I remember the first day of school when Mrs. Peluso was talking about blogging. I had no idea, at first I was thinking about dropping the class. At the beginning I thought it was very difficult, and I did not want to lower my G.P.A. After she went over it a few times, and posted my first blog my anxiety level was down. She gave me a good feedback in her comment, then I became very confident while writing those blogs. I could not believe it that other people are reading our blogs. I was so surprised to receive a comment from someone in Canada.
In this short period of eight weeks , I had learned a lot . Wow , it is almost over, I hope I will have some time to keep posting regularly. Over all, it was a good experience.

Yesterday when I came back from work, I was watching on the news about some measures taken by Prince William County regarding visitor I.D system at all public schools. Anyone who wishes to visit should present an official I.D. The school would scan the bar code to verify all information about the person. Once cleared by the database maintain by the county, a printout sticker will be given including the visitor’s name and picture, as well as the school. The intent is to make sure all visitors are accounted for and also to keep the school safe.
From the Manassas Journal:
Visitors can show any government-issued identification card, school division spokesperson Irene Cromer said. The ID card could be issued by the United States government or the government of another country, she said
http://virginiavirtucon.wordpress.com/2007/11/29/demand-pwc-schools-only-accept-us-issued-id/
Most parents seem to support such decision by the county. At the same time, a few Spanish-speaking parents are concerned and believed that their personal information would be shared with the immigration service. As a result, to quote one of them: “I am not going to send my children to school”. Now, what can we do to help those people understand that verifying identification is good for children safety?

A few days ago, I was talking about my topic “Immigration” to one of my classmate and said that she’s tired of hearing about immigration. I do not blame her; the reason is that most people who are talking about immigrants are not expressing it in a positive way. Most of the time they are referring to illegal immigrants. I would like to make clear that not every immigrant is illegal; most of them follow the required legal process. As we may know, “ immigration is at one of its historic highs: Counting undocumented (“illegal”) immigrants, well over 2 million people a year come to the United states, and, compared with past immigrants, far fewer of them ever leave. In fact immigration now counts for 37 percent of the country’s population growth”. (A multicultural portrait of immigration: Petra Press, 1996).
Some U.S. citizens believe that all immigrants have become a serious threat to this country and would like to see it stopped. They are saying that immigrants represent a load to our tax dollar because they crowd our public schools; increase welfare checks, etc…Right now, illegal immigration is one of the most obvious problem. Is there a problem with the current system? What can they do to solve this problem? One of the solution could be to control traffic on all of the borders and enforce the laws to punish employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants. It might work, you never know.

Like I said before I am an immigrant, that one of the reason I choose to write a few blogs on immigration. I have been in the United States for eight years. I tried to understand the American system to make my life easier. First of all I had to learning English. When I had any appointment especially pre-natal at the Hospital, my husband had to leave work to accompany me. I am not trying to generalize it, but not too many Haitian live here, so there was no one to translate for me. I have three children, all three of them used to go to Minnieland Day care. It cost me a lot. Finally I decided to use a baby sitter as they start going to school. Most of the time, I am referring to Spanish, because I meet a lot of them at work and I have a chance to talk to them a lot than other nationality, besides African. I am very thankful to those Spanish baby sitters who are helping with my children; only my husband is able to communicate with them. Out of four, only one can speak English, this is a reality. I am trying to encourage them to learn so English at least to defend themselves. My nephew went to a Catholic school, one day the director of that school had to call my sister to have a meeting to find out how come, my nephew was born here, and he had a heavy accent and they had a hard time to understand him. She even told my sister, if he still the same he will have to take more English classes. In this example, I am trying to point out one of the problems as an immigrant we are facing.

Many people come to the United States for different reasons such as freedom of religion, good fortune or to find a refuge. They are called refugees because they are forced to leave their homeland to escape persecution or dangers of war, natural disaster or political asylum. They do not feel safe wherever they were living therefore they are seeking protection and shelter in the United States.

For example, in my country Haiti, we had experienced many dictatorships; still today people are trying to leave the country to go somewhere else. Some people may be granted a visa before they settle here they usually hired a lawyer to help them upgrade their status trough the INS. The process is long and may take years. Sometimes it is really sad to see someone not able to go and paid respect to their love one when they have a death in their family.
A large number of Haitians, for emample, are escaping by boat in hope of a better life. They are generally sent back to Haiti.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/americas/02/25/haiti.revolt/

