Crossing Borders of the United States - Term Paper Example

?Research Essay on Crossing Borders Introduction Over millions of immigrants are crossing the borders of the United s and other developed countries for the hope of a better life and the opportunities that the nation can provide. This immigration drive inspires these immigrants to adapt into the native culture, as well as breaking the barriers of ethnic division. Europeans, Asians, and Latins are the major ethnicities that drive United State’s immigrant status high, although, those behind the borders of Mexico continue to overrule these statistics. It is no surprise to find that the U.S. population has increased greatly from 1966 to 2006. This increase in population is by and large due to immigrants. Not only has the population increase, the immigration influenced the nation culturally, socially, and politically. The Latinos’ population growth is higher than the population growth in the blacks. That is why the Spanish language has spread all over the country. There are The Spanish language has spread nationwide, and it is the accepted language in the workplace. There are also various Asian languages spoken all over the country. There are also many bilingual and multilingual schools have been established nationwide (Wilkinson 1). 2.A. Interests and Incentives for Immigration Men move from one country to another for various complex reasons. Some of them are forced to move out of their home country due to some serious disagreement or prejudices, while the others willingly move abroad. Whatever be the reasons, the immigrants face various social, cultural and other difficulties in the new nation. Most of the migrants courageously face these difficulties mainly to recover their present economic status, as about all of them likely to move to the more developed nations for better earnings. After globalization, the movement of the labor force has been increased. 2.B. Social status and working condition of the immigrants in the receiver countries Henry in her paper explores that immigrants in the United Nations is socially accepted depending on the international position of their home country. She cited examples that the immigrants from the Northwest European countries are always socially accepted with high status. After globalization, people from Japan are also getting high social status in the country. The social status of China is day by day growing after 1990s due to its economic and armed forces’ strength. Immigrants from the African countries are always been treated with lowest status (Henry, 1). Orrenius and Zavodny in their paper indicates that the immigrants work in more risky jobs in their workplaces that their native counterparts. They found that the immigrants take on more risky ventures in more dangerous industries. They estimated that among 20 million immigrant workers1 and found that 358 more immigrants have died every year than that compared to the mortality of the native workers (Orrenius and Zavodny 16). They found that the foreign workers prefer these jobs due to their lower ability to speak English and have proper education skill. There is also competition among the workers due to continuous inflow of more and more laborers. Another interesting aspect of the working condition of the immigrants is the wage difference with their native counterparts. 2.C.Public Attitudes towards the immigrants The attitude of the country people towards the immigration is of utmost importance due to several reasons. Firstly, these attitudes can drive the government to make or amend policies for the immigrants. And no policy can be implemented properly without public support. For example, because of the public opposition to the ethnic and racial discrimination in the 1960s led to the removal of explicitly discriminatory immigration regulation in US and Canada. Also, the public attitude is day by day reflected in their behavior towards the foreign-born people. This is also of utmost importance because any positive behavior from them can lead to the success and satisfaction in the immigrants. In 1990s onwards the public attitude toward immigrants in US and Canada has been improved a lot. This is mostly due to the relative economic and social stability in these countries. But after September 11, 2001 “Attack on America,” these attitudes have been changed a lot. The terrorists who had been involved into the attack have been entered the country as immigrants or with visitor visas. Therefore, there has been immense anxiety in the public towards the new entrants (Swain 92-95). It is well known that the Muslims are facing many difficulties during their visit in US after the terror attack. 2.D. Importance of the immigrants to the economy of the receiver countries When new immigrants enter, they carry with them an array of social, business, and political links from their nation, as well as preferences for goods used for daily living. These contracts and livelihood habits are often explored by the immigrants when they come from their home country. Therefore, when the immigrants come into the labor force, they automatically contribute to the GDP of the country by earning their money and also by increasing the trade flows among the countries (Partridge 87-88). In the recent years, the immigrants have made vital part to the labor force growth in the OECD countries. This employment growth through international recruitment has been made the process easy. Also it has helped to control the wage level and labor force expansion. For example, the labor force regulation in the construction sector of these countries is highly adorable. Therefore, it can be said that the speedy rise in the migration has contributed to the major controlling of the labor market in the developed countries like United Kingdom, Spain and also United States) (Kerr and Kerr, 2-6). 2.E. Effects of the immigrants on the current economic recession Immigration directly changes the population structure and also that of the labor force. This has an instantly recognizable positive blow on GDP by increasing the size of the economy. Evidences show that immigration has been uplifted America’s economy in all the times. The foreigners come to the country to contribute to the economy becoming wage earners, businessman, consumers etc. However, the economists argue that the recent immigration system and policies in the United States are outdated and not functioning well with the current scenario. Therefore, it becomes more and more difficult for the country to take place and perform well in the marketplace after globalization. In 1990, the Immigration Act formed new scopes for “employment-based immigration, the limited opportunities for immigration within some skills categories and substantial inflexibility for most employment-based immigrants remain two principle ways in which the current immigration system is broken” (Papademetriou, Meissner, Rosenblum and Sumption, 1). The numerical limits are also been introduced that time. After that, there has been no amendment in the policies. Therefore, the immigration system of the country needs an upgradation in its immigration policies. A reform in the immigration system is in high need. To make any such reform, a complete understanding of the migration debate is required. 3. Concluding Remarks This present essay on ‘crossing borders’ has tried to make the people aware about many questions arising about immigration. The theory of migration is, above all, the study of the most active and vulnerable time of the human beings. Moving between the countries is a very difficult decision to make and execute. There are inherent difficulties, different government policies and people on both sides of the countries that make immigration difficult. In almost all the times in the developed countries, the immigrants are sometimes praised but mostly demonized. The attitude towards the immigrants is often become adverse due to the vast illegal immigration in the country every year. This research essay tries to motivate the economists and social scientists to actively contribute on the issues that can help to broaden the immigration debate issue. REFERENCES Henry, Sheila E. “Ethnic identity, nationalism, and international stratification”, Journal of black studies, (1999) 29.3, May 5, 2012 from: http://maxweber.hunter.cuny.edu/pub/eres/SOC217_PIMENTEL/ethnicity-US.pdf Kerr, Sari K. and Kerr, William R. Economic impacts of immigration: a survey, Working Paper no. 09-013, Harvard Business School, 2011, May 5, 2012 from Orrenius, Pia M. and Zavodny, Madeline, Do immigrants work in riskier jobs?, 2009, May 5, 2012 from Partridge, Jamie S., Essays on Immigration, Innovation and Trade (Doctoral Dissertation, University of Saskatchewan), 2008, May 5, 2012 from Papademetriou, Demetrios G. Meissner, Dorris, Rosenblum, Marc R. and Madeline Sumption, Aligning Temporary Immigration Visas with US labor Market needs, Migration Policy Institute, 2009, May 5, 2012 from: http://www.migrationpolicy.org/pubs/Provisional_visas.pdf Swain, Carol M. Debating Immigration. Cambridge: New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007 Wilkinson, Betina Cutaia. Understanding American’s attitudes toward Latino and Asian immigration (Master’s Thesis, Loyola University), 2007, May 5, 2012 from: < http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-04102007-103358/unrestricted/THESIS.pdf > . Read More