Finding the Nation: The Issues with Modern Immigration Policies in the United States

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In the dawn of the 21st century the typical impression an American can hold when the word ‘immigration’ is brought up may include a lot of controversey. Immigration in the late 18th century was essentially a norm for the newfound American society. With Congress introducing bills like Arizona’s SB 1070 it is quite apparent that immigration is now one of America’s biggest discussions in U.S. Politics. Two interpretationa of the topic at hand can be illustrated by examining Jacob Hornberger’s essay “Keep the Borders Open” and Peter Brimlow’s essay “A Nation of Immigrants”. Jacob Hornberger makes it clear in his opinion that the main cause of an immigration problem is the establishment of laws restricting immigration; which he believes that the founders of the United States would not condone restrictions on immigrants. In comparison, Peter Brimelow takes a definitive approach by addressing America’s lack of homogeneity, which Brimelow feels is an essential characteristic of a nation. In both essays each author takes an indirect stance on the topic of immigration. Hornberger implies that people should be allowed to do and live freely. Brimelow argues that America is not so much a nation, but a ‘polity’ and the only way for the United States to become a nation is to restrict immigration and begin a process that would lead to unity and homogeneity. Jacob Hornberger Jacob Hornberger urges the reader to look at a time in American history not only before immigration restriction, but also government interference in its citizen’s lives. By this the author means Social Services, Welfare, and other programs. He states that “[T]he bedrock principle underlying American society was that people should be free to live their lives any way the... ... middle of paper ... ...ain small groupings of persons that don’t understand one from another. The differences could be within socio-economic grounds, gender grounds or most importantly ethnic grounds. The one thing that all these things attribute towards is clashing differences. In West Hollywood a gay man of any ethnicity can live safely within a neighborhood holding any socio-economic status and without little to no discrimination, yet about six miles south of this neighborhood the same man could be beaten to a pulp for simply being himself. You could then take this same man and drive him 4,000 miles east of California and he could be discriminated against for 300 miles in any direction--That is America-- Brimelow understands this and executes it very effectively while speaking about a possible nation ahead... under one condition: close the borders, and allow the process to take place.

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