Refugees

Birth rate

Immigration attracts everyone’s attention. Today many people are concerned about the high increase of the immigrant population. Among all the ethnic group, Hispanic is the fastest growing one. According to the U.S. Census Bureau (2001), in the year 2000, “the number of people of Hispanic or Latino descent in the United States topped 35 million (12.5 percent of the population), surpassing the number of African American (12.3) and 3.6 percent or Asian Americans “. This makes Hispanics the largest community in America. From a cultural point of view, many Spanish-speaking immigrants believe that children constitute an economic asset; this explains why they have a high birth rate. Now how should we approach this problem? They start having children at a very early age and they do not use birth control. They believe that having children is about the same as social security. Their children would be able to care for them later in their lives.
Back Talk: Fertility Rates, Out-of-Wedlock Birthrates, and Immigration

I understand why many people are worried; such an increase of the population will strain the limited resources available. For example, in many part of the country there is a demand for more schools, hospitals, social workers, and along with that an increase in the food stamp line. All of this provokes budget shortages in many states.
WorldNetDaily: 'Family values' won't get help from immigration

Language barrier

Language is a way to communicate among other people. Communication is one of the first barriers encounters by all immigrants when coming to America. For many, learning English is a major cultural challenge. In my opinion, it is a real problem because they cannot express themselves in English; consequently they are losing part of their privacy. Everywhere they go, they need a translator; for example, during a doctor visit, some of them may not like others to know about their health condition, but they are constraint to do so. Their confidentiality is legally violated. Furthermore, a lot of people consciously omit to talk about their real concerns; as a result the problem become worse. Sometimes it’s not easy to find someone who they may trust that is available to accompany him or her. Without a third party, that person is not able to do anything, this constitute an unwanted inconvenient. No matter who you are, you would like to be independent, especially when communicating with others.
Language barrier
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/08/06/national/main517706.shtml
For example, my former unit manager, a few months ago explained to us this sad situation about her mother. Following iers cause problem a business merging, the hotel she used to work forced all employees to reapply anew. Most of the personnel only speak and not English and to make matter worse, a lot of them were illegal.. The employers wanted them to accept a new contract that could consider them as new employees, therefore, own them no benefits.. After two weeks, the new administration changed the status of most of those workers from full time to part time. Any protest or negotiation would require them to speak English, their only choice was to accept the bad deal.
I share the idea that immigrants want to preserve their ethnic identity, but at the same time they have to adapt to the American culture. “ Three-fourths of Puerto Rican families in the United States speak Spanish at home, compared to about half of Mexican American families” (Sowell, 1981; Stevens & Swicegood, 1987).NCPA - Immigration Issues - Language Barrier Problems

Leading blogger

According to Spencer S. Hsu, in this blog Immigrant Crackdown Halted (frankmorton.com/?p=518)
people who are hiring illegal immigrants that can hurt legal workers will face charges. The front format is pale and to small , therefore making the blog harder to read . As we all know, immigration is a very debated political issue.

Do immigrants disturbe U.S. economy?

Many are interested or concerned when it comes to immigration. While a number of immigrants are working at low wages, some of them has achieved high goal in education and in business. America is a country of great opportunities, they come in here with nothing and reach high goals. Reisman, author of “Capitalism: a Treatise on Economics”, is a good example as an Emeritus Professor at Pepperdine University. He said that “ talent requires freedom in order to flourish”. For example, Albert Einstein was a brilliant scientist and also an immigrant who became a United States citizen in 1940. By his scientific works, he has changed the face of America in the world in many ways, and “He is perhaps the most well-known scientist of the 20th century” (Inventor 12). If we did restrict immigration at that time, the world would not have benefited from the mind Einstein. In American Immigration, Daniels acknowledges that “ much of the research that developed the atomic bomb was done by refugee scientists such as the Italian Enrico Fermi, the Hungarian Leo Szilard, and the Australian Lise Meitner” (15).
Famous Immigrant Scientists and African

In Immigration Policy, Simon notes that “ there were a lot of Vietnamese and other Asian immigrants youth who achieve distinction in completion ...”. Talented people come to America because they believe that America is the only place on earth that would allow their minds to attain greatness and perfection. Many immigrants possess extraordinary talent, but their native countries do not have a system in place to exploit their knowledge, as does America. Barone, a Senior Writer for U.S. News and World and principal coauthor of the Almanac Politics wrote, “without the immigrants the United States would face a severe shortage of engineers and scientists”(264).

