The+Issue+and+Our+Opinion



Immigration is something that occurs everyday in the world. It has been a key element in history and the sucess of nations. But the most noted country to deal with immigration is the United States of America. It is a very sensitive topic, and no matter what side you choose to support, the other side will strongly and violently try to bring you down. Some of the country supports immigration and thinks it's a great idea, and some of the country hates it and wants to get rid of it if possible, and soon. Racism bleeds the country heavily, and immigration has a big part to do with that as well. The government makes stupid rules and trys to implement laws that supposedly help both the country and the immigrants, yet they never go through with it and everybody has to start from the beginning again and not know what their status in this country will ever be.

Immigration began over 20,000 years ago, and today it is still going strong. The most common belief is that the first immigrants came on foot from northeast Asia. In the year 1,000, vikings arrived on American soil, and about 500 years later the Europeans started to arrive. This immigration would be considered illegal today because these people came on boat, foot, or different means of transportation back then. But the fact of the matter is that without these people migrating to the future U.S, there would have never been a country as big and powerful as it is today. These people started to arrive because they were all leaving a place that was too hard to live in, and obviously they wanted to move somwhere safe and that could be used for living. That is just as it is today, people come here looking for something better, just as the first immigrants did. The immigrants all came and prospered and elevated in to the country it is today. The immigrants today could make it better.



Great Britian recognized the United States as a country in 1783, and from this moment on the U.S could do what it wanted to as a country. The country didn't know what to do for a while, until George Washington became the first president and restored order. A democracy was made, the first ever in the world that worked how it does in the United States. Immigration was never paid any attention to. People could come and go in to the country as they pleased because the government was to busy taking care of other matters. Today when people here immigration, they quickly think of Mexicans. First of all, not all immigrants are Mexicans. Yes, many are hispanic, but that doesn't mean they are Mexican. They are Salvadorian, Guatemalan, Hondurian, Brazilian, Argentinan, and every country in the Central and South Americas. But don't forget Europe as well. As many hispanics that cross the borders illegally through Mexico, many white looking Europeans do it through Canada as well. The first immigration lawas were not even passed until 1789, and even then the states themselves could control their immigration, nothing like today when the goverment controls all. Without Federal control, immigrants still flocked to America in search of money, job, food, and an all around better life. In 1815 after the Napoleonic wars, millions made there way to America through the New York port. These people were not mexican. They were European people including 3 million from Ireland, 2.5 million from Germany, 1.5 million from Britain, with 70% entering through the port of New York and after 1855 through Castle Garden. They were all looking for a new life. This is what people are still trying to do today.

In 1862 the federal government took control of immigration in to the country. The Bureau of Immigration was created and the first immigration laws were passed- prohibiting chinese people from entering the United States through vessels. This is a sign of racism in immigration. The government decided to push away one group of race and instead favor others by not making a system to block them as well. Chinese people were coming and taking a huge number of jobs and they worked well for very cheap, sometimes close to nothing. The business in America started to transform in to something far different than anything they had ever seen. Then the civil war came, and it was the worst war to every happen to this country. But immigration was involved in this war as well.

Immigration causes many things. Racism, hatred, jealousy. These characteristics can actually be found in war. All the immigrants from europe actually kept this countrty together. The south was very racist and white supremacy was the number one thing on their mind besides how to keep slavery legal. The North had more supplies, more soldiers, more workers, and everything else needed for war, and they had a high supply of it. This is because of the Irish, Briths, German, and French european immigrants who had arrived in the early 1860's. Not only did they make weapons and clothes and supplies for the Union, they also risked their lives and died for a country that had discriminated against them and hated them. Today, soldiers are hispanic, white, asian, and of european descent. This country does not have a race like most other countries. Mexico has hispanics, Spain has spaniards, China has asians, and so on. But America has all of them, mixed together, and it only gets better. Nobody in this country can say that they come from a very clean pure race, or say that they are true first Americans. They are not, nobody is, because the fact of the matter is that today everybody here is American.

Today immigrants come from all over the world, but why does the government focus so heavily on the southern border? Websites are dedicated to the bashing of mexicans( check out this website for example []), people march to show they are true workers and they are peace loving people, weeks later people are marching against them and telling them to go home. This is the opinion of the people, and it doesn't necessarily mean racism. But when you hear people talk about "filthy mexicans", "beaners", and "wetbacks", it is indeed racism. The government has made a mockery of itself by not doing anything about immigration, yet every day you can hear from them that they are "making progress" on it. Pedro Guzman was deported and he was actually a U.S citizen. The fact that he couldn't speak english and that he looked Mexican convinced immigration officials to deport him. The government can not even deport the right people yet they say that soon they will have a perfect solution. People hate immigrants, yet they fail to understand that immigrants have shaped up this nation along with everybody else, including white people who claim true "Americanism". They take jobs that almost nobody wants, and they do it for close to nothing in pay. But imagine that they can actually come here and take horrible wages, hard work, abuse and racism, yet they call this country the dream land. They have struggled worse, these are peace-loving people who know that this country is better than it seems, but they should realize that they are the ones who can make it better.