Essay Example on Immigration to the US: A Historical Tale of Diversity and Opportunity

Introduction

The United States of America (USA) has held the position of global economic and democratic hub where persons of all nationalities all over the world meet. Historically, the immigration story into the United States can be traced to the earlier days of the colonial era. Ranging from the traders to the slaves, the American immigrants hold widely diversified identities. Historical records indicate that the Europeans comprising of the Spanish and French, had begun establishing themselves in the United States as early as the 1500s. The later arrival and establishment of a colony by the English men at Jamestown in the Virginia colony in the year 1607 followed their inhabitation. Later in 1620, other groups fleeing religious prosecution in Europe arrived in Massachusetts and established a colony. As the United States took the lead in the modern global economic structuring, many immigrants from other countries of the world moved there in search of opportunities to change their stories and fortunes. Between the years 1880 and 1920, a period popular for the industrial revolution, many slaves were brought into the United States to provide human labor in the industries. During the later years, the number of immigrants to the United States started dropping due to the deliberate efforts of the various government agencies in the United States to regulate the inflow of foreign immigrants. Most importantly, the dynamics of terrorism or health epidemics have hugely contributed to the necessity of some of the laid down immigration restrictions by the various acts of congress. Therefore, the thesis of the paper is to discuss the various issues related to immigration in the United States and the categories of people that deserve to be granted immigration.

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Contrast and Compare Political Perspectives

The present arguments around the subject of immigration in the United States have currently taken political inclinations. Such can be confirmed by the ongoing debates among the Democratic presidential candidates who have shown to differ in various aspects. However, it is noteworthy that the two major divides in the immigration debate are the Democrats and Republicans who have expressed open differences as far as immigration issues within the United States are concerned (Payan, 2016). As such, open differences in public debates and support for various immigration bills in the congress.

To begin with, about 78 percent of the Republicans advocate for stricter restrictions on immigrants attempting to enter the United States, claiming that such a move will keep her citizens safer. In the political arena, the Republican view has proved to be dominant in the majority of the decisions made by President Trump and the legislations overwhelmingly supported by the Republican legislators (Phan & Stodolska, 2019). For instance, in January this year, President Trump's administration expanded the ban that greatly targets the majority-Muslim countries to include Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, and Sudan besides Venezuela, North Korea, Iran, Libya, Syria, and Yemen whose citizens were banned from traveling to the United States in January 2017.

Such travel bans are aimed at preventing the citizens of these countries, who the government believes have closer ties to terrorist groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), from accessing the United States. On the contrary, only a few democrats, at about 24 percent, hold a similar viewpoint that restrictions on immigration of the foreigners into their boundaries can keep them safer (Phan & Stodolska, 2019). Most of them hold a view that immigration makes no difference to the security situation of their country.

Next, the Republications hold a view that the immigrant refugees present a great threat to the United States and her citizens contrary to the Democrats who still hold on the ideals of the Statue of Liberty that hold that the United States is the symbol of global freedom. According to the report by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs (CCGA), about 78 percent of the Republicans and 19 percent of Democrats believe that the surging immigrant refugee population within the United States is a critical threat. From their point of argument, the Republicans argue that the refugees who flee their countries into the United States not only cause security threats but also result in strain on the resources such as healthcare, employment opportunities, education, and transport system.

They further argue that their government should ensure that the American citizens get the best services and attention before the interests of the foreigners are taken care of. As such, they have usually supported the attempts by the United States government to build the southern border wall with Mexico, make use of the United States troops to guard the borders, and getting hold of the undocumented immigrants while awaiting the verification of their details. The Democrats on their part like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have been vocal on in condemning such acts by the government (Stockman, 2019). They hold thoughts that, however, their conditions, the refugees seeking asylum in the United States should be treated with dignity and granted all human rights. They further hold that the United States should remain leaders in their role as the global humanitarian policy leaders and a promising land that enables all to change their story.

Strengths and Weaknesses

The political arguments by the Democrats and Republicans on the various subjects of immigration have strengths and weaknesses. Firstly, the view of imposing travel bans on the states that have majority-Muslim populations to protect American citizens from terrorist attacks has several strengths. Since terrorist groups associated with most of the terrorist attacks conducted around the world like the September 11 attacks in the United States have links with the mostly-Muslim countries, the travel ban will protect United States citizens from homeland terror attacks.

