The Treatment of Immigrants In our Society
"Go back home!" A phrase that many would agree summarizes the general
public view and attitude towards immigrants in areas of our country
today. To many, 'Great Britain' is a symbol of refuge from other
disturbed parts of the world; an image promoted by the current
government and other British international political figures. So why
then are foreign families and communities in search of a better
quality of life, welcomed in to unfamiliar societies with racial
abuse? There obviously must be something wrong or missing in our
society for the nurturing system set up by our government to end in
angered cases of violence and even murder.
Can it be that the ongoing debate over the amount of immigrants and
asylum-seekers allowed to inhabit Britain annually has been an easy
attraction for public criticism and has consequently spurred racism?
This kind of control and power over another human's future and
identity has led to the government disregarding immigrants' statuses
as equals, a fault that has rubbed off in to our immediate society.
The most critical of our government's handling of the situation would
be the British media. Any fault results in widespread newspaper
coverage. All of the negative press over immigrants, whether it is a
dispute within our Parliament or a story covering a daring illegal
entrance into England by refugees, must all contribute to the blame
laid on immigrants in our society.
Much of the anger towards immigrants in the past has been provoked by
the system of immigration working almost too well. Examples of
vandalism and prejudice have been experienced by wealthier immigrants;
those who have set up successful businesses in foreign countries, only
to suffer from the wrath of jealous inhabitants. It is my view that
this sort of abuse should not be tolerated, just because someone comes
from a different part of the very same world as another person.
Although our government receives much of the criticism if the system
of immigration fails, it is realistically down to the public to take
Australia has had a long history of receiving individuals and groups who are seeking asylum as well as unfortunately a long history of turning those away who are perceived as different. (McKay,Thomas & Blood 2011).Even though the white Australia policy was abandoned decades ago it still lives on as a strong resonance in the conservative right of politics (Westoby & Ingamells, 2010). Community fear about Australia’s border seem easily triggered, which has prompted the term ‘paranoid nationalism’ to be used to describe the heightened refugee politics of the Howard years linked to discrimination and maltreatment of asylum seekers which still lives on today (Westoby & Ingamells, 2010). This paper will use the term asylum seeker to identify those who have arrived at Australian shores seeking refuge without a valid visa. I aim to consider throughout this paper this history of how asylum seekers have been constructed as the ‘other’ and to examine the role of public discourse and political, legal and media responses, such as the implementation of detention centres, as creating and reinforcing the position of asylum seekers as different and not belonging. It will be therefore argued that while we have come a long way from the treatment the Howard government gave asylum seekers, we have not come far enough. Two key areas being the use of ‘othering’ and the implementation of detention centres need to be challenged if we are to take the responsibility of providing refuge for asylum seekers seriously.
In the United States, the cliché of a nation of immigrants is often invoked. Indeed, very few Americans can trace their ancestry to what is now the United States, and the origins of its immigrants have changed many times in American history. Despite the identity of an immigrant nation, changes in the origins of immigrants have often been met with resistance. What began with white, western European settlers fleeing religious persecution morphed into a multicultural nation as immigrants from countries across the globe came to the U.S. in increasing numbers. Like the colonial immigrants before them, these new immigrants sailed to the Americas to gain freedom, flee poverty and famine, and make a better life for themselves. Forgetting their origins as persecuted and excluded people, the older and more established immigrants became possessive about their country and tried to exclude and persecute the immigrant groups from non-western European backgrounds arriving in the U.S. This hostile, defensive, and xenophobic reaction to influxes of “new” immigrants known as Nativism was not far out of the mainstream. Nativism became a part of the American cultural and political landscape and helped to shape, through exclusion, the face of the United States for years to come.
Firstly to justify why countries limit their immigrations, there should be knowledge of the different types of immigrants as there are different reasons to leave from one country and move into another. In the last 30 years, the number of international immigrants has been estimated 191 million worldwide, two times as before. As ...
Without a doubt, the European continent has been through a lot over the last few decades. From World War 2, to the iron grip of Soviet Russia on half of the continent, many problems have arisen and been dealt with. Unfortunately, Europe has had a rough few years when it comes to the somewhat newer issue of immigration and immigrant groups. While some countries have managed immigration better than others, nations such as France and Italy have had their fair share of problems and continue to pass legislation that is flawed and draws criticism from other countries. The issue has gotten better in recent years, and various European countries have made great progress towards their immigration policies. In addition, various ethnic groups have been the target of government profiling and discrimination. Most notably the Romani people, who have faced discrimination for hundreds of years and continue to do so at the hands of various Eastern and Western European governments. The many setbacks and gains towards immigration are more clearly visible when looked at on a case-by-case basis, such as the individual policies of Italy, France, and the European Union as a whole.
Immigration is one of the most trending topics in the presidential campaign, generating furious debate over the situations that America faces. Whether it be deporting illegal immigrations, granting them a form of amnesty, or building a wall between the United States and Mexico, the immigration process is constantly deliberated. A total of 300,000 jobs were created in the December of 2015. However, there is a constant argument about the income distribution, with the amount of jobs that are supposedly being lost to immigrants. At the top of the social classes, wages are increasing. In the middle and bottom strata, wages are stagnate. However, there is more complexity in order to understand how immigrants are truly impacting our economy and our lives.
