Works Cited

“melting pot.” American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 1 Feb. 2010. .

Henry Cabot Lodge “For Immigration Restrictions,” Annals of American History.

“Immigration Must Be Restricted to Protect America Against Terrorists.” Opposing Viewpoints: National Security. Helen Cothran. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2004. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Deerfield High School. 8 Feb. 2010 .

“immigration.” American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 28 Jan. 2010. .

“The Promised Land, 1860-1900 (Overview).” American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 28 Jan. 2010

“Help Haitians, but don’t throw open U.S. borders. (NEWS)(Editorial).” USA Today (Jan 29, 2010): 07A. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Deerfield High School. 8 Feb. 2010

“America Must Cooperate with Other Nations in Regulating Immigration.” Opposing Viewpoints: Illegal Immigration. William Dudley. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2002. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Deerfield High School. 8 Feb. 2010

Response to Chris's Blog

The next presentation I looked at was Chris K's about Hip Hop and violence. I liked how he focused on something that many people could connect with. I like a lot of hip hop/rap and it's definitely true that a lot of the time they talk about violence and drugs. I liked how Chris included different examples of rap and how artists can send both good and bad messages through what they rap about. I think that maybe for some people the music they listen to and the messages that are sent through that music can influence their actions. But, I also don't think that every single person who listens to rap does drugs and is violent towards others. It was intersting learning that hip hop orignially reduced violence among gang members and then ended up increasing it. I don't think that changing the language of rap and hip hop songs would have positive results and change the negative influence rap may have on people. Just because a song advocates violence it doesn't necessarily mean that whoever listens to it will be violent towards others as a result. If the language and style of rap music was changed like this, I think that less people would listen to it because it would not be the same music. If music only sent postive messages to the listeners, than our culture would lose a lot of popular music because artists wouldn't want to change what they say. Chris also talked about how video games can result in violent behavior as well. I think that actually these video games might have more of an impact on people than music because in order to succeed in these games you have to be violent. I think that Chris did a really good job showing information and different perspectives about his topic and its influence on Americans today and in the past.

Response to Carl's Blog

Carl's slide show was really interesting and showed a lot of information about hispanics in America that I didn't really know before. Because it showed up sometimes when I researched for my topic, I already knew a little about illegal immigration. But, from the information in Carl's blog I learned more about how hispanics are stuck in the lowest class and how hard it is for them to make it higher in society because they are poor and uneducated. This information taught me a little more about my topic of immigration, because hispanic immigration/illegal immigration is a large topic right now. Carl's final presentation was very well done and showed the important parts of hispanics in America. I liked how every page was a different color and how he included pictures and videos that helped to present the information in another way.

Response to Allie's Blog

I chose to look at Allie’s blog first because she also researched immigration. I was surprised to see that she looked at a similar aspect of the topic as I did. We both focused on how immigrants were treated in America. In Allie’s final presentation, she showed how the government influenced how Americans thought of immigrants and how immigrants were treated here. She wrote how they influenced the citizens of the United States to want immigrants to be like them. I didn’t really think about or look closer into how the government influenced the people and how they viewed the immigrants coming into their country. She also wrote about how it is determined who is qualified to immigrate here and how this has changed over the years. This information showed me more depth to our topic that I didn’t choose to focus on before. It is interesting to see how many different interpretations of the same topic there are and even different interpetations of subtopics. Allie and I also read many of the same articles and I liked seeing how we used the same information in different ways. Allie did a good job of presenting the information in the way she wanted people to perceive it. It was organized and had good graphics.

