Views on illegal immigration in the US
Immigration Trends and their Economic Impact
My research topic is on immigration trends in the United States, and an overview of the economic impact of these trends in the last few decades. I feel that it is historically important because immigration is such an integral part of our culture, because of several factors. These factors begin with the importance of a society that is growing and lead to such questions as our welfare system with its relation to immigrants. Next is the question of whether or not immigrants are taking jobs from U.S. citizens, and if so are they jobs we would not or could not fill. Is the economic burden to great upon our local and state governments? Is illegal immigration out of control? Out of these factors I concentrated on immigration trends of today, and the economic impact of these trends to see if I could discover-and make a case for-changing the immigration laws, as we know them now, in order to a improve our future history of immigration if indeed a case can be made.
In my research, I found that since the end of World War II there has been a tremendous decline of ethnic and religious prejudice in the United States, but a large increase in fear of the “new immigrants” coming into our country over the past few decades. This fear began with the Immigration Act of 1965, because of the change in U.S. immigration policy. The preference for European immigrants, which had the best chance of assimilation, had become outdated. This, in turn, made room for an influx of more Asians and Hispanics, which has continued through today. However, a fact that is overlooked by many was the post World War II revitalization of Europe. This renaissance of Europe slowed down the number of emigrants departing such countries as Germany, England, France, Italy, and Spain. While these same countries began seeing an increase in immigration from different parts of the globe, the likes of which they had never seen before. The world was changing, and the United States was changing along with it.
Immigration has been an integral part of the United States since the beginning of our history, and has always been an important factor in the growth of our country’s population. More than 60 million men, women, and children have immigrated here. Reasons have been varied, but most immigration can be attributed to economic factors such as employment, rate of pay, and living conditions. Yet, economic factors are not always the reason why people
