According to Orrenius (2001), about a half a century immediately after the annexation of Texas in the year 1845, the immigration flow was merely a trickle. Around the 1890s, there was the emergence of industries throughout the US particularly in the agriculture and mining sector which attracted the Mexican migrant laborers (Gallegos, 2004). The research found out that the Mexican Revolution experienced between the years 1910 and 1920 led to an increased immigration flow (Cornelius, 1989). Around the year the 1950s there was a massive influx of the Mexicans moving into the US at an unprecedented rate. During this period, about 300,000 legal immigrants entered the US which was reported to have made up about 12 percent of the immigration flow. According to Orrenius (2001), illegal immigration from Mexico rose up significantly after 1960 as a result of the abrupt termination of the bracero guest-worker program which led to the immigration of about 5 million Mexican-born farm laborers to the US between the years 1942 and 1964 (Orrenius, 2001). Later, between the years 1980 and 1990 studies established that the cross-border movement because tidal. Further, approximately 12 to 20 million illegal aliens had migrated to the US by the year 2009 (Hanson & Spilimbergo, 1996). Based on a report that was prepared and compiled by the Center for Immigration, the trends became moderate in the mid to late 2007. In addition to this The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) further established that despite the growth in the total number of aliens in the US by 303 million between 2000 and 20007, the rates declined rapidly by about 180,000 within the following twelve months (Hanson & Spilimbergo, 1996).
In the year 2004, the US was comprised of about 35 million immigrants who were born in the US, and among them, about 13 million had acquired US citizenship. In 1960, the US foreign-born population was approximately 5.4 percent of the entire population and rose rapidly to about 11.5 percent at the end of the year 2002. Around 1960, the population further increased from about 3.3 million to about 7 million in 1980 and further to about 9 million around the 1990s (Avila-Saavedra, 2011). Based on the US Census, it was shown that the Latino population rose by 29.4 million between the year 1966 and 2006 which further was reported to have accounted for 30 percent raising the total number of the Latinos to about 44 million (Rhodes & Cullen, 2003). The groups with the highest representation in the US are the Mexicans at 63.9%, Puerto Ricans at 9.1. %, Cubans with 3.5%, Salvadorans 3%, Dominicans with about 2.7%, Guatemalans at 1.9% and Colombians 1.7% (Avila-Saavedra, 2011).
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Despite the fact that a majority of white Americans are willing to recognize the social strengths of the Asians, cultural invasion fears that surround Latinos have been a significant barrier. According to Avila-Saavedra (2011), even with their fast growth, Asians only forms about 3 percent, and Hispanics numbers rose from 14.6 to approximately 22 million between 1980 and 1990 or 9 percent of the population. Consequently, there is the evidence suggesting that most Latin American immigrants may be a source of strength concerning family values. According to Orrenius (2001), there are Latino groups that have further brought massive social problems to the US which has impacted the US culture. For instance, with the Mariel boatlift from Cuba, Castro made the decision to empty the jails and the insane asylum seekers that were released thereafter, were the reason for increased rates of crimes in the US. According to Avila-Saavedra (2011), most of the war-hardened immigrants entering the US from El Salvador and other unstable Central American states have been shown to contribute to increased crime rates in the US. Last years, more than half of the entire population that was arrested in the Los Angeles riot comprised of the Latinos.
The current picture of the US has shown a changed society from what used to be. The immigrants have brought with them diverse cultures that have massive eroded the way of life and morals held for a very long time by the Americans. According to Avila-Saavedra (2011), the European heritage that defines the American Society, for instance, has been significantly downplayed, and many multiculturalists have come out openly describing the European tradition as highly hegemonic, racist and classist in addition to highly oppressive society (Rhodes & Cullen, 2003). All these factors have distanced the American society from what used to be considered as the building blocks of the country. This has created room for the Latinos and other immigrations to parade their cultures and way of life and integrate them into the culture of the Americans. In the olden days, the immigrants such as Latinos had the motivation of being assimilated into the American culture, but this has drastically changed where the Latinos have retained their culture and practiced them in the US. According to Avila-Saavedra (2011), Spanish has gained the foothold in the US especially in Florida, and the immigrants do not see the need of adopting English as the language of communication. There is currently the need to have bilingual police officers who can communicate effectively in the US and are often well paid than the monolingual police officers. Today, Spanish has become widespread such that it cannot be ignored and knowing Spanish has turned out to be a necessity and not a choice.
For decades, the conservatives have remained widely divided on the argument revolving around the Immigrant question. On the one hand, the proponents of the free-market believe that there is the need to have an open border since the immigrants are the primary source of affordable labour and further can be harnessed to increase massive wealth. However, the traditional right-wing Republicans explicitly represented what could be seen as an older nativist position (Fragomen, 1997). They emphatically rejected any benefits that the economic might gain from the immigrants and looked upon the foreigners as having frail cultural values. The same conservative groups forced for the introduction of a plank within the Republican platforms while at the same time calling for the development of vital structures to enhance the southern border strength. According to Avila-Saavedra (2011), the issue might not be whether culture and cultural values are essential or their legitimacy, but whether these foreigners are a threat to the cultural values. Questions have further emerged on the type of ethnic groups in today's America that seem threatening to the US the groups that are trying to promote cultural values. Studies have shown that the idea that non-European immigrants are a threat to the family values and other core American culture are quite puzzling as indicated by most scholars.
