Global Community and Immigration in the United States

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Introduction

With the world as we know it changing so rapidly through mass global movements of people, governments must do their best to protect the welfare and well being of their own country while trying to help others who wish to emigrate to their country.  The United States being the world’s most prominent country and a global superpower, many see it as the land of opportunity - “the land of the free and the home of the brave.”  While this may not always be the case with the United States controversial history, people nonetheless want to be a part of the great American dream.  This large amount of immigration both legal and illegal is only leading to a strain on already overburdened welfare systems and institutions such as schools and hospitals who can barely provide for the native residents.  Immigrant effects and policies must be carefully examined or the figures which are already quite high in a series of areas, will only increase.

Current Demographics for the United States

The United States is always at the centre of some controversy and as it turns out their immigrations policies and the reaction from the general population is as controversial as anything else it lays claim to.  The immigration debate is one that rages in any country, particularly first world countries such as United States, Canada, Australia, regions of Europe who are worried the immigrant population will overrun them and destroy their precious way of life.  As with any debate there is the positives and negatives which will be identified and discussed further on in limited but accurate detail.  

The United States is currently home to 281,421,906 residents according to the 2000 census.  Of this near 300 million people, 30,522,685 are foreign-born, which makes up 11.2% of the overall population.  When put into context like that, the feared immigrant problem doesn’t seem as bad, until one adds another estimated 6,500,000-7,000,000 illegal immigrants.  Over the period from 1991-1998 the Immigration Naturalisation Services (INS) has registered 7,605,068 resident visas to the country.  That is to say, approximately 1 million people a year.  (FAIR archive)

Colonial History of the United States

Settled approximately 1565 in the early stages by countries such as Spain and England the onset of immigrants seemed quite endless after that.  The building of colonies could barely keep up with the population influx.  Of course
Colonial families were generally large, often with 10 to 12 children. At the same time settlers from Europe continued to find homes in the New World.” (Compton) The prominent countries of emigration after that were “Scotland, Ireland, Germany and France.  By 1690 there were about 250,000 people in the 13 colonies.  By 1776, when independence was declared, the population had increased to about 2,500,000.” (Compton)

America was the ‘new country’ with new opportunities.  Up until the 1880’s, “most of the newcomers were from such northwestern European countries as Ireland, Germany, Sweden and Norway.” (ibid)  Then at that time the majority of the one million  “immigrants that were arriving were from southern and eastern Europe--largely Italy, Poland, Greece, and Russia.”  (ibid)  So one could see the shifting European influences that were being had on the United States in one century alone.  Work was readily available in city factories and mostly the living conditions were abhorrent, but this led to strikes and the labor movement later on in order to improve these conditions.  

There was also a large flow of immigrants in the mid and late 18th century and very early 19th century from the England/Ireland region.  This was largely due to the Irish potato famine that had destroyed much of Ireland in 1845 from blight a potato fungus that had ironically enough spread from the United States to the United Kingdom.  A short timeline illustrates the general flow from the United Kingdom.

“First came the people of the British Isles after the downfall of Napoleon, 2000 in 1815 and 35,000 in 1819.  Thereafter the numbers remain about 75,000 yearly, until the Irish famine, when, in 1852, 368,000 immigrants from the British Isles landed on our (their) shores.  They were succeeded by the Germans, largely moved at first by the political events of 1848.  By 1854 a million and a half Teutons, mainly from northern Germany, had settled in America....The Swedes began to come after the Civil War.  Their immigration culminated in 1882 with the influx of about 50,000 in that year.  More recent still are the Italians, beginning with a modest 20,000 in 1876, rising to over 200,000 arrivals in 1888, and constituting an army of 300,000 in the single year of 1907; and accompanying the Italian has come the great horde of Slavs, Huns, and Jews.”  (Zipley)

This brief timeline illustrates the traditional and early influences on the American way of life - but as one can see later, there have been some quite dramatic changes in where the mass of immigrants are coming from.  

During the commercial depression of 1908 much of the immigration came to a halt and there was some considerable emigration back to Europe as a direct result.  It was however no more than breathing space between the previous and ensuring years.  

Social Problems of Immigration

 - Religious Impacts

Religious conflicts are prominently seen in any culture and given the media attention it usually gets, everybody seems to be able to name at least one in recent years that has occurred.  There are sufficient and stable arguments in countries such as Australia and the United States as to why these create social problems.  Perhaps the most prominent argument against the practicing religious beliefs of immigrants is for those cases whereby individuals are penalised by members of other religions because of possible wars or disagreements that have followed them from their originating country.  

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Most argue on this issue that when an immigrant departs from their old country they are usually seeking refuge from persecution or an opportunity for a better life and prosperity - for this to be enabled their conflicts should be colloquially ‘left at home’.  

 - Cultural Impacts

Some say the assimilation process or ‘melting pot’ as the policy is called in the United States is completely ineffective in itself, as most are reluctant to give up their country of origins cultural styles such as religious or living practices.  This can be both a positive and a negative ...

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