Mary C Waters 'Debating Immigration': A Comparative Analysis

Immigration has always been an issue in the United States, which is often portrayed as harmful and as major threat to American culture. As a result, various anti immigration policies have been aimed against immigrants in order to prevent and preserve the miscegenation of American culture, such as English only policies. Among the largest minority groups in the U.S, are Latinos who currently compose of 15% of the U.S population (Delgado and Stefancic 3). Unfortunately, Latinos have been accused of taking American benefits, jobs, and have wrongfully been depicted as a result of not assimilating to American culture. Latinos are often accused of resisting assimilation, but what has failed to be acknowledged is that there are obstacles set in

Villazor’s article discusses the history of immigration in America and how race prohibited them from being accepted if they were not white. I want to use this article to persuade my audience to stray away from the old mindset of assimilation because it is no longer relevant. I want them to embrace the positive things that immigrants have to offer to the American language and

The United States has been a host to a wide diaspora of people. Immigrants have had to transition from their familiar land to a new-fashioned foreign land that they must consider home. They bring with them the essence of their initial homeland such as customs, traditions and beliefs that inadvertently change the dynamics of culture within the United States. As a result the United States is an extremely culturally diverse nation. The continual changes or accretions that Americans encounter have always been a controversial topic depending on the experiences of individuals and communities that have immigrant populations. This essay will critically explore

Immigration has a great impact on first generation immigrants. Studies show that acculturation and assimilation have wide-ranging effects on the groups involved, but mostly on the immigrants' lives. There are positive and negative attributes. Attributes that are due to the issues associated with integrating cultures, and broadly related to the greater issue of immigration. The issues and discrimination towards first generation immigrants cause them to have limitations throughout their lifetime, in the country that they have moved to. Furthermore, the Hispanic and Latino community have lived through this problem for so long. They are always the group to be affected by it because they lose a sense

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.

America as we know it today has been shaped by immigrants. It can be argued that America shapes immigrants as well. It is a nation that people, nationalist or foreign-born, desire to assimilate partially or fully into. According to a New York University professor, “Immigration, however, played a key role not only in making America’s development possible but also in shaping the basic nature of the society” (Diner, p. 2). It is a nation built on this idea of the “American dream” which varies depending on the person. However, it is something that holds steadily in an immigrant’s mind that is possible to achieve. America’s past, present and certainly future will be formed by immigrants, and once they get here America will coincidentally form their being as well.

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

Let’s take a look at immigration and “Cultural Assimilation”. Congressman Tom Tancredo discussed his view on immigration, contrasting the experience of his Italian grandparents with modern

Immigration has been a central theme in the development of the United States. The influx of foreigners into the country has been met with acceptance and restrictive policy since its formation. The reaction to diverse immigration created exclusionary policies first introduced in the late nineteenth century and held in place by national origins quotas until 1965. The purpose of this historiography is to show how recent scholarship on immigration has developed and changed in the last fifteen years. This historiography is divided into three types of studies. The first is focused on how historians have extricated the individual from the broad historiography to give voice to specific ethnic groups as they negotiated for a place in the country.

The talk of New Americans has become a lot more evident throughout the United States in the last ten years. It is on national news and even in the local newspapers all the time. Many people look at New Americans that have come to the United States, and believe that they are not trying to assimilate in any way. People look at all of the negative, or what they think to be negatives of foreign-born people coming to our country. However, there is a lot more to New Americans assimilating then anyone talks about.

Imagine living in the 1920s. What was society like? If asked, most people would say that they could visualize flappers, extravagant parties, fast cars, jazzy music, and the wild youth. This decade is often described as boisterous. In this time period, society was social and dramatic. It also contained numerous changes in America’s politics and important historical events. One important change in politics was immigration. Immigration is the movement of people to a country where there is not natives or where the immigrants do not possess citizenship. In today’s civilization, people are commonly questioned about their heritage through census surveys, job questionnaires, school surveys, and when admitted into hospitals. Frequently, people are questioned about their heritage. If people were to research their heritage, it is possible to discover their ancestors were immigrants to America at one time. After researching immigration, books and journal databases have broadened the information on immigration in the 1920s. Through the careful study of immigration, facts and statistics reveal the history of immigration leading up to the 1920s, the impact immigration had on America, the problems caused by immigration, the control of immigration through the quota system, and the rise in illegal immigration throughout America.

The 1965 Amendment to the Immigration Act was a defining moment that radically changed US immigration policy and provided the basis for all that we have witnessed today with its far reaching consequences. Before 1965, the national origins quotas, which heavily favored British, German, and Irish immigrants, was replaced with a less discriminatory system (Hatton, 2015). Many decades following the enactment of this law saw a dramatic rise in the total number of immigrants, and an equally dramatic switch in the source-country composition away from Europe, towards Asia and Latin America. Contemporary legislators may have anticipated some of these effects, but the changes in the scale and structure of immigration, and the speed with which they took place, were not foreseen. It might be correctly stated that the consequences were largely unintended. Among such consequences is the attendant rise in criminality among immigrant population.

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

Furthermore, the secondary sources illustrate some of the manners in which immigrants attempt to integrate into society, their reasons for coming, and the opposition that they encounter assimilating. First, the source from Social Science Weekly illustrates that most immigrants coming to the United States do in fact want to assimilate by learning the English language, which goes against the misconceptions of the majority. Additionally, another manner in which immigrants attempt to assimilate, highlighted by the article by Stephanie Kotin, Grace Dyrness, and Clara Irazabal, is religion and community activism, which allows immigrants to portray themselves in a positive way to battle the misconceptions of the right majority. The chapter by David

Immigration is a controversial topic that has impacted our society for decades perplexed by policies media coverage, perceptions based on one’s own lack of knowledge, personal experiences and a host of other factors that influence how our society views immigrants and immigration policies. The United States is a diverse population of people and filled with experiences that come from various walks of life that contribute to enhancing our social culture, economic development, and cultural acceptance.