American Immigration
The United States formally belonged to native Indians before European explorers ‘discovered’ the Americas. Because of this, it would be un-ethical to talk about The United States without mentioning one or two things about immigration. The term immigration means the introduction of new people as new populace. Immigration is different from migration and emigration on different perspectives. Just like in many other European states, Immigration is a source of growth in population, economic development, as well as cultural diversity in America. To understand clearly the history as well as current trends or conditions in the country it is important to look at legal as well as illegal immigration separately (Williams, 2004).
Legal and illegal immigration
Four distinct periods characterize the Immigration into the United. These are, the colonial period (this is during the 17th and 18th centuries), the nineteenth century, the turn of the 20th century and post 1965 periods. All these periods saw increase in foreign nationals from different regions of the world. The United States congress has passed several immigration laws and they have been very monumental in developing the immigration policies of the United States. The period of the great depression that lasted approximately 10 years was remarkable since it is one point in time that we saw a decline in the number of immigrants to the United States (Smith & Barry, 1998).
Legal immigration did not start in the united states until when congress of the United States enacted permanent immigration restrictions in eighteen seventy-five. Ever since, limitations have increased every day as people find illegal means and excuses to immigrate. By the nineteenth century, congress came out with a sequence of statutes that disadvantaged laborers. Then, those restrictions later extended to the Japanese and other Asians. By nineteen twenty one to nineteen sixty-five, the congress used the nation of origins quota system for the ethnicity of the immigrant population. With that system, the numbers of Americans who could trace their ancestry to a particular country determined an increase on annual immigration from that country (Williams, 2004).
Immigrants came mainly from south and east Europe. In nineteen sixty-five, congress replaced the nation of origin quota system and the number of immigrants in the Unites States went up to twenty thousand immigrants. There was reprieve however in nineteen eighty-six when congress legalized a program that would later ensure that the rights of immigrants to be reunited with their spouses and their children was exercised. However, illegal immigration has been increasing every day more than the Department of Homeland Security is trying to limit illegal immigrants to Unites States by the border control on the Mexican border. However, as a strategy to reduce the levels as well as severity of illegal immigration the method was successful with former United States government administrations. It is thus possible that border control decrease the quantity of entrance, but employer sanctions are on the increase. Push factors aside, jobs are what called the attention of unauthorized aliens to industrial societies (McCuen 16-19).
One of the major effects of both illegal and legal immigration is the impact on population growth According to the “United States census bureau.” For instance Williams (2004), states that the census bureau estimated that American population would grow from 281 million to 397 million by 2050. However, she also notes that if there was no immigration the population would grow to 328 million. This means that the additional growth in population is solely attributable to new immigrants. Another effect is the amount of money that an illegal immigrant probably brings is not large, and to support families and friends the immigrant has to work extensively to send money to their country. This means that if the immigrant does not secure