We live in the 90's the age where scandalous and controversial topics
cover the news headlines. Such subject matters as homosexuality, A.I.D.S, and
abortion are fiercely debated upon. Sides are always taken, with the
conservatives battling the liberals. One such argument that has always been
debated upon since the founding of this nation has been immigration. The fact
that it has been argued over for so long makes it seem ironic. A country
founded by immigrants perpetually arguing over immigration. The basis of this
dispute runs deep and that is what will be discussed in this following paper.
Anti-immigrant sentiments have been circulating since the Alien Act of
June 25, 1798 . The Act was the first federal legislation that dealt with the
expulsion of aliens in the United States. Another landmark case was the
notorious Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. That clause revoked all Chinese
immigrants to emigrate to the States for a period of ten years. It is so
infamous due to the fact that it was the first bill that discriminated against
any one particular race. Restrictions on immigration may seem to have been
eradicated from current history but that is an oversight. Even in the
"politically correct" society we live in today allows for these discrepancies,
for in the Immigration Act of 1990 which brought up controls for immigration.
Behind all these legal documents there are reasons that spurred these
causes. Certain prejudices against certain races or religion. The prejudices
were not always a color issue as the current immigration problems are. In the
beginning it was primarily Europeans. In particular the Irish and German were
thought of negatively. The percentage of the Irish in the Mid-Atlantic went from
45.9% in 1870 to 48.5 in 1930. Germans in 1870 went from 31.4% to 35.6% in 1930
. The common belief was that the two races were against assimilation. They
lived in their own communities and refused to learn the English language. But
that belief like all others were false based. After the Germans and Irish
started to finally assimilate we needed a new scapegoat. The next were the
Italians and Jews, following them were the Catholics. Throughout history there
were always someone who got the blame put on them. Lately the blame has been
put upon Middle-Eastern, Asians and Hispanics.
Now that the basics has been laid out it is time to argue the two sides
of immigration. The Anti-immigrant argument is that immigrants were taking away
jobs. With the incoming immigrants they do take away jobs that could have been
taken by Americans. But most of the jobs that some of the immigrants take are
the unwanted ones. The incoming immigrants also overcrowd the cities and start
to overpopulate in the States in Taking Sides they state that approximately
fifteen to eighteen million are expected to arrive in the states within the next
ten years . Another valid point is that with the arrival of so many different
types of people that we lose a sense of nationality. Every race starts to
clique together and tries to shut out the rest ...