Immigration Essay, Research Paper

An immigrant is commonly defined as a person who leaves one country to settle permanently in another(The American..). Over the years Americans have looked with suspicion on the arrival of immigrants. Many permenant citizens feel that they take from the country rather than offer them new ideas and culture. For centuries, people have come to America as they choose(A nation of …). Today the number of immigrants are causing many problems in America(Branigin). “The number of illegal immigrants residing permanently in the United States has grown to about five million and is rising by 250,000 a year”(Branigin). About 800,000 immigrants enter legally each year and about 200,000 to 300,000 enter illegally and stay here(Branigin). Unlike when immigration first occurred in America the increase of immigrants have had both positive and negative effects on our society.

An immigrants voyage to America was a experience in itself. The long and dreaded voyage left some dead, dying or diseased. “The fear of rejection was intense, as frequently, whole families were held for days, even weeks, while one member was placed under observation in the island’s immense infirmary”(Bodner). If accepted these newly arrived immigrants had to adapt to their new country. Expecting a new life filled with freedom and new opportunities, the life of hardship, discrimination, and poverty that often awaited them was not yet a reality.

From 1892 to 1924, millions of immigrants passed through Ellis Island on their way to a new life in America. ” Virtually every nation that contributed sizable ethnic groups to the United States is represented, including Russia, Germany, Italy France, Belgium, Great Britain, Poland, Romania, Spain, Syria, Turkey, Greece, Palestine, Egypt, and Japan”(Bodner).

“Between 1892 and 1954, 17 million came to America, ancestors of some 100 million of today’s Americans”(A nation of..). “Customs men poked in their bundles and pried open their cardboard suitcases; officials pinned numbers on their jackets; doctors peered into their mouths. Once certified disease-free and not feeble minded they could enter the United States”(A nation of..). On November 19, 1954 the immigration-processing center closed. Nevertheless, over the years, in the past three decades, Indochinese boat people, Cuban raft people and Mexican wetbacks have poured in(A nation of…). Their arrival seemed chaotic compared to Ellis Island procedures. However the purpose of the immigrants still remains the same: a better life. Studies have shown that a normal immigrant path is: “becoming a citizen, opening a small business, owning a home and breeding children whose first language and values are those of the country around them”(A nation of).

Regardless of the benefits and better life that immigrants may be receiving they are causing problems for the economy and education. The population boom that is occurring particularly in the West and South is threatening over-crowding and less funding for Americans. The issues regarding immigration and education in the United States are as follows: Multi

cultural curriculum, English as a second language or English for speakers of other languages, Bilingual education, Changing minority groups, Overcrowded classrooms, racial and social tensions(The effects of…).

In my opinion some say the immigrants should go back were they came from and others see it as new doors opening. The United States is often referred to as the “melting pot”; a mixture of all races, cultures and backgrounds. They should not worry . “What is coming to birth is a mixture, part- Anglo, part-Spanish, where people intermarry and languages blend, just as German and English blended in the mid-west long ago”(A nation of..). “In 1954, when Ellis Island closed the last detainee, Arne Peterson, a sailor who had overstayed his shore leave, was allowed ashore”( A nation of). “He left behind a warren of rooms, their paint already peeling and some of the windows broken, where lines of nervous and excited people had passed”(A nation of..). “This will be a different America, one whose colors and tongues have shifted, but no less America for that: a place still brimming with liberty and opportunity that any sailor worth his salt would, like Arne Peterson, contrive to overstay his shore-leave for”(A nation of).