Immigrant Scientists, Engineers, and Technicians: 1993

Most immigrants are successful businessmen. As a matter of fact, America is the best place for risk takers to materialize their dreams. Besides working hard, Immigrant entrepreneurs tend to succeed in a dynamic economy because they are innovative and mobile” (Simon 61).
End Notes
Simon, Julian L, American Barone, Michael, The New Americans. Washington, DC 2002
Daniels, Roger. American Immigration. New York 2001
http://www.ailf.org/ipc/policy_reports_2000_pr0005.htm
Immigration Law Foundation 2000

Do immigrants

Do immigrants disturb the U.S. economy?
Many are interested or concerned when it comes to immigration. While a number of immigrants are working at low wages, some of them has achieved high goal in education and in business. America is a country of great opportunities, they come in here with nothing and reach high goals. Reisman, author of “Capitalism: a Treatise on Economics”, is a good example as an Emeritus Professor at Pepperdine University. He said that “ talent requires freedom in order to flourish”. For example, Albert Einstein was a brilliant scientist and also an immigrant who became a United States citizen in 1940. By his scientific works, he has changed the face of America in the world in many ways, and “He is perhaps the most well-known scientist of the 20th century” (Inventor 12). If we did restrict immigration at that time, the world would not have benefited from the mind Einstein. In American Immigration, Daniels acknowledges that “ much of the research that developed the atomic bomb was done by refugee scientists such as the Italian Enrico Fermi, the Hungarian Leo Szilard, and the Australian Lise Meitner” (15).
Famous Immigrant Scientists and African

In Immigration Policy, Simon notes that “ there were a lot of Vietnamese and other Asian immigrants youth who achieve distinction in completion ...”. Talented people come to America because they believe that America is the only place on earth that would allow their minds to attain greatness and perfection. Many immigrants possess extraordinary talent, but their native countries do not have a system in place to exploit their knowledge, as does America. Barone, a Senior Writer for U.S. News and World and principal coauthor of the Almanac Politics wrote, “without the immigrants the United States would face a severe shortage of engineers and scientists”(264).

Immigrant Scientists, Engineers, and Technicians: 1993

Most immigrants are successful businessmen. As a matter of fact, America is the best place for risk takers to materialize their dreams. Besides working hard, Immigrant entrepreneurs tend to succeed in a dynamic economy because they are innovative and mobile” (Simon 61).
End Notes
Simon, Julian L, American Barone, Michael, The New Americans. Washington, DC 2002
Daniels, Roger. American Immigration. New York 2001
http://www.ailf.org/ipc/policy_reports_2000_pr0005.htm
Immigration Law Foundation 2000

Immigrants’ life in America with low-wages

A large part of the population, especially in cities, is involved in low tech or low wage jobs. These functions range from housekeepers, waitresses at nearby diners, cash register at local drive-through, or sales associates at discount stores such as Wal-Mart. These people are part of our daily life. To appreciate the world of low-wage work, one has to just imagine how far the minimum wage could get. The irony is that the people accomplish these tasks cannot make a living from their work. Immigrants largely fill these positions. They come with nothing and will accept the very first opportunity. In the beginning, a lot of them share a spike of joy of their new financial freedom. The weekly checks seem to be a lot for them because what they are earning in a week may equal a year of work where they came from. This joy is usually short lived by confronting the American way of living. Those immigrants had to work harder than you can ever imagined. By the end of the shift, they are exhausted, and the money they are making is barely above enough to pay the rent, buy food, and cover other expenses. Those people are hoping they do not get sick, because the job did not provide health insurance, and they can not afford to pay for a visit to a doctor’s office. Imagine someone cleaning three motel rooms every hour all day long?
http://www.urban.org/publications/310880.html 2007
For example, Maria is a Spanish woman who pushing an pulling a vacuum cleaner across the hardwood floors, a motion she has to repeat hundreds of times to the point that her right wrist and elbow are sore. She works with her cousin, cleaning nine apartments and five houses each week. This society tends to size immigrants up by their jobs. Because of the low wages paid to immigrants, some people are living a better life. The good news is most immigrants are very motivated, determined, and depend on their age they go to school to have a career.
http://www.npc.umich.edu/publications/policy_briefs/brief8/

Do immigrants influence American culture?

Immigrants bring colorful culture to America. No country in the world has multiculturalism like America. This makes it unique and wonderful. Reisman writes” The immigrants, of course, do not merely absorb their new culture. They help to make it better” (4). Americans should not be afraid that immigrants would influence their culture. For example, in Hawaii, most Japanese immigrants while running their businesses, they bring their culture to these beautiful islands.

When ever we go to Hawaii, we can enjoy a lot of interesting things which represent Japanese tradition, such as food, and entertainment. Americans do not have to travel to Vietnam to enjoy Vietnamese culture. They only need to go to Little Saigon in California. There, we can see le Lunar New Year festival, the Mid-Autumn festival, and Vietnamese food. In Asian American Dream, Zia wrote:”New York Chinese Americans had real Chinese culture. They observed special days like the Lunar New Year and Ching Ming, The ancestral worship day”. So, culturally they enrich the U.S.

breakthrough.tv/Campain_detail

How do immigrants help the U.S economy?

