The New Face of Immigration
Beardstown, Illinois, population 5,000, has seen a dramatic influx of mostly Mexican immigrants in the past decade who are attracted to the state by steady work at the city's meat-processing plant. Looking for a safer, cheaper place to live, immigrants have poured in from California, Texas and other states with a traditionally high number of Hispanic residents, as well as straight from Mexico itself. In doing so these people are changing the face of rural America.
