Immigration has become a sensitive issue in numerous countries in the world due to many factors affecting both the immigrants and the host states. The United States of America has been on the center stage of immigration issues as it receives the largest population of immigrants who check in into the country every year. These scores of people are attributed to the social, political, and economic factors as the country is the most developed in the world. This discussion seeks to compare the geographical trends and the impacts of immigration and how the United States government has been responding to tensions partaking to immigration since the year 1880 to the present date.
The history of immigration in the U.S can be traced back to the 16th Century when people started migrating to American land. The first immigrants were Europeans around the year 1600 when they moved in and established permanent settlements in the region. Both the European and British people settled on the East-Coast regions and later Africans came in as imported slaves. The immigration led to the diverse cultures and different races of people presently living in the U.S. Between the year 1850-1930, about five million Germans migrated to the country peaking in the year 1880-1886 when a million Germans established temporary settlements in the Midwest region. As a result of the great famine which had struck numerous parts of the world, many Catholics and Protestants began coming to the United States to seek better living conditions. In1880, thousands of immigrants, relocated to the United States to explore the fertile tracts of land which were suitable for cultivation activities. The mass movement was motivated by steam powered ships which carried thousands of people on a single trip.
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In the 1850s, German Catholic and Irish immigrations were widely opposed by the newly formed American Republican Party, which was formed in the year 1843 in the great New York City. The opposition was based on the fears of extreme Catholic infestation in the state because Catholics were seen as people against the American cultural values. These concerns were based on the fact that Catholics had originated from the Rome Empire and were controlled by the Pope. In the 1880s, American farm owners were pleased with the new set of immigrants from China, Poland, Greece, Russia, and Italy because they were seemingly hard working and offered cheap labor. However; most of them were illiterate and did not speak English. They were mostly poor farmers with a few unique skills. The former highly paid American workers were replaced with the cheap laborers, and this led to a massive movement of people to the U.S in seek of employment. Americans began to protest of unhealthy competition as the new set of immigrants had taken thousands of jobs in several industries. Steel factories, coal mines, meat packaging plants, and lumber camps were full of the native people.
The California political leaders began proposing sanctions to further immigration in particular by the Chinese population which had occupied most parts of the county. They had turned to the local's jobs after they had completed their contracts in building western railroads. In the year 1882, the Californian Congress successfully signed the new immigration law which banned further immigration to the country. The law banned the several brackets of people including alcoholics, physically challenged people, mentally ill people, and anarchists from entering the United States for a period of ten years. “These foreign laborers not only accept lower wages but have pulled the living standards so low that the local community can no longer cope with it,” (Senator Lodge, pg.1). The senator expressed his concern about the situation.
In the year 1889, President Lincoln assigned Carl Schurz as an ambassador to Spain to block the Spanish recognition of the Confederacy in response to possible intervention. This was during the 1st Pan-American Congress. James G. Blaine proposed an establishment of close ties between U.S and her neighboring states. This was an effort to open the Latin American markets to U.S trade. In the year 1924, a new immigration law was enacted following tensions from the local community. There were many reported cases of job interracial tensions and acts of discrimination. The U.S government responded to these pressures by introducing a new policy known as the Open Door Policy, which imposed new restrictions to immigrants. Later in the years, immigrants were subjected to harsh citizenship tests that discouraged them to come to the United States. Immigrants were also purported to cause religious persecutions, and this led to the exclusion of certain religious groups by the U.S government.
Some immigrants to the American land had only come to start new lives for themselves and were initially welcomed by the U.S government. They enjoyed more freedom than the local population. However; after years of working and saving enough fortune, they went back to their native origins with their acquired wealth and taking some American values with them. This trait was strongly condemned by the local population who felt that they were being taken for a ride by the foreigners. “These immigrants were labeled as Birds of Passage, and they had put the Americans' jobs in jeopardy,” (Nancy Foner, pg.1). This was during the period when the National People's Party began protesting against the failed immigration state laws. The party built the foundation for the immigration laws of 1882 and 1924 mentioned earlier. The United States embarked on a gradual change of immigration laws hundreds of years ago and continued to tighten the rope to the present day to protect it’s people from exploitation.
The modern U.S has formed complex immigration laws due to many factors such as terrorism, social relations, and economic constraints. The Immigration and Naturalization Act provides a permanent annual global limit of six hundred and seventy thousand immigrants. The law gives certain exceptions for migrants with close family members in the state. This is aimed to keep a track record of each immigrant in a case of any emergency occurrence involving them. However, there are conflicting opinions between the Congress and the ruling presidents regarding the number of refugee admissions. The Family-Based Immigration Policy favors spouses, parents, and unmarried minor children of U.S citizens. However, the petitioners must meet certain qualifications to apply for their relatives’ U.S citizenship. These criteria include attaining the legal age of twenty-one and meeting the financial requirements. This law has sparked numerous political conflicts resulting in the Congress to introduce a complex system to calculate the number of family preference visas every year.
Recently, Donald Triumph has hit the global headlines in his presidential campaigns by proposing complex and strict immigration policies. In a recent newspaper interview with Ted Cruz and Donald Trump, the contestants expressed their firm stands on the issue of deporting illegal immigrants back to their countries. “We should enforce the immigration law by deporting all illegal immigrants in the U.S. We should build the wall and triple the border patrols. We should also streamline the federal law inquiries to ensure that any illegal immigrant is apprehended and sent packing,” (Ted Cruz, pg.1). These reactions are as a result of a stronger opposition to President Obama's 2013 immigration laws which allows many categories of immigrants to fill every part of the country. “We want foreigners to come to our great nation, but they have to come to our country through legal procedures,” (Donald Trump, pg.1).
References
Foner, N. (2009). Across Generations: Immigrant Families in America . New York: New York University Press. doi:nyupress.org/books/9780814727706/
American Lawmakers React to Massive Immigrants in Late 1800s. (n.d.). Many Things.org . Retrieved April 24, 2016, from http://www.manythings.org/voa/history/136.html
Illegal Immigration. (n.d.). SpringerReference . doi:10.1007/springerreference_308165
Illegal Immigration and Response: 1964-1990. (2011). Mexican Migration to the United States Across Borders, 90-117. doi:10.1002/9781444394962.ch4
L. T. (2016, February 29). Immigration Reform 2016: Where Do Donald Trump, Hilary Clinton, And Other Presidential Candidates Stand? International Business Times . Retrieved April 24, 2016, from http://www.ibtimes.com/immigration-reform-2016-where-do-donald-trump-hillary-clinton-other-presidential-2327381
