The United States of America is the Chief of Immigration. Hundreds of thousands of immigrants arrive here each year. They come for all different reasons; war, teenage gangs, pollution... the list could go on and on. Many years ago, so many immigrants came to America that there was a very low amount of jobs. Most people peddled. Peddlers were people that sold little things, like chocolates, on the streets.
Many people had to live in other peoples' homes and pay rent since so many people bought homes and they filled up. If someone owned a house, they could let someone stay with them for a week for free, then pay rent from then on.
Many people believe that immigrants are taking advantage of their rights to cross our borders. I used to believe that. Some of them are taking advantage. But we did agree to be the Chief of Immigration of the world, and we must remain strong. Most of them come to have a better life, a stronger life, in a country that grew and soon became one of the strongest countries in our world.
I agree that these immigrants may be a scary and angering thought at first, but if you watch this video, I think you will have a tremendous change of heart. I did, and I previously made this article to be against immigrants. Now, I am mending my mistake.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsC5fHwo7lQ
As you will see, Larissa Martinez is valedictorian of her class at the college of McKinney Boyd. She talks about her life as an immigrant and how she survived it.
If you had a change of heart watching this video, like this article and leave a comment!
Dear Reader -
That was written in 2016. In 2019, I wrote another article, so I will be putting that here. Thank you!
-nlsstuff
The year is 1823. You are an immigrant of the phenomenal and monumental United States of America. Everything is peaceful, newcomers have been trickling in slowly. Suddenly, twelve people move into your shared apartment and thirty two more move into the areas around you. What is this burst of people, and what caused it? Immigration patterns show the fluctuations in the amount of immigrants that arrive in a certain time period. All families were immigrants to America at some point. Some are from hundreds of years ago, while others have just recently made the move. Immigration is a topic that has been disputed over for many years, and the patterns of immigration have wavered over time. Throughout the existence of the illustrious nation, the American Dream has played a substantial role in attracting immigrants. The American Dream is a phrase that generally means the idea of success and opportunity in America. It is what drives most immigrants to move. Although the phrase wasn’t actually created until 1931 by James Truslow Adams, it still plays a part in immigration today. But sometimes, the American Dream is a last resort, and other times, it’s a lifeline. Certain events could occur that change immigration patterns significantly. Some of the reasons why immigration patterns have changed over the last 200 years are the famine in Ireland from 1845 to 1852, the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, and the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965.
During 1820 through 1870, America saw a surge of northern and western Europeans. Most of these immigrants were German and Irish. This is because from 1845-1852, Ireland was going through a rough famine, entitled “the Irish Potato Famine,” or “An Gorta Mor.” The name aptly represented the struggle of the infestation of a fungus-like organism destroying a sizeable amount of potato crops, as well as other varying types of crops. Ireland was deprived of approximately two million citizens due to this famine, and an estimated one million of those citizens were refugees. According to the editors of HISTORY, “Although estimates vary, it is believed as many as 1 million Irish men, women and children perished during the Famine, and another 1 million emigrated from the island to escape poverty and starvation, with many landing in various cities throughout North America and Great Britain” (Source 6). America was full of new opportunities and so an influx of Irish immigrants arrived. An estimated one third of all immigrants from 1820-1870 were Irish. Most of them were Catholic, and were disliked by their neighbors because of that. There were even policies prohibiting the Irish Catholics from owning land, leasing land, voting, or serving in an office. These were the Penal Laws, which were mostly repealed by 1829, but their effect on society and government were still felt during the famine. Most Irish Catholics had to work as tenant farmers and were forced to pay rent. Despite the Penal Laws and their impacts on the Irish Catholics, being in America was better than Ireland, where at least a million people had perished due to the famine. America had ways to provide for themselves and their families despite the religious discrimination.
There had been a steady flow of Chinese immigrants since the 1840’s to the 1860’s, when the gold rush and the transcontinental railroad opened new opportunities and attracted the Chinese. There was a lot of economic and racial opposition to the newcomers, and the Chinese laborers becoming successful fed into that. Although only 0.002% of the American population are Chinese immigrants, many Americans blame them for lower wages. Then, the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was passed and all Chinese immigrants were barred from entering the United States. Alan Kraut, a historian of the American University, refers to the time when tensions were high due to lack of laborers and high racial discrimination with five simple words: “America beckons, but Americans repel” (Source 1). Of course, the number of immigrants from Asia dropped significantly until 1943, when the law was repealed. The rates of Asian immigrants have steadily grown since then, reaching almost 40 million people in 2017 (31.2% of all total immigrants that year).
In 1965, the Immigration and Nationality Act was passed, abolishing the previous quota-based system, the National Origins Formula, and switching to a system that favored people who already had family in America and people with skills that employers needed. The National Origins Act passed in 1824 and caused immigration to drop significantly. This is mostly because the quotas called for a mere 3% of the amount of originators of a certain country to be allowed as immigrants. In the span of two years, immigration had dropped by almost 500,000 people. Upon signing the Immigration and Nationality Act, Lyndon B. Johnson said, “[This act] corrects a cruel and enduring wrong in the conduct of the American Nation” (Sources 3 and 7). It’s very possible that he was referring to the fact that the original system favored certain racial and ethnic groups over others. The new act rose the amount of immigrants of Asian and Latin descent, and immigration in the United States overall began to increase. In 1960, there were 9.7 million immigrants in total and in 2017, there were 44.5 million immigrants in total. That’s almost a 360% increase over about 60 years. Since the passing of the Immigration and Nationality Act, the amount of immigrants originating from Europe has dropped and reached a low, steady rate of about 4.8 million every year, only about 10% of the total number of immigrants received every year.
Today, most immigration patterns seem to be just steady trickles from each region of the world, yet in the past, laws and attractions of the United States have changed in ways that increased and decreased immigration over the past 200 years. The famine in Ireland, the labor job opportunities followed by the Chinese Exclusion Act, and the complete flip of the immigration system had and still have effects on the people of America. For example, the majority of immigrants went from being mostly European for a multitude of decades after the creation of the country to being made up of mostly from the Americas and Asia. The majority of citizens can agree that there are still changes to be made, and those may be conducted in the future. At any rate, immigration has never been and will never be a steady pattern.
Sources
“Surges and Slips: Immigration in America over 200 Years.” Newsela, 30 Jan. 2017, newsela.com/read/immigration-primer/id/26265/.
“U.S. Immigration Trends.” Migration Policy Institute, 11 Sept. 2019, www.migrationpolicy.org/programs/data-hub/us-immigration-trends.
History.com Editors. “U.S. Immigration Timeline.” HISTORY, A&E Television Networks, 21 Dec. 2018, www.history.com/topics/immigration/immigration-united-states-timeline.
“Chinese Exclusion Act (1882).” Our Documents, www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&doc=47.
“National Origins Act.” Laws, immigration.laws.com/national-origins-act.
History.com Editors. “Irish Potato Famine.” HISTORY, A&E Television Networks, 17 Oct. 2017, www.history.com/topics/immigration/irish-potato-famine.
Johnson, Lyndon B. “LBJ on Immigration.” LBJ Presidential Library, www.lbjlibrary.org/lyndon-baines-johnson/timeline/lbj-on-immigration.
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