page_title: Hispanics and Latinos in Houston
section_title: Mexicans
hierarchical_section_title: Hispanics and Latinos in Houston / Ethnic groups / Mexicans
caption_attribution_description: English: The original Ninfa's restaurant at 2704 Navigation Boulevard in Houston, Texas, USA Español: El restaurante original de Ninfa's, 2704 Navigation Boulevard, Houston, Texas, USANinfa's on Navigation
context_page_description: The Hispanic population in Houston is increasing as more immigrants from Latin American countries come to work in the area. As of 2006 the city has the third-largest Hispanic population in the United States. As of 2011, the city is 44% Hispanic. As of 2011, of the city's U.S. citizens that are Hispanic, half are age 18 or older, and are therefore at the age range eligible to vote. As of 2011 many Hispanics in Houston are not U.S. citizens, especially those living in Gulfton and Spring Branch, and are therefore ineligible to vote in elections. As a result, Hispanics have proportionally less representation in the municipal government than other ethnic groups. As of April 2011 two of the Houston City Council members are Hispanic, making up 18% of the council.
  As of 2010, John B. Strait and Gang Gong, authors of "Ethnic Diversity in Houston, Texas: The Evolution of Residential Segregation in the Bayou City, 1990–2000," stated that Hispanics and Latinos had "intermediate levels of segregation" from non-Hispanic whites.
context_section_description: When Houston was first settled in 1837 by Anglo White Americans, this area of East Texas had relatively few Mexican Americans. Areas of West Texas and the Southwest had much higher numbers of Mexican Americans, including many whose ancestors had deep ties to the region, long before the United States annexed the area following the Mexican–American War. Mexican migration into Houston increased in the late 19th century with the expansion of the railroad system and following social disruption due to Porfirio Díaz becoming President of Mexico.
  In the early 20th century the population further increased, due to refugees fleeing the disruption of the 1910 Mexican Revolution, laborers recruited to the  city by enganchadores (labor agents), higher unemployment in rural areas, and a labor shortage during World War I. Into the 1920s, because of labor demand in Houston and the United States, immigration restrictions against Mexicans were few.
  In the 1989 book Ethnicity in the Sunbelt: A History of Mexican Americans in Houston, author Arnoldo De León described the relationship between Houston's Mexican Americans and newly arrived immigrants from Mexico. De León said that the historic residents feared that they were being adversely affected by poor opinions about the new immigrants, many of whom were assumed to be illegal immigrants, few of whom spoke English and many of whom were from rural areas with limited job skills to apply to city life. At the same time, the new immigrants kept the entire community in touch with the Mexican culture of the homeland.
caption: Original Ninfa's on Navigation Boulevard, established by Ninfa Laurenzo
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