The Pros and Cons of Immigration in the United States - Essay Example

Running head: IMMIGRATION CONCERNS The Pro's and Con's of Immigration in the United s You're Immigration has become a highly debatable issue in the United States. This is especially true in current times since there have been many security issues and border control problems within the last five years. Many would say that the controversy stems from the threats of terrorism that have been ongoing and some of which have taken place in the last few years. Tightened security at the borders, and increased security measures at other porous locations within the country have been some of the main issues arising from an overwhelming amount of immigration into the United States. This research will show that to some the measures that have been taken are too extreme and immigration is simply a part of life that will occur regardless of how the government attempts to minimize it. For others it will be shown how they feel that immigration has become a looming problem within the country and increases the risk of terrorist activity within America. Overall, my conclusion will demonstrate how the United States has hallmarked itself in the world with invitations to foreigners to enter into our country for better opportunities, and a chance for a higher quality of life, therefore we have only brought the current problems with immigration onto ourselves with no one to blame but our own government. The Pro's and Con's of Immigration in the United States Across the span of time, the outcome of war and conflict has been the vehicle of change for nations and its population. The outcome of regional hostilities directly affects the positive and negative outcomes of established civilizations. Immigration is an element of population change and is defined as the movement of people from one nation to another with the intention of attaining permanent residence during a certain period of time. Immigration is defined as the process of people permanently leaving a nation or region to settle in another for better opportunities, improved life, and to build on their dreams for the future. America has represented itself to other nationalities as a place of peace, hope, and a better life, leaving the invitation open to come and immigrate to this land (Heaney 1977, pg. 15). Therefore, the United States, in reality, has no one to blame but themselves for the escalating problems that are associated with immigration issues today. People immigrate to improve their economic situations, avoid political or religious persecution, or as a result of war displacement. According to the Department of Immigration and Naturalization Services personnel, "American immigration patterns indicate that approximately twenty percent of all immigrants to the United States relocated as a result of war displacement"(Artingstall 2003). In past times, there were three major groups of people that migrated to the United States between 1950 and 2000; the Jews after WWII, the Asians after the Korean Conflict and the Vietnamese after the Vietnam War. Although, recent immigration continues to occur and increase the population of America, the above three armed conflicts have brought new immigration policy changes and the largest amount of immigration movement since 1945. Even so, more recently the immigration problem has been with Hispanics crossing over illegally and also due to the conflict in the Middle East which has brought many Arabs migrating to the United States, enlarging the threat of terrorism in many people's minds. It would seem that every time a war or conflict takes place it has brought about vast changes for the United States. For example, World War II brought about a vast population of people migrating from Europe to the United States. Although, the United States was spared the physical land damages other countries had experienced during the war, many major changes were occurring in cities across our nation. The construction of new factories, military bases and housing created an American migration that numbered in the millions. Adaptive changes emulating from the war affected politics, education, social relations and economic status. Many theorists and politicians as well feel that this must be what has created the major waves of immigration in the most recent years. Nevertheless, this has all posed hardship for the citizens of the country in many ways. Even though major employment opportunities arose due to the development of shipyards and other industrialized complexes around the United States, for many years now there has been an ongoing problem of housing shortages and even more recently job opportunities for the escalating population due to immigration. To explain more clearly, through the years, specifically since WWI and WWII, the influx of people has often overwhelmed communities creating massive housing shortages, overcrowded schools and overworked public services. Also, in current times, due to the massive immigration that has been ongoing, it has created civil unrest through discrimination of minorities, the female work force, and also with issues of mistrust due to terrorism. These changes that have been created through the wartime effect have been long lasting, and this is the case even now, even after defense-related factories from decades past have been shut down. "The population has remained during the immediate post-war years from the past" (Hartmann 2003). Although the United States has been shaped by successive waves of immigrants, Americans have often viewed immigration as a problem. Established Americans often look down on new immigrants. The cultural habits of immigration are frequently targets of criticism, especially when the new arrivals come from a different country than those in the established community. Despite such tensions, economic needs have always forced Americans to seek immigrants as laborers and settlers. Economic opportunities have beckoned foreigners. The vast majority of immigrants to use the United States have come in search of jobs and the chance to create a better life for themselves and their families. In all of American history, less than 10 percent of immigrants have come for political or religious reasons. Furthermore, many policies have come into being to try and control the issues that immigration causes. These of course have changed throughout the years but one of the more long standing and defined has been turned to more than once in this new millennium, with few changes taking place with it. The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 is what are being referred to here. Again, there have been some changes to the view-points of it and amendments