“We become not a melting pot, but a beautiful mosaic: Different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes, and different dreams (Carter, Jimmy). The United States of America has been given the name of the melting pot due to different cultures influencing ours and all melting together. We are considered the melting pot of the world due to citizens of other countries migrating to our country to make it their permanent residence. Immigration has been a part of the United States since its beginning (Florida, Richard). In the colonial era after settlements had already been made here on this land, a group of pilgrims came over to Plymouth and established a colony in 1620 due to religious persecution in Europe. In the 19th …show more content…
Stephen Dinan, a journalist from the Washington Times, says that there could be as many as 20 million residing in our country. “The Texas Federation of Republican Women, which describes itself as the state’s most powerful women’s political group, said in its Jan. 17, 2013, resolution: "Within the United States, there currently reside between nine and fifty million undocumented residents from all cultural and socio-economic backgrounds and nationalities." ("Republican Group Says 9 Million to 50 million Illegal Aliens Live in the States). The number estimated for undocumented population grew 27 percent between 2000 and 2009 ("Illegal Immigration to the United States"). Sixty-seven percent of these are believed to be from Mexico alone. In California alone, there are 2.8 million illegal aliens and in Texas 1.8 million (“Illegal Immigrants Are Bolstering Social Security with Billions”). This brings up the question: How do citizens of other countries sneak into ours and pretend that they are citizens of the United States? Some stow away in ships that are delivering goods or other items. There are those who act that they are taking trips and get the proper visas to stay a while, but never buy that plane ticket back to home. Also, they can get in with fraud documents and identification or they could cross the Mexican or Canadian borders (“Illegal Immigrants Are Bolstering Social Security with Billions”). The United States
America has, is, and will always be a nation of immigrants: the great melting pot. In the years that have passed since Emma Lazarus' poem was inscribed on the Statue of Liberty "the golden door" Americans have seen times when the door was open wide and times when it was close shut to most immigrants (Sure 4). Many people look at the present immigration problems as a purely modern dilemma. The truth is America has always struggled with the issue of immigration, both legal and illegal. Changing times, however, makes it imperative that our government reexamines and adjusts today's immigration laws to today's standards. Those standards, however, are not easily defined. Too often the issue of
America was founded on change. Past revolutions were fought to make new ways in which to live life in this country. Our families all came to America, at one point, to feed into this definition of being an American. The term melting pot in my mind means structure, meaning what we, as
The United States of America has the largest foreign-born population in the world. With nearly thirteen percent of the total population being foreign-born, one may find it hard to imagine an immigrant-free country (U.S. Bureau of the Census). Immigration has been an integral part of the United States’ overall success and the country’s economy since it was established and without it, would have never been founded at all. Although there are some negative issues associated with immigration and many native-born Americans believe to be more of a problem than a solution, overall it actually has a positive effect. Immigrants in America, among other things, fill jobs where native-born Americans may not want to work or cannot work, they contribute
America was widely known as a “melting pot” of sorts for many generations. The country earned its title by accepting immigrants of various cultures and molding, or melting, them into the American lifestyle. However, the “melting pot” idea of America is starting to dissipate. According to a Newsweek Poll on the public, “only 20 percent still think America is a melting pot” (Morganthau and Wolfberg, par.4). As more Americans push away immigrants and create stereotypes against said immigrants, America continues to lose its title as a “melting pot.” There is ethnic friction in America and people have begun to have a hard time assimilating (Morganthau and Wolfberg, par.18). .America is beginning to place a negative outlook on its
Immigration can be defined as passing foreigners to a country and making it their permanent residence. Reasons ranging from politics, economy, natural disasters, wish to change ones surroundings and poverty are in the list of the major causes of immigration in both history and today. In untied states, immigration comes with complexities in its demographic nature. A lot of cultural and population growth changes have been witnessed as a result of immigration. In the following paper, I will focus on how immigration helps United States as compared to the mostly held view that it hurts America.
