Opening Immigration Gates Essay, Research Paper

It has been a long debated topic whether or not America should continue to let immigrants enter the country. Often, the immediate response would be to withhold more immigrants to come in since there are many existing immigrants already living everywhere around the United States. But the truth is that the immigrants who come in are undoubtedly helping America much more than they harm it. Examples of how the immigrants help would be the economy becoming more powerful, diverse culture, more variety, and even creating job opportunities. By maintaining an open gate for immigrants, the benefits that they bring will definitely outweigh the problems which will create a greater America.

When a country opens its gates for immigrants such as America, a heterogeneous mixture of cultures merges into one whole. To cope with such diversity and attain the best results, the melting pot effect would suit best for America. The melting pot builds and develops an enriched society filled with variety. The diversity can be seen all around such as in the music, food, art, entertainment, and technology. But out of them all, the food industry has expanded the greatest. Taking New York as an example, we can see that the food there ranges from Indian food to Greek food. There is a Chinatown, Little Italy, and Japan town. Immigrants who brought their culture to be a part of America created many of these food towns and restaurants.

In addition to the variety that the immigrants bring to America, they also contribute to the powerful economy. First of all, many immigrants who come to the United States often bring an exorbitant amount of money to invest. The investments create new job opportunities by starting new businesses, thus strengthening the economy. Silicon Valley was partly created by immigrants who went there to start their own businesses. Jerry Yang who was an immigrant from Taiwan founded the company, Yahoo. Now, Yahoo is considered to be one of the most prosperous Internet companies. Statistics support the fact that businesses founded by immigrants are frequently successful.

Lastly, America has been claimed to be ?The land of opportunity?. People who go there are offered chances which would be limited in some other countries. There are possibilities such as starting a business, working for an existing business, or going to school. In order for America to live up to their name, they have an obligation to accept immigrants who would like to have the chance to become successful. But one may argue that at sometime a line must be drawn to limit the number of immigrants. Otherwise the resources will begin to deplete, pollution will worsen, the price of residential areas will increase, and crime rates will increase also. However, this opposing argument can be countered by following a selective system in which immigrants who have a higher education or more money are given priority. This system will not only bring intuitive minds but also investors who can strengthen the economy. Other countries who share a similar system are Singapore and Canada. Singapore has a very bias selective system because they like to choose people who have a well education, high academic standards, and senior jobs. Canada is based on a point system where they review the immigrant?s academic credentials, job experience, and to see which immigrants will benefit the country the most. A famous immigrant who came to America for an opportunity was Andy Grove who escaped prosecution in Hungary. When he arrived at America, he started a company named Intel, which is a very successive semi-conductor manufacturer.

In view of the above arguments, America should adopt a more liberal immigration policy. While open immigration will undoubtedly have negative impacts, these impacts are far outweighed by the numerous potential benefits. These benefits come in many forms such as variety, talents, investments, and stronger economy. As America is heading for a liberal immigration policy, it will be strive for the path of prosperity.