have been carried out but all in all it means what it has implied all of these years. Of course there are even newer policies that are more influential than this Act but this is bearing a lot of truth to the matters currently. The major provisions of the reform are summed up with: Those who should get in, get in: those who should be kept out: and those who should not be will be required to leave. Highlights of the reform measure include greater physical barriers and enforcement, facilitated deportation, increased criminal penalties for fraud and smuggling and tougher legal procedures for violators (Artingstall 2003). I highly agree with this type of amendment and it has been reinforced even now to try and quell the overwhelming amount of immigrants trying to gain residence in the United States. A country can only hold so many people and with threats of terrorism on the rise and people highly concerned with how the United States government is handling the current situation, something must be done to try and bring back more control, specifically with illegal entry and over population. As was stated, the various immigration laws have changed over the years and a brief look in this following paragraph can define how this has taken shape up to more recent times. Most of the laws relating to immigration were enacted by the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952. The Refugee Relief Act of 1953 made an additional allocation of places for the victims of war and disaster. The 1965 amendments to the Immigration and Nationality Act abolished the national-origin quotas and established an annual limitation of 170,000 visas for immigrants from eastern hemisphere countries (Rumbaut 1994, pg. 583). Another law, effective in 1968, provided for an annual limit of 120,000 immigrants from the western hemisphere, with visas available on a first-come, first-served basis. In 1977 an amendment to the Immigration and Nationality Act changed the quota to 290,000 immigrants worldwide, with a maximum of 20,000 for any particular country, thus abolishing separate limitations for each hemisphere. At the same time, a system was set up for western hemisphere immigrants, giving preference to those who are related to U.S. citizens or permanent resident aliens and to workers whose skills were needed in the U.S. The Refugee Act of 1980 reduced the worldwide quota to 270,000 persons, while retaining the preference system. Spouses, children, and parents of U.S. citizens are exempt from limitation, as are certain categories of special immigrants. In 1992 alone about 700,000 newcomers were accepted in the United States (Rumbaut 1994, pg. 585). Of course this shows that the United States has been welcoming of immigrants for many, many years. However, this has given rise to the current over-loading population and even environmental issues that are ongoing as well. More importantly there are too many people seeping into the country through porous areas in the border which is a reason for heightened security measures at these locations. Regardless, it does not change the many worries and concerns that people have due to the fact of how many immigrants legally and illegally are living in the country now. As was said, these issue affect many ways of life for the American people, and as a researcher myself, studying the affects of this, I have to agree that the problems are indeed enormous with no easy solutions. You can't put a bandaid on something like this and expect a country to go on thriving. The threats of terrorism and other sociological problems are too big and adverse to look away from. Despite our long history of immigration and constant population flux, many Americans believe that it is time to curtail immigration to the U.S. The increase in foreign born citizens is too large to ignore. Immigration generates 39 percent of the total population growth (Heaney 1977, pg. 15). Due to this increase, many Americans are becoming uneasy about new immigrants to the U.S. To validate this claim, recent polls have verified that Americans are viewing some of the population growth in a negative light therefore favoring a reduction (70% of people) of immigration. The largest cause for concern for most Americans appears to be the problem of illegal immigration. This has a lot to do with how they feel threatened and unsafe and therefore many trust issues come into play. Not only worries like this but Americans blame immigration for their being lack of employment as well. Illegal immigration has become the scapegoat for increased unemployment. Almost two-thirds of Americans believe that "new immigrants joining the labor force drive down the wages" (Rumbaut 2003, pg. 586). However, entry of new immigrants has been shown to increase native wages, sustain the pace of economic growth, and revive some declining sectors. (Rumbaut 2003, pg. 615) Those most likely to benefit from this situation are also those most supportive of more restrictive measures. Higher than average support for a "zero immigration" policy was expressed by those without a high school diploma and incomes below $15,000 per year which does say something about who is for and against immigration and their mentality levels as well. Also, curiously enough, the highest level of support for tougher measures against illegal aliens came from Midwesterners at a profound 85%. Another popular misconception is that immigrants consume a disproportionate amount of social services. The difference in percentages consumed by natives and immigrants was less than 1% and immigrants actually generated a surplus of $25 to $30 billion (Rumbaut 2003, pg. 617). Despite evidence to the contrary, many Americans still believe immigration to be harmful. It is understandable why they feel this way as it seems like the situation is becoming worse and uncontrollable with every year that passes. There have to be limits regardless if there are positive attributes stemming from immigration in some people's minds or not. On a more personal note, I am two sided on immigration and the current laws. I believe many Americans feel this way and there are numerous reasons for these feelings, some already having been mentioned and discussed. I do believe that people are pieced together by their experiences. I also feel that The United States is like a person in that way. Every single person who has lived in America has added his or her patch to the red, white, and blue quilt. Each patch is a story. Without one patch the entire quilt would be different. The contributions to the quilt by the early immigrants are very important to the history of America. The immigrants had drastic affects on the United States and the United States