Immigrants in America : description, reasons, impacts

Résumé du document

America was a kaleidoscope of ethnic and cultural groups. The history of the US immigration spans a long period of migration of many different peoples from various parts of the world. One common belief is that America was originally peopled by wanderers from the Northeast Asia about 20,000 years ago. These wanderers were believed by some to be the founding population and eventually, called the ancestors of today's Native Americans. Others believe that the first Americans came from Polynesia, South Asia or even Europe. Thus, it has long been a spirited topic of debate as to who got here first. The mosaic palate of peoples and cultures which represents today's America heightens the intensity of such a debate. Discoveries made by various anthropologists of human remains over the past few decades provide evidence to the fact that long before the Ellis Island opened its doors to welcome those seeking political and religious freedom as well as the "adventurer, the wanderer, the persecuted, the fortune seekers, and others", America presented a mixed bag of cultures.

Extraits

[...] Chinese immigrants are not different then any other community. Some of them assimilate, learn English and follow the American customs and some even forget their own to become more Americanized. But some also keep all their tradition and speak Chinese with their family members so they wouldn't forget it. Treatment/reception by other Americans 1607-1830 In the case of slaves, they were accepted aspeople strictly used for the advantage of thepeople in America. They were definitely not treated as equals and they were not even treated like humans. [...]

[...] When,Fidel Castro came to power in 1959, he announced the restructuring of Cuban society, and between 1959 and anti-Castro Cubans immigrated to the United States. 06/01/2005 Page 5 Methods of transportation and ports of arrival 1607-1830 The African Americans came over on ships where they were wedged into holds so tightly they could barely move at all. Vessels of one to two hundred tons often carried four to five hundred African Americans, as well as the crew and the provisions. They were cooped up weeks, lived in meager ration, and were deprived of fresh air. This caused many deaths among the unhappy captives. [...]

[...] What's the Difference Between a Resident Alien and a U.S. Citizen? Until recently, millions of green-card holders were content to live in the United States as resident aliens. But of late, lawmakers have indicated a change of attitude toward legal immigrants, and this has affected the number of applications for citizenship. A 1996 federal welfare law separated rights from entitlements, denying legal immigrants access to government housing and welfare while still requiring them to pay taxes. This loss of benefits has almost certainly precipitated the jump from the long-standing annual average of 300,000 citizenship applications to 1.6 million in 1996. [...]

[...] In 1921, Congress passed a quota which severely affected the Asian Russia, Europe, Middle East, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and islands in the Pacific and Atlantic Since 1968 to today there are pending bills that will dramatically restrict legal immigration for years to come. For example, there are several bills that would slash legal immigration to the United States all the way down to 20,000 or less. Under some of these pending proposals, parents, adult children, and brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens could no longer immigrate at all, spouses and children. 06/01/2005 Page 9 III. EFFECTS : IMPACTS ON AMERICA Assimilation? If so, to what degree? [...]

[...] Who Gets a Green Card? In people--65 percent of all green-card recipients--were "family-sponsored immigrants." About half were immediate relatives of U.S. citizens (spouses: 56 percent; parents: 22 percent; and children: 21 percent), and the rest were "family-sponsored preference immigrants"--spouses and children of alien residents, siblings (and their families) of naturalized citizens and their families, and adult sons and daughters (and their families) of naturalized citizens. Homosexuality ceased to be grounds for exclusion from the United States in 1991, but since gay and lesbian couples cannot legally marry in this country, there is currently no legal way for them to benefit from family-preference laws. [...]