At the onset of the 20th century, America was developing at a high rate and there was a lot of industrialization taking place. This attracted people from other continents which led to an influx of immigrants from across the globe into America with the hope of securing employment and a better life for themselves and their families. According to Hirschman (2007), the immigrants have been subjected to hostility as a result of the natives’ fears of being overthrown by the immigrants, impacting negatively on their economy, social and cultural lives. However, this has not really interfered with the immigration process since most of these immigrants are from poor developing countries where making ends meet is a great struggle. The population of immigrants is about 60 million in the United States currently, and these people are always willing to go through rigorous immigration procedures just to have that feeling of living the American dream.
There is a good number of Americans who are not for the idea of the continued movement of large numbers of immigrants to the united states. Most of these are the original inhabitants of America who live in small urban areas and rarely interact with the immigrants. Another possible reason for this is the fact that the Americans feel that the immigrants have a different culture, language and religion and may not be so willing to relent their culture for the American one, thus resulting in a possible misunderstanding. As a result of the globalization and the restructuring of employment sources, most of the natives of America are kind of worried about their futures and that of their kids, with most of the companies and sectors going for the cheap labor provided by the immigrants, in which case it could be a possible cause of the rise in hostility towards the immigrants. Most of the experts have been predicting that the immigrants would not be easily assimilated into the American societies and that they are likely to have a lot of negative impact on the country’s economy. This has been proved to be wrong over time since most of the immigrants have totally adopted the American culture and way of life and they have also diversified the American societies positively.
Spanish settlers were the first ones to start migrating into the United States in the 16th century and then the English and the French followed in the 17th century but just before the American Revolution occurred, there was a free flow of labor from the European nations as well as the importation of a lot of slaves from the Caribbean islands and Africa. Between 1880 and 1924 there was a massive migration from the south and the eastern parts of Europe and then another one in1965 from Latin America and Asia. The total number of immigrants into the United States in these two periods was more than twenty million and since then, about one million people migrate into the US yearly.
Immigration always has an impact on the people’s way of life and some of the immigrants are likely to transform the native society especially if they refuse to drop their culture and adopt a new one, for instance, the Palatine Boors who are of German origin, refused to drop their language and also had the intentions of Germanizing Pennsylvania. The Catholic Church had its roots in Europe and as it spread its wings into America, this was met with a lot of hostility with churches and convents being put ablaze. There was the belief by the American elites that they were superior to the other countries and this led to a mistrust of the immigrants with some seeing them as illiterate, beggars and criminals. This also led to a number of regions that the immigrants had settled in, being avoided by the Americans. It is as a result of these fears that the Boston Brahmins established the immigration restriction league to help in reducing the influx of immigrants.
The immigrants have helped in shaping up the industrial sector by providing labor to the sectors such as mining, trade and even the industries. According to Hirschman (2007), they have also played an important role in the politics of the US, as seen in their influence on president John F. Kennedy’s win of the elections as well as the formation of successful movements such as the Roosevelt coalition in the 1930s. The immigrants have also helped in creating the current American culture that is envied by other countries, they have played roles in producing films, writing songs among others (Hirschman, 2007).
References
Hirschman, C. (2007). The impact of immigration on American society. Web.