The American Dream Essay

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The Land of Empty Promises The New World: a land of promise and aspirations. America: land of the free and home of the brave. The United States of America: a place filled with opportunities for everyone. When the country was still young, foreigners looked upon America as a utopia for the world. At one point in time it was that utopia, but over the years so many adverse rules and biased beliefs have built up that America is no longer a welcoming place for everyone. This is especially true for immigrants. No longer are they the huddled masses yearning for freedom that we praise from the past, but now their fight for liberty has been forgotten and our country has failed to welcome them. The American Dream is widely unachievable for immigrants …show more content…

Studies done by the Migration Policy Institute reveal that as of 2011 there were 40.4 million immigrants living in America. Of that population, 29% of them were Mexican, amounting to 18.8 million people. This population accounts for all foreign born people who have entered the United States since before 1990. Within the immigrant population in 2011, 48% of them claimed to be European or white, 8% black, 25% Asian, and 16% as other (Britz). These numbers alone show the great diversity in the demographic breakdown of our nation. We need to acknowledge, however, that not all immigrants are living legally in the United States. Of the 40.4 million immigrants in 2011, 11.5 million of them were staying illegally; 59%, 8.9 million, of illegal aliens came from Mexico and other countries in the Western Hemisphere, excluding South America …show more content…

Up until 2008 the Mexican immigration rate was very high, but the economic crisis in America caused a significant drop in immigration. That rate has slowly been returning to normal. Mexicans live primarily in California and Texas as well as other areas of the West (Britz). These areas are more populated due to the proximity with their native country. As pictured in the chart above from Pew Research Center, Mexicans have a lower naturalization rate than other countries- half that of legal immigrants from all other countries put together. Unfortunately, 64% percent of Mexican immigrants have not naturalized, meaning they are not citizens (Gonzalez-Barrera). There are many general reasons why aliens have not yet naturalized, but specific to Mexicans is the lack of knowledge regarding dual citizenship. Mexico did not allow dual citizenship until the 1990s, and those Mexicans oblivious to the change in the law chose not to naturalize because they did not want to lose their Mexican citizenship

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