Immigrants from Latin America, Asia, and other parts of the world, recently arrived or born here, will exceed the population of non-Hispanic whites in a number of years, according to a study published by the Brookings Institution.

The new face of the Big Apple will be dominated by the classic mix of races, but the new development is that this pattern won’t only apply to the city’s five boroughs, but will extend to the suburbs, historically inhabited by non-Hispanic whites. “New York is still a melting pot, but now the suburbs are part of that pot,” said William Frey, a demographer at Brookings and the author of the study.

“Racial changes are due to the phenomenon of immigration,” specified Peter Lobo, of the Department of City Planning.

According to the expert, in 1970 the percentage of children born in New York City to foreign parents was 18.2 percent, while in 2000 that number increased to 35.9 percent, adding that he agreed with the study in the sense that the metropolitan region was increasingly coming to resemble the city.

According to the research, changes like this present challenges, now that many schools, agencies, and government offices must, for the first time, become accustomed to dealing with many people who do not speak English well.

In this context, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), signaled that the “growth of immigration in New York has reached its maximum,” because “in the last ten years more than a million new residents have settled there, creating problems with pollution, overpopulated schools, and a lack of housing.”

Andrea Batista Schlesinger, Director of the Drum Major Institute, an organization concerned with fair public and social policies, said that regardless of race, it’s essential to ensure that people have access to a dignified standard of living. “That means a rational immigration policy, preserving the civil justice system and making sure that the government speaks the languages of its people.”