Immigration to AmericaBy Jasray Atwal

What is immigration and the issues surrounding it today?

• Immigration is where a person moves to a country where they were not born in to settle there.

• Immigration to the United States in the 21st century also brought a few questions to Americans:1

▫ Will America be able to accommodate the new immigrants?

▫ Will the immigrants be able to adapt to the society of America?

▫ Is the country going to change because of immigrants? How?

Statement:- Immigration throughout American history has dramatically shaped and made America to what it is today. Immigration has helped to define America’s society, and also its role in the world.

What caused immigration to the United States?• Immigration played a key role in America’s

development and the shape the society would have in America2

• "Everywhere immigrants have enriched and strengthened the fabric of American life.” - John F. Kennedy

• The history of immigration is broken up into five time periods which each had different rates of immigration from many places in the world.2

First Immigration Period (17th Century- early 19th Century)

• The immigrants from the first period of immigration came from many places including the German-speaking area of the Palatinate, France, and the Netherlands. But most arrived from the British Isles2

• They opted for farming, and had the promise of cheap land. In this period of immigration, a considerable amount of women and men came as indentured servants.2

Second Immigration Period (1820’s-1880’s)

• About 15 million immigrants came to America in this immigration period2

• This was primarily caused by Napoleonic Wars, industrialization and agricultural consolidation in England, and how much of the young people could not earn a living in the new order. This era had the first large-scale arrival of Catholic immigrants as well.2

• Native-born Americans reacted very intensely and did not like the arrival of the new immigrants.

• This led to the passage of the U.S. immigration legislation act, the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.

Third Immigration Period(Late 19th Century- Early 20th Century)

• Immigrants from this period tended to come from southern and eastern Europe, and nearly 25 million Europeans came to America2

• Most of these immigrants went to the urban destinations and made up the bulk of the U.S. industrial labor pool.2

• Immigration now posed as a serious danger to the nation’s health and security, and in 1893 a group of people formed the Immigration Restriction League, which led to press Congress for severe “curtailment of foreign immigration.”2

Fourth Immigration Period(Early 20th Century- 1965)

• Congress passed the National Origins Act in 1921 which restricted the number of immigrants who might enter the U.S. and also assigned quotas based on national origins.2

• This excluded the Western Hemisphere from the quota system, and the 1920s had the second to last rates of immigration in U.S. history.2

• The reasons for much of the immigration was mostly comprised of: jewish refugees from Nazi Germany, Jewish Holocaust survivors, non-Jewish displaced persons fleeing Communist rule, Hungarians seeking safety after their failed failed uprising, and Cubans after their 1960 revolution2

Fifth Immigration Period(1965- early 21st Century)

• The Hart-Celler Act passed in 1965, helped to eliminate the “racially based quota system”. It now instead had replaced it with preference to immigrants with “relatives in the United States and with occupations deemed critical by the U.S. Department of Labor.”2

• But after 1970, immigrants started to come from places like “Korea, China, India, the Philippines, and Pakistan, as well as countries in Africa.”2

Foreign Born in the United States by Region of Origin, 2008

Important events surrounding immigration

• Naturalization Act of 1790: Any alien, being a free white person can be admitted to become a citizen of the U.S.

• Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882: Prohibited certain laborers from immigrating to America

• 1892: Ellis Island an immigration station opened• 1917-1924: Laws were enacted to limit the number

of new immigrants• 1952 Act: Established how the immigration system

is today• 1968 Act: eliminated discrimination based on race,

place of birth, sex, and residence

What is Immigration’s impact on America?• Immigrants to America have helped to change the

“evolution of the industrial economy, political reform, and even to the development of American culture.”3

• Immigrants make up most of what America is today, and have influenced the many areas of American society as well.

• Though all of the periods of immigration all were important for America, personally the first period of immigration is the most important one because the people had the courage to take a risk and help to establish the flow of immigration.

• The impact of immigration throughout the times was nonetheless great and had major consequences.

Impacts (cont.)• One of the first impacts of

immigration was “demographic”. Many of the people that arrived to America were responsible for the American population.3

• Another impact of immigration would be the formation of the Know Nothing Party, as well as all of the hostility towards immigrants which increased.3

• Immigrants also helped to settle the frontier, and expand the nation’s limits.3

• Immigrants have also helped, when joined with other reform groups, to broaden democracy in America.3

Impacts (cont.)• Working as laborers,

immigrants have helped to construct the many parts of America we have today.

• In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, immigrants have helped to transition to the urban industrial economy. For example, the main majority of the population of the major cities were comprised of immigrants.3

• Because of immigrants “remarkable role in the American creative arts, including writing, directing, producing, and acting in American films and plays for most of the first half of the 20th century,” American’s view of immigrants have changed in a positive way.3

How does Immigration today relate to pre-21st century America?• Immigration relates to the many periods of immigration

in the past.• People from all over the world had the same idea of

coming to America to better their situation.• The argument used to combat immigration is the same,

that immigrants will “take jobs away from Americans and put undue burdens on the educational, welfare, and health care systems.” They also fear that they will “pose a threat to the society’s basic structure.”2

• Immigration and the laws surrounding it are very similar to the ones that were implemented in the past. For example, the Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act relates to the act in 1924, which severely tries to secure and protect Immigration from threats and other consequences.

How many immigrants arrived in the second period of immigration(1820-1880)?

•About 15 million immigrants.2

What Act was passed in 1965, the helped to start the fifth period of immigration(1965- early 21st century)?

•The Hart-Celler Act .

What are the benefits of immigration?

•If we look at the impacts of immigration, we can see the beneficial and great impact made with immigration.

•Immigration helped to “broaden democracy in America.”3

•Transition to urban life•Contributions to America’s society•And greater population

How did nativism affect immigration?

•One would be the formation of the Know Nothing party

•Many laws were implemented to favor immigration in some places rather than others, while some stopped immigration in countries, one being the Chinese Exclusion Act.

•The quota system also affected immigration to America.

Sources• 1. Fix, Michael, and Jeffrey Passel. "U.S. Immigration at the

Beginning of the 21st      Century." urban.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 May 2011. <http://www.urban.org/      publications/900417.html>.

• 2. Diner, Hasia. "Immigration and U.S. History." america.gov. N.p., n.d. Web. 18      May 2011. <http://www.america.gov/st/peopleplace-english/2008/February/      20080307112004ebyessedo0.1716272.html>.

• 3. Hirschman, Charles. "The Impact of Immigration on American Society: Looking      Backward to the Future." Borderbattles. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 May 2011.      <http://borderbattles.ssrc.org/Hirschman/index.html>.

` . PBS. "Destination America." pbs.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 May 2011.      <http://www.pbs.org/destinationamerica/index.html>.

•  • 4PBS. "Destination America." pbs.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 May

2011.      <http://www.pbs.org/destinationamerica/index.html>.

Sources for Pictures

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gration%20and%20nationality%20act%20text%20of%201965-12985.html

• 7. http://www.rapidimmigration.com/1_eng_immigration_history.html

• 8. http://www.art.com/products/p13016765-sa-i2265330/american-flag-eagle-and-statue-of-liberty.htm

• 9.http://www.immigrationdnatesting.us/• 10.http://hpronline.org/united-states/an-e

nlightened-approach-to-illegal-immigration/

• 11. http://www.ancestry.com/wiki/images/thumb/0/0d/Pre-1820-immigration.jpg/300px-Pre-1820-immigration.jpg