Immigration Discrimination In America Essay

Though a popular definition of immigration is believed to be a process pertaining to, set-up and controlled by a government, it's true denotation is moving into a foreign country with the intent to permanently live there, and when one studies history, the most prominent, influential events were the movement of people into a new land, either due to exploration, seeking refuge, or a number of other situations that `are abundant in history. Yet the majority of the time it has led to destruction and chaos for at least one group involved. This is exemplified well in the colonization of the Americas. As European settlers flooded into the New World, the forefront of their arrival was a tsunami of disease that wiped out up to ninety five percent of

the native population. The percentage that was left was subjected to horrible treatment from these immigrants including murder, rape, pillaging, and discrimination, along with complete suppression of their culture. However, since there was no set “country”, most people do not see much of an issue with what occurred. But by definition, immigrants came in to a country and massacred those who lived there. Since the world is more globalized, and technologically and medically advanced, this example may be a bit outdated, yet the sheer number of events such as this, with a group immigrating to a county and leaving a trail of destruction in their wake, are so commonly found in history that their impact can not be ignored. Further proof can be found in examination of the Crusades, when the Catholics invaded and killed many of the Byzantines, along with those in Muslim countries. Another similar occurrence happened in the 1200s, when the Mongols invaded Russia and Persia and killed thousands of natives. There are also numerous examples where the immigrants did not outright kill everyone, but due to misuse of land and resources, still caused mass extermination of the natives, such as in Indonesia when the Europeans replaced all of the crops with cash crops that led to the natives losing their food supplies and starving to death.
In all of these cases, the immigrants were painted as the villain, which has extended to all immigrants.

This has caused a strong negative connotation to form around the word “immigrant”, especially those that are unauthorized, regardless of whether they are peaceful or violent. It has also greatly increased internalized racism which has not only caused issues with the natives of the countries, but with the immigrants themselves. Many times, these immigrants, who are often refugees, face ridiculous amounts of discrimination, hate, and even genocide. One example, albeit extreme, is the Holocaust. The Jewish people immigrated into Germany, some authorized, some not, but they were faced with racism to an extreme not commonly seen, all due to the German government, and Hitler, being upset about them being in their country, among other things. For a more current example, one could look at our current society, and the treatment of illegal immigrants in the United States. TV personality and self proclaimed politician Donald Trump has vehemently expressed his dislike for illegal immigrants, and has proclaimed he will deport them all if he is elected. These situations provide a different side of the question. Rather than focused on the problems immigrants “create”, it focuses on the problems immigrants face, which is definitely not exaggerated due to the countless issues they

face.