In 1497, the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci discovered a new country, and it was named America by the map maker, Martin Waldseemuller. Nevertheless, it was later realized that Amerigo’s friend, the Spanish explorer, Christopher Columbus, had been there a few years earlier in 1492.
After being “discovered” America was populated by immigrants. It was the country that received the greatest number of immigrants in the history of mankind. Every person on the North and South American continents came from someplace else -- either as an immigrant themselves or as a descendant of immigrants.
Immigrants came to America for different reasons. Quakers, Pilgrims and Huguenots were looking for the freedom of religion. Others came in order to find gold, to have a piece of land to live or even just to start a new life. Regardless of the type of work they would have here, the important thing was the taste of new and unknown.
The growth of railroads and jobs in factories increased the opportunities for immigrants to cross the ocean and come to the new land to start a new journey. The old immigrants were those who could come here at any time, any person who wished to live here could do it, however that was before the civil war. They came from northwestern Europe. These immigrants were mostly English and German and there were some French. These immigrants were light skinned and had light eyes and hair. They were Protestant.
After 1865 Americans started restricting immigration, so groups like KKK (Ku Ku Klan) and Know Nothings became adept, they were called nativists. In the 1900’s a new group of immigrants was formed, the new immigrants. The immigration in that period increased tremendously. They came from Eastern and Southern Europe. These immigrants were from Russian and Polish Jews, Italians and Irish. Their religions were different from the Old Immigrants (Catholic and Jewish). They were typically darker in color with darker hair and eyes.
Chinese and Japanese immigration occurred throughout the periods listed above. It was Chinese labor that built the transcontinental railroad. Because of their unique racial background, they were discriminated against a great deal. As a result Asian immigrants are neither old nor new immigrants. The Chinese people also brought the Opium with them.
I found this song that Neil Diamond wrote about immigration in America. Here is a snippet of the song:
“Far
We've been traveling far
Without a home
But not without a star
Free
Only want to be free
We huddle close
Hang on to a dream
On the boats and on the planes
They're coming to America
Never looking back again
They're coming to America
Everywhere around the world
…
Got a dream to take them there
They're coming to America
Got a dream they've come to share
They're coming to America
…”
The arrival of millions of immigrants from all continents of the world trained in the United States, an ethnically diverse population. For many centuries, however, the white population of British descent dominated the country, marginalizing the other ethnic groups. Other European immigrants, as Germans and Irish, were considered inferior. Although over the generations, they ended up being diluted within the population. For blacks, the situation was difficult because until the 1960s, the African-Americans were considered inferior to whites by law. Slaves were brought from Africa to North America between 1609 and 1807, during the slave trade, most of who arrived in the eighteenth century. The majority came from West Africa and Central Africa.
Even though the Indians were the first inhabitants of the land they were considered "inassimilable" and were slaughtered by the millions. The country based its laws on racism as the "One Drop Rule." This law underlay that anyone who had a drop of African blood was automatically black and, therefore, legally and biologically inferior.
Italians, Irish and Poles suffered great prejudice on the part of the U.S. population of Anglo-Saxon, mainly because they were Catholics, in a country dominated by Protestant dogma. Moreover, they were considered "little whites" for German standards that hung in racist mentality of some. For Jews living together was even harder because they were considered an "inferior race". The adaptation and integration into American culture was, therefore, difficult and painful.
Even with hundreds of years past The United States remains the land of entry for millions of immigrants. At the present time, who dominates this immigration are Latin Americans and, in particular, the Mexicans. States nearby to Mexico, like Arizona, Texas, New Mexico, California and Florida are, each year, "flooded" with the entry of new immigrants. Cuba and El Salvador also send thousands of immigrants each year.
As we are aware of, immigration may be legal or illegal. The legal immigrant is one who enters a given with permission to remain the same and perform the desired functions. The illegal immigrant is one who enters the country clandestinely and stays on even without any documentation and authorization.
The illegal risk their lives and if caught by the local authorities can be arrested and remains there until being deported to their country of origin. Before being deported, the illegal passes through a lawsuit and having no social security and labor rights not only are deported when the local government can buy the ticket and a seat on a flight, many times the deportee cannot reenter the country.
After 09/11/01, the U.S. government intensified its control of foreign entry in the country and in 2005 the possibility to enter and remain illegally considerably reduced, because all the scripts that are made to enter in the country are under constant watch.
I think that the problem about illegal immigrants has to be identified and a solution has to be provided. Treating these people with prejudice, arrogance and disrespect, forgetting that each one here has in the blood traces of their ancestors, immigrants, it is not a good way to begin to resolve.
