The United States has a long history of immigration. It is known as the country of opportunity and good fortune, but regrettably not all of its history has been pleasant. Dating all the way back to Columbus who was an immigrant himself. He Landed in America searching for fortune and adventure. As the united stated developed slaves were brought over to help build and form a new society. Followed by the Chinese to help build the railroads. Then the next wave of immigrants was in the 1800 's where more than 12 million immigrants entered the United States through Ellis Island (history.com). Each time the immigrants were unwanted and unwelcome. These newcomers were mistreated, There ethnicities were slandered and the masses created assumptions …show more content…
Americans fear unemployment, crime and cost of education and Medicare. Most Citizens fear that immigrants are taking away jobs and costing them their hard-earned American dollars. This not the case. “The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reported that undocumented immigrants contribute more in taxes than the costs of providing services at the federal level” (Becerra, 2012, p.112). Becerra (2012) discuss how revenues generated by undocumented immigrants is larger than the cost of providing services, because undocumented immigrants do not qualify for federal programs So because undocumented immigrants are ineligible to receive government services, “it is estimated that undocumented immigrants pay an average of $1,800 per household, per year more to Social Security and Medicare than they utilize in services” (Becerra, 2012, p. 122). The resulting data shows that undocumented immigrants actually contribute to the wealth of Social Security and Medicare, not take away from it. They are actually helping in the aid to provide services to current and future
In the U. S today, the approximated population of undocumented immigrants stands at averagely 11 million. Therefore, this has created a hot debate in Congress about the action to take over the undocumented immigrants. Those opposed to illegal immigrants suggest that, their stay in the United States effects U.S citizens on the job market negatively . In addition, illegal immigrants are viewed in certain quarters as takers in the sense that illegal immigrants benefit more from public resources than the american-born citizens of the U.S. However, the reality is that immigrants contribute positively to the U.S economy and pay significantly into the system compared to what they send back home. In addition, the contributions associated with undocumented immigrants involve sustaining the solvency of the SSTF (Social Security Trust Fund). In this sense, the use of cost benefit analysis by those supporting immigration restrictions are unfounded and do not reflect the facts on the ground (Nadadur 1037). The opponents of undocumented immigrants believe that having more undocumented immigrants in the U.S is costly; however, there are no solid reasons to prove that undocumented immigrants are a burden to the treasury. Instead, the undocumented immigrants play an important role in boosting the economy and in particular by taking up jobs those citizens perceive as demeaning because the money they earn goes back to the economy through taxes resulting from consumer spending when they send money back home.
Immigration is a large aspect of American history. In the book Breaking Through by Francisco Jimenez, we are able to see the struggles of one Hispanic boy immigrating to the United States from Mexico. Many of the people in the community that Francisco lived in didn’t really accept Hispanic people. It was really depressing that he would make friends, go over to their house and their parents wouldn’t let him come over again, simply because he was Hispanic. In Diversity Matters the text states, “Unique stresses created by the process of immigration to another country and discrimination faced in the new country can create psychological distress for many immigrants” (Spradlin 126). During this time in America, there was still a lot of discrimination going on not only with Hispanics, but other minority races like African Americans. This really goes to show how far our country has come over the years. There is still a long way to go, but I think that if people are more educated and aware of the discrimination people face on a daily basis they will be more open-minded. The United States is becoming more open to diversity, but first we will look at the struggles of one Hispanic boy growing up here illegally in Breaking Through.
Students in America have been taught about the history of America, about Christopher Columbus had found it and he was detector. Day by day America becomes the biggest, strongest, the most powerful and civility country in the world. Therefore, people want to come to America for a better life. At first, they were very welcome because more immigrants meant cheaper labor. Not for a long time, Americans claimed that immigrants made Americans lost their jobs, for this reason they became resentment, especially Chinese immigrants and they passed through Chinese Exclusion Act 1882 and prohibited entry to Chinese laborers. Americans started to limit immigrants from many countries, they built Angel Island and Ellis Island for this
The United States had an open door policy on immigration from the nations beginning until 1921. During that time, between 1790 and 1920, the population grew by 102 million. That’s about one million new immigrants each year for 130 years. Most of these immigrants were from European countries. In 1921 Congress passed the Quota Act which put a cap of 360,000 new immigrants per year. Congress did this because the public was concerned about the number of new immigrants and how it would affect the country. This act also favored immigrants from England, Germany, France, and Scandinavia over those from Asia, Africa, and southern Europe.
It has been said that immigration is as old as America itself. Immigration traces back as far as the 1500's when the West faced the coming of the Spanish. At that time, the Americas had been settled by the Indians, who were soon threatened by the first immigrants of America. These Spanish conquerors threatened to undermine the culture of the Indians as well as their way of life. Evidently, immigration started from the beginning of our country's time and has had an everlasting effect on America today.
Probably the largest contribution that immigrants given America’s economy - whether they are illegal or legal - is that they spend the money that they earn and put it back into the economy (Davidson). According to Costa, Cooper, and Shierholz, “immigrants’ share of total output was about 14.7 percent over 2009-2011.” This is true even though they make up 13 percent of the total U.S. population, because a majority of immigrants are working age, compared to the diverse ages of the general U.S. population (Costa, Cooper, Shierholz). Another point that is brought up in “An Immigration Stimulus: The Economic Benefits of a Legalization Program” is that if the U.S. legalizes more “illegal” immigrants, they are then able to earn more. When Immigrants are able to earn more, they can then pay more in taxes, and their ability to spend more money to put it back in the economy grows (“An Immigration Stimulus: The Economic Benefits of a Legalization Program”). And on the point of Social Security, illegal immigrants have contributed $15 million a year to the Social Security Trust fund. And while they are contributing such a large amount to Social Security, very few of them are able to get the benefits from it (Davidson). So as a group, they are giving much more into the Social Security system than they are taking out. After taking into account all of
Immigration to a developed country has a lot of problem associated with it. In particular, United States has not been spared of these problems according to many experts (Massey et al. 53). On my view, though there is a positive inclination towards immigration that people tend to overlook. Firstly, there are the cultural differences; many people migrating to this country are from different localities. The ethnical perspective of these people is nearly incompatible. This incompatibility leads to exchange of the aspects of the two cultures hence enrichment of the untied states culture. This is a positive impact to of immigration. If the new people were just visiting and going back to where they came from, then such exchange could not have happened, therefore, after all immigration is not only a negative aspect in ...
