Immigration

The reasons for immigration to the "land of opportunity" called America in the early years of our country are clear. America offered jobs, fruitful and expansive land and freedom from persecution. America was seen as a place where an individual could start over with an equal chance of success or failure, no matter what country he or she came from. Research papers on current issues in immigration examine the state of immigration in the 21st Century and how it is different from earlier immigrant influxes. Do you agree? Need help flushing out the issues? Have Paper Masters help you write on any of the following immigration topics or a custom one you tell us about:

1. Are the issue surrounding immigration today the same as the ones when America had its first great influx of immigrants?
2. Should immigration be regulated?
3. What are the benefits of open immigration and welcoming the best and the brightest from other nations?
4. What political groups typically see immigration as a troubling problem?

This proved to be true for Irish Immigrants, German-American Immigrants, English and black immigrants that came to America. The Boston area has long received immigrants, from the arrival of the Mayflower and the colony of John Winthrop to the present. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, most of the newcomers were from England. In the nineteenth century, immigrants from southern and eastern Europe brought rich cultural traditions to the area.

In the early years of immigration to America, the foremost groups to fill that land were the English settlers and the Irish. The English were escaping from the tyranny of their mother country in hopes of economic freedom and religious tolerance. After arriving in America the English remained under the mother country's rule, however, seizing the opportunity to establish their own government, the colonists rebelled against England.

Thomas Paine's pamphlet Common Sense was a "best seller" of the day and brought to light the economic conditions that England burdened the United States with and most influentially, pointed out the fact that the colonies did not need England to survive.

"...America would have flourished as much, and probably much more, had no European power had anything to do with her. The commerce by which she hath enriched herself are the necessaries of life, and will always have a market while eating is the custom of Europe...".

Thus the early English immigrants gained their freedom through the revolutionary war and established government upon their own terms. The English were the least persecuted group of immigrants compared to that of the Irish, German and black.

Immigration Facts and Informtion

• Current U.S. immigration laws allow for approximately 800,000 people to settle in the U.S. each year as permanent residents.
  • Approximately 480,000 are admitted to reunite with family members
  • 140,000 to fill jobs the U.S. Department of Labor determines no American citizens will fill,
  • 110,000 as refugees
  • Another 55,000 are admitted under the diversity lottery begun in 1990.
• According to U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) estimates, approximately 12 million illegal immigrants live in the United States, as of 2015.

• People living outside their country of origin are classified as either:

  1. Refugees: Persons fearing persecution because of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political party, who are outside the country of their nationality.
  2. Immigrants: Persons who leave their country of origin to live in another country; may seek religious freedom or better economic status.
• Everyone in the United States is an immigrant except for the indigenous or American Indians and Native Alaskans.
• Majority of immigrants in the United States today are from Mexico, India, Philippines, China, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, Vietnam, Columbia, Guatemala, and Russia.
• Immigrants in Europe today come from Africa, China, and the Middle East.
• Indigenous people are native, original inhabitants.
  • Indigenous people everywhere have undergone conflict over culture, land ownership, and industry due to colonization by nonindigenous people.
    • Spanish people colonizing parts of Central and South America
    • Dutch, French, English, and other Europeans colonizing South Pacific, North America, and Africa.
      
• Nationality is a legal concept that refers to owning allegiance to a particular nation, regardless of race, ethnicity, culture, or religion.
• People within a nation usually have a shared history and political past.
• Nationalism is an idea, attitude, emotional response, and an opinion that focuses on the nation itself. The pursuit of nationalism has often led to conflict, war, and genocide.
  
• Ethnicity is defined as the perception of oneself and a sense of belonging to a particular ethnic group, belonging to more than one group, or feeling of not belonging to any group because of multiethnicity.
  • Ethnicity is integral to ethnic pride, identity, affiliation, and loyalty. An example is the concept of on in Japanese culture. On is a sense of obligation seen as a sacrifice of individual needs and personal goals for the sake of others.
    
  • Ethnicity is often determined by generation.
    
  • Ethnicity is not equivalent to race. It is more than biological identification and includes commitment and involvement in cultural customs and rituals.