American History - Admission/Application Essay Example

American History Affiliation) Immigration to United s of European individuals enhanced following the Civil War. During 1880s European immigrants were equal to 5.2 million and during the early period of 1900s, the total immigrants increased to 20 million. Among the immigrants, there was a huge population of Irish, Chinese, Jews and people from various parts of the world. The majority of the new immigrants was Catholics and came from Southern and Eastern part of Europe. These individuals came to US with the aim of earning money and then returning to their lands.

The new immigrants were mostly farmers by professionals and they believed they migrated to US to earn money and return back to their countries and purchase land from the money earned in US. Several individuals flocked in United States due to religious, political and racial harassment. Several immigrants joined different markets including: textile, coal and steel mining.Immigrants entered the country through various ways; those who could not afford the first and second class entrance were forced to enter through the immigration processing center located at Ellis Island.

The Ellis Island was responsible for handling immigrants. Immigrants entering through Ellis Island had to undergo strict inspection procedures (Arnold, 2011, p.175). They were asked several questions, and then they were inspected by doctors and nurses. Those who passed the inspection tests were kept in the inspection facility for three to four hours and then allowed to enter the country. There were various immigrants who failed to pass the immigrant inspection tests and they were recognized as criminals, people carrying diseases, and various other reasons.

Various measures were taken by the US government to restrict the increasing number of immigrants in the country. One of such policies was the Immigration act of 1924; the act stated that only 2% of the total number of a country’s population living in United States will be allowed to migrate to US per year. Another major act passed to restrict immigration to US was the Immigration Act of 1965. The act stated that individuals will no longer be allowed to migrate to US on the quota system basis.

The act even stated that individuals will be allowed to migrate to US on the basis of skills and their relation with people already living in United States. The number of visas issued was even restricted to 0.17 million per year.Illegal Aliens are those people who have entered the US and have not been able to fulfill the immigration requirements of US. Increase in number of Illegal Aliens has increased the number of undocumented workers. These workers work at lower wages as they do not have the documents required to work in US.

This situation is being manipulated by employers as they are getting work done on very low wages. Pathway top citizenship is an entire process through which an immigrant can get the recognition of being a US citizen. The rules and regulation stated in the Pathway to Citizenship helps ensure that a good individual who can be productive to US becomes a part of US. These rules even help US avoid people who have not been productive for US and have impacted the country in a very negative manner.Bibliography:Arnold, K. R. (2011).

Anti-immigration in the United States: A historical encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, Calif: Greenwood Press