Immigration And Illegal Immigration



Table Of Contents

Introduction3

First Settlers Being European3

Irish Immigrating Because Of The Famine4

Germans Immigrating Because Of Political Troubles5

Discovery Of Gold In CA And The Railroad Brought The Chinese6

Conclusion7

Illegal Immigration

Introduction

The United States of America is a nation of immigrants. The United States and the colonial society that preceded it were created by successive waves of immigration from all corners of the globe. But public and political attitudes towards immigrants have always been ambivalent and contradictory? and sometimes hostile. (Zhou 2006)

First Settlers Being European

The early immigrants to colonial America—from England? France? Germany? and other countries in northwestern Europe—came in search of economic opportunity and political freedom? yet often relied upon the labor of African slaves working land taken from Native Americans. The descendants of these first European immigrants sometimes viewed the European immigrants who came to the United States in the late 1800s—from Italy? Russia? Poland? and elsewhere in southeastern Europe—as both “racially” and religiously suspect. And the descendants of these immigrants? in turn? have often taken a dim view of the growing numbers of Latin American? African? and Asian immigrants who began to arrive in the second half of the 20th century.

Not surprisingly? this collective ambivalence about immigrants is reflected in U.S. immigration policies as well. On the one hand? immigration to the United States was not numerically restricted or centrally regulated until a hundred years after the founding of the nation. On the other hand? when restrictions on immigration were eventually introduced? they were explicitly biased against particular nationalities. Among the first groups of immigrants to be excluded? in 1875? were criminals? prostitutes? and Chinese contract laborers. The immigration of workers from China was banned entirely in 1882? and immigration from other Asian Pacific countries in 1917. Although the first numerical immigration quotas? created in 1921? heavily favored immigrants from northwestern Europe? they weren't even applied to immigrants from Latin America until 1965? when discriminatory quotas based on race or national origin were eliminated. Quotas on immigration from individual countries in Latin America weren't imposed until 1976. (Zhou 2006)

As the current debate over undocumented immigration continues to rage? it is important to keep in mind not only that everyone in the United States is ultimately descended from an immigrant? but that the rules governing immigration change constantly—and often arbitrarily. More importantly? U.S. immigration laws have frequently ignored the larger historical forces that drive immigration? and have often fought against the economic interests of the United States itself. For instance? for more than a century the U.S. economy has grown increasingly intertwined with the Mexican economy? and increasingly reliant upon workers from Mexico. Yet U.S. immigration laws of the past quarter-century have tended to impose more legal limits on immigration from Mexico. As this contradiction between immigration law and economic reality illustrates? the contours of the U.S. immigration system are often shaped more by public fears and anxieties than by sound public policy.

Irish Immigrating Because Of The Famine

Irish-Catholic immigrants came to America during colonial times? too? and not all ...