Immigration has always been a major part of America. In fact, without immigration the creation of America would not have been possible. The majority of immigrants came to America for religious freedom and economic opportunities. However, for the most part before the 1870’s most immigrants were Protestants from northern and western Europe. These immigrants often migrated to the United States as families and usually lived on farms with family or friends who had already migrated beforehand. A lot of immigrants came to America with a plan or goal in mind. They often had saved up money for the long immigration overseas, were skilled in a certain trade, or had already been educated at a high level. Sadly, this would not last. Immigration became so prominent in America between 1870 and 1900 that the foreign-born population of the United States had almost doubled. A lot of German and Irish Catholics had immigrated in the 1840’s and 1850’s, and more decided to immigrate after the Civil War. A portion of Americans were biased against Catholics. Thankfully, the Irish spoke English and the German Catholics reputation was improved because of their Protestant countrymen’s good reputation. However, their children often lacked any skill or education, but they were able to blend in quite well with the American society. More and more immigrants would migrate to the United States without any skill or education and on top of that they were usually poor. These immigrants were called “new” immigrants and they came from all over the world including Italy, Greece, Poland, Hungary, and Russia. However, you cannot blame immigrants for migrating to America. Many immigrants faced religious persecution in their home countries which pushed them away, otherwi...
First, immigrants come to the U.S. to work and bring valuable skills which help grow the economy despite the negative views surrounding their part in the U.S. economy. Since the 2008-2009 recession the view on immigration and its effects on the economy has been more negative than positive (Peri, 2012). A study done by Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government found that about 50 percent of American adults believe that immigrants burden the country because they, “take jobs, housing, and healthcare”, while the other 50 percent believe that, “immigrants strengthen the country due to their hard work and talents” (Delener & Ventilato, 2008). Over the past decade, “over half of the increase in the U.S. labor force,… was the result of immigration-l...
The United States of America, being a country founded by immigrants, is known all over the world as the land of great opportunities. People from all walks of life travelled across the globe, taking a chance to find a better life for them and their family. Over the years, the population of immigrants has grown immensely, resulting in the currently controversial issue of illegal immigration. Illegal immigrants are the people who have overstayed the time granted on their US, visa or those who have broken the federal law by crossing the border illegally. Matt O’Brien stated in his article “The government thinks that 10.8 million illegal immigrants lived in the country in January 2009, down from a peak of nearly 12 million in 2007.”(Para, 2) While some argue that illegal immigrants burden the United States of America and its economy, others believe that they have become essential and are an important part of the US, economy.
Throughout the early 1800s and up into the 1900s, many ethnic groups immigrated to America, many, in the hopes of living a better life, whether it be by avoiding bloodshed, or avoiding harsh living conditions. Most of these ethnic groups travelled thousands of miles across the oceans to reach America. This magnified image of America being such a wonderful place was dissolved when most ethnic groups that immigrated were faced with hard living conditions, unequal pay, and even racism.
For example, in the 1800’s many individuals in different parts of the world would come to America fleeing land and job shortages, famine, taxes, seeking personal freedom, and even escaping religious prosecution. The U.S was perceived as the land of economic opportunity which is why the immigrants chose The United States. Vast amounts of Immigrants such as the Irish came in the 1800’s. The Irish were escaping a potato famine and looked upon the U.S for a better life. Once the Irish came to America it was a huge controversy because they weren’t skilled workers, brought in Catholicism which was a threat to other religions, and were very poor. Like now, many citizens of the United States that have been immigrated to America for a long time felt that immigrants were a threat because they would take away jobs opportunities from the citizens which is why they disliked them. The opening of Ellis Island is also an example of this. In 1892 the United States opened Ellis Island, an immigration station in New York Harbor that has come to symbolize the multiethnic composition of the country and the blending of many heritages into one American identity.( Preface to "How Does Illegal Immigration Impact America?") Ellis Island was predominantly composed of Europeans who sought illegal immigration for new hope and freedom. The influx of illegal immigrants took a toll on the economy of the United States
“Stephan Goss, chief actuary for the social security Administration, told me that undocumented workers contribute $15 billion a year to Social security through payroll taxes. They only take out $1 billion” (Davidson). Illegal immigrants by coming to the U.S. are helping increase our social security which help provide us with an economically stable and healthy future not only for us but for generations to come. Although they do undeniably use health and education benefits for themselves they are in turn giving us so much more in return, hope for the
The third benefit is our communities can be great again, Immigrants have not influenced our communities at all. Our communities were a lot better without them and America was better without immigrants since the beginning. A total cleansing can bring our citizens closer together and our communities. Immigrant have proven to cause more problems and have killed more people than any disease out there. We all need to rise up in our communities and be so hungry that we all could eat a horse to wipe out the community together.
The United States was built by immigrants. Successive waves of immigrants have kept our country young, enriched our culture and added to our capacity as a nation, enriching our influence in the world. Along with people coming from the out skirts of American, comes with new languages and cultural differences. According to the Pew Research Center, one in every five immigrants in the world