Immigration to the United States

Humans move from place to place. People move to different homes and cities to be closer to their families or workplaces. They might want to find better neighborhoods or roads with less traffic. But people don’t only move to different houses and towns. Throughout history, people have also moved to entirely different countries. We call this international movement immigration, and the people who move to a new country to live there are known as immigrants.

People immigrate for the same reasons that a family might move to a new neighborhood or a different state, such as for better work opportunities or to be closer to relatives. Sometimes, though, people have more urgent reasons to leave their home countries. Many immigrants flee war and violence. Sometimes they move to new countries to avoid famine and poverty. 

For the most part, Americans live in a society of immigrants. It has the largest number of international immigrants in the world. Almost one-fifth of global immigrants live in the United States. The country has a rich history of immigration. However, there are some groups that you wouldn’t consider immigrants. Native Americans, for example, are what we call indigenous to America, which means they make up the original population of North America. If we look back in history to the first Europeans that came to America, we would consider them colonists and not immigrants because they took over the land. Slaves who were forcibly brought to American shores from Africa would also not be considered immigrants.

Most early immigrants came to the United States from Europe, but the country was open to immigrants from all around the world up until the late 19th century. Immigration to the United States has typically occurred in waves — with various groups of people moving in large numbers at different points in American history. For example, one of the first groups that moved to the United States in large numbers was the Irish. In the 1840s, a great famine struck Ireland. Scores of Irish people left their home country in search of land where they’d be able to feed their families. Between 1820 and 1930, over 4 million Irish men, women, and children immigrated to the United States. Another wave of immigration came from China in the mid-19th century. Many workers traveled across the Pacific to work as miners, farmers, and other manual laborers. When gold was discovered in California in 1848, Americans rushed west, hoping to strike it rich. So did thousands of Chinese immigrants. In just a few years after the discovery of gold, about 150,000 Chinese people immigrated to the United States. 

As immigration has grown over the centuries, tensions have arisen. For example, when Chinese immigrants began moving to America in the 19th century, many Americans felt threatened. On the West Coast, where most Chinese immigrants settled, some Americans thought that they were losing jobs to Chinese workers. Rumors describing Chinese immigrants as unlawful and immoral spread, and many people believed these rumors. In 1862, The United States acted on public fear and resentment of Chinese immigrants. Congress passed an anti-immigration law. The Chinese Exclusion Act stopped almost all Chinese people from entering the country. The law also made it impossible for Chinese immigrants to become American citizens.

Over the years, countries have used laws, both fairly and unfairly, to control immigration. Sometimes these laws have been discriminatory, or showing unfair treatment towards certain groups of people. After World War I, the United States enacted another restrictive immigration law. The Immigration Act of 1924 established limits on how many people could enter the United States based on their countries of origin. Immigration from Eastern Europe, Mexico, and Japan were largely banned; on the other hand, immigrants from Britain, Ireland, and Scandinavian countries like Norway, Sweden, and Finland were allowed into the country. 

Today, immigration trends have changed. The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 abolished, or ended, restrictions on immigration based on country of origin. Since then, immigration has flourished. By the 1970s, most immigrants entered the United States from countries in Asia and Latin America. Of the 10 million immigrants who came to the U.S. between 2000 and 2009, 8 million were from Asia and Latin America.

There are over 240 million immigrants worldwide. One reason for the global growth of immigration is the improvement of transportation and the decrease in cost. In the 18th century, you had to travel by boat to reach America from Europe, and that could take over a month! Today, you can travel the same distance by plane in just eight hours. 

Even though it has only increased over time, immigration has become a controversial topic in the 21st century. One reason for this controversy is that a number of immigrants have entered the United States without going through the proper legal systems. In 2015, an estimated 11 million immigrants were living in the country without legal permission. There are a lot of discussions around immigrants living in the United States without legal permission. Some people feel as though this will mean fewer opportunities for American citizens, while others feel that immigrants, regardless of their citizenship, help boost the economy and make valuable contributions to our society.

No matter how trends change, immigration to the United States will remain strong. Estimates predict that by 2065, 78 million people in the United States will have been born in other countries. There will always be varying views and controversy about immigration. But just like they have been doing for nearly 250 years, people from all over the world will continue to move to the United States to become part of our communities, cultures, and country.