Critical  Thinking and Effective Communication Skills.

Immigration and Social Injustice (senior paper)

Early Immigration:
    We live in a country that was built on immigration. Over the years the views and values of such has changed drastically however. The first, and longest, era of immigrants coming to America were the colonial settlers. This time stretched from the 17th century through the early 19th century. These immigrants, or settlers, came from many different places including the German-speaking area, France, and the Netherlands. Most of the immigrants of this era were the English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish from the British Isles.

    These settlers made the trip across due to the promise of cheap land. They usually opted towards farming this new land. Huge numbers of these immigrants came as indentured servants. This is when they enter into a contract with an employer who specifies the time and conditions of their service. When finished with such labors they receive a small piece of land that they can work and live on as a free person.

    Jamestown, Virginia was one of the first successful colonies in the United States. It was established in 1607. It started out as a business enterprise, but once tobacco was found to be highly profitable crop there was the start of many plantations. Settlements went up very quickly for awhile. Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620, Boston, Massachusetts and surrounding areas in 1629-1640. The earliest New England colonies of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island and New Hampshire were established along the northeast coast between Main and New York. Large amounts of immigration to this region dyed down before 1700, but it still had a small steady amount of immigrants coming in after.

    Dutch setters established their places along the Hudson River starting around 1626. The wealthy ones set up large estates and brought in farmers who became renters. Others established trading posts to trade with Indians and started cities like New Amsterdam (New York) starting around 1680.

    Another main place of settlement in these colonial times was the Western Frontier in the western parts of Pennsylvania, and the South which was settled in the early 18th century. The south was settled mostly by Scottish/Irish. Between 250,000 and 400,000 Scottish/Irish migrated to America in the 18th century. They soon were the dominant culture all the way from Pennsylvania to Georgia.

    Pedro de Peralta established the Santa Fe settlement in 1609. This city, along with many areas of the state was abandoned by the Spanish for 12 years (1680-1692). This was a result of the Pueblo Revolt which was very successful. Diego de Vargas restored the area to its Spanish rule after the death of the Pueblo Leader, Pope. This is also when Spanish settlers founded the town of Albuquerque in 1706.

    Between 1690 and 1821 you had the Spanish governed Texas. In 1731, San Antonio was established in this spanish texas. In 1781, the Spanish settlers went on to found Los Angeles. The majority of these Spanish settlers were mix of Spaniards and Criollos.

    The French colony of Louisiana was established in the late 17th century. This territory attracted fewer French than surrounding areas. It soon became a colony of Spain. However, several thousand French sought refuge in Louisiana after the British expulsion from Canada. These refugees were welcomed by the Spanish. The descendents of the Spanish and French in Louisiana soon became known as Cajuns.

    All these settlements had many differences, but many similarities as well. Some similarities were they were settled and financed private groups of settlers using their free enterprise without any support from royalty or parliament. Most settlements almost completely stopped trade with Britain all together. They had all the means necessary to grow or make everything they need. Almost all used the English Common Law as their basics. Within a few years almost all the settlements were independently governed and self supporting.

    Some of the African slaves were brought over initially as indentured servants. Over a short amount of time, however, the South accepted them having a life of servitude. By the 1780s almost all the African-Americans were native born.

    Immigration hit a high in 1890s after the depression. It went from 3.5 million to 9 million in a decade, 70 percent were made up of eastern and southern European after 1914 immigration dropped because of war and later because immigration restrictions were imposed. Immigrants were escaping political persecution and were seeking relief for a lack of economic opportunity. Some were brought by labor contracts offered to them by recruiting agents.

    Most immigrants went threw a process in Ellis island where they were asked a series of 29 questions. They were put threw a screening to check for sings of disease. If they did not receive a stamp of approval they were sent back to their place if origin. Most of the industries hiring immigrants offered low wages and poor working conditions. Housing was crowed and unsanitary. There was an old Italian saying “ I came to America because I heard the streets were paved in gold when I got here I found out 3 things. First the streets were not paved in gold. Second they weren't paved at all. Third I was expected to pave them.”

    Due to illiteracy and little knowledge of english, immigrants took jobs wherever they could, usually low pay and menial. This is still happening with immigrants in this point in time.

    After 1870, there were faster means of getting from Europe to America. There were steam powered ships that were larger and faster but had much lower fares. Most of the immigrants of this time were between the ages of 15 and 30. This time was known as the flood of immigrants. The majority of these immigrants made up most of the U.S industrial labor pool, including steel, coal, automobile, textile and garment production.

    By the 1890s, a majority of the native-born Americans felt that immigration was a hinder to the nations health and security. In 1893 the Immigration Restriction League was formed. This group and several others like it started to fight for Congress to create restriction on immigration. These groups were very persistent, however they weren't very successful in their efforts. A little while after the Civil War, some states decided to pass their own laws against immigration. The U.S. Supreme Court then decided that immigration should be an issue regulated by Federal law only. In 1907, the Dillingham Commission was created by the U.S. Congress. They were in charge of investigating the effects of immigration on the country.