Immigrants have been a vital part of the U.S. ever since the day the country was founded. But perspectives on immigrants have varied through time and one of the most popular ways of presenting them was through political cartoons. From the 1860s-1910s one of the biggest issues the U.S. was facing was how to properly regulate the flow of immigrants into the country. We also see this tying of Americanness and whiteness, where even certain Europeans weren’t considered full American even though they were white. White Americans wanted more white seeming migrants which would help further establish the American identity as white. The political cartoons show the shifting perspective placed on immigrants, from a universal fear of them, to a more divided
Bohuslav Sobotka, the Czech prime minister, said the following in a recent interview as a warning ‘immigrants may bring about the collapse of the EU.’ Refugees are intruders and impose burdens onto other countries. Refugees will take jobs and resources from struggling
The immigrant came to another country with their kid or wife trying give them a better life or attending to change a better job. Even these first generation of immigrants can accept their living environment or job very well, they will still feel unfamiliar about the new world they staying at which reminds me about my aunt and uncle. They have immigrated to America for more than 7 years, got a stable job even their kids. However, when I talked with her about how do they feel about this country, they told me that the culture here is very different from where they came from; therefore, sometimes they had to face some culture shocks. For immigrants , it is difficult to eliminate the sense distance over time because the immigrant have to make compromises
Banting noted that some Canadians fear multiculturalism will bring, “…challenges to historic cultures, anxieties about Islam, and fears about insecurity,” (797). As people migrate from one cultural or religious backgrounds, maintaining the identity of the host country becomes difficult. Young children born interact with the immigrants and they could easily emulate foreign cultures thereby putting the historic cultural identity of Canadians at risk of erosion. Winter Elke warned that multiculturalism is changing to give too much preference to the immigrants thereby risking it to become a minority affair (638). Therefore, the relationship between national the majority of Canadians and immigrants need rethinking. Erosion of other cultures as immigrants introduce new ways or adapt to the cultures of the host county (Canada). Furthermore, education of the immigrants could face challenges if they experience difficulty settling in Canada. Given that immigrants later work in Canada, the human resource sector faces a new challenge of managing a diversified workforce, which can create headache for Canadian employers. Banting indicated that there is, “a strong sense that multiculturalism policies have “failed” a reaction that is strongest perhaps in the Netherlands, but is felt in many other countries as well,” (797). Such assertions only fuel resentment towards
Immigration has been a topic that has caused multiple discussions on why people migrate from one country to another, also how it affects both the migraters and the lands they go. Immigration is the movement from one location to another to live there permanently. This topic has been usually been associated with sociology to better explain how it affects people, cultures and societies. Sociology has three forms of thinking that are used to describe and analyze this topic. There are three forms of thinking that are used to tell and describe immigration to society; structural functionalist, symbolic interactionist, and conflict theory. Each of these theories uses different forms of thinking and rationality to describe and explain socio topics.
The topic in hand is the unfairness toward illegal immigrants in the United States and the lack of acknowledgement to their contribution to the country. This topic has constantly arised when immigration reforms are being discussed, most states speak negatively of immigrants; how they take American jobs, infiltrate the welfare, do not pay taxes, etc. When on the contraire they are the ones negatively being affected due to the necessity of a social security number. America is known as the “land of opportunity”, however the opportunity is not being given to immigrants in search of a better life, the values of the country – life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness— is now limited, which should not.
America has had discrimination against minorities for a long time and it will continue to have it until people treat minorities with respect. Discrimination is when people treat minorities bad because of their skin color, ethnicity and the place they were born. For immigrants, the problems they had to arrive in America were not a good experience only by the struggle to gain acceptance among the population. Most immigrants came to the U.S. to have a better life and give education to their children. Almost all immigrants have experienced discrimination at some point in their life and even some are still experiencing it today. Most Latinos don’t have a choice but to deal with it when they get discriminated because they know they are illegal.
Several years ago, America was taught to be a 'melting pot,' a place where immigrants of different cultures or races form an integrated society, but now America is more of a 'salad bowl' where instead of forming an incorporated entity the people who make up the bowl are unwilling to unite as one. America started as an immigrant nation and has continued to be so. People all over the world come to America for several reasons. Most people come to America voluntarily, but very few come unwillingly. For whatever reasons they may have for coming they all have to face exposure to American society. When exposed to this 'new' society they choose whether to assimilate or not. Assimilation in any society is complex. Since assimilation is not simple, people will have negative experiences when assimilating into American society.
Immigration is a controversial topic that features conflicting opinions on a global scale. This is because skeptics believe that immigrants are taking away the original culture and traditions of individual societies, whereas, those supporting immigration believe that immigrants in fact enrich the culture of the host countries and provide great benefits to the country overall. This ongoing debate regarding immigration has led to the increased difficulty in gaining national citizenship in some countries, such as Saudi Arabia. Other countries, however, welcome immigrants as they believe foreigners are valuable to society. Immigration around the world should be encouraged as immigrants increase diversity, add to the amount of skills and labor opportunities available to the countries they move to, and improve the economy.
It would be nice to allow people to adhere to their own styles, but doing that excludes them from the already existing nation’s practices. On the other hand, requiring immigrants to completely conform to society, will result in taking away all of their beliefs. According to Malik, “‘multicultural’ has come to define both a society that is particularly diverse, usually as a result of immigration, and the policies necessary to manage such a society” (22). With the immigration that European nations have faced, there is undoubtedly diverse culture present, but the policy aspect of that multicultural definition still needs to be redefined in order to create a balance between diversity and inclusion within