However, not all those from these countries who seek to travel to the United States have ill motives. They seek to come to the United States for a variety of reasons such as business, education, religion, or even for humanitarian assistance as refugees. As such, the United States might end up losing on lucrative business opportunities that might create employment opportunities or even top-rated academicians that can come up with great innovations in fields like medicine, engineering, and technology, and military, among others (Stockman, 2019).

Secondly, the argument that the United States should treat refugees as a threat to both their security, resources, and amenities have several strengths and weaknesses as well. The advantage of the Republican point of view is that only the properly documented immigrants who have valid and beneficial information to benefit the economy and the citizens of the United States. Also, the available opportunities, both socially and economically, will be reserved for the United States citizens first.

On the contrary, however, it is noteworthy that refugees are usually needy and require assistance. Therefore, blocking them from assessing safer areas within the boundaries of the United States by use of a perimeter wall, sending them away, or enclosing them in cages while awaiting verification of their documents is simply inhuman. They might be suffering continuously while the authorities still engage them in the searches to ascertain their nationalities and motives of seeking refuge (Stockman, 2019). Taking the approach of the Republicans will seem to do away with the great American values of liberty and compassion to the rest of the world. Further, the United States might lose on the opportunities to attract some special skills and talents to their country to help in developing the economy and academic benefits.

Evaluation of the Different Viewpoints

In the political arguments presented about immigration, there is a conflict in whether allowing the immigrants into the country as they can compromise the security of the local citizens of the United States. From the arguments presented, the Republicans have resorted to more strict rules to regulate immigration into the United States (Mayda, Peri, & Steingress, 2016). Having adopted the mantra 'America First' for their presidential elections in the year 2016, the Republicans have always wanted to keep the promise to the American people in every situation.

The stance they have expressed concerning the immigration seeks to promote the interests of the American citizens first, in the sectors of education, business, and all the others. They seem to believe that allowing many immigrants into the county might lead to serious homeland insecurity (Mayda et al., 2016). The other effects are on strain in the available resources, and further heavier competition in the available job and business opportunities.

On the other hand, the Democratic school of thought seems to stick onto the ideal principles put forward by the founding fathers of the United States, which set her as the leader in liberty and freedom around the globe (Mayda et al., 2016). As such, they seek always to be considerate and caring about the conditions of those seeking refuge in their country. Again, it is noteworthy that the Democratic Party and the related school of thought find support among the colored communities in the United States.

Therefore, such appeals to allow other immigrants into the country might be reflective of the changes that most of their families were given since most of them moved into the United States from other countries across the globe in search of better lives and opportunities. If they made it to their positions and got a breakthrough for their immigrant families, what could prevent a refugee from immigrating into the United States today from achieving similar results? From their view, it is never the security threat or the stiff competition for the available resources and opportunities posed by the immigrants, but their ability to change the quality of their lives while in the United States that matter.

Conclusion

In summary, the American immigration situation has two major conflicting arguments: the Republican and Democratic points of view. While both views have vivid weaknesses and strengths that are almost at par, I tend to agree with the Democratic point of view. According to the founding fathers of the United States, every individual needs to be treated with dignity and respect. Also, not all those who seek refuge in America are threats to homeland security and the inhabitants of the United States, and placing a travel ban on particular countries generalizes inaccurately on their character. I believe that all those who have great intentions should be given a chance to aim at their goals in the United States without hindrance. However, such a take does not mean that the intelligence and crosschecking of the immigrant documentation be compromised. There should be border security checks in place to ascertain that all those who are given a chance to immigrate into the United States are all deserving, that is, are law-abiding citizens who want to get their dreams realized and make exemplary American stories for themselves. Even those fleeing any form of prosecution and violence from their home countries need to be helped unconditionally.

References

Mayda, A. M., Peri, G., & Steingress, W. (2016). Immigration to the US: A Problem for the Republicans or the Democrats? (No. w21941). National Bureau of Economic Research. Retrieved from https://www.nber.org/papers/w21941.pdf

Payan, T. (2016). Immigration and the United States: A Path to Resolution. Policy Brief: Recommendations for the New Administration. Retrieved from...