Immigration
Immigration is the entry of a person of a certain nationality to another nation. Most immigrants use immigration to escape from conditions of poverty, persecution, or overpopulation in their home countries, or to respond to better opportunity and reunite their families in the new country.
US Immigration history
Gilded Age
During the Gilded Age, 1865-1900, approximately 10 million European immigrants came to the United States, most in search of religious freedom and greater prosperity. They filled up the rich farmlands of the Middle West, as German and Scandinavian immigrants were especially eager to own land. They avoided the poverty stricken South. The population surge in major U.S. cities as a result of immigration gave cities an even stronger impact on government, attracting power-hungry politicians and entrepreneurs. Pressuring voters or falsifying ballots was commonplace for politicians, who often sought power only to exploit their constituents. To accommodate the influx of people into the U.S., the federal government built Ellis Island in 1892 near the Statue of Liberty. After 1892, a short physical examination was given; those with contagious diseases were not admitted. Few immigrants went to the poverty-stricken South.
Chinese immigrants
The construction of the Central Pacific Railroad in California and Nevada was handled largely by American engineers and Chinese laborers. In the 1870 census there were 58,000 Chinese men and 4,000 women in the entire country; these numbers grew to 100,000 men and 4,000 women in the 1880 census. [1] Labor unions such as the American Federation of Labor strongly opposed the presence of Chinese labor, by reason of both economic competition and race. Immigrants from China were not allowed to become citizens until 1950; however, their children born in the U.S. were full citizens.
Congress banned further Chinese immigration through the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882; act prohibited Chinese laborers from entering the United States, but some students and businessmen were allowed in. Subsequent to the act, the Chinese population declined to only 37,000 in 1940. Many returned to China (a greater proportion than most other immigrant groups) yet most of them stayed in the United States. Chinese people were unwelcome in many areas, so they resettled in the "Chinatown" districts of large cities.
US Immigration Reform
Most Americans envisage and advocate for a coherent set of national interest principles for immigration policy and the enforcement our Constitutionally derived laws. Some so-called open border advocates try to cloak themselves in the mantle of "immigration reform," but they fail to address the concerns of the American populace and detriments to foreign countries that lose people. Due to lack of enforcement, illegal immigration occurs widely in the U.S., especially along the Mexican border.
To some people the value of American citizenship has increased greatly since the founding of the Republic. There are 12 million illegal citizens living here in USA and it would be very costly to deport all these people. It becomes more complicated as they marry and have children which are then legal US citizens. There is a discussion of allowing these 12 million people to follow certain steps to become citizens that can pay taxes and become more contributing members of society. Some people view this as granting amnesty to criminals but do not offer an actual solution to the immigration problem.