The United States can be defined by its geographical position or its vast area of land, but in answering the above question, a unique phenomenon has touched my heart as one of the finest terms to describe America; that is immigration. Huge amounts of research have been done on immigration in America but I feel there’s much more to be discovered about the effects of this subject on America. As an immigrant, I choose to contribute my side of the story on how it defines the United States and the great diversity it brought to the country.
Generally, more than fifty percent of the United States is made up of immigrants: The population is made up of people from other countries or whose parents or grandparents are from other countries. The immigrant population is spreading like wild fire in every state and this is bringing great diversity in every aspect of the American society. There’s literally no constitutional law that the government of the United States can put into effect without first considering the effect of such laws on immigrants. Political figures, knowing how fragile the subject is, have used it in many situations to score great points in the public eye and convinced the American people to elect them into power. Immigration is not a modern act; it existed since the discovery of the United States. Christopher Columbus discovered the land in 1942. That is not the end of discovery of America for everybody in the world.
Everyone has the right to discover their America and utilize all the great opportunities the land offers to the human race, and we do this through immigration. Slavery as we all know was a forceful form of immigration where people were bought and brought to the United States to work in the fields. In those days, such immigrants were the most wanted assets in the United States because they were forced and maltreated to produce goods and services which resulted to a major growth in the economy. Thanks to the great work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the slaves were finally freed as President Lincoln declared them to be free and free forever. The question is, if migration is bad for the United States as some Americans claim, why were the slaves not transported back to their home countries after their freedom? The slaves were immigrants just as every other person from Mexico, Africa, Asia, Europe and any part of the world. They were not sent back home because their work was needed to build a better economy for the United States.
The migration of people from almost every country in the world to the United States has great impact on the food, religion, culture, economy and governance of America. In his book, “Immigrants: Your Country Needs Them”, Philippe Legrain pointed out the fear raised by Samuel Huntington, a Harvard professor, when he warned of the risk of a ‘bifurcated America, with two languages, Spanish and English, and two cultures, Anglo-Protestant and Hispanic’ and the potential for a backlash against this: an ‘exclusivist America, once again defined by race and ethnicity and that excludes and or subordinates those who are not white and European. There is no doubt there are different cultures and languages that immigrants have brought with them to their adopted country but to consider it as divisive subvert the main idea behind immigration. People do not migrate to other countries to divide them or to establish their religion in such places. Immigrants are more focused on how to fit better in their new adopted country than trying to make their religions or languages permanent in the area they settled. There is no doubt there is always exchange of culture and language whenever two groups of people from different countries reside in the same area but this does not have any bad effect on the society as Samuel Huntington suggested.
Phillipe Legrain also pointed it out that Americans think immigrants will make them jobless. I do not agree that every immigrant admitted into the United States will replace or fill the next job position that an American would like to occupy. I am sure most Americans, even the unqualified ones will not do some of the dirty jobs that some immigrants do; such as cleaning toilets, collecting rubbish, waiting tables, picking fruits, cleaning, mowing lawns and other low class jobs. Some immigrants rather supplement to the lives of families who need such low class services in order to keep their professional jobs going on well. He also said Americans complain of immigrants putting pressure on the welfare system. I consider this to be a legitimate concern because the United States is not a pile of money; it’s more like a lifeboat, and just as a lifeboat will sink when more and more people get on board, so will the welfare system. However, immigrants tend to be very hard working and do not sit around to be taken care of by the government. Also taking into consideration the huge amount of taxes contributed by the immigrants, the economy will virtually stabilize despite their admission and rather result in a positive growth. I get more emotional with these concerns sometimes as I try to figure out why the United States can import goods from other countries but will not allow the same people who produced the goods to come to the United States and render their service directly to the United States. Does it cost less to import goods than making it yourself? These immigrants are talented in many ways and this contributes tremendously to America’s success in the global market where competition is the major key player.
