The Immigration Of The United States

The United States experienced major waves of Immigrants during the War time and the 1800’s and early 1900’s. 25,000 Asian Immigrants went to California for a gold rush and migrated there by the 1850’s. A lot of Immigration had to do with slaves and such. During the 1890’s Central, and Eastern Europe came to America, so did the Italians and Jews. The start of Immigration was different from today’s time. Back then people who migrated to the United States was easy.

Over twelve million immigrants infiltrated the United States of America from 1892 to 1954 through a small island in New York Harbor called Ellis Island. Throughout the years, Ellis Island served as a gateway for

During the period of "Old Immigration", which started in the 1880's and reached a high level in the 1840's.

Immigration in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s and immigration now of course have some difference, but both came to the United States for pretty much the same reason. All these immigrants come from their different backgrounds and places. These immigrants also have struggled when they first get here, but something they can all agree on is that they came here for one main reason and that’s for advanced improvement especially economic.

Little migration was happening, but four decades later immigration increased rapidly. Many from Britain, Ireland, and Germany moved to America

A. Before you begin reading First Crossing, answer the following questions in COMPLETE SENTENCES. Each question should be at least 2-3 sentences.

Immigration has been a difficult and rigorous process beginning in the early 1500’s when Europeans began to settle in the United States. After this, German and Irish immigrants came to America during the first wave. Most Germans moved Midwest and settled in areas like St. Louis and Cincinnati because they owned enough money to do so but Irish immigrants tended to stay on the east coast because they were poor. Later, the Homestead Act was created allowing anyone who came to the United States free land if they lived in the country for a minimum time of five years. Building the Transcontinental Railroad also influenced many immigrants to come to the United States. During the second wave of immigration, most people came from Eastern and Southern Europe.

Immigrants are basic facts of a strong U.S. economy, fulfilling the intrinsic need of the labor force for workers. We as immigrants have more of a tendency of working for our money to survive and to make our children have a better life, in a tough economy and in a country that isn’t even ours. How can immigration and immigrants life overcome? What difference can we do to fix the immigration dilemma occurring in the United States? This are some questions that many people may have asked someday. Immigration is a huge dilemma in the United States and we want to make a difference. This subject relates to me because as my parents, I am also an immigrant. We all want to make a difference in this world but why don’t we start by finding answers to help people who are immigrants? It is estimated that around $94 Billion dollars are spent on deporting immigrants. The government is spending an exorbitant amount of money, instead, that money could be better spent on other purposes, such as health plans for everyone or help the society build more shelters and livings for the amount of homeless that there are. Not only in the United States but in other countries in the world.

A native of Mexico, Gonzalez came to the United States using a visa, to visit family members and in 1994, police convicted Gonzalez of the abduction and rape of a Waukegan, Illinois woman. During his conviction his attorney, Vanessa Potkin, addressed that at twenty years old, Gonzalez spoke very little English, had no criminal record, and yet the police wanted to pin the crime on him. Twenty years later, DNA from the crime cleared him of both charges, and Gonzalez is now threatened with deportation. Situations such as this occur often in the United States with immigrants subjected to being accused of crimes because of their inability to speak proper English and lay victim to stereotypical views. Americans have the misconception that all immigrants pose a threat to the United States and that immigrants entering the United States have the intent to perform terrorist attacks. This way of thinking continually perpetuates the stereotype that immigrants are dangerous. Although terrorists may be immigrants, not all immigrants could be terrorists, terrorists and immigrants posses many differences. Domestic terrorists or terrorists, who enter the country, have the intent of using violent acts to achieve a political goal. To further prove this argument, Sharon Bass, an Immigration Service Officer at the US Department of Homeland Security, addresses that “the average immigrant migrates to the United States to better their lives or their family’s lives, seek employment or reunite with

Many immigrant children are coming from different countries to the US and entering schools here that do not provide them with the support they need in order to be successful. Schools in America that accept these immigrant children in their school should provide more support to them. Newcomers should have a counselor that could help them with problems in school such as Bullying and discrimination. Also school districts should invest money in special programs that could focus on these children to help them succeed academically in school.

