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economic impact of illegal immigrants
ellis island informational essay
ellis island informational essay
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The subject of illegal immigration seems to be a very hot-button topic for many Americans. The subject seems to lose public outcry on either side at any given moment, then suddenly cause tremendous tremors on our social conscious. The subject of illegal immigration has many sub-issues, but one of the most problematic is that illegal immigrants are a financial drain on the American economy. Ellis Island is the location where European immigrants passed through and were documented. According to June F. Tyler, “Before 1890 each state handled immigration according to its own rules. After that date the federal government assumed this responsibility. Ellis Island became the first immigration station, opening for business in 1892.”(1) Information obtained through the website ellisisland.org stated that: 1921 560,971 immigrants came to our borders and passed through Ellis Island. In the same year the U.S. Congress passed the first Immigration Quota Law. The total number of immigrants that were allowed entry was set at nearly 358,000. The Immigration Act of 1924 further restricted immigration, and reduced the annual quota to approximately 164,000. This marked the end of mass immigration to America. The Immigration Act also provided for the examination and qualification of immigrants at U.S. consulates overseas.” (1) It is very important to note that every immigrant was examined for any potential physical or mental disease and a determination was made if the immigrant was able to fend for himself without becoming a burden to the public. There is no way to know that exact number of illegal aliens in our country at any given moment, but in a study done by the Department of Homeland Security, “there were an estimated 11.6 million u... ... middle of paper ... .... Web. 2 July 2010. . Hoefer, Micheal, Nancy Rytina, and Christopher Campbell. Estimates of the Unauthorized Immigrant Population Residing in the United States: January 2006. 2007. 26 June 2010. Malanga, Steven. “How Unskilled Immigrants Hurt Our Economy.” City-Journal (New York, NY) Summer 2006 7 Jun 2004 < http://www.city-journal.org/html/16_3_immigrants_economy.html> Pitts, Byron. "Illegal Immigrant Births - At Your Expense." CBS News. CBS interactive Inc., 2010. Web. 7 July 2010. . Temple, Andrea and June F. Tyler. Ellis Island A historical Perspective. 2007. 5 July 2010.
Ellis island brought millions of immigrants to America between the years 1892 and 1954. It is said that 40% of our population today can trace their ancestors to Ellis Island. Many people of many nationalities came to The United States get a chance at having the “American Dream”. Whilst pursuing their dreams, they left their marks on American culture. No one has influenced us so much as the Italians and their way of life.
Yans-McLaughlin, Virginia, and Marjorie Lightman. Ellis Island and the Peopling of America: The Official Guide. New York: New, 1997. Print.
Ellis Island was used as a inspection center for immigrants for over 60 years. The process they used to get immigrants into the United States was asking basic questions like money on them, name and occupation. There was also a medical procedure to get by Ellis Island, Ellis Island closed its immigration process in 1954.
Just consider the numbers involved. Our Government acknowledges a net inflow of 400,000 immigrants a year. While we have no hard data on the extent of illegal entries, educated guesses put the figure
“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…” Though the immigrants to Ellis Island could not see Emma Lazarus’ “The New Colossus” within the base of the Statue of Liberty, “tired” and “poor” were overwhelming applicable to the desperate souls seeking new life in America. While Ellis Island has a reputation in popular culture for being the “processing center” for all those seeking to enter America on the East Coast, the sad truth is that primarily only steerage passengers who could just barely afford their ticket were the ones waiting in line at Ellis Island to gain admission into the United States. For those who could afford a luxury ticket, the immigration authorities boarded ships for them, and once given the all-clear, were then proceeded to be dropped off at New York.
From the late 1800’s to the mid 1950’s, Ellis Island in New York Bay was the entrance to a new life for many immigrants. These people left their respective homelands for a variety of reasons: from famine and religious persecution, to war and rumors about cities of solid gold. But common to all was the drive to start over, the drive to be whoever they wanted to be in the “Golden Land.” Said an inspired immigrant of the words of Mother America:
“America means opportunity, freedom, power.” These powerfully true words, spoken by philosopher and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson, illustrate the symbolic meaning America had come to inhabit in the eyes of desperate immigrants. During the Industrial Revolution, a booming American economy as well as external foreign events helped direct immigrants to America, a fabled land of liberty and power. This large influx of immigrants was instrumental in shaping the very country we know today. A large part of immigration was directed through the famous Ellis Island, known as the Gate to America, or the Golden Door. The co-dependency of the Industrial Revolution and immigration through Ellis Island can be illustrated in a number of examples.