For many years, people from all over the world have come to the United States seeking a better life for themselves, their spouse, their children and even their children's children. However, not every immigrant comes into this country legally and many of these illegal immigrants are poor, uneducated and may be carrying contagious diseases. They may arrive here via human trafficking, smuggling or other methods. There is one thing we know for sure that many of them choose to remain silence when they become victims. The three main reasons they become invisible victims are they are not aware they are victimized, they don't know the right way to ask for help and they are afraid to be fired or even deported.
Illegal immigration has caused a lot of controversy within the United States. The media has influenced our society to make us believe that illegal immigrants are horrible people. One thing that I have learned throughout life is, “Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains (Rousseau 4).” This sums up how society dictates our lives and limits us to what the media wants to us to believe. Whether it is legal or illegal, everybody should be treated equally. Illegal immigrants might always end up with the short end of the stick, but they heavily support the US economy. They contribute by paying taxes every year. In addition, they adopt difficult low wage jobs that are not of interest to the average American.
taken by Americans. But most of the jobs that some of the immigrants take are
Recently the United States has experienced a large number of immigrants coming over to the country within the 2000s. In recent studies, there are about 11.5 million undocumented immigrants in the United States. The undocumented immigrant population has grown 27% between 2000 to 2009. Immigrants from Mexico make up 59% of the undocumented immigrants in the United States. These undocumented immigrants can help the economy and country grow. These undocumented immigrants do have some downside to them, which makes people question do they really help this country. Many people question if this is a good or bad thing for the U.S. economy or the country. Immigrants have helped the U.S. economy out a lot and propose more positives then negatives on
America is traditionally a country of immigrants. Very few people today have relatives who were Native Americans, many of them because of religious persecution, and others because of they were just looking to start a new life on the exciting untouched frontier. For instance, in Florida, the first arrivals were European, beginning with the Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon who explored the land in 1513, following French and Spanish settlement during the 16th century. From the past, America was seen as a country of opportunities. People from all over the world have moved here looking for better opportunities. There are a lot of reasons why immigrants should live in this country, but I would like to mention three of them.
Most Americans place their pride in being apart of a country where a man can start at the bottom and work his way to the top. We also stress the fact that we are “all created equal” with “certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.” (Jefferson 45) During the early 1900s white Americans picked and chose who they saw fit to live in America and become an American. “Those that separate the desirable from the undesirable citizen or neighbor are individual rather than race.”
Illegal immigration was an issue in the past and is a pressing problem in the present. The U.S. Government has been trying to find a resolution to this issue for years. The United States approved the Immigration Reform and Control Act in 1986, which allowed the American Government to punish American companies that consciously employed illegal immigrants (Nadadur 1037-1052). The United States’ Government Immigration Reform and Control Act has been unsuccessful in controlling illegal immigration. It is estimated that illegal immigration into the U.S. has a yearly interval of three hundred fifty thousand people (Rousmaniere 24-25). It is apparent that the 1986 act was not able to keep a handle on illegal immigration. Illegal immigration
Illegal immigrants have always been a problem for the United States. Entering the country illegally can result in deportation back to their native country. The majority of those that enter the country illegally are here to find a better future. As more and more undocumented immigrants pour into this country, stricter laws are being passed which in terms becomes a controversial issue.
The United States has long served as a refuge for people who seek to escape hunger, poverty, torture, and the oppression of the human spirit in their own countries. However, the issue of immigration in the United States has become a political flashpoint since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. The sacralization of the tragedy has served to paint all immigrants with the same fear-ladened brush, and has marginalized and stereotyped an already vulnerable population. Today, more than ever, immigrants in the United States face increasing stressors as they try to assimilate in a politically charged post 9/11 world. To be an effective social worker, immigration issues and multicultural awareness is critical. Mary and Mario, a couple who
For over 300 years, various ethnic, cultural, and social groups have come to this country to seek economic opportunity, reunite with family members, and find a place where they can be free from political and religious persecution. I suspect a majority of American-born citizens believe that immigration is a bad thing in this country that is harmful. Those particular Americans believe that this country is being infested by foreigners who cannot even speak our own language. However, if one were to look at the truth behind these fallacies, he/she would see that immigration is beneficial to our country and should not be abandoned. Instead, it should be increased.