Asian population may triple in U.S. by 2050 (2/2)

More businesses and strip malls like Eden Center are sprouting across the country, as more Asian families settle outside of cities. One such mall in Las Vegas, called Chinatown Plaza, bills itself as the "largest master-planned Chinatown in America." Varun Nikore heads the Indian American Leadership Initiative, an organization that seeks to entice more Indian Americans into politics, an area that Nikore calls a "last slice of the American pie." Out of the more than 1.7 million people of Indian descent in the United States, only a handful are in politics and none are higher than state legislative office, Nikore says. "They're involved in cultural programs, and they are politically aware, but they haven't done the extra hurdle of trying to run for office," Nikore says. "We're basically trying to take the mystery out of the campaign process." Whether projections about Asian population growth hold true depends largely on any changes to U.S. immigration policy, demographers note. They also suggest that improving economic conditions in Asian countries could reduce the number of people moving to America.