    In 1917, Congress passed a literacy requirement. This was to regulate the incoming of “low-skilled” immigrants from coming into the country. In 1921 they passed the Emergency Quota Act, and then the Immigration act of 1924. These were even more restrictions on Southern and Eastern Europeans due to high amounts coming over.

    After 1790 there was an issue of “whiteness” that arose. It started when congress started restricting the naturalization to white persons. Between 1790 and 1952 there were many cases in court of people arguing whether one another were “white” or not. This created the issue of defining what exactly makes someone “white”. Two methods were developed to determine this. They were common knowledge and scientific evidence. The common knowledge was the majority view of race. The scientific evidence was through the studies of humankind. By 1909 courts changed this regulation to be based on common knowledge alone because the scientific evidence was still leaving it too broad of a grouping.


Immigration Today:

    At the end of World War 1, Congress changed the nations policy on immigration. The National Origins Act of 1921 restricted the number of immigrants allowed to enter the U.S. and created restrictions depending on the persons national origin. This made it easier for immigrants from Northern and Western Europe but limited those from Eastern and Southern Europe. This also made all immigrants from Asia basically “unworthy” to enter the United States. During this time period many immigrants started to come in from Mexico, the Carribbean, and other parts of Central and South America.

    Between the years of 1924 to 1965 the United States began to admit small numbers of refugees. This included Jewish refugees from Germany before World War II, holocaust survivors after the war, non-jewish trying to flee Communist rule, Hungarian refugees, and Cubans after the 1960 revolution.

    At the end of World War II, immigration increased due to refugees from the “war torn” Europe started coming to the U.S. From 1941 to 1950, 1,035,000 people immigrated to the U.S. In 1948 they passed the Displaced Persons Act which allowed displaced people of World War II to immigrate.

    In 1950, the beginning of the Korean War, there passed the Internal Security Act which kept any Communist foreigners who might be part of activities that “would be prejudicial to the public interest, or would endanger the welfare or safety of the United States” from entering the U.S. There was very little immigration at all during this time due to so many restrictions.

    The immigration law was revised in 1965 which created a huge amount of Korean immigrants coming to the United States. It totaled 848,000 by 2004.

    In 1952, they passed the McCarran Walter Immigration Act. This reinforced the quota system of 1924, limiting the amount of immigrants allowed in drastically. This act made spouses and children of U.S. citizens and those born in the Western Hemisphere exempt from the act.

    !954 they forced thousand of illegal immigrants back to Mexico. This was called Operation Wetback. The number of illegal immigrants from Mexico increased 6,000% between 1944-1954. There was an estimated million workers who crossed illegally creating cheaper labor, increased violation of labor laws, and discrimination which encouraged criminality, disease, and illiteracy. Operation Wetback had a “quasi-military” patrol that would search and seize all illegal immigrants in the area and send them back. There was only about 700 men as part of the operation but it was rumored to be more in hopes that it would scare immigrants into going back voluntarily. Complaints started by citizens of Mexican descent. They claimed police were stopping all “Mexican looking” people. They also claimed the cops were using extreme “police-state” methods including deportation of American-born children who by law were citizens.

    In 1986, the Immigration Reform and Control Act was passed. This created penalty for any employer who hired illegal immigrants. Amnesty was granted for about 3,000,000 immigrant workers already in the U.S. however. Most of which were from Mexico. Legal Mexican immigrant families totaled about 2,198,000 in 1980, 4,289,000 in 1990 and 7,841,000 in 2000. There was around 16,000,000 illegal Mexican immigrants by this time (about 16% of Mexican population).

    Restrictions on Mexican immigrants is getting more and more. It has come to a point where even those who were raised here and have started their lives are being sent back to a country they don't even know without any chance to fight and stay. The injustice of what its happening is clear to see in everyday life. Here is one example of a situation that's happening to countless numbers of people.

