The debate on immigrants in the US has always been a controversial despite the fact that this influx of immigrants to the country is not a new phenomenon. However, we cannot also ignore the fact that compared to other major industrialized nations across the world, the US has always seen a higher number if not an incessant influx of immigrant each year. None of these countries can match the US’s severity of illegal immigration. During the industrialization era, the bulk of immigrants to US came from Europe in search of a new start. In the 1960s, the source of immigrants changed to the third world countries of Asia and Latin America. Since then the US has always been a great hub for immigrants and today the US has over 50 million illegal immigrants constituting to about 15% of the country’s population (Byk, 2017).
With all this and the fact that I live in South Florida, I cannot help but ask myself the question whether ‘Third World Immigration is a Threat to Americas Way of Life’. Going by our coursework and everything happening around us such as the ‘Trump Wall’ I notice how immigration play its hand in the economic, political and social aspects of the US. Indeed some of these immigrants are nothing but the basic product of the US, a society prized as the land of the free folk and ‘land of opportunity’. According to Isbister, some of these immigrants have come from as far as Chile in South America, fleeing from crime and poverty to the US to make a new start. On the other side of the coin there those of us that see immigrant as threat the US who may take away jobs from American workers, are a fiscal burden or break down the country into several different cultural units threatening the country’s social fiber (1996). Personally, I am from the class that third world immigration does not pose any significant threat to the America’s Way of Life. In fact, I would have to agree with Isbister on this issue
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
According to Isbister, immigration brings along a positive impact on the cultural aspect of the American society (Isbister, 1996). He expounds this by arguing that Americans stand to gain a lot by belonging to a more culturally diverse community and that any animosity or tension among diverse cultural and racial groups can be eased. Going by what I have learned from other courses as well is that diversity intelligence or accepting that the differences in cultures and belief is what helps foster relations and decrease tension among different ethnic groups. In fact, at such heights of cultural competency or understanding different ethnic groups have been found to function even much better than their previous state when they only considered their cultures and beliefs. With better understanding of other people’s culture and belief, people become more open-minded to the fact that there are many other ways of life.
Contrary to what a section of Americans believe that immigration hurts the economy, immigration actually fuels it. According to a 2013 report from the Migration Policy Institute, it was found that immigration “unambiguously improves employment, productivity, and income.” This is so when an economy is growing. Also, immigrants hold no threat to the native employment rates in overall (Kelly, 2013). In agreement to this, Isbister also explains how immigration has insignificant effect on the job opportunities and wages of natives. Another fallacy held by anti-immigration supporters revolves around immigrant being a fiscal burden i.e. immigration expounds the money needed to support a bigger population. Actually, the opposite is true, immigrants helps create a new population which brings up new business opportunities. The US being a heavy commercialized country, these new arrivals will provide a demand for food, rental houses spending money within the economy. As such small businesses will grow consequently spurring growth.
Concerning the issue of immigrants breaking up the American society into smaller separate units, I believe this to be ridiculous. In my opinion, the only reason why some people allude to this is out of their ignorance of other people’s cultures and feel threatened by the differences. Up to this fact, Isbister summed it up when he said that “The essence of American life is that it is composed of different groups, different cultures, races, religions, attitudes, folkways and ideologies, differences that give the country its distinctiveness.” (Kelly, 2013). To this effect, I believe that the current Third World immigration to the US is a good thing as it makes the country less globally isolated. Immigration also encourage multilingualism. This immigration has enabled about 70% of America’s population which rare travel outside the country to remain in a familiar cultural environment in the event that they happen to visit a different country.
In conclusion, it is my belief that Third World immigration to the US does not in any way threaten the American way of life. To the contrary it enriches it. In fact, going by the history of the US, it is immigration which brought a big majority of Americans to this land endowing the nation with cultural diversity and different talents from different sections of the world even perhaps what catapulted the nation to being the greatest in the world. It is the very foundation of the US. Instead of viewing third world immigration as a threat, we should look of the opportunities that comes with immigration and take advantage of that for the good of every person in the United States of America.
References
Byk, J (2017). 5 Facts about Illegal Immigration in America. Retrieved from http://www.bykadvertising.com/5-facts-about-illegal-immigration-in-america/?keyword=&gclid=Cj0KCQiA6enQBRDUARIsAGs1YQiZ_-sDJcCttPLYWVFLLS8iV52mIzr82L5emCCQmPacA7q12nzZiYMaAlIkEALw_wcB
Isbister, J (1996). The Immigration Debate: Remaking America . Kumarian Press
Kelly, N (2013). Seven Surprising Ways Immigration Helps Build a Stronger America. Retrieved from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/nataly-kelly/immigration-benefits_b_2523562.html