Current Events Analytical

Immigration today is in some ways just as controversial as it has always been. It plays a part in many issues like September 11th, 2001, the earthquake in Haiti, and things that happen in everyday situations. The American system of immigration has changed a lot over the years, but it hasn’t really improved too much. There are still people who are for immigration and people against it, and both have their own opinions of what should be done and what needs to change.
Soon after the terrorist attacks of September 11th, Samuel Francis wrote a column about protecting America against future terrorist attacks by restricting and regulating immigration. He wrote about how one of the dimensions of the problem was that there are places within our society that possible terrorists could live and operate virtually unnoticed by the rest of the world. “This dimension concerns what I have termed the ‘alternative societies’ that mass immigration has created and which allow alien terrorists to live and operate without being noticed.” According to Francis, because of mass immigration and them creating their own little societies more separate from ours, terrorists could be living somewhere in America out of the rest of the nation’s radar. He believes that because of mass immigration, we have let our own enemy to live within our country. Also, that the leadership class needs these possible terrorists for their own benefits such as cheap labor and a new underclass regardless of what the American public wants. Francis shows more modern immigration and how the fear some have of it can now be linked to other fears, like that of terrorist attacks.
Instead of looking at only the negative aspects of immigration, Saskia Sassen wrote about how America should be working with the rest of the world to negotiate immigration policies instead of increasing the police action and policies within our country. When faced with the threat of mass immigration of poor from around the world, most of the country agrees that the best course of action is to maximize borders and the policies within them. But, Sassen writes about how this is not the best way to regulate immigration. She shows how not only immigration has changed over the years, the world has changed a lot too. When this was written at the beginning of the 2000s, civil and human rights were being fought for more and more often in both the United States and Europe. “When the object of stronger police action is a broad spectrum of people- immigrant women, men and children- sooner or later it will get caught in the expanding web of civil and human rights it will violate those rights and interfere with the functioning of civil society.” Here, Sassen is explaining how those who are oppressed won’t stay oppressed forever, and will eventually fight back and this will affect everyone living in American society. Too much police action concerning immigration and illegal immigration will also affect the people of the United States and interfere with the desire of rule of law that is so important to our society and past. Over the years, countries across the globe are developing cross-border integration for a variety of reasons such as “for goods and services, for capital, for information, and for communications.” Because this is becoming such an important part of our society, it wouldn’t be in our best interest to increase border control and police action about immigration. The best way to regulate immigration, in Sassen’s opinion, is for countries to work together to create these policies. Even Sassen agrees that immigration is not an issue that will or can be solved quickly. But, if people begin to see and to understand the key aspects of the regulation of immigration we will be more able to create more effective and progressive immigration policies.
Obviously, immigration still isn’t perfect in America. The need for a new system of immigration here is not only shown through the eyes of Americans. Because of the long waiting lists and all the people that want to immigrate to America, it can take years for a person to get approved to come here. Not only this, but immigrants are also separated from their family members who could be approved much later. Twenty six years ago, Peter Aldeza arrived in Illinois after being approved to emigrate from the Philippines. After arriving, he filed paperwork so his brother and sister could join him. It wasn’t until a couple of years ago that his sister was able to come to America, and his brother still hasn’t gotten approved. The story of Aldeza and his sister proves the changes to be made to immigration today. It also shows how hard and frustrating it is to immigrate legally. “They say some prospective immigrants, frustrated by the delays, find a way into the country illegally.” Illegal immigration is an issue that is discussed frequently today and this story proves how our system of immigration may be increasing this problem. A bill was introduced in Congress last year that will keep families together and decreasing the delays of legal immigration.
Recently, the earthquake in Haiti led to controversy about letting Haitians bypass immigration rules and come to America. In the article, “Help Haitians, but don’t throw open U.S. borders”, the author describes how doing this would actually be a disservice to them and to the rebuilding of their country. This issue is especially controversial because of all the other people in the world that maybe haven’t survived a natural disaster but are still in terrible living conditions. If the U.S. lets Haitians come into the country by the thousands, it would not be fair to all the other people who would equally benefit from immigrating here. This proves how the issue of immigration affects a lot of people and connects to many issues today. With this particular situation, America has to in some ways be a good parent. They have to learn when to baby other countries, when to take them in and when to send them away. “America will do the most good by doing what it’s capable of doing more efficiently. Finding ways ot make Haiti more livable, more quickly, will encourage citizens to stay. Helping to finance reconstruction will create thousands of jobs for Haitians, in Haiti. That might not feel as good as saying ‘ya’ll come,’ but in the long run, it will be far more beneficial.”

