background information

Immigration I believe is something you can not control. Immigration in the U.S. has existed for a very long time, and it is still occurring to this present day. People will always be coming to America, because they see better opportunities here. In my blog I will talk about the history of immigration, the government, and some of the ways they have tried to control immigration.

Immigration started a few decades after Christopher Columbus discovery in 1492. Before the 1800s the United States didn’t worry about illegal immigration, instead they encouraged immigrants to come to the U.S. Can you believe that? Now in days they make a big deal of immigrants, coming to the United States, when it was them, who encouraged them in the first place. Anyways, the United States lacked people to farm, hunt, mine, and do other things, that’s why immigrants were encouraged to come. The first states migrated to, were the thirteen colonies (1600s-1700s). English, French, Swedes, Finns, Germans, Irish Scottish, and Dutch settled in the 13 colonies. People migrated to the United States to escape death, poverty, religious or political persecution, and were seeking freedom, in hopes to have a better life. When settlers settled into United States, they had to work hard. Some immigrants came into contact with employers, who specified the time in conditions of labor, in exchanged for a passage to the new world . As a result of their labor, they acquired owner ship of small pieces of land. Not every one was lucky though, most immigrants got ripped of and had to work their asses of for nothing (mostly slaves though).

Before the 1800s immigration was slow, in 1808 congress banned the importation of slaves, and then in 1812-1814 war with Britain prevented any immigration to the United States. In 1819 the first federal legislation on immigration required notation of the passengers list, because immigration started increasing. First limitations on immigration started in 1875. The United States kept passing laws to make it harder for people to come to the U.S. But guess what? People still kept migrating to the United States. Within 1891 the Bureau of immigration was established, and the congress adds health qualifications to immigration restrictions. During 1910, Mexican revolution sends thousands of Mexicans to the United States seeking employment. Antebellum WWI began the mass of migration to the United States slowed down. Congressed also passed a literacy act in 1917 to restrain the arrival of low skilled immigrants from entering the country. After War World I ended the numbers of immigrants started to increase. To deal with this, the U.S. congress introduced new immigration policies. During 1921 the government introduced the National Origins Quota Act, limiting the number of illegal immigrants. Quotas were allocated to various ethnic groups to reduce immigration. In 1924 the border patrol was established. Within 1940 the Alien Registration Act calls for registration and finger printing of all aliens. During 1952 the Immigration and Naturalization Act brings into the comprehensive statute the multiple laws that govern immigration and naturalization to date. In 1965 The Immigration and Nationality Act Amendment removed all quotas.

But it didn’t matter what the United States of America was doing, because people still migrated and are still immigrating to the United States. Attempting to come to the United States has continuously increased in every era of U.S. history. Immigration made the U.S., newcomers helped transform American society and culture. I believe you can’t control immigration because, through history it has been proven. The government has made political acumen, trying to stop immigration by setting new laws and stuff. But people are still coming and will keep coming to the United States of America from all over the world, Mexico, Austria, Bohemia, Canada, China, Cuba, ,France ,Germany Italy, Hungary, India, Ireland Korea Philippines ,Poland, Russia, Vietnam ,and all the other countrys I didn’t mention.　

Citation added:

"Histroy of immigration to the United States." wikipedia.com. Ed. .. 25 Sept. 2009. Wikipedia. 26 Sept. 2009 .

Diner, Hasia. "Immigration and U.S. History." America.gov. 13 Feb. 2008. Hasia Diner. 26 Sept. 2009 .

Immigration to the United States,1851-1900." Memory.loc.gov. 2 Mar. 2004. Library of congress. 26 Sept. 2009 .