It is not hard to spot hard working immigrants or descendants of immigrants in both lower and higher levels of organizations in the United States. One important person that shows how significant immigrants are to the United States is President Barrack Obama. In 1959, just after her high school graduation, Ann Dunham, mother of President Obama, moved with her parents to Honolulu, Hawaii. Ann enrolled in the University of Hawaii where she met Barack Obama, father of President Obama, the first African student accepted to the university. Ann and Barack fell in love and were married, despite the misgivings of Barack’s father, who wrote from Kenya that he didn’t approve of the marriage. Ann’s parents were wary at first but soon accepted their son-in-law. On August 4, 1961, Ann and Barack gave birth to President Obama. Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was the president of the Harvard Law Review. He was a community organizer in Chicago before earning his law degree. He worked as a civil rights attorney in Chicago and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. Following an unsuccessful bid for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2000, he ran for United States Senate in 2004. Several events brought him to national attention during the campaign, including his victory in the March 2004 Democratic primary election for the United States Senator from Illinois and his prime-time televised keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in July 2004. Part of his speech read “Tonight is a particular honor for me because, let’s face it, my presence on this stage is pretty unlikely. What’s interesting is how deeply American I feel, considering this exotic background. Some of it is the Midwestern roots of my grandparents, my mother, and the values that they reflect. But some of it is also a deep abiding sense that what is quintessentially American, is all these different threads coming together to make a single quilt. And I feel very much like I’m one of those threads that belong in this quilt, that I’m a product of all these different forces, black, white, Asian, Hispanic, and Native American. That, somehow, all this amalgam is part of who I am, and that’s part of the reason I love this country so much.” Obama’s presidential campaign began in February 2007, and after a close campaign in the 2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries against Hillary Rodham Clinton, he won his party’s nomination. In the 2008 general election, he defeated Republican nominee John McCain and was inaugurated as president on January 20, 2009. Obama is also the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. (Wikipedia)
Obama built his work on determination and his discovery of the United States and used it to reach the highest office in the land. As a son of an immigrant, he was possessed with the zeal to overcome challenges facing people and worked tirelessly to establish such a powerful status quo which was unmatched by the most powerful republican presidential nominee. The American spirit is the belief that everyone can be successful if they work harder and pursue their dreams persistently. This makes Americans very successful in discovering new methods and technologies in every field of life. Such hard work and determination is what drives people from other countries to the United States to make life better for themselves and their family. This American story is made possible because of immigration and no one should be denied access. Most people have a negative view about immigration because of how Mexicans have abused it in coming to the United States, but I think the United States did not play their part well in dealing with the issue with Mexico. Erecting walls to separate two countries is more of a low class treatment of humanity and such actions should not be taken. There should be an immigration reform and proper easy steps laid for the Mexicans to come to the United States. I always say the United States is married to immigration, there’s no such thing called a divorce. Let everyone live freely and chase their American dream.
part 2
In my ongoing discussion of immigration being one unique idea that answers the question, what is America? l will now draw close attention to the differences between the two fragile components of this issue which politicians as well as civilians in the United States find very mind-boggling and hard to talk about. That is legal and illegal immigration:
The United States is one of the few advanced countries in the world that does not effectively control immigration. Large numbers of immigrants continue to enter the United States illegally each year, most of them from Latin America, and most of those from Mexico. Conservative estimates place the number of illegal immigrants residing in the United States at three to four million. Some estimates run as high as ten million. The illegal immigrant population may be increasing by as many as 300,000 people each year. The Center for Immigration Studies in Washington estimates that the pool of illegal Mexican settlers alone currently may be increasing by as many as 250,000 annually.
(qtd. in illegal immigration, current controversies 17).
Immigration is an important engine of growth for America’s population, which has increased more rapidly than the population of any other advanced country. Apart from the legal and illegal immigrants pouring in the United States, their high fertility rate after arrival helped drive the national fertility rate close to what is expected to replace humans to maintain a stable population in the country. I’m not suggesting a blatant disagreement to skeptics of the adverse effects of illegal immigration on the United States because there are of course negative effects of this phenomenon which should be of concern to anyone who love their country. My point is, we should not close our eyes on the positive sides of this issue when judging it. Let’s imagine there are not enough people to reproduce to occupy the country or make up for those who are dead. The country will be weak in labor, it’s army will shrink drastically and any other sector which requires a human input for it’s survival will be facing major problems. As more Americans cut back on their reproductive rate and some even turn to homogenous marriages, it’s obvious the national population will drop if immigrants and their children do not make up the difference to maintain a well populated country. l will not promote illegal immigration but l think it at least has some good impact on the United States by helping to stabilize its population in this instance.
William Barbour states that illegal immigration leads to a foreign underclass in the job market (illegal immigration: current controversies 30). l strongly agree with him on this point because people who do not have proper documentation actually live in a world of fear of detection by authorities and of resultant imprisonment and deportation to their homelands. It is this fear that made such illegal immigrants resort to false identification papers, including social security cards and driver licenses to help them get jobs in order to live. Unfortunately, these helpless immigrants are unscrupulously exploited by some employers in a variety of ways to get their business done at a very cheap cost. The underclass of illegal immigrants also tend to make them vulnerable to serious criminal activity such as drug- smuggling and prostitution on the streets. People always judge these illegal aliens as criminals by nature but l bet some of these people were actually upright and law abiding citizens of their home country before coming to the United States to face situations that change their life from good to bad. What is wrong with allowing people from other nations to migrate to the United States? Based on it’s history, the country is founded on the principle that others have the right to enjoy its fruits as long as they work hard and obey the law. The illegal aliens are obviously hard working individuals trying to find greener pastures and what is left for the United States to make this dream come true is a sensible immigration reform that provides a forum for everybody to achieve their dreams and live by the law.