Besides providing a labor force, immigrants create jobs to America. The 1994 America Civil Liberties Union Immigrants’ Right Project reports “Immigrants actually create more job opportunities than the fill” (Western Haven A 2). While they are working they need basic supplies, such food, health care, houses, and clothes. As a result, there are a lot small businesses, which sell food to immigrants. For example, immigrants need to study English in order to communicate. Therefore, for all those students, it requires a large number of professors. In “Immigration Benefits the Economy”, Kotlin writes, “Immigrants provide a growing consumer market for the technical, energy, and financial services industries, and foreign-born entrepreneurs are starting up small manufacturing, retail, and service businesses”. (Kotlin Joel. “Immigration benefits the economy”. Immigration: opposing View points “(98).

According to Long, “Immigrants are slightly more likely than natives to be self-employed. Their businesses employ both natives an immigrants” (166). For example, many Chinese have laundries and restaurants in many areas. Another example, residents of New York City know that most of small grocery stores there are Korean-owned; like in Los Angeles, they operate large share of liquor stores.

Immigrants provide the U.S economy with a more flexible labor force that keeps industries growing while delivering lower prices to American consumers.

http://www.tcf.org/

Immigrants

Do immigrants take jobs away from native Americans?

The idea of legal immigrants taking other worker’s jobs need to be looked at closely. To begin with, immigrants provide a ready workforce in all industries in America. In the past, Abraham Lincoln said, “ Foreign immigration which in the past has added so much to the wealth, resources, an increase of power of this nation”. For that reason, America is the most powerful country in the world because from the beginning of its establishment, it has given human resources the best approach.

Immigrants usually come with great expectations; they start to work with low salaries, while providing high quality. Nichols pointed out in his book that, “People who are strong minded, brave, enterprising, intelligent, and their efforts at making a new life in America have resulted in great contributions to the United States in terms of both wealth and labor”. On the other hand, according to Morrow’s Immigration “Immigrants hard-often take jobs Americans do not want “ (A Western Haven 1) because they are dangerous, dirty, and low-paid. “Immigrants seem generally to complement rather than compete with native workers. They often fill manual or specialized job s for which domestic workers are in short supply” (long 148). Moreover, immigrants have to work harder than native citizens so that they can have enough money to spend on their living expenses, and to send back to their home countries. To make it clear, Bill Clinton, the forty-second president of the United States said, “ Most immigrants work hard and immigrants are good for America” (3).

Life of an immigrant

When the immigrants first arrive in America often they face many difficulties. At first, they are away from their families, their culture, and adding to that they have to learn a new language. It is a radical change in their way of living. As we know, people are comfortable with their of life, so many immigrants find themselves feeling uneasy as they are adapting to the American culture.

For example, when my husband arrived in New York in 1991, his aunt opened her door to him. She wanted to help him, but because of her limitation of the American school system, she directed my husband in the wrong direction. It is necessary to note that my husband’s aunt never put foot in any kind of formal education. She was married, had two children, and was working more than forty hours a week. One day he met his cousin and told him about his educational plan. It turned out that he wanted to study engineering as his cousin was doing. He then helped him apply and was accepted at City College of New York. Facing some though obligations while in school, he decided to join the U.S. Army. After his training period, he was sent to Germany, and stayed there for almost five years. While there, he continue to attend classes at night until it was time to come back to the U.S. he has to be an American citizen. At the time he was serving, he applied for his citizenship, and went through the naturalization process. As we can see, life is not easy for any immigrant.

Immigrants

According to the census bureau, fifty percent of all United States population growth comes from immigrants. The United States of America has always been and will remain a country of immigrants. Immigration in the U.S has brought a striking cultural diversity, tales of hope, struggle, and success told in hundred of languages. As an immigrant, I have chosen to talk about this topic to present a better view of the immigration system. Also, I would like to analyze a few concerns many people have regarding this issue.

Compare to any country in the world the Immigration and Naturalization system (INS) is more disciplined. Considering the event of September 11 2001, the INS has made many changes that make it more difficult for people to immigrate in the USA.
To enter the U.S anyone will need to have a sponsor. The sponsor can be a friend or a family member that agrees to provide financial support. Once in the States, by law, a new immigrant is still the responsibility of the sponsor or sponsors until after 10 years of work. As we know, off all the country in the world, the United States of America is unique. Everyone comes in search of a better life and fulfill the American dream. It is the only place where anyone can reach his or her dream what ever the age, race, background, gender, and education.

Introduction to the topic

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