    “My friend Monica is 18 years old. She has lived in Dallas with her family since she was 5 years old. She is an honor student at a Dallas public high school where she is (was) set to graduate in about two months. She has made plans for college after graduation this spring. She is a great example of the success and accomplishment of one inner city child who grew up in a very poor, but loving family her in inner city Dallas, Texas. In so many ways she reminds me of my own daughters. It is very possible that last Friday Monica's life took a drastic turn in a very different direction, a turn from which she may never recover. Friday was “Senior Skip Day” at her school. Most of the senior class didn't attend classes. A friend hosted a part for friends at a ranch in Greenville, Texas. For some reason, the details are still unclear to me, the Greenville Police Department showed up at the party. Every student present who had valid identification was released and was free to go. Those students who had no identification were taken into custody. Monica and two friends—one a cousin-- were transferred to an immigration center here in Dallas. They were booked into the center too late in the day to allow anyone to make bail. As a result, they had to spend the night there. Then, for some reason we don't understand, on Saturday morning, immigration officials transferred Monica and her friends to the Rolling Plains Regional Jail in Haskell, Texas just north of Abilene, almost 200 miles away from home. There Monica awaits some sort of hearing, though she does not know when it will be. A sweet, smart, naïve, model high school student is being held in a West Texas Jail for being “undocumented.” Even though she has been here for over a decade, and even though she, nor any other member of her family, has never had issues with any authority in Dallas, she is now in jail. The reason? Current U.S. immigration policy is being driven by the decisions and the discretion of local municipalities. Federal immigration officials do not sweep public schools to pick up undocumented students. Nor do they insist that public schools deny these students entry. Federal immigration officials leave families alone for the most part, unless they encounter criminal behavior. Sadly, towns like Farmers Branch and Greenville are taking a different approach. Kids like Monica pay the price.” [www.everydaycitizen.com/2007/03/immigration_injustice_in_real.html]

    This type of injustice goes on in this country everyday. Our country is completely based off immigration. We're all immigrants somewhere down the line. To go against one race that comes to this country for sanctity is immoral, unethical, and goes against everything this country stands for and was built on.

    The new york times has revealed that there is now even deportation of the sick and injured to help with medical cost control. There are more hospitals that you even wanna think about who are using deportation as a way to “fix” the problem because the health care system has gone so down hill that they don't have enough beds for people.

    There are many who look at these situations and say “good, we don't need them”. This type of thinking is ignorant and narrow-minded. It must be remembered that we are dealing with actual human beings not just something we can throw to the side, to do so makes us all criminals and murderers. There was even a case in which the hospital tried to fly a sick baby to Mexico because its parents were illegal citizens. The baby, however, was not. A lawyer had the police go to the airport and block the flight.

    By being unjust to those who are “undocumented” you create a habit for people. They start to see even those who are documented as being unworthy to be here just because of their race. There was a case in Pheonix where the hospital tried to send a comatose, uninsured “LEGAL” immigrant back to Honduras. Our unjust laws put a sort of subconscious racism into peoples heads. They look at any person with Latino heritage or who even just look like they might have Latino heritage and they start to have prejudgments on them. They start to assume the worst.

    This type of injustice isn't just against Latino immigrants in this country. Many different races are experiencing the same treatment. The Mexican race seems to be the biggest getting hit right now because they're a lot less money to deport than those from countries across the Atlantic.

    Thousands of Arab and Muslim men were told to report to immigration offices to be registered, fingerprinted, photographed, and interrogated. This was a part of the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS) started by Attorney General John Ashcroft. He said it was “a vital line of defense in the war against terrorism.” This program was very poorly managed and ran however. It created many issues between immigrants and law enforcement. In the end, no terrorists were found or captured.

    The United States has become narrow in their thinking. They have lost the goal of being progressive and accepting to new changes and to all kinds. People came here for the freedom of practicing their own lifestyle and religions. To be against entire groups of people for the same thing goes against the whole basis of our country. Immigration is a huge part of our country and we should embrace every part of it. We should never turn away from the greatness our country was started on.




Nectar in the Sieve

“...and what if we gave into our troubles at every step! We would be pitiable creatures indeed to be so weak, for is not a man's spirit given to him to rise above his misfortunes?”
   We can't just let things stop us from getting what we want or what we need. We are not weak and we are not pitiful, we can do a lot, we can do anything, but not let anything stop us.. I believe we are the only ones that limit our self.  In my life there are a lot of things going and its hard to not say I give up, and I have then realize I have to keep my head up and keep on with what I want and need. If I trip 9 time I'll get up 10. There are always going to be things going on and sometimes not good, but we can all pull throw.

“Naturally we think, but plan! How can we? It is not with in our means.”
    How I understand what was just stated is that we can plan, but it doesn't always come out like expected. There are always things out of our control that influence the plans and out come of the event. Sometimes I think that I need to just live in the moment, but think about where that moment can lead to. I do wish I could plan out things and sometimes I try, at times its a success, but others not so much. I really like the quote because we can think and plan, but the out come is out of our control.


“He suffered for me, not so much for himself, and I like-wise, so that although together there was more strength, there was more suffering.”

    I think this is beautiful, they suffered for each other, they loved each other. Putting each other before themselves made them strong and united, but suffering. This brings up thoughts such as, whats best? being with someone thats going to suffer for me and I'm going to suffer for them, but together? be strong and be able to have help taking the bull by the horns with support from someone? Or suffer for me, worry about just me, be as strong as a can in a hard situation? But I also believe that one but know how to take care of oneself before you can be with someone and be there for them. For know ill take care of myself.