Thematic essay sample

1. Running Head: IMMIGRATION IN USA 1
Immigration in USA
Student Name
Institution Affiliation

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Immigration in USA
Introduction
The United States just like any other countries experienced major waves of immigration
during the colonial era. Immigration shaped the US as a nation and has contributed to the growth
of economy, social and political processes. Though immigration has occurred through the history
of America, large-scale immigration happened in the 19th and 20th century and a major one in
the 1970s. It, however, contributed to the fundamental transformation of American’s Economy.
Immigration, yet, has brought about various social problems and even led to government
straining to host the immigrants. The central thesis of this statement is that immigration had
several effects in the USA, but the government played a major role in mitigating them.
There are however major geographical trends of immigration that are changing the
communities across the United States. It is during 1880 era when America transition began, and
it was undergoing rapid industrial productivity. Between 1880 and 1920 there was urbanization
and industrialization in American, and most of the people were now moving into the cities to
look for employment. It is during this period that number of foreign-born increased and this lead
to a succeeding generation, the children of immigrants whose social and social characteristics
were profoundly influenced (Pruitt, 2013).
In 1925 there was increased urban immigration as it was the year of industrialization in
America, the number of people in the urban areas increased than some people in the rural areas.
The movement of immigrants in America is not dominant as it was in the past. The US economy
has been restructured, and the cities become decentralized and growth of suburbs as the center of
employment. The Immigrants settlement, therefore, had to be shifted to other new class of

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metropolitan areas. There emerged destination which tends to be metropolitan areas and largely
suburban in form. There developed recent trends in immigration such as new geography of
changes in the demographic characteristic of immigrants (Popielarz & Cserpes, 2017). The new
destination areas experienced a lot of social conflict over the immigrant’s cost of providing
services such as education, health services, and legal status. In 2000 there was assimilation and
immigrants had fully adopted fully the American culture and economy. There was more
employment of the native-born workforces mainly from industrial cities to South America.
Immigration in United States is a demographic act, and it has contributed much to
population growth and cultural change throughout the American nation. Immigration brought
many complex challenges, and it is the currently the center of disagreement causing tensions
between the wealthier receiving countries and the poor sending nation. Such movement of people
has posed many questions as it led to the rise of insecurity and the government strain to host the
immigrants. Immigration brought about a lot of controversy in the economic benefits, crime,
settlement patterns, and jobs for immigrants and voting behaviors. In the 19th century, congress
passed many laws that addressed issues about the immigrants. These acts included Naturalization
Act in 1870, Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882 and the immigration act in 1903 to ensure the laws
and boundaries set by immigrants. The lives of the Immigrants changes throughout this years as
the immigrants could get access to the non-immigrants’ demands and there were no more
oppressive taxes. They could then be allowed to enter into America and gain a job was not a
problem anymore
The irregular entry, overstaying and temporary admissions, bogus marriage and abuse of
asylum become a major concern of the government and citizens in industrialized countries. There
was fundamental immigration question on how many, what status and which class the

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newcomers should arrive. Though the act of stopping immigration seem difficult, the current
USA have set policies that aim to reduce the number of immigrants. One of the ways used was
prioritizing allocation of immigration visas to those who have relatives of the immigrants who
are already in USA. This method used is a however illegal method, and America is tolerating
chain migration (Visser, 2017).
Despite the positive impacts of immigrants on the American’s economy, there arose the
need to threaten to put more restriction policies on the movement into America. As the leaders
began to see the massive outrage of the non-immigrants they decided to put a filtration process
for the new immigrants coming in. They then employed some methods of test to secure the
number of jobs that were being taken by the southern and eastern Europeans. The test included
simple health states of mental illness, literacy taste and at the end, only 37% of the immigrants
were allowed to the United States. The issue of immigrants brought about a lot of a lot of debate
of where and the type of immigrants they were allowed in (Rutherglen, 2017).
Conclusion
American’s history cannot be separated from immigration since it is immigration that
played an important role in the transition of America. Through immigration American became
economically developed due to transitional in the urban industrial economy and also in the
modern American political, it also broaden the American culture making it more receptive and
open to the outsiders. As per the modern trends, the issue of creating policies is not migration
control, but it is a formation for socioeconomic progression and social integration of immigrants.
Awareness of the history of immigrant’s origin will help in contemporary debates over the
significance of the current and future immigration debate.

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References
Pruitt, B. (2013). The Other Great Migration: The Movement of Rural African Americans to
Houston, 1900-1941 (Vol. 21). Texas A&M University Press.
Popielarz, P. A., & Cserpes, T. (2017). Comparing the discussion networks and voluntary
association memberships of immigrants and non-immigrants in US suburban gateways.
Social Networks.
Rutherglen, G. A. (2017). The Rights of Aliens Under the United States Constitution: At the
Border and Beyond.
Visser, M. A. (2017). Reshaping migrant labour market geographies: Local regularisations and
the informal economy. Population, Space and Place, 23(7).
Kraal, K., & Vertovec, S. (2017). Citizenship in European cities: Immigrants, local
politics and integration policies. Routledge.

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