Immigration Is A Foreign Policy Hot Topic

Globally, the United States has been known as "a nation of immigrants" almost from its inception. Beginning in the 1600s with English Puritans and continuing today, America is a melting pot of culture and ethnicity. In fact, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, immigration was the major source of U.S. population growth. Looking over our 200+ years we find that to clearly be true, with approximately 1 million immigrants coming to America during the 17th and 18th century. Almost 3 million arrived during the 1860s, and another 3 million in the 1870s. In the next four decades, the number of immigrants rose to over 25 million people, most from various European nations, most arriving in New York or one of the Eastern seaports (Damon, 1981). Despite the politicization, as of 2006, the United States actually was the number one country globally to accept legal immigrants into the country, with a current immigrant population of almost 40 million (Terrazas and Batalova, 2009). In fact, the peak of immigration was 1907, when over 1.2 million Europeans entered the country beginning a push towards legislation limiting immigration in the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1924 and the 1921 Congressional Quota Act. These immigrants came for two sociological reasons: the push factor (wars, famine, persecution and overpopulation) and the pull factors (jobs and the promise of freedom). Most came by ship, and a passage often cost the equivalent of an entire life's savings causing many

Since its founding, the United States has attracted immigrants from all over the world and consists of a variety of different cultures. Immigration has had an enormous impact on American society and economy and shaped the country remarkably.

Every year, millions of immigrants come to the United States in hopes to find resources, economic opportunities and freedom. According to the Migration policy Institute, in the year of 2013, Texas and California were the top two states in the United States for number of immigrants. California being 10.3 million and Texas being 4.4 million. However, in society today, some American politicians and conservatives have found this to be a problem. Others believe it is beneficial to the United States. Two authors take two different standpoints on their views of immigration. Samuel P. Huntington, a major scholarly voice on political issues, wrote in his publication (“The Special Case of Mexican Immigration”) that he believes the immigration of Mexicans,

It seems that the word Immigration has took on a new meaning as for it once meant. Immigration is the action of coming to live permanently in a foreign country. It has always been a hot topic in our society because of all the controversy behind it, About whose land is actually theirs. It all starts in 1620, when the mayflower for the first time in history touches american soil, And changes the way history would unfold and the very way we live today. They came from England, searching for vast freedom from a corrupt, indigenous society seeking freedom of religion and the thought, ironically searching for the American dream before it became a phrase. They would stumble across humble , spiritual, and land loving givers who would eventually train these new pilgrims on how to live off the good god living land. Things would soon take a turn for the worst when disputes over land came abroad, this ended in a bloody battle leaving the pilgrims victorious with their new land. But history is always prone to repetitiveness once the 1700's came.

Ever since the creation of the human race, human beings have been prone to moving place to place for new opportunities and beginnings. People who move from one country to another are called immigrants. As nations started to form, their were rules and laws set on who could and could not live in a specific country. Most of these laws included immigrants to go through a lengthy process to get approved to go into the country they desired. However, even after the lengthy process is completed, the country still has the right to deny their entrance. In fear of being rejected, many immigrants decided to illegally cross the borders of other countries causing many problems with the country's society, specially the United States of America. Historians saw a great example of this in the 1920s. The 1920s in America unfolded the greatest wave of immigration in American history; more than 25 million foreigners, also known as immigrants, arrived on American shores (Shmoop). Before the 1920s, immigration in the United States had never been systematically restricted by federal law, however that changed with the 1921 Emergency Quota Act and the 1924 Immigration Act. For the first time in American history, these acts imposed a limit on the number of immigrants allowed to enter the United States which eventually caused many to enter illegally. Today America is faced with some similar issues with immigration as they did in the 1920s, for example, the number of illegal immigrants in

Since the dawn of American colonization in the early 1600s, the notion of immigrating to America has long been instilled upon various people as a stimulating opportunity to begin a fresh chapter in their lives. Even now, this possibility has brought many variations of people to America, culminating a society that brims with dreams and aspirations to form the diversified nation of today. When speaking of the current state of immigration, it is easy to conclude that immigration is heavily discussed from political standpoints. Though this current condition is composed of highly controversial perspectives, many of the early-century viewpoints found in literature genuinely embrace reality, for these writers were indeed immigrants themselves, thus adding an authoritative standpoint over immigration. The Americanization of Edward Bok (1921) by Edward Bok and The America I Believe In by Colin Powell, display the perspectives of two authors, who have lived as immigrants, through their own personal anecdotes. Both Edward Bok and Colin Powell convey a sincerely grateful tone and develop the idea of Americanization and the quest for opportunity through the use of connotative diction in contrast to the Immigration Chart and Political Cartoon which have a downright concrete and pessimistic tone and supports the idea that immigration exposes various challenges to incoming immigrants.

