As our country celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month, it’s not difficult to find areas where this nation continues to benefit from the significant contributions of the Hispanic immigrants who’ve come to our shores.
Just last week, Americans witnessed Venezuelan-born Miguel Cabrera capture baseball’s Triple Crown, becoming only the 15th Major League Baseball player to ever do so. A few days later, President Obama dedicated the Cesar E. Chavez National Memorial, honoring the Mexican-American labor leader and civil rights activist with a monument that joined the likes of the Statue of Liberty and the Grand Canyon.
These are just two shining examples that illustrate the extent to which Hispanic immigrants have enriched everything from our national pastime to our national history. But too often we overlook the critical role they’ve played in advancing an area that’s particularly vital to our country’s well-being: our economy.
Away from the spotlight of major league sports and presidential dedication ceremonies, the Hispanic immigrant business community has been quietly but substantially aiding U.S. economic growth and job creation.
Over the past 15 years, American entrepreneurship has declined by 10 percent, according to a recent study from the Partnership for a New American Economy. But immigrants have become more than 50 percent more likely to start a business over this period, with Hispanic immigrants leading the way. Every month, immigrants from Mexico, Guatemala and Cuba alone launch more than 63,000 new U.S. businesses. Immigrants from Mexico now own more than 500,000 businesses here in America, generating nearly $17 billion in income annually. READ MORE
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