Yemen Immigration to the United States - Research Paper Example

Yemen Immigration to the United s Introduction There is no known document stating who or when the first Yemenis entered the U.S. It is in all likelihood that the first Yemenis arrived immediately after the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 (Walker para 10). After more than a decade there appeared records of some Yemenis moving to the U.S., and there were documents revealing that several Yemenis were granted American citizenship by working for the American forces during World War I. Yemeni men have been moving from place to place for centuries to look for employment and provide all the needs of their families in Yemen. By 1890, there were a few Yemenis in America. Some of them worked for the U.S. armed forces during the First World War. After the Second World War, several went to the United States through Vietnam, where it was faster to obtain an American visa (Light & Isralowitz 188). The population of Yemeni in the U.S. grew fast since 1965, when the quota system was removed. Numerous Yemenis have been employed in Californian farms, in Detroit’s auto industry, and New York’s steel factories. Other Yemeni immigrants built businesses. This research paper discusses the history of immigration of Yemenis to the United States and the reason they moved to the American soil. Moving to the United States: The Journey of Yemenis In 1910 a small number of Yemeni seafarers discovered a passageway to Detroit, but the main migration has taken place in the 1950s when the number of males employed in the auto industry increased. They participated in ‘recurrent migration’, which means that they worked in the U.S. or somewhere else for some time, went back to Yemen, and afterward transferred to another country again (Hondagneu-Sotero 247). Numerous kinds of this pattern are observable, but nearly all men were married before moving abroad and left their wives. In recent times they have started to move abroad with their families. Hence, men had formed connections with other Yemeni to help them in getting work, and women who followed transferred into a sub-community which often included their brother or father, and other members of the family. Moreover, the community, composed mostly of unmarried men, was quite separated from several Arab-American organizations (Hondagneu-Sotero 247-248). Migration of Yemenis to the United States started in the 1960s when difficult situations forced a huge number of adult males to look for jobs in other countries in the Middle East and in time in countries further away. Those who looked for jobs in the United States were classified into two: migrant farmers and industrial workers (Hanson 14). After 1975, when the cost of living in Yemen went up and it became even harder to buy property and land there, many more jobless Yemenis relocated in the United States, and their families followed them. Several men created businesses, largely through the difficult and demanding task of managing newsstands or grocery stores; others kept their jobs in factories or agricultural sectors (Hanson 14-15). The number of formally employed Yemeni women in Yemen and the United States is lower compared to men; and, not like an increasing population of women from Central America and Mexico, they practically never make the first move to migrate or travel on their own (Colburn 35). Yemeni immigration patterns were mostly chain migration, where in those who already acquired American citizenship would obtain visas for their families back home. In 1965, with the removal of the quota system for immigration, Yemenis acquired faster ways to get work visas and enter the U.S., resulting in a massive increase in the population of Yemeni settlers in America (Walker para 11). In the period of immigration prior to the 1970s, most Yemeni immigrants were adult men. The geographically scattered groups of migrants from Yemen consist of families from different social and economic backgrounds. Several are very poor; there are those who belong to the middle class, with businesses and properties in Yemen and in the U.S. A large number of early Yemeni settlers originally resided in Palestinian and Lebanese communities in urban areas like New York. After familiarizing themselves to American culture and environment a lot of Yemenis head out for the Western and Midwestern parts, where the pool of workers was quickly increasing (Hanson 22). Employed as factory laborers in Detroit and farm workers in California, numerous Yemeni immigrants and subsequent generations of Yemeni Americans became wealthy in the 1920s; throughout the 1930s’ depression the intensity of Yemeni movement to the U.S. lowered severely but picked up once more in larger numbers after World War II (Walker para 11). A particular path of movement into the U.S. was via Vietnam, where numerous Yemenis had served as workers in piers, stores, and warehouses. Through a weakness in the laws of immigration, a large number of Yemeni settlers who were illiterate in their native language, which was a must for every immigrant moving into the U.S., could avoid laws and hence be allowed to enter (Walker para 11-12). Several Yemenis decided to remain abroad where they acquired citizenship and formal rights. They started their own families in the communities where they chose to live. Yemenis in Detroit reside among a big Arab American population that contains Iraqis, Egyptians, Palestinians, Syrians, and Lebanese, several of whom already migrated in the early 20th century looking for jobs (Swanson para 4). The small community of Yemeni in Lackawanna lives with other low-income Americans. Yemenis in California reside in small settlements all over the San Joaquin Valley. Not like the Yemeni migrants who reside in other states, those in Oakland do not reside in an ethnic housing community, but a large number of them are decided to continue some of their