in return, had extreme influences on the immigrants. There always exists a cause and affect in every action by a person and in this case in every action by a country. I do believe the research has been verifying and validating this sentiment. Immigration has changed and continues to alter the United States in many ways. It is undeniable that through history a person can see, dating back all the way to 1850, America was bombarded with immigrants from every corner of the world. People trying to escape hardships in their home country, looked to America as the answer as they still do today. However, with them they have brought many things to add to America such as, tradition, religion, but most of all, a piece of their home. America thrives on diverseness and unity. Through this knowledge, diversity was created and intolerance was born. Not to say these things did not exist in the United States before the immigrants, it did, but it grew more vicious and spread like a plague throughout America. Though there are many worries with immigration and immigrants, and high issues of mistrust of immigrants that are now of Arab ethnicity there are many things that have to be looked at as well. Immigrants have created industrialization and have caused it to become a major part of the US. We needed workers and they needed work. Industrialization skyrocketed in the United States 20 years ago, due to the massive immigration rate. With more and more workers pouring in, towns became cities and cities became bigger cities. Many look at this in positive ways and others in negative ways. The main negativity is in the idea that over population has caused everything to decline in quality. In some ways it has and in some ways it has brought improvements. It must be remembered that with every action there is a consequence, sometimes negative and sometimes positive, and even at times both. On the other hand, America has taken a toll on the newcomers. Everything is so new and fresh to them. Different lifestyles, beliefs, opinions, and "the American way" of this and that, all have been thrown at the immigrants for decades. Many have tried to dodge these things and hold strong how they were raised to live and what to believe. Others have found it easier to mold to everything around them. As time has passed, the things they thought to be important at one time have become less important to them. So not only does America feel repercussions but those who come to this country do as well. While immigration has played an important role in the building and formation of America, new federal laws have resulted in mass immigration. America was primarily founded on immigrants, however, immigration must be controlled legally, and immigrants should be treated equally despite what country they come from. America has the most liberal laws towards immigrants than any other country (Artingstall 2003). As I brought into this research earlier, Congress has enacted laws and has had to amend them to control the flow of both legal and illegal migration to the United States. This has been done to try and safeguard the safety of the American people and ensure that legal means are used to allow for immigration into the country. As I personally stated, these are issues of pertinence to the body of the country itself. To bring finality to this research, since the founding of the U.S. more than 200 years ago, people have come here from every country on earth. Whether it be escaping an oppressive government, or just to find a general better way of life, people immigrate to the United States. Some people say that when an immigrant comes here, they are not used to our way of life, and therefore throw off our way of life and economy. They say that they cause more harm to the stable, tax-paying citizens of the U.S. then they do good. I disagree with these people for a few reasons. Although immigrants may cause a few problems, and might not want to immediately comply with our standards and laws, most in time do. Except for a few short-term problems, such as not paying their taxes, drawing on welfare, and increasing an already crowded society, immigrants eventually do more good for our society and economy than bad. The benefits gained by a rational super-power country, by allowing entrance from all parts of the world is so great that it overrides any harm done by a small percentage of the others. The sign in New York still says "Give us your poor, your tired, your huddled masses, yearning to be free." To hold the freedom for just us would be greedy. I do agree with this wholeheartedly but at the same time there has to be a limit as I have pointed out in this body of literature. I doubt anyone would disagree with this type of philosophy either. Furthermore, I believe that my country, America, has brought many parts of the world together but then many remaining parts are still segregated by intolerance due to recent life altering events in our country and in the Middle East as well. However, everyone can understand prejudice and hatred because everyone in the US, at one point in time or another has both been a hater and the hated. One type of person didn't like another, then, that person didn't like another. It is a type of never ending cycle, which still exists today. It will always exist because diversity will always exist. All in all, with the good follows the bad and with the bad follows the good. These people (immigrants) came to America searching for something they didn't have. It could have been happiness, success, love, anything, whether or not they truly found what they were in search for, may never be answered. We can only hope that all the hardships they have endured and continue to endure have not been purposeless. Americans must also come to a complete understanding instead of living in mistrust and bitterness as immigration continues to grow. The reason being is that through the past to the present, immigrants were and continue to make up a large portion of the quilt that defines the United States and everything that it stands for. A land of free and brave people with equality and justice remaining. References Artingstall, Kathryn. (2003). Historical Changes: U.S. Immigration Policy. Retrieved 07 August, 2006 from the World Wide Web: http://www.fairus.org/html/03204604/html Hartman, Edward. (2003). National History: Immigration. Retrieved 07 August, 2006 from the World Wide Web: http://www.thehistorynet.com/nationalhistoryday/03_educators/2000/Richmond.html Heaney, Liz. (1977). Immigration through Time. Arkansas: New Leaf Press. Rumbaut, Reuben. (1994). Origins and Destinies: Immigration to the United States since WWII. Journal of Sociological Reform 9, 583-621. Read More