million, or 52 percent, by 2050 (State of California 2007). As this growth continues throughout this century, it is likely to affect the racial, cultural, social, and even spatial character of regions and cities. Further, unlike other waves of immigrants in US history, the association and/or proximity of many Latinos to their places of origin has produced a transnational identity and behavior that has implications ranging from institutions as large as the World Bank (in terms of remittances back to originating countries) to phenomena as personal as the choice to assimilate and language use.
