Difference between revisions of "Immigration"

Revision as of 06:46, May 19, 2009

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.

See Also

• Chinese Exclusion Act
• German Americans
• Illegal immigration
• Latinos
• Refugee
• Swedish Americans

Bibliography

Basic further reading

• Archdeacon, Thomas J. Becoming American: An Ethnic History (1984), by leading conservative historian
• Barkan, Elliott Robert. And Still They Come: Immigrants and American Society, 1920 to the 1990s (1996), by leading historian
• Barkan, Elliott Robert, ed. A Nation of Peoples: A Sourcebook on America's Multicultural Heritage (1999), 600pp; essays by scholars on 27 groups
• Barone, Michael. The New Americans: How the Melting Pot Can Work Again (2006), by a conservative expert excerpts and text search
• Bodnar, John. The Transplanted: A History of Immigrants in Urban America (1985), liberal historian
• Daniels, Roger. Coming to America 2nd ed. (2005), liberal historian
• Dassanowsky, Robert, and Jeffrey Lehman, eds. Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America (2nd ed. 3 vol 2000), home school audience; covers 150 culture groups; 1974pp
• Gjerde, Jon, ed. Major Problems in American Immigration and Ethnic History (1998) primary sources and excerpts from scholars.
• Glazier, Michael, ed. The Encyclopedia of the Irish in America (1999), articles by over 200 experts, covering both Catholics and Protestants.
• Levinson, David and Melvin Ember, eds. American Immigrant Cultures 2 vol (1997) covers all major and minor groups
• Meier, Matt S. and Gutierrez, Margo, eds. The Mexican American Experience: An Encyclopedia (2003) (ISBN 0-313-31643-0)
• Magocsi, Paul Robert. Encyclopedia of Canada's Peoples (1999), 1350 pp; major compilation
• Thernstrom, Stephan, ed. Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups (1980) (ISBN 0-674-37512-2), the standard reference, covering all major groups and most minor groups; Thernstrom is a leading conservative historian [http://www.amazon.com/Harvard-Encyclopedia-American-Ethnic-Groups/dp/0674375122 excerpt and text search
• Wittke, carl. We Who Built America: The Saga of the Immigrant (1939), 552pp good older history cover major groups online edition

Recent migrations

• Adler, Leonore Loeb , and Uwe P.Gielen, eds. Migration: Immigration and Emigration in International Perspective. 2003 online edition
• Borjas, George J. "Does Immigration Grease the Wheels of the Labor Market?" Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 2001 online edition
• Castles, Stephen, and Mark J. Miller. The Age of Migration, Third Edition: International Population Movements in the Modern World (2003)
• Glazier, Ira A. and Luigi De Rosa. Migration across Time and Nations: Population Mobility in Historical Contexts 1986 online edition
• Hernández, Kelly Lytle. “The Crimes and Consequences of Illegal Immigration: A Cross-Border Examination of Operation Wetback, 1943 to 1954,” Western Historical Quarterly, 37 (Winter 2006), 421–44.
• Kemp, Paul. Goodbye Canada? (2003), from Canada to U.S.
• Khadria, Binod. The Migration of Knowledge Workers: Second-Generation Effects of India's Brain Drain, (2000)
• Massey, Douglas S. and J. Edward Taylor; International Migration: Prospects and Policies in a Global Market, (2003) online edition
• Mullan, Fitzhugh. "The Metrics of the Physician Brain Drain." New England Journal of Medicine, Volume 353:1810-1818 October 27, 2005 Number 17 online version
• Ozden, Caglar, and Maurice Schiff. International Migration, Remittances, and Brain Drain. (2005)
• Palmer, Ransford W. In Search of a Better Life: Perspectives on Migration from the Caribbean Praeger Publishers, 1990 online edition
• Skeldon, Ronald, and Wang Gungwu; Reluctant Exiles? Migration from Hong Kong and the New Overseas Chinese 1994 online edition
• Smith, Michael Peter, and Adrian Favell. The Human Face of Global Mobility: International Highly Skilled Migration in Europe, North America and the Asia-Pacific, (2006)

Historical studies: world

• Baines, D. Migration in a Mature Economy: Emigration and Internal Migration in England and Wales 1861–1900, (1985),
• Clark, P. and D. Souden. Migration and Society in Early Modern England (1987),
• Eltis, David, ed. Coerced and Free Migration: Global Perspectives 2002 online edition 447pp
• Gungwu, Wang, ed. Global History and Migrations 1997 online edition 309pp
• Langton, J. and G. Hoppe. Flows of Labour in the Early Phase of Capitalist Development: The Time Geography of Longitudinal Migration Paths in Nineteenth Century Sweden (1992),
• Lawton, R. "Mobility and Nineteenth Century British Cities", The Geographical Journal, 145, (1979) 206–24.
• Luconi, Stefano. “Italians’ Global Migration: A Diaspora?,” Studi Emigrazione/Migration Studies (Rome), 43 (March 2006), 467–82. In English.
• Siddle, David J. ed Migration, Mobility, and Modernization 2000 online edition scholarly articles on European history
• Tilly, Charles. "Migration in Modern European History", in Time, Space and Man: Essays on Micro-Demography, Stockholm. (1979)
• Wrigley, G. A. (1967), ‘The Simple Model of London's Importance in Changing English Society and Economy 1650–1750’, past and Present, 37, 44–70.