Families Spearated By Miles, Laws; Immigration Rules for Close Relatives to be Re-Examined

This article showed the problems with U.S. immigration today. It is really hard for people to get into the United States, and it can take years for a person to be approved for immigration. The article describes a man, Peter Aldeza, who immigrated here from the Phillippines twenty six years ago. His sister was supposed to follow him here, but it wasn't until 2008 that she was approved to immigrate here. "Their story embodies the experience of thousands of families waiting on a legal immigration process bogged down by delays, a frustration that lies at the heart of renewed efforts to reform the U.S. immigration system." Of course, this system can't possibly be perfect or even make everybody happy. It's hard to take into consideration all the factors of immigration and still maintain our culture and infrastructure that many conservative's are worried about. A new bill is being introduced that will try to maintain family unity and allow people to immigrate with their immediate family members to avoid situations such as Aldeza's. I think that this shows a complicated issue involving immigration. There are people who are for and against more immigrants coming here. Because of this, we have regulations and laws about immigration requiring each immigrant to be approved to come here before they actually do. I can't imagine moving to a foreign country alone, and I don't know if I would go through with it if I had to. It shows a lot of willpower and determination for a better life that immigrants are willing to come here and leave their family and friends behind, waiting possibly years until they could join you. Immigrants should definitely be aloud to bring immediate family with them easier. But, this could also maybe lead to problems with people pretending to be related and a lot of immigrants coming here at once. It's crazy that after all these years, immigration is still a very controversial issue and is still discussed and faught about. I'm not really sure that this problem will ever be solved in a way that will make everyone happy and work good for everybody but I hope someday this issue will be closer to being solved.

Background Analytical

To escape prejudice, dictatorships, famine, and more, immigrants came to America from across the globe. America was the land of opportunity; a place where any hard working man could find a job and plenty of land was available. But, America wasn’t exactly as they imagined. They faced racism, discrimination, hatred, and terrible working and living conditions. Americans soon began to fear the mass amounts of foreigners coming to live in their country. “By the mid-19th century, as more second-, third-, and fourth-generation Americans began to feel a strong sense of an increasingly American heritage and national identity, they began to regard immigrants as foreign elements who competed with native-born Americans for jobs and corrupted American traditions.” (“Immigration”) They were scared of losing their culture when it mixed with different cultures. We felt we lived the American Dream and when immigrants came we worried about having to compete for it. Some Americans, like Henry Cabot Lodge, believe that immigrants will lower the standard of American life, just don’t fit into the American race, and jeopardize American’s jobs. So, his advice is to restrict immigration. “The gates which admit men to the United States and to citizenship in the great republic should no longer be left unguarded.” He is saying here that to restrict immigration, we need to be regulating how many people are allowed to immigrate into the country and what needs to be done for them to become citizens.
“Despite prejudice and problems, immigrants still found in the United States a promised land of opportunity,” (“The Promised Land…”) After anti-immigration laws were passed and destroyed such as the Homestead Act of 1862 which promised land to those who would work for it, the Chinese Exclusion Act (1882-1943) which forbade Chinese laborers from entering the United States, and civil rights acts were passed, immigration in America changed. It has gotten more diverse and more accepting of other cultures; a melting pot. But, “many scholars argue that the melting pot metaphor is inaccurate; it would be better to refer to the American experiment as a salad bowl, or a mixing of cultures over the years.” (“The Melting Pot”) America as described here is a salad of many different cultures and people that is mixed more and more thoroughly after every generation and year passes, combining all these different people into one nation.