The United States is not a nation of ethnic purity, with only one race. The United States is a melting pot, with more people immigrating each year.

As of 2003, there were 33.5 million foreign-born people living in the United States, according to census data. That is 23.8 times the population of Idaho. The Homeland Security Office of Immigration Statistics reports 946,142 recorded immigrants in 2004 alone.

Why do so many come?

Reasons vary. For many Latter-day Saints, one reason has been religious. Latter-day Saints have been immigrating to the United States since the early days of the Church, gathering in a place where they could practice religion without threat of the mobs.

Lucy Salvador, a senior from Hermosillo, Mexico, decided to come to school in the United States for religious reasons. Salvador went to a Latter-day Saint high school and wanted to attend college where the people had the same beliefs.

Although the United States offers many freedoms, the chief reason for U.S. immigration is an economic one.

Gautam Sudhakar, of the Center for Immigration Studies, explained that many immigrants come to the United States for a higher standard of living and a higher wage.

Mary Turck of the Resource Center of the Americas, compared the cost of living in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, and Minneapolis, Minn. She found that the average wage in Nuevo Laredo in 2003 was $3.95 a day; the average wage in Minneapolis was $41.20 a day.

According to census data, 53.3 percent of U.S. foreign-born immigrants came from Latin America where, according to the Resource Center of the Americas, wages can be much lower.