In order, for immigrants who come to the United State to work they must have documents in order to prove to their employers they are eligible to work. If they are not able to prove that they are eligible to work in the United States, they must take in a cash only paycheck where they have the possibility of being mistreated as workers and are being paid under federal minimum wage. The major key, in order to work in the United States is to have a Social Security number or have a work visa. If those immigrants have neither of those things they have to find a way to get the documents they need in order to work, even if it means that they have to get illegal and fake documents to provide for their family. As the tightening of the United States border has continued over the years. It has been getting harder and harder to prove that fake documents are the real deal, and many immigrants are trying to find documents that are allowing them to work as well not getting caught by the United States government. “A decade ago one could purchase simply ‘identify kits’- a driver’s license, a green card, and social security card-for only $100, but since the United States sealed it borders undocumented residents are willing to pay up to $5,000 for the mandatory national ID cards implemented by the DHS last year and hailed as a breakthrough in surveillance technology” (Romero, 2008). As the more and more things, the United States does to tighten up the border from illegal immigrants. The prices

Immigration has been and continues to be a very recognized and densely debated topic in the United States. In its simplest form, the term immigration is defined by Oxford Dictionaries as the action of coming to live permanently in a foreign country. For centuries, people from around the world have immigrated to America for many reasons, such as political freedom, religious freedom, refuge and economic opportunity. They leave their countries and travel to America to find opportunities that they were not able to find in their country of origin. A large amount of immigrants residing in the U.S come from Latin American countries. Most immigrants from these countries come to America seeking employment. They want to work to support themselves and their family, whether they are with them in America or remain in their country of origin. Doing so however, is not an easy task due to many social, political and economic barriers. This raises the question of what the major economic hardship that a Latino immigrant would face in the United States may be. It is likely that the prime economic issues an immigrant would face in recent times is finding employment in a labor market that expects educated and skilled individuals as applicants and an economy that is still recovering from the Great Recession.

Immigration quickly began with the idea of achieving the American dream. It brought men, women, and families from all over the world to America, in search for life, liberty and happiness. Those early immigrants brought with them their own cultures, traditions and languages. Most of us currently living in the United States of America recognize our history derives from these early immigrants. This has made America a wonderfully diverse country. However, for years, illegal immigrants and legal immigrants has become a dominant issue. Mary Sanchez states her opinion in her article, “Immigration and U.S. Borders”, by saying “America needs to return to the country it once was and welcome with open arms all immigrants who come here with the purpose of having a better life.” I agree America should get back to fully accepting legal immigrants.

About 28 million individuals moved to the United States between the years 1880 and the late 1920 's. "The newcomers living in different nations all through the world chose to leave there foundation of source and move to the United States for different reasons, some of which included flexibility from political and religious mistreatment, starvation, or to experience the American Dream of perceived economic opportunity. Once settled; immigrants were often stereotyped and discriminated against because they were “distinctive”. Social Justice was nonexistent as Employers often took advantage of immigrants, men were paid less than other workers and women were paid less than men. (Library of Congress, 1990) The numbers of newcomers dropped dramatically in 1924, when Congress passed highly restrictive immigration legislation. (Bankston, Carl L., 1999). As time has passed the United States Immigration laws have made it increasing more desirable for individuals to seek illegal entry as opposed to the legal process. High control and subject to numerical confinements and qualification prerequisites comprising of essential family or work relationship and absence of access to compassionate security, for example, shelter or refugee status have played a noteworthy role.(American Immigration Council, March 2012)

When going into the immigration unit, I have to admit that I had very little knowledge on the topic. Therefore, I had to do a little bit more research to formulate an opinion and take a stance on the whole issue. My initial thoughts were to deport all of the immigrants in the country with no exceptions. After all, there are eleven million people in the United States who are forbidden by law to be in the country. Looking back into the history of immigration, I discovered that in 1986, Ronald Reagan implemented an amnesty policy that granted 3 million people citizenship. Unfortunately, this did not solve the overall problem in the long run because the current immigrant population is circulating around eleven million people. Due to the past failure with amnesty, I did not think it would be wise to try that again. In addition, I did not think that it is fair for legal citizens to have to pay for unauthorized peoples’ welfare. United States citizens spend eleven to twenty-two billion dollars a year on the welfare of people who, in my eyes, have not earned their way into the country. Next, I took a look at the process to obtain a green card. To my surprise, it is not very difficult to acquire a green card. I was worried that people are able to come into the country for malicious reasons and cause harm. I felt like the immigrants needed to show some effort in order prove that they want to be United States citizens for the right reasons. The only solution I could think of was to