Immigration And The American Culture

Immigration has always been a complex issue in the United States. Previous and current administrations have had great difficulties in setting policies and programs in place to address this problem. During the course of American history, laws were enacted to address such issues. There were numerous legislative milestones in regards to immigration in the United States. In order to understand the current issues regarding immigration, we have to look back at the policies that were in place along with the goals that they intended to serve. According to (Barusch, 2012), the United States had an open immigration policy; which means that anyone could relocate to this country. As a result of this policy, the government had to redefine

Language is not the only factor affecting the assimilation of people into American society, but one?s traditions also have an effect on the willingness and on the degree to which one assimilates. Some people have found that certain customs they have are not accepted in American culture and might

In Milton Gordon’s, “Assimilation in America”, theorizes that there is a “3” stage process of assimilation; acculturation (cultural assimilation), integration (structural assimilation), intermarriage (marital assimilation). However, it is actually 7 stages, but for simplicity will refer to as 3 stages. The overall process seems to follow the theory of Anglo-conformity, in which immigrants “assume the desirability of maintaining English institutions, the English language, and English-oriented cultural patterns as dominant and standard in American life” (265).

It is expected that ultimately there will be a loss of ethnic distinctiveness for immigrants in the U.S., meaning the lack of attachment to the country of origin. (Golash-Boza, 2006) It is argued that all ethnic distinctiveness will no longer exist by the seventh or eighth generations. Before exploring the influence of foreign born vs. U.S. born parents on their children’s cultural assimilation; the different theories of assimilation will be explored. The idea of Assimilation came about in the early 20th century. (Golash-Boza, 2006) Assimilation is surrounded by two theories, the first that all immigrants will assimilate sooner or later and that the generational status of the individual is one of the main factors in determining the

In the article “Immigration Benefits America,” Bill Clinton; the forty second president of the United States claimed many revelations regarding immigrant’s impact in America. For several reasons, the U.S. strengthens the bonds of the community when allocating the allowance of diverse and varying cultures. Many of these immigrants feel comfortable while living in the United States. He asserted that Immigrants and Americans should blend their cultures and traditions to expand the country. As Americans, they should respect immigrants and in return immigrant should follow suit. On the other hand, in the article “Immigration Threatens American Culture,” Lawrence Auster, an American racialist conservative essayist who wrote on immigration and multiculturalism claimed that immigrants are destroying America and they are harming the economy. Auster believes that these problems are occurring because of the American belief system. The American belief system implies concepts of individualism and equality. Clinton’s argues a rather convincing argument throughout his writings, where prejudices and biases are not provided. On the other hand, Auster’s argument was very judgmental and oppressing in many ways.

Immigrants have shaped American culture and identity by bringing their own home culture from other parts of the world. Furthermore, another kind of immigrants brought a different kind of beliefs in America. The way immigrants shaped Americans identity in America is by changing the way how people think of others because of their culture, race, and beliefs. The way it shaped America with cultures is because the variety of cultures that are a mix in America.

Being an immigrant and assimilating to the American society is hard but immigrants should get use to the American society and if it’s possible immigrants should accept to lose their heritage. The article posted may 1998 “Immigrants shunning idea of assimilation” William branigin argues that “ like many others her neighborhood, where most of the residents are Mexican immigrants, the jacinto household mixes the old country with the new” immigrants shouldn’t try to keep their heritage still while in america it can cause them to assimilate less to america or it can cause them to have a harder time to assimilate into the american country. “Jacinto became a u.s citizen last April, but she does not feel like an American in fact she seems resistant to the idea of assimilating into U.S. Society.” this is can be a problem for Jacinto because she doesn’t want to

For immigrants in America, two radically different choices of culture exist. First, the immigrants can choose to stay loyal to their ancestral roots and deny mainstream culture. Instead of contributing to the melting pot of opinions present they isolate within themselves by refusing to learn both the English language and American culture as a whole. Because they cannot communicate with a majority of the population, they don’t maintain any amount of control over American ideals including both politically and socially. The second opportunity available would be to embrace this new found culture, no matter how foreign it is to them, and develop a sense of unity with America. If immigrants wish to break the currently controlled system of power and privilege in America and truly become a part of American customs, they must learn to assimilate culturally.

An article written by the author, Linda Chavez a commentator, and a radio talk-show host. Chavez said that the government should the encourage assimilation of immigrants in the United States, and to put in place special consideration to immigrants who learn English, and to those who wish to enter the military, I agree with the author that assimilation of immigrants should be encouraged in America to immigrants who are learning English before the green card, and to those who wish to go to the military as this will benefit them economically, culturally and civically. The author analyzed a research conducted by Jacob L. Vigdor, a Professor from the University of Duke which focused on economic, cultural and civic assimilation. Chavez made a comparison to see if

Even when first-generation immigrants do successfully settle into life in the United States, their children, born in America, often have different values and are influenced more by their country of birth than their parents’ traditions. Children want to be a part of the American culture and usually welcome American ideals, beliefs, and styles. As they become more Americanized-adopting western dating habits and fashions, for instance-they tend to case aside or even actively reject the traditions embraced by their parents. Assimilation, then, often becomes an ideological dispute that creates conflict among immigrants of every

There are some, however, that do not agree with this assertion. Samuel Huntington, a political scientist, disagrees with the idea that immigrants are assimilating. He thinks that out nation is becoming “two peoples and two cultures” (Huntington pg. 1). Huntington claims in his article “The Hispanic Threat” that immigrants are not assimilating language and do not have patriotism. He focuses on the majority immigrant group in the United States, Hispanics, and explains how “in 2000, more than 28 million people in the United States spoke Spanish at home, and of those 28 million, 13.8 million spoke English worse rather than very well” (Huntington pg. 5). Huntington, and others who share his beliefs, think that as Spanish culture and language increases in the United States, the more committed Hispanics will be to their ethnic identity, not assimilating to the Anglo-Protestant culture America was built on (Huntington).

On any given day, any media connected American will be bombarded by numerous views and commentaries on the immigration debate. On this Saturday morning, the 30th of January 2016, a perusal of CNN main homepage leads to 6 direct or indirect (political due to the upcoming election) references to the immigration debate. It is a hot topic in the media and it is a source of constant argument and rhetoric for and against with very little resolution or decisional procedure ever finalized.

Also the facts we provide would be useful for all those who are interested in this country or who are going to visit it in order to prevent different problems caused by ignorance of inherent peculiarities of the USA.

The increasing accommodations directed toward immigrant culture worries many Americans. Americans fear the special treatment granted to immigrants will affect the unifying force of the country. Today, the trend is toward multiculturalism, diversity and adapting the newcomer, rather than on the newcomer adapting himself or herself to a diverse society (61).

The United States is commonly know as a melting pot of nations, in which people from around the world have emigrated to form a homogeneous yet varied culture. Although we come from different ethnic groups, we are usually bound together through our common English language. This becomes an issue, however, when immigrants are not familiar with English and American culture, and instead attempt to keep their own heritage alive. They are often torn between identities through language, the one they speak at home which they are familiar with, and the one they must adhere to in public. This often leads to struggle and conflict on both sides, dealing with different cultures and how people react when assimilation occurs. Because of this, living in the United States often requires us to completely accept only one identity, even though hints of the other may spill over at times.