The New Immigration, The New Culture

The culture of immigrants who passed through Ellis Island in the 20th Century has reverberated through the city’s popular culture. But the culture of a more recent waves of immigrants is only slowly seeping into the city. “Nearly 1 million immigrants have settled in New York since 1990, and today 36% of city residents (or 2.9 million) are foreign-born, a figure rivaling the previous high of 41% reached in 1910, according to U.S. census statistics. The borough of Queens, where once-deteriorating neighborhoods have been revitalized by a flood of newcomers, is now thought to be the nation’s most ethnically diverse county.”