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Immigrants first steps on US soil.
Immigration has always been in existence in the United States since the beginning of American History. At the turn of the 20th century immigration has been an issue for the people in this country. The ironic thing is that the majority of the population has evolved from some type of immigrant. In every journal that I was given to read or video to watch it always comes down to the same thing, people have a problem with other people because they are immigrants. I believe people carry a fear when it deals with people that they cannot understand.
After reading the article Why Migration it made me realize that people don’t always migrate to another country for lack of jobs or food. Migrating to another country could be the cause of persecution or no jobs that are available for what the community of people know how to do. The jobs they have always performed their whole life may have just been eliminated or moved to different areas of the world. According to the article it states that countries including Mexico and South Korea had increasing rates of Gross National Product during the 70’s and yet their rate of emigration was the highest. This could be the cause of the jobs they were accustomed to where now residing in the United States or the jobs they once held were lost to industrial machines.
In the 80’s America saw an increase of Salvadorians enter the country. This was not a problem until the war escalated in 1981. Most of the people could not work with the war going on and the chances of death during the war were not ignored as people fled the country. People leave for different reasons some for financial situations, persecution, jobs, and overpopulation. Laos experienced persecution after the Vietnam War. The people were tortured and murdered for their participation in resistance towards the northern Vietnamese.
Americans complain about the existing problem of immigration but they need to look at their own participation in the problem. The wealth of the nation that demands service such as house cleaning, cooks, servers, dish washers, etc. feeds the country of illegal immigrants that will obtain these types of jobs. These are the jobs that the immigrants will fill and keep until they are no longer available. That is one reason why they come, because the people of this country will offer it to them. These are the same people who want them not to come. These jobs don’t require you to know English or demand little reading. The jobs pay little and most don’t offer insurance. For these reasons alone American citizens do not want these types of jobs, leaving the market wide open for the immigrants to acquire. As long as there is some type of living here in the United States there will be invasions of immigrants from around the world.
The Bush administration according to the article set in place a new plan that was supposed to have clotted the immigrant invasion by relocating manufacturing jobs in northern Mexico. They figured the jobs would keep the Mexicans out. This brought an increased population to the northern border from central Mexico and also created more possible fleeing citizens of Mexico into the United States illegally.
Plans to control the invasion of immigrants have failed so far, maybe its time to develop new ideas of dealing with the problem instead of trying to solve it. I personally feel that you cannot stop immigration. I agree with the article The Freeway at the Border. The United States Government can put fences up around the whole country but when people are fighting for their lives they can accomplish anything. The laws and fences will not keep people out.
Over the years immigrants have changed, yes some are still uneducated to the American degree, but some immigrants are educated and once held distinguished jobs. Some of today’s immigrants are wealthy and come here to expand their wallets. Although this is true of some immigrants not all are here for financial reasons. Some immigrants have come to be educated in American schools across the country. I found a quote from the article, which stated “ Education is something that has been made available principally to the elite, Merit plays a relatively important role in how people get ahead. Connections and family are more important. The idea of fair play is not well developed”.
The wealthy or educated immigrants that come set the path for the others who follow them in here, giving them better jobs and better pay. Across the country you can see where storeowners have employees of their own people.
You can start to see the country changes as more and more immigrants have migrated throughout the country. Spanish is heavenly spoken in the southwest and some respectable and highly sought after jobs require that you speak Spanish to become a potential employee. The government has chosen to build work stop stations for illegal immigrants waiting for manual labor jobs. The government has also developed funding plans that include illegal immigrants to be qualified for housing, medical and other benefits. It’s a tug of war, the government wants to keep them out but at the same time it helps them out when they get here illegally or legally.
When immigrants come to America not only do they bring their families they bring their culture. In a poll by CNN they surveyed that 58 percent of Americans felt it was important to blend into American culture. Only 27 percent said it was important to maintain their culture. Culture is what has divided people across the world and it will continue to divide people in this country. Learning to live with each other will be a goal for whoever makes America it’s home. Now will be the perfect time to learn because the invasion of immigrants has always been, and it will continue to be.
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