Ellis Island: The Rise Of Immigrants

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Ellis Island was one of the main points of entry into the United States and immigrants arrived here from their long journey at sea dirty and unkempt. Today they fly in on planes arriving at our international airports. The trip is much shorter and they are groomed and dress with the latest fashions (Foner, N. 2000). Back in the 1900’s immigrants came mostly from Europe. They came to the United States to escape from crop failure in their homeland. There were also land and job shortages along with rising taxes. Other issues that caused the immigrants to leave their native country include: famine, freedom to worship what they wanted and freedom from oppression (Foner, N. 2000). Immigrants wanted to better their lives for themselves and their …show more content…
Pre-established areas are what the immigrants would look for because they were created by the settlers from their homelands which is where they were most comfortable. Not all immigrants stayed in the United States. Some would come to work and make money and then would return to their home lands. This did not sit well with some people in the United States because they thought that they were bringing U.S. money to the other countries that do not support the United States. Immigrants were referred to as new and old. The new immigrants were from Russia, Italy, Poland and Austria-Hungary. The old immigrants were from Ireland, Germany and England. Once settled the immigrants would look for work. Immigrants often were given the jobs that the Native Americans did not want. There was a shortage of jobs and many immigrants were taken advantage of by their employers and paid lower wages. As I read the book “The Jungle” by Upton Sinclair it was clear that the immigrants were being taken advantage of. The book portrayed a hard life for the immigrants. Big business liked the immigrants because they were cheap labor. By paying …show more content…
The United States government started focusing more on our border patrols and illegal immigration. The Border Security and Visa Reform Act was passed which updated our verification methods for documents when traveling into the United States from other countries. Stricter rules were enforced at our security checkpoints. A fence was built between the U.S. and Mexico border to help keep the illegal immigrants from crossing over. The United States is trying to maintain the right balance between welcoming immigrants and protecting Americans. When the economy was strong and we needed cheap labor immigrants were welcomed into the United State freely. With new terrorist threats against the United States we cannot allow immigrants in as freely as we did 100 years ago. Illegal immigration is a big problem today in America. One of the major problems is “Anchor Babies”. These babies are born to illegal aliens and once born the whole family is pulled into permanent residency because the baby was born in the United States. Anchor babies are U.S. citizens and automatically qualify for welfare and other government benefits (Cosman, M. 2005). The U.S. economy is simply being drained from the expenses that are incurred for this specific group of people. The

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