Immigration and Ethnic Relations in the United States
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Immigration and Ethnic Relations in the United States
The issue immigration in U.S is a trend of citizens of other continents particularly Europe, Africa and Asia migrating to U.S, which started back in 1600 and does not include the indigenous immigrants when British and Europeans settled at east coast. Afterwards, the Africans came in as slaves, where the number of people migrating to America has increased with time. However, at some instance the number of these immigrants decreased due to high cost in transport incurred. In addition, the restrictions imposed on migration also caused decrease in immigrants. The majority of immigrants go to the United States to either further education, seek employment while others go to settle to the US due to their vast wealth making the issue of the race/ racism great in the United States.
Most of the people from the European countries migrate to the United States to further their education as well as settle there. The Americans at the same time believed that these people are financially as well as technological stable. They therefore developed a level of insecurity with these people being in their land. They tend to discriminate them according to their race as they view them as a threat. They found them as challengers financially, socially as well as in job markets. The migrants from the European countries having come from developed countries felt that they were on the same level with the United States, which made the situation even more badly.
On the other hand, the migrants from the African countries were seeking employment while a few went for studies in U.S. The racism to this group is even worse than to the European. They discriminated the Africans due to their color, their financial background as well as the nature of their mother country. They usually referred to the African as less used to technology and at the same time more primitive. The Africans were therefore given employment in areas where the Americans could not work. This caused a great threat to the Africans who could not even have the right to express themselves in the American land. The life of the African got worse but when they remembered of the situation in their motherland, they found it worth to stay in the United States.
The Asians as the other group that migrate to the United States, migrated with the view of getting employment, while others for study. However, their number is not as great as for those from European and African countries. The Asians countries being associated with crime especially the Islamic nations; they faced discrimination due to the culture of their countries that is associated with crime, color as well as the situation in their mother countries. The situation of Africans was worse than that of the Europeans. They faced great discrimination where they were usually referred to as the agents of crime. The Americans viewed the Asians as threat by believing that they are in the American soil to commit crime.
However, the situation of the racism/ethnic group segregation has been reducing with time. They realized that the migrants are not a threat to them but rather of help to the development of the United States. This has been recognized through various efforts by the government of the United States as well as justice institutions that championed campaign to enlighten the Americans on the matters of racism. They realized that migrants were further important due to their advance in the United States job market thus the employers developing a positive attitude towards them. They provide them with tasks that the migrants perform even better than the Americans. This make the Americans understand that they are equally able to challenge them in all fields. This has also been seen in the universities where the migrants have been performing well academically than the Americans.
Factors That Contribute to Socioeconomic Status and Upward Mobility of the Second Generation Immigrant Minorities
Different levels of ethnic/racial discrimination: As seen in the previous part of the paper the level of discrimination towards certain immigrants depends with the continent of origin, with most discriminated immigrants being from Asia and Africa. The level of discrimination highly affects the socioeconomic and upward mobility of the immigrants' generations. They faced retarded growth both socially and economically, where economic life was affected by the kind of jobs and fields they worked in. Being brought up from families where their parents were not financially stable; the second generation faced several challenges in life. They spent most of their time helping their parents to improve the status of their families and much of their income was used to cater for the family needs.
They worked hard but they found they do not have a lot to save. Similarly, the social life of the immigrants second generation was greatly affected by discrimination. Having being brought up in families that faced discrimination they grew up believing that they would face the same situation. In their life time they found that their parents have been segregated by the Americans and realized that their parents had no social relationship with the Americans. They therefore learnt from their parents and at the same time feeling insecure to interact socially with the Americans. They looked for other immigrants whom they would find more friendly and easier to engage in a relationship. When they found immigrants to relate with they also felt insecure, as they did not understand what was to follow afterwards. They made friends with fear that more consequences would rise because of their interaction.
Immigration policies/political contexts of the reception: Some immigrants were legally settling to U.S but some moved illegally or without documentation while others moved like refugees. The immigration to U.S affected the socioeconomic aspect of the immigrants' second generation. The legal migrants were able to express themselves in the United States as the government of the United States as well as the administration of the states where they lived recognized them. This passed to their second generation who through their parents being legally in the United States made them to live in United States legally.
The second generation had a platform to compete for job market, access the United States resources such as the schools and hospitals as they could not fear any arrests. This gave them the opportunity to grow in knowledge and wellbeing. Consequently, the advance in knowledge gave them an advantage to penetrate the job market in better fields. However, the kinds of jobs they got were not well paying to help them have a high rate of growth. On the other hand, illegal immigrants as well as their generations did not expose themselves to the government due to the insecurity and fear of arrest. They worked underground without being exposed to the resources run by the government. Their generations could therefore only afford to work in the places where the government would not relay notice for their existence. This caused them poor pay for their jobs, which further made them have slow growth economically. Finally, the refugees being people who run from their countries due to instability and security, they found themselves mostly relying on organizations for their living. These organizations only helped them with the basic needs and their generation rose up in families that were not well up. They could not be able to access the learning institution thus becoming more venerable to slow growth in socioeconomic aspects.