Legal immigration is a little bit more accepted than illegal immigration in the United States but there are still criticisms against it too. According to Phippe Legrain, most Americans consider immigrants competitors in their work place(immigrants:your country needs them ). l think this competition is fair because it will make workers more committed and very productive. Americans are hard working but just as any human being, people turn to be lazing around at the work place when they feel they are irreplaceable. This competition will keep such people on their toes to give the best shot of their production, knowing there are people as good as them who can easily replace them. It might sound unfair but this is what the economy needs to be stable and out win other challenging economies of the world. We can not rest on our oasis or else our economy will be totally dead and gone one day whiles we sleep our lives away.
Legrain also raises the concern of Americans’ fear of the spread of disease by both legal and illegal immigrants in the United States. l agree with Americans about this concern because people always move with every health problem they have and this can be easily transmitted to other people and hence endangering their life. As part of the immigration procedures, legal immigrants are screened for all kinds of contagious diseases and are admitted standard vaccines required by the department of health for all persons legally changing their status to a permanent residence or a citizen of the United States. This means all legal immigrants in the United States have been cleared in terms of their health but illegal immigrants are left unattended to and this can cause a huge health problem in the environment. l think when it comes to health, it’s good for everybody to be concerned but we must also think of the long term results of our decisions before making them. Many have cried for the denial of Public services such as health care and hospitals for illegal immigrants, forgetting that illegal immigrants reside among us and if they don’t have treatment for whatever contagious disease they have, it will eventually land in our system and can kill us. Of course, many will probably disagree with this assertion because they think illegal immigrants will be a burden to these public services and some critics will say it will then make them not illegal. What about letting them get the care they need for their sickness so that they don’t transmit it to us?
The current immigration debate is intertwined with deeply held values, national security issues, and issues of race and ethnicity in America. Most people concerned with immigration understand that the issues are complex. Finding a solution that is fair, sustainable, and equitable for all involved poses many challenges. One aspect of this issue is that many industries depend upon the contributions made by immigrants, a large number of whom are undocumented. Thus, one significant challenge is to align immigration policy with actual labor practices. Another difficulty is the growing anti-immigrant climate in America. The one thing most people can agree upon is that current immigration policies are broken and the time to fix the situation is long
overdue. Some school of thoughts describe the situation of immigration in America as follows:
Immigration is in the spotlight not because of money but because it so impinges on issues like race, the role of government, national identity and change. One side looks at crime, failing schools and others see America, the greatest nation on earth, built on the backs of immigrants and still benefiting enormously from the brains, energy and determination(not to speak of low wages) of the next generation of newcomers. Right now the debate is more emotional than informed. It’s all temper tantrums and red-hot sound bites(illegal immigration: opposing view points 71).
This means the problem of immigration is just like the air we breath everyday. The Bush administration’s wall on the Mexican border didn’t solve the problem but rather escalated it as more Mexicans now risk their lives to prove that the wall can not separate them from their dream land. Sending more border patrols to protect the border was just waste of money because the amount of Mexicans trying to cross the border is far beyond the security these border patrols can provide. It has also increased drug smuggling because the more difficult they make it to cross the border, the more daring people become and indulge in such black market business which can instantly get them rich or end their life. There are immigration raids across some states to arrest and deport any illegal immigrant but the question is, can this solve the problem? l think America is too scared to solve the problem and those politicians elected and trusted by civilians only go around beating around the bush. Lets face it, can America close it’s borders and totally restrict foreigners from entering the country? The answer is a big no, why? because America needs these foreigners to accomplish very important tasks in the economy.
The closest solution l think America can get to the problem of immigration is to give amnesty to those who are already here illegally and provide clear, easy, and fair paths for others who want to come to the United States. Many will oppose these ideas and l absolutely agree with them but the fact that we live in a world where we have to give something in return to take or get something, this problem of illegal immigration will never be solved no matter how harsh treatments Americans give to illegal immigrants. America needs to act now, its never weakness in the laws, but rather making the smartest move to reach agreement on one of the most controversial issues of all the time.
Works Cited:
William Barbour, Bruno Leone, Bonnie Szumski and Katie de Koster, eds. Illegal immigration: current controversies. San Diego: David L. Bender, 1994. Print.
Phillipe Legrain. Immigrants: Your country needs them. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007. Print.
David Bender, Bruno leone, Charles P. Cozic, eds. Illegal immigration: opposing view points. San Diego:Greenhaven Press, 1997. Print.