Historical Studies: North America

• Archdeacon, Thomas J. Becoming American: An Ethnic History (1984)
• Bankston, Carl L. III and Danielle Antoinette Hidalgo, eds. Immigration in U.S. History (2006)
• Bodnar, John. The Transplanted: A History of Immigrants in Urban America (1985)
• Canada, Report of the Royal Commission on Chinese Immigration. (1885) primary documents for Canada (with reports on Chinatowns in U.S.) online edition
• Cohn, Raymond L. Mass Migration under Sail: European Immigration to the Antebellum United States (2009) 254 pp.; emphasis on economic issues
• Daniels, Roger. Coming to America 2nd ed. (2005)
• Daniels, Roger. Guarding the Golden Door : American Immigration Policy and Immigrants since 1882 (2005)
• Eltis, David; Coerced and Free Migration: Global Perspectives (2002) emphasis on migration to Americas before 1800
• Gjerde, Jon, ed. Major Problems in American Immigration and Ethnic History (1998) primary sources and excerpts from scholars.
• Glazier, Michael, ed. The Encyclopedia of the Irish in America (1999), articles by over 200 experts, covering both Catholics and Protestants.
• Green, Alan G. and Gree David. "The Goals of Canada's Immigration Policy: A Historical Perspective" Canadian Journal of Urban Research, Vol. 13, 2004 online version
• Hoerder, Dirk and Horst Rössler, eds. Distant Magnets: Expectations and Realities in the Immigrant Experience, 1840-1930 1993 online edition 312pp
• Hourwich, Isaac. Immigration and Labor: The Economic Aspects of European Immigration to the United States (1912) full text online, argues immigrants were beneficial to natives by pushing them upward
• Jenks, Jeremiah W. and W. Jett Lauck, The Immigrant Problem (1912; 6th ed. 1926) online edition of Jenkc and Lauck based on 1911 Immigration Commission report, with additional data
• Kulikoff, Allan; From British Peasants to Colonial American Farmers (2000), details on colonial immigration
• LeMay, Michael, and Elliott Robert Barkan. U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Laws and Issues: A Documentary History (1999) 340 pgs. online edition
• Miller, Kerby M. Emigrants and Exiles (1985), influential scholarly interpretation of Irish immigration
• Motomura, Hiroshi. Americans in Waiting: The Lost Story of Immigration and Citizenship in the United States (2006), legal history
• Thernstrom, Stephan, ed. Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups (1980) (ISBN 0-674-37512-2), the standard reference, covering all major groups and most minor groups
• U.S. Immigration Commission, Abstracts of Reports, 2 vols. (1911); the full 42-volume report is summarized (with additional information) in vol 1-2; see also Jencks and Lauck
  • Reports of the Immigration Commission: Statements (1911) text of statements pro and con online edition
  • Part 8: Leather Industry (1911) online edition
• Wittke, Carl. We Who Built America: The Saga of the Immigrant (1939), covers all major groups online edition
• Yans-McLaughlin, Virginia ed. Immigration Reconsidered: History, Sociology, and Politics (1990)

Recent immigration to North America

• Borjas, George J. ed. Issues in the Economics of Immigration (National Bureau of Economic Research Conference Report) (2000) 9 statistical essays by scholars;
• Borjas, George J. "Welfare Reform and Immigrant Participation in Welfare Programs" International Migration Review 2002 36(4): 1093-1123. ISSN 0197-9183; finds very steep decline of immigrant welfare participation in California.
• Briggs, Vernon M., Jr. Immigration Policy and the America Labor Force Johns Hopkins University Press, 1984.
• Briggs, Vernon M., Jr. Mass Immigration and the National Interest (1992)
• Fawcett, James T., and Benjamin V. Carino. Pacific Bridges: The New Immigration from Asia and the Pacific Islands . New York: Center for Migration Studies, 1987.
• Foner, Nancy. In A New Land: A Comparative View Of Immigration (2005)
• Levinson, David and Melvin Ember, eds. American Immigrant Cultures 2 vol (1997) covers all major and minor groups
• Meier, Matt S. and Gutierrez, Margo, eds. The Mexican American Experience: An Encyclopedia (2003) (ISBN 0-313-31643-0)
• Portes, Alejandro, and Robert L. Bach. Latin Journey: Cuban and Mexican Immigrants in the United States. University of California Press, 1985.
• Portes, Alejandro, and Jozsef Borocz. "Contemporary Immigration: Theoretical Perspectives on Its Determinants and Modes of Incorporation." International Migration Review 23 (1989): 606-30.
• Portes, Alejandro, and Ruben Rumbaut. Immigrant America. University of California Press, 1990.
• Reimers, David. Still the Golden Door: The Third World Comes to America Columbia University Press, (1985).
• Smith, James P, and Barry Edmonston, eds. The Immigration Debate: Studies on the Economic, Demographic, and Fiscal Effects of Immigration (1998), online version

Current data

• Arthur Haupt and Thomas T. Kane. Population Handbook, (Population Reference Bureau: 5th ed 2004) online edition

Advanced theoretical models

• Grigg, D. "E. G. Ravenstein and the Laws of Migration" Journal of Historical Geography, vol 3, (1977), 41–54.
• Lee, E. S. (1966), ‘A Theory of Migration’, Demography, 3, 47–54.
• Massey, Douglas S. "Theories of international migration: A review and appraisal." Population and Development Review, (1994). 19, 431-466. in JSTOR
• Ravenstein, E. G. "The Laws of Migration", Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, vol 48 (1885) pp 167–227.
• Ravenstein, E. G. "The Laws of Migration", Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, vol 52 (1889) pp 214–301. online at JSTOR
• Stouffer, S. A. ‘Intervening Opportunities: a Theory Relating Mobility and Distance’, American Sociological Review, (1940) vol 5, 845–67.
• Wolpert, J. (1965), ‘Behavioural Aspects of the Decision to Migrate’, Papers of the Regional Science Association, 15, 159–73.
• Zelinsky, Wilbur. "The Hypothesis of the Mobility Transition", Geographical Review, 61, (1971) 219–49.