“Scholars and politicians question whether and to what extent Latinos are assimilating. Some Latinos are not identifying as Latino and disappearing into the population,” Agius Vallejo said. “People with Latin American ancestry who do not identify as Hispanic may be a harbinger of future patterns of assimilation but because these people are left out we might be underestimating the extent to which Latinos are assimilating into America’s core social structures.”

—-This is intereseting in light of a recent conversation my sister had with a client. A woman who was born and raised in a Latin American country told my sister that she had no right to call herself Latina because she (my sister) was born in the U.S.. Not to say that this woman was wrong, but I don’t believe she was right. Latina identification has changed. It is no longer restricted along the lines of place of birth. The lines of demarcation for Latinidad are subtle; they begin with personal identification and certainly do not end in birthright.  Again, just my two cents.