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Immigration

Nick Molden
10/24 ENGG

Immigration

As much as our country is hailed as the "melting pot" nation of the world, the United States seems to have a big problem when it comes to immigration. The ironic factor here is that the white people running our country are immigrants themselves. Europeans emigrated across the Atlantic in large numbers during the 1600's to find a land promising freedom of worship and free destiny. It was a promise of no more discrimination for the Puritans, who were heavily persecuted in Europe. Upon landing, the Puritans managed to pass on the torch of persecution to the Native Americans. They managed to almost wipe out the Indian people in a span of 200 years. For a people teaching religious acceptance, they were not very accepting of any other non-white culture. The is how the United States came to be. The founders of our current society were racists and were hypocritical of their own values. They escaped Europe because of war, poverty, famine, or religious persecution, only to spread it onto the New Land, called America. Today, we are more accepting of other cultures but immigration still is looked at in a negative way. People complain of the many Mexicans living here that cannot speak English. People of Arab descent are racially profiled at airports when trying to enter the country. Some critics say that immigrants hurt our economy and that they should be denied the basic human rights guaranteed by our government. However, closer examination will show that immigrants boost our economy and help the working class white man get through his day more smoothly. Without the immigrants living in our country, America would crumble and cease to exist.
Before 1882, anybody was allowed to travel to America. It was new enough and large enough to harbor many different people. After this time, our country began enforcing immigration laws which were usually aimed at non-whites. Instead of focusing on keeping people from others...