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U.S. Immigration Policy, 11/1/2010
Overview:
Join Active Minds for a look at the history of immigration in the U.S. and how this issue is currently playing out at both the federal and state level. We will discuss the economics and politics of various aspects of U.S. immigration and how these concerns are viewed by different constituencies within the U.S.
Key Lecture Points:
• Immigration policy has always been a divisive issue in the United States. It raises economic, human rights and national security concerns. The issue has become even more prominent in the past decade with the rise of an undocumented/illegal immigrant population in the United States.
• Early in its history, the United States had relatively liberal immigration policies in regard to émigrés from Europe. The combination of a desire to settle the vast American West and expand an Industrial base in the East necessitated a steady flow of immigration to meet the economic and security needs of the nation. From 1840-1920 approximately 37 million people came to the US.
• In the aftermath of World War I and the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, US immigration policy shifted abruptly to greater restrictions upon immigration. Beginning in 1921, Congress imposed quotas on the number of immigrants who could come from a given country. In so doing, the US reduced immigration by 75%.
• From 1970-2000, after the US lifted the system of national-origin preferences in 1965, more than 20 million legal immigrants came to the US. Of these, 80% were non-European immigrants. While race, language and religion have always been a point of debate in regards to immigration policy, that debate has intensified with the increased diversity of the recent immigrants to the US.
• Currently, the debate has focused upon the approximately 11 million undocumented/illegal aliens in the US as of 2010. Some argue the US should adopt a Guest Worker program (either with or without a path to citizenship) to bring low-wage labor out of the shadows. Others argue that such a program would take jobs from Americans and legal immigrants and would legitimize illegal activity.
Exploration Questions:
• What are the benefits of immigration?
• What role have immigrants played in our history?
Reflective Questions:
• Do you have family or friends who are immigrants to this country? How has this changed your perspective on immigration?
• Are you an immigrant or have you lived for an extended period in another country? How did you learn to live in another culture?
More to Explore:
• Interactive map of unauthorized immigrants: http://pewhispanic.org
• Center for Comparative Immigration Studies: http://ccis.ucsd.edu
Books For Further Reading:
• Bacon, David. Illegal People: How Globalization Creates Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants. Beacon Press. 2008. 272 pages. Bacon explores the human side of globalization, explaining how it uproots people in Latin America and Asia, driving them to migrate. Bacon argues that trade policy and immigration are linked and are elements of a single economic system. Click here to order.
• Sterling, Terry Greene. Illegal: Life and Death in Arizona’s Immigration War Zone. Lyons Press. 2010. 256 pages. Portrayal of what life is like in the Arizona immigrant underground. Provides insight into this divisive national issue. Click here to order.
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