Immigration was established to be a primary source of massive social and economic issues throughout the US. Recently, three major areas of concerns have been set including the first one focuses on the immigration impact on the aspect of income equality. According to Orrenius (2001), there has been an intense level of inequality of American income distribution several decades ago as a result of the US economy globalisation. However, it has competed with low-skill immigrant labour from the developing economies explaining why Hispanics oppose further the notion of the Hispanic immigration. According to Avila-Saavedra (2011), the US might have benefited from increased immigration, but those who seem to compete with the immigrants have been hurt so much. In Los Angeles for instance, the Hispanics with their stronger social ties have been shown to displace the blacks from their manual jobs, contributing to the challenges of the troubled black society.
The other major issue is related to the regional concentration of current Hispanic immigrations. As it is known, the 25 million Hispanics are not equally distributed across the US. However, they are concentrated in the Southwest where challenges typically related to the process of the immigrant community’s assimilation have been magnified. The Los Angeles public-school system is today in a breakdown state, as it attempts to educate the massively increasing numbers of the modern day foreigners on a recession-starved budget (Cornelius, 1989).
The other major problem associated with increased level of immigration include bilingualism and the elite Hispanic groups which have been established to have promoted and exist off of it. In cities with increased numbers of the Hispanic populations such as New York and Los Angeles, the concept of bilingual bureaucracy has turned into a huge issue, where it firmly tracks students irrespective of the students and parents wish. According to Avila-Saavedra (2011), there was a recent case of a Hispanic-surnamed child who was born and raised in the US and could only speak English as reported by the New York Times. This child was forced by the particular group of an official in the New York to enroll in English as one of his second language class. This case points toward the direction of how the concept of bilingualism has become a key symptom threatening the US public education causing more problems in the process of assimilation.
For a long time, the US has been trying to build on its liberal belief and at the same time enhance individual freedom, but this is no longer the case as a result of massive immigration the country has witnessed which has negatively impacted the American Dream. According to Avila-Saavedra (2011), the US has massively inspired million of the immigrants to pursue their American Dream, but no significant achievement has been experienced. The country has become dissimilar in their efforts to assimilate and integrate the diverse cultures into a single and influential group. The American Dream has been derailed and diverted from the right course by the immigrants. All efforts have been turned to addressing the immigration challenges rather than achieving the American Dream. The Latino, for instance, has been highly dynamic shaping the Americans culture, identity and the entire society.
According to most the Americans, the US official illegal immigrants is a dangerous concept to the economy and the American dream and culture hence the need to stop it immediately. According to Cornelius (1989), the supporters of the immigration reform argues that these immigrants have significantly impacted the US wages and the labour standards because, in most instances, they are more than willing to work in harsh environment and earn lower wages (Hanson & Spilimbergo, 1996). Therefore, there was the need for a policy that will help reduce the number of illegal immigrants which will then influence wages and the conditions positively for working. According to Orrenius (2001), illegal immigrants have been associated with increased rates of unemployment for the American citizens because the aliens are willing to work at lower wages and this further worsens the living standards of the working class Americans. Based on this, a comprehensive immigration reform policy would deal with the criminals who had broken the law by illegally entering the US and exploit the economy at the expense of the American citizens. According to Spotts, (2001), this will create jobs for the American who were unemployed and will further improve the working and living conditions.
The increasing complaints by the opponents of the illegal immigrants reinforce the urgency to implement the immigration reform to improve wages and labour standards (Gallegos, 2004). The policy will thus offer employment protection law that will be focused on all the undocumented immigrants. It will be directed to employers who continuously employ the cheap employees supplied by illegal immigrants. Employers would continue to support workers who are unprotected by the law and offer poor working conditions and low salaries (Fragomen, 1997). The policy will, on the other hand, protect the immigrants who might have entered the US legally from exploitation by these companies. The majority of the illegal immigrants enter the US without proper documentation and background information hence poses a threat of infecting the US population with Polio and tuberculosis. The diseases can rapidly spread causing massive problems among the US citizens. According to Spotts, (2001), the state further will have to pay for the education of these illegal immigrants and strain the existing social services. They often create an extra burden on the economy stretching the budget further. It has been established the illegal migrants are an enormous economic burden to the economy of US majorly because they do not pay taxes rather they receive government support regarding amenities and education support (Hanson & Spilimbergo, 1996).
