From Myth to Multiculturalism

America has been a melting pot of cultures for many centuries, with the number of immigrants continually rising every year. Most of these immigrants come into the country with nothing at all except for the clothes on their backs and a few English words. But they also bring with them something special – their cultures and traditions from their homeland. In the Immigrant Advantage, readers can see that these specific traditions that they bring with them give them an advantage because they tend to have better mental and physical health than their native born American counterparts (5).

Over the past thousand years or so, many immigrants have had countless complications and obstacles while finding their home here in the United States. Migrants tended to have a stigma or stereotype associated with their race, class, or culture. In no way did the United States make it “easy” or “free” whenever the mass of people came to the country. The experiences between the immigration groups of the Chinese, Irish, and Germans over the years show that they have overcome prejudice through their work.

The majority of American children grow up learning that Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492. There is little room for argument against the idea that the United States is a nation founded on immigration. However, there are some Americans who contend to the idea that new immigrants should not be allowed into United States and should receive no help adapting to their new culture. When people travel to the United States, the majority choose to bring their children with them. These children leave their homes and must come face to face with their new surroundings. If children are rejected at the border, what does that say about American citizens? How the children are treated by their peers can have a considerable impact on their likelihood of success. If nearly 44 million foreign-born people live in the United States 22 percent of those people are children, that leaves with America nearly 10 million immigrant children who may need assistance while trying to go through school. Immigrant children are typically described as those who have at least one foreign-born parent. These children deserve the same opportunities to succeed as the typical American born children. With assistance, immigrant children are likely to graduate high school and even move forward with college. If American citizens wish to make the United States a better place, they must move forward with helping the immigrant children.

First generation immigrants face many issues while they are in the public education system, but their issues are greater when they decide to continue their schooling. The access to higher education for first generation immigrants is limited. The biggest concern for them is the affordability of post secondary education. Immigrants

In the United States, the cliché of a nation of immigrants is often invoked. Indeed, very few Americans can trace their ancestry to what is now the United States, and the origins of its immigrants have changed many times in American history. Despite the identity of an immigrant nation, changes in the origins of immigrants have often been met with resistance. What began with white, western European settlers fleeing religious persecution morphed into a multicultural nation as immigrants from countries across the globe came to the U.S. in increasing numbers. Like the colonial immigrants before them, these new immigrants sailed to the Americas to gain freedom, flee poverty and

The United States of America has the largest foreign-born population in the world. With nearly thirteen percent of the total population being foreign-born, one may find it hard to imagine an immigrant-free country (U.S. Bureau of the Census). Immigration has been an integral part of the United States’ overall success and the country’s economy since it was established and without it, would have never been founded at all. Although there are some negative issues associated with immigration and many native-born Americans believe to be more of a problem than a solution, overall it actually has a positive effect. Immigrants in America, among other things, fill jobs where native-born Americans may not want to work or cannot work, they contribute

Immigration is the bedrock on which the United States was founded, yet in most political conversations today it is regarded as a negative topic and for that reason discussing this topic is important. In the US the struggle to be an immigrant is harder than ever. Immigrants are expected to work hard for jobs that they are over qualified for because of a stereotype cast on the

America is largely made up of immigrants, and thus it is referred to by many as an immigrant’s nation. The rise in immigrants of the first generation and those of second or third generation is changing the demographics of the United States each day. Duncan and Stephen observe that about “a quarter of U.S. residents are either first-generation immigrants or the second-generation children of immigrants” (109). Most of these immigrants move to the country with the aim of achieving the American dream through career success. We would like to believe that the nation follows through with its American ideology that immigrants are welcomed with open arms, and they will have economic opportunities. However, the process of integration and assimilation of these immigrants has for long been a common debate question. The immigration waves into the United States have occurred in several waves over the past years. In the earlier years, most of the immigrants were from Europe and their assimilation was rather smooth. But, the recent wave of immigrants groups prevalently from Asia and Latin America do not face similar acceptance and open arms as their predecessors.

With the recent presidential change the U.S. immigration policies and effectiveness are being spotlighted. One of the rather tough issues is how to handle current illegal immigrants and how to put an end to illegal immigration (Schaefer, 2015). Immigrants that come to the United States are looking for the American dream or just for a better life for themselves or their families. Although, the stigma society insinuates is that of all immigrants bring terrorism, drug problems, and employment with them (Schaefer, 2015). Since the problems have been linked to immigrants, Americans have developed a prejudice towards people of Hispanic and Asian descent. Due to this prejudice towards immigrants both illegal and legal immigrants struggle to find employment (Schaefer, 2015).

According to US Census Bureau data, in 2009 12.5 percent or 38.5 million of the population were foreign-born people where foreign-born is defined as anyone who was not a United States citizen at birth. Over half of these immigrants entered the United States during the last 20 years. (Walters et al. October 2010) More recently, 7 million immigrants or 17 percent arrived in 2005 or later. (Walters et al. November 2011) Foreign-born people constituted 14.7 percent of the labor force in 2005, up from 5.3 percent in 1970. (Ottaviano et al. August 2006) This increase in immigration has rekindled the discussion about the effect of immigration on native-born workers. United States policy makers, economists and news outlets have been trying to

When most people think about immigration to the United States, they think of the U.S. as being the “land of opportunity,” where they will be able to make all of their dreams come true. For some people, immigration made their lives richer and more fulfilled. This however, was not always the case. A place that is supposed to be a “Golden Land” (Marcus 116) did not always welcome people with open arms. Even after people became legal citizens of the United States, often times the natural born Americans did not treat the immigrants as equals but rather as outsiders who were beneath them in some way. In some situations, people’s lives were made worse by coming to the “land of opportunity.” Often times people were living no better than they

Regardless of the common claims that are directed at immigrants, there are many statistics that support the more positive aspect of these “aliens.” One of the many things that cause many people to oppose immigration are that many immigrants have low living standards or are simply living off of government welfare programs. The Center for American Progress actually stated that “Less than one in five immigrants live in poverty, and they are no more likely to use social services than the native-born Americans” (CAP,

Portes and Zhou discuss similar subclaims in context that align with Waters, however, Waters attempts to refute such claims with research-based evidence. Although they share a similar scope in regards to the issue of assimilation and its historical context, Waters uses her disciplinary perspective as a researcher to establish an argument grounded in statistical research, rather than observable anecdotes. Both authors develop the importance of maintaining the discussion of second generation immigrants through their warrants, yet Waters refutes the reasons that Portes and Zhou raise to support their

Along with its economic classes, American is known for its freedom, its liberty, and the melting pot of ethnicity. This ethnic diversity comes form the immigrant population in the country. However this perfect country is a major falsehood. These untrue ideals of harmony, freedom, success, and equality are deceptive and do not show the struggles that immigrants face when coming to this class dominated country. The immigrants of today do not come from just Europe, but overwhelmingly from Asia and Latin America. “They are driving a demographic shift so rapid that within the lifetimes of today 's teenagers, no one ethnic group – including whites of European descent – will comprise a majority of the nation 's population’ (Colombo, Cullen, Lisle). These immigrants challenge the social myth that everyone has an equal chance in life. They

Lately, there has been a stereotype concerning the new immigrants saying that they are highly educated. The numbers of educated new immigrants who come to the United States have been noted to increase of late to a point