Immigration is both a domestic issue and global concern. It involves economics, politics, and culture. Unlike other current issues, it has been at the center of the American experience for hundreds of years (Tirman, John). Every year, hundreds of thousands of immigrants from around the world, come to the United States. These immigrants have many different motivations as to why they leave their home country; but as currents events indicate, it is injustice, poverty, and violence in their own country that generally make people move to save themselves and to ensure a better future for their families. Many of these people believe the United States is the best place to go, because there is more freedom, protection, and benefits,

The U.S found itself confronted to new challenges that they didn’t think of before. This new challenges led to a shift of American attitudes towards immigration. This was due to the high influx of the immigrants coming from Europe and of the liberal paradox related to immigration (Tichenor 2002, 51). The United States found itself caught between two stools where immigration benefited the economy but the on the other side its obligation to set limits regarding social and publics welfare available to the new wave of immigrants.

Immigration is a topic that has been in the news often due to the most recent Presidential election. However, the idea of immigration is one that has existed since the Old Testament with stories of refugees fleeing from oppression. Immigration is an ideal that has remained a topic of discussion for years due to the positives and negatives of it. While immigration may have some negatives, it is my view that immigration is a necessity for the United States because of its roots in Catholic social teaching, effects on economy, and the need for basic rights of individuals to obtain a better life.

Throughout the history, immigration and the United States are inextricably linked. The United States has promulgated many immigration legislations in the past either to restrict or support the immigration. Immigration is still going on and it is a debatable issue even today. In the interview, Chang-rae Lee says, “I’m interested in people who find themselves in places, either of their choosing or not, and who are forced to decide how best to live there. That feeling of both citizenship and exile, of always being an expatriate-with all the attendant problems and complications and delight”(Garner 2). Chang-rae Lee exposes the inner and outer conflicts the immigrants go through in the United States with

The United States of America to the rest of the world is a place of liberty, freedom and a land of opportunities. Thousands of people every year leave their Motherlands in search for better life, for political, religious, and economic reasons. In most of the world, citizenship is defined by race or ethnicity, but an American may belong to any ethnic group. Despite that the U.S. immigration policy have always favored those who came from Western Europe to the exclusion of other groups. In the beginning of the country there was an “open-door immigration policy” on immigration (White, 214). The first significant federal legislation restricting immigration was the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act law that suspended Chinese immigration for ten years and barred Chinese in the U.S. from citizenship. The Immigration Act of 1924 imposed the overall numerical quota to 165,000, and was passed in response to political and public opinion calling for restrictions on immigration from South-Eastern Europe following events such as 1919 recession and high unemployment, civil unrest and the Red Scare (Daniels, 47). In 1965, Congress passed the Immigration and Nationality Act, which ended quota system that favored Western European immigrants, and today, the majority of the country’s immigrants come from Asia and Latin America. Known as a nation of immigrants, many Americans still developed a strong hostile feelings toward immigrants. In contrast, the Founding Fathers were looking at immigration as at

Immigration is the movement of non-native people in order to settle in a different place or country. People move out of their country of origin for many reasons. Whether it is for a better job, better education, or simply to be with loved ones, immigrants have come to the United States with dreams of living a better life. The United States is none other than a make up of immigrants from diverse countries. Immigrants have been coming to the United States since its founding and have shaped the way this country is today. Some immigrants pursue the legal route – getting a visa in order to work for the status of a citizen while others illegally enter the country and risk being detained and deported. It is estimated there are approximately 11.7

Immigration is the act of movement of personalities from their country of origin to another one for better lives, education, visitations, job opportunities and also the undertaking of business transactions amongst nations that can either be legal or illegally inclined. The United States being a land of opportunity and a superpower has made the nation one of the most admired countries in the globe (Laidler and Turek, 2014). Its economy and robust foreign policies have catapulted the interests of many populations all over the world. The urge has led to both legal and illegal migrations of persons from other nations to the U.S preferably the Asian, Indian, Mexican and the Hispanic ethnic groups among others. The immigration penalty has become a phenomenon in the United States such that it forms the opinions and the decisions that the civilians make when it comes to the general election (mostly the 2008 Obama elections to date) (Rowland 528-547, 2013).

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.

Immigration is the movement through which an individual permanently moves from their place of residence from one country to another. Immigration is a topic which divides political parties and general debate. Whilst some people see the positives of immigration, such as the filling of skill gaps in low and highly skilled jobs, others see the negatives of immigration, such as the strain on services such as the NHS, schools and housing.