On the other hand, immigration has been established to have contributed immensely to the cultural diversification in the US. Immigrants have been shown to bring about time-tested various traditional practices and rich customs from their homes that can significantly inform and uplift the US culture. Eastern wisdom greatly has deepened the US understanding of the aspect of spirituality. According to Cornelius (1989), the Eastern spiritual teaching massively grew in the Americans hearts. Some of the rich cultural practices brought in the US by the immigrants from Asia include yoga, meditation and even qigong. This knowledge has been widely practiced in the gyms, classroom and even in seminars and has enriched the American cultures. The American understanding of the Eastern spirituality has deepened improving the US culture with the full understanding of the religion and faith.
In addition to this, the traditional cuisine has been shown to teach the Americans substantially on the proper diet. Today, throughout through the US, there have been increased new diet trends and fads that have attracted the attention of almost all the Americans. Diverse studies and perspectives related to nutrition from the foreigners have become widespread throughout the US (Gallegos, 2004). Today, the question of what individuals ought to eat has turned out to be very complicated. In Defense of Food, Michael Pollan, one of the renowned food authors clearly explains how reliable answers on healthy eating come from traditional cuisines. The American society has been greatly informed on healthy eating by the presence of immigrants who brought their traditional cuisines to the US. According to Orrenius (2001), the Americans have therefore learned so much from the immigrants, and there are still much more that they ought to continue learning from foreigners regarding our diets.
Immigrant farmers, on the other hand, have come with rich knowledge related to successful organic agriculture. According to Orrenius (2001), in most of the developing countries, agriculture has remained organic by default, and this is because most of the chemical inputs required in the agricultural sector are very expensive and might be readily available. These cultures around the world played a significant role in the preservation of the old techniques adopted for cultivating food. Foreigners in the US associated with the knowledge of organic agriculture are considered the vital asset to the Americans as they attempt to grow cleaner organic foods for sustainability purposes. Typical immigrant farming communities that are established in the US comprises of the Punjabis, Hmong, the Japanese, Mexicans, and Koreans (Cornelius, 1989).
Medical treatments from the majority of the foreigners are considered a significant contribution to the US where they are used to supplement the Americans medical care. According to Orrenius (2001), various cultures globally have unique approaches to treating different forms of illnesses. Most medical approaches introduced into the US from foreign shores are very efficient and have gained wide popularity in American culture. The most critical immigrant medical systems that have been introduced into the US include acupuncture from East Asia, a herbalist from Latin America in addition to Ayurveda from India and they have enriched the American's body of medical knowledge (Hanson & Spilimbergo, 1996).
Evidently, the US has benefited greatly from the massive contribution of the Immigrants which has enriched the American culture through the following principal areas, performing art, science, and other cultural pursuits. However, it is not the fact that the immigrants together and their children lack innovative and creative talents than the native-born. However, their selectivity and marginality tend to push and pull those believed to have the capability into high-risk career paths which often tries as much to reward creative work (Rhodes & Cullen, 2003). The presence of a vast number of skilled foreigners in Hollywood, academia, and even in the high-tech sectors of the economy have pushed most of the US institutions to become meritocratic and open to various innovations.
According to Orrenius (2001), these problems can be tackled with the adoption of specific transformations within the US public policies. In the years 1986, the Congress created the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) that had two distinct facets which are amnesty and enforcement. The immigration policy was passed with the aim of controlling and preventing any form of illegal immigration into the US (Orrenius, 2001). The IRCA offered an amnesty to the immigrants who had completed two primary stipulations which include, resided in the US for the year 1982 or completed about 90 days of the agricultural work between the years 1985 and 1986. In addition to this, it was established that the amnesty gave legal status to a huge number of the illegal immigrants that was approximated to be approximately 3 million immigrants (Cornelius, 1989). In the year 2000, IRCA was further extended through Late Amnesty that saw a massive reapplication by those immigrants that were denied the opportunity. In the same 1986 legislation, there were enforcement provisions that were meant to prevent future illegal immigration (Spotts, 2001). It outlawed the hiring and even harboring of the illegal foreigners. However, studies have shown that the enforcement of the legislation received very few resources to put into effect these regulations.
In conclusion, the central issue that has been raised by the immigration is associated with culture and policy manipulation. The major issues here are not the foreign cultures that have been introduced by the immigrants from the developing countries, but the elite culture of Americans. As a result of the massive negative cultural impact that was caused by the increased number of the immigrants in the US, policymakers saw the need to have a policy reformation that would reduce the problem of the immigrants.
References
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Gallegos, G. A. (2004). Border matters: Redefining the national interest in US-Mexico immigration and trade policy. Cal. L. Rev. , 92 , 1729.
Hanson, G. H., & Spilimbergo, A. (1996). Illegal immigration, border enforcement, and relative wages: Evidence from apprehensions at the US-Mexico border (No. w5592). National Bureau of Economic Research.
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Avila-Saavedra, G. (2011). Ethnic otherness versus cultural assimilation: US Latino comedians and the politics of identity. Mass Communication and Society , 14 (3), 271-291.
Rhodes, K., & Cullen, J. (2003). The American Dream: A Short History of an Idea That Shaped a Nation.