In the U. S today, the approximated population of undocumented immigrants stands at averagely 11 million. Therefore, this has created a hot debate in Congress about the action to take over the undocumented immigrants. Those opposed to illegal immigrants suggest that, their stay in the United States effects U.S citizens on the job market negatively . In addition, illegal immigrants are viewed in certain quarters as takers in the sense that illegal immigrants benefit more from public resources than the american-born citizens of the U.S. However, the reality is that immigrants contribute positively to the U.S economy and pay significantly into the system compared to what they send back home. In addition, the contributions associated with undocumented immigrants involve sustaining the solvency of the SSTF (Social Security Trust Fund). In this sense, the use of cost benefit analysis by those supporting immigration restrictions are unfounded and do not reflect the facts on the ground (Nadadur 1037). The opponents of undocumented immigrants believe that having more undocumented immigrants in the U.S is costly; however, there are no solid reasons to prove that undocumented immigrants are a burden to the treasury. Instead, the undocumented immigrants play an important role in boosting the economy and in particular by taking up jobs those citizens perceive as demeaning because the money they earn goes back to the economy through taxes resulting from consumer spending when they send money back home.
“Immigration Since the 1870s.” University At Albany. State University of New York, n, d. web. 20 March. 2014. http://www.albany.edu/history/HIS530/Immigrationsincethe1870s/immigration.html
Ellis Island was 'the door to America' which was opened on January 1st, 1892. Immigrants came here from their countries to stay in ours. It was a major immigration station for the United States from 1892 to 1943. It has been part of the Statue of Liberty since 1965. Between 1880 and 1900 9 million immigrants arrived in America, which was the largest number of arrivals in a 20 year period. The immigrants mostly stayed in the New England areas, such as New York and Massachusetts. This alarmed older Americans, because they feared that the country and system would fail because of the new 'impurities' in the land. In other words the shift in nationalities. The first immigrants to come to Ellis Island were from Ireland, Germany, England, and Scandanavian countries. By 1896, Italy, Russia, Poland, Spain, Greece, and Eastern Europe started to come, until 1924 when an immigration restriction law was imposed. This was a means of protecting the American wage that was earned. Congress also passed this act to provide for the examination of immigrants to exclude convicts, polygamists (which is someone who is married to two or more people at the same time) , prostitutes, people suffering from diseases, an people liable to public charges.
The United States cannot afford to lose the economic gains that come from immigrant labor. The economy would be suffering a greater loss if it weren’t for immigrants and their labor contributions, especially during the 2008 U.S. recession. The U.S. economy would most likely worsen if it weren’t for the strong labor force immigrants have provided this country. Despite the mostly negative views native-born Americans have towards immigrants and the economy, their strong representation in the labor forces continues today. Immigrants aren’t taking “American” jobs, they are taking the jobs that Americans don’t want (Delener & Ventilato, 2008). Immigrants contribute to various aspects of the economy, including brining valuable skills to their jobs, contributing to the cost of living through taxes, and the lacked use of welfare, healthcare, and social security when compared to native-born Americans, showing that the United States cannot afford to lose the contribution immigrants bring into the economy.
...it: Greenhaven Press, 2013. At Issue. Rpt. from "The Future of Immigrant Children." The Future of Children (Spring 2011).Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 21 Apr. 2014.
Thompson, Art. “Illegal Immigration Hurts the Economy.” Opposing Viewpoints: Immigration. Eds. David M. Haugen, Susan Musser and Kacy Lovelace. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press, 2009. 30-35. Print.
Immigration to America began when Christopher Columbus discovered the new land now called the American continent. Immigration increased in the 17th century when people came from Europe, Africa, and Asia to the new land. There were many colonies, such as the British and Dutch. When people came they go to their people and find jobs as farmers. The first immigrants were in the east coast around 1607 to 1775 after the number of immigrants increased. In 1790 - 1850 there were few immigrants who came to America, but in 1850 to 1930 the number of immigrations increased (Dolan 4).
In his book “American Passage: The History of Ellis Island”, Vincent J. Cannato expressed the course that the late 1800s to 1900s immigrants went through. The main focus of Cannato’s book was the many changes in the immigration policy, and how it shaped the United States. Before Ellis Island opened, the restriction of immigrants was weak. Many Americans had their own beliefs on how immigration should be managed, however, restrictions towards immigration was not enforced until the early 1900s. When the immigration policy was finally imposed, the treatment of immigrants became harsh and unsympathetic. Vincent J. Cannato’s book “American Passage: The History of Ellis Island” explains the changes of procedures and laws, the attitudes of Americans,