traditional practices (Swanson para 4). They combine these traditions with those of the cultural practices of the United States. Almost all of the Yemeni that moved to the United States were unmarried men from Yemen’s main highlands. Their purpose was to resettle for several years, earn sufficient money, live thriftily, and set aside money to send to their families back home. At times some family members follow them abroad and when they gathered all their savings, a large amount of cash could be sent to their families back home. These people were known as ‘sojourners’, because they would migrate to the U.S. to work for some time, go back to Yemen for brief vacations, and afterward go back to their jobs in the United States (Hondagneu-Sotelo 250). This pattern went on for roughly two decades until the economic recession in the U.S. finally stopped the flow of migrants to the country. The movement to the United States disturbed the extended family more than resettlement in Yemen, because of the huge distance and few Yemeni sub-communities. Women expressed their view that both their main opportunities and challenges are caused by the disturbed family arrangement and practices. They want to see their families again back home, but they already experienced freedom from the family of their husbands, especially from their mothers-in-law (Light & Isralowitz 190). Hence, the liberty to take care of their families independently, to go out in the streets without wearing the veil, and to receive health care and educational opportunities for their children and themselves is appealing. Yemen has a high birth rate, with at least seven children per female. For instance, Yemeni families living in Oakland are often big, with close communication with extended family members. Mentions of ‘aunties’ and ‘cousins’ fill children’s stories of their experiences in the United States, as well as their accounts of big celebrations of birthdays and marriage; several of these families watch television shows in both English and Arabic (Hondagneu-Sotelo 248). Yemeni families in the U.S. have strong bonds to relatives and fellow people in Yemen, with several family members sometimes moving to and fro and at times settling in one or the other location for a number of years. Wealth, strong cross-national family networks, and advanced citizenship make these migrations possible (Colburn 38). Eventually, the Yemenis who worked in the farms and factories retired or stopped working, and their children who were educated in the U.S. started looking for higher paying or more prestigious jobs. And even though numerous have chances to relocate, they decided to remain with their families and with the Arab neighborhoods that took care of their traditions, culture, and religion (Swanson para 5). They prefer to marry Muslims and Arabs and stay in touch with their native soil. It is impressive that although the population of Yemeni Americans is quite few, their experience in the U.S. belongs to the global labor movement that involved North African migrating to Italy and France and Turkish Muslims migrating to Germany (Swanson para 5-6). American history is enriched by the involvement of immigrants and their children who deepen American culture. The population of Yemeni immigrants mostly uses the Arabic language but several other cultural and linguistic groups are also included, such as Ethiopians and Somalis. Religion is a main aspect in the segregation of Yemeni population in sub-communities (Walker para 12-13). Besides differences in religious beliefs, ethnic distinctions serve a vital social function. In spite of the many younger males who resettle elsewhere to find jobs and usually go back with foreign traditions and knowledge, Yemenis preserve a great deal of their cultural legacy. Cultural practices of Yemeni immigrants are preserved to varying levels in the communities wherein they reside (Walker para 12-13). In communities in New York and Detroit much of Yemeni cultural practices can simply be seen and experienced or took part in. There is generally an intense opposition to assimilation and acculturation (Light & Isralowitz 44). Nevertheless, in spite of this opposition a large number of Yemeni in the U.S. take on American values, attitudes, and traditions that operate in complicated ways to change their identities in Yemen and the U.S. Conclusions In conclusion, there are two forces that pushed Yemenis to migrate to the U.S.—the push and pull factors. The push factor implies circumstances that push people to move somewhere else. For the Yemenis, it was the weak performance of Yemen’s economy alongside a high rate of unemployment. On the other hand, the pull factor means the more positive status of the economy somewhere else that encouraged Yemenis to look for jobs abroad. Since the 1960s, jobs were abundant in the agricultural and industrial sectors of the U.S., and Yemenis poured in Detroit to work in factories, in New York to work in steel plants, and in California to work in farms. These are the three major places where Yemeni immigrants live at present (Swanson para 2). The rest has resided in Oakland, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. Works Cited Colburn, Marta. The Republic of Yemen: Development Challenges in the 21st Century. London: CIIR, 2002. Print. Hanson, Gordon. Regulating Low-Skilled Immigration in the United States. Washington, D.C.: Government Institutes, 2010. Print. Hondagneu-Sotelo, Pierrette. Gender and U.S. Immigration: Contemporary Trends. Thousand Oaks, CA: University of California Press, 2003. Print. Light, Ivan Hubert & Richard Isralowitz. Immigrant entrepreneurs and immigrant absorption in the United States and Israel. London: Ashgate, 1997. Print. Swanson, Jon. “About Yemeni Americans.” Middle Eastern American Resources Online, 2009. Web. 25 June 2013. Walker, Drew. “Yemeni Americans.” Countries and their Cultures, 2013. Web. 25 June 2013. Read More