Social issues and contemporary problems

Sociology

The New Immigrants

In America today there are nearly 23 million foreign born residents which is about 8.4% of the total population. There are about 32 million residents who do not speak English as their primary language. This modern day influx of immigrants is very different from immigration in the past. In the 19th and early 20th centuries the classic story of the American immigrant was that of the tired and the poor, today immigrants are well educated and sometimes wealthy. Lately there has been a trend of more Asians, Latinos and Caribbean immigrants than Irish, Italian, and Eastern Europeans as it had been at the turn of the century.

This new wave of immigrants faces a very different situation than those people that came before. Today's world has two main differences than in did back in the early 20th century.

These differences include the rise of the welfare system that offers a safety net for immigrants and the push for Americanization in language and culture has fallen by the way side. Some experts believe that due to the high daily encounters with the new melting pot, Americans have become fatigued by high immigration rates. These immigrants are seen as a drain on jobs and government social services. In a recent survey conducted by NBC news and the Wall Street Journal, 72% of those surveyed want the number of immigrants cut down, compared to 33% back in 1965.

In 1996 approximately 11 million people took the oath of citizenship in this country. This is up from an average of 200,000 back in the early 1990's. This big rush of people becoming citizens has not been welcomed by everyone. There is a feeling that the rush to become a citizen is more of an opportunity for economic benefits than one of civic responsibility. There are a lot of people who believe that the new immigrants are simply taking advantage of the American life instead of really caring anything about pursing the American Dream.

John Fonte, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute says that we should denounce immigrants' demands for ethnic rights. He feels that those ethic groups that ask for multicultural education and bilingual ballots should not be taken seriously. He says that our goal should be Americanization and that we should not have to give up our ethnic traditions, customs, cuisine, or birth languages just because the immigrants want us to.

And for this he says we should not have to be embarrassed or apologize. It seems as though the old idea of immigrants being happy to be here and wanting to learn English has gone away with the times.

There has been another factor that has led to the anti-immigrant backlash, and that is the debate over English as the official language. People speaking different languages create barriers, and these barriers create frustration among Americans. Although the language debate is often talked about in the context of government administration and official documents, it has a very strong emotional tie to political authority.

All of this debate led to vote by the House of Representatives in August of 1996 to declare English as the official language of the federal government. The bill passed by a margin of 259 to 169.

Another debate that is attracting attention is that of whether immigrants should be allowed to hold dual citizenship. Holding American citizenship is a very coveted status to hold. Not only does it guarantee membership in a society that offers the most political and civil liberties of any nation, it provides the opportunity to participate in choosing the government and making the laws that shape the future. By law the United States does not recognize dual citizenships, although the Supreme Court has ruled that a person obtaining American citizenships does not have to renounce their citizenship of their native country. When the oath of American citizenship is taken the State Department notifies the government of the native country and it is them up to them revoke their citizenship or not. The recent trend in international law and state practice has shown that in today's mobile world, the incidents of dual citizenships are only going to increase. It is felt that banning it in the United States will only continue a faulty notion, because if other countries are willing to issue passports there is nothing that can be done about it.

Another question that seems to get a lot of discussion is that of whether Americans are doing enough to ease the transition of new immigrants into our society. It appears that several things are being done across the country to ease the transition of the new immigrants. For example, in New York City, where 90% of cab drivers are foreign born, the Taxi and Limousine Commission boosted the industry by increasing the number of licensed cabs in the city. In the hotel industry, Marriott has done their part by offering day care and social service referrals for immigrants who staff their cleaning and kitchen crews. The federal government aids immigrants with money provided by the Job Training Partnership Act that was enacted in 1982. It also provides $262 million each year for bilingual education programs for Asian and Hispanic individuals. In the religious sector the Council of Jewish Organizations in Brooklyn recently started a Business Outreach Center to help ethnic small businesses. And the Catholic Legal Immigration Network provides legal aid, mentoring and training to indigent immigrants

To accuse all Americans of not wanting immigrants is highly unfair. In places across the country where immigration number are low, people are seen helping others even if they don't speak English. But in those areas of the country where immigration rates are high, people do not look upon those people favorably. It has been argued that offering generous social services makes the United States a magnet for large populations of illegal immigrants. There have been arguments against racial and ethnic diversity for many years. The fact is that our country, the American country was founded on immigration. The American common culture was founded by many people from many different backgrounds and people learned how to adjust. The author feels that we should try and preserve the American culture as we have come to know it, but at the same time be open to the ideas of the new immigrants that are now becoming part of our culture.