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Until the 1960s, there was no distinction between legal and illegal immigrants. The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 made this distinction. Prior to the 1980s, our borders were open.
The only reason people are so obsessed with illegal immigration now is because the government has termed it illegal immigration.
Most of the Eastern and Southern Europeans, which includes my family history, came to this country not legally. By this I do not mean illegally, but they likely didn't have papers other than the ticket they purchased to come to this country and signing the registration form at Ellis Island.
Also, most people made up names when they signed the registration form at Ellis Island.
There are plenty of graduate students in the sciences from India, Japan, and Taiwan who overstay their student visas and try to get jobs in order to secure a work visa. Or sometimes they don't even secure the work visa. Is this not illegal immigration also? Do they not contribute to our society?
first off, things weren't as well documented back then and immigration workers at ellis island were probably fully aware that all the immigrants had was a ticket. immigrations also regularly changed names for immigrants to sound more american, or english.
now we have laws. just because there was more leeway 100 years ago doesn't mean anything now that we set up stricter laws for that (despite us hardly enforcing it). all immigrants today without proper papers are illegals. as for those overstaying their visas, who the hell said they weren't illegal?
Residents moved from abroad in the past 12 months, 2008-2009
New York-Newark-Bridgeport, NY-NJ-CT-PA CSA +165,786
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside, CA CSA +113,420
Washington-Baltimore-Northern VA, DC-MD-VA-WV +74,709
San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA CSA +65,758
Chicago-Naperville-Michigan City, IL-IN-WI CSA +56,561
Houston-Baytown-Huntsville, TX CSA +56,153
Boston-Worcester-Manchester, MA-RI-NH CSA +55,375
Miami-Ft Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL MSA +54,398
Dallas-Ft Worth, TX CSA +44,153
San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, CA MSA +33,613
Seattle-Tacoma-Olympia, WA CSA +31,975
Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ MSA +31,351
Detroit-Warren-Flint, MI CSA +31,278
Philadelphia-Camden-Vineland, PA-NJ-DE-MD CSA +27,586
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Gainesville, GA-AL CSA +26,803
Minneapolis-St Paul-St Cloud, MN-WI CSA +18,487
Orlando-Deltona-Daytona Beach, FL CSA +18,444
Honolulu, HI MSA +13,622
Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton, OR-WA MSA +13,175
Las Vegas-Paradise-Pahrump, NV CSA +12,907
Sacramento-Arden Arcade-Yuba City, CA CSA +12,240
first off, things weren't as well documented back then and immigration workers at ellis island were probably fully aware that all the immigrants had was a ticket. immigrations also regularly changed names for immigrants to sound more american, or english.
now we have laws. just because there was more leeway 100 years ago doesn't mean anything now that we set up stricter laws for that (despite us hardly enforcing it). all immigrants today without proper papers are illegals. as for those overstaying their visas, who the hell said they weren't illegal?
What's the difference, besides laws? Eventually they assimilated, you don't think the same can happen? There children speak English.
Immigrant settlement at it's best has diverse groups settling in the same sort of areas that (immigrants) settled a century ago e.g. dense ethnic neighborhoods, small towns, rural areas (especially those which have been largely abandoned/depopulated by the native born for all three.)
At it's worst, the areas of settlement are places with limited fresh water resources, places everyone else already wants to move (e.g. California, Florida) and the sort of low density suburban/metropolitan sprawl areas which have destroyed many square miles of valuable land.
I also wouldn't mind seeing a replenishing of our country's Native American populations coming from the indigenous peoples of Central and South America among other things.
According to the US Census Bureau those individuals would technically be considered Latino/Hispanic. There are many Mexicans of indigenous decent but like I said they are considered a different ethnic group/race.
I do agree that some of the succes of this country has been built on immigrants. Ussually cities with alot of foreigners have more stable economies (there are of course exceptions to the rule)
What gives you the right to be here then? Because your ancestors arrived in 1760 and kicked out the Native Americans?
do i have to explain this 500 times? 1) native americans aren't even native to america. 2) my ancestors bought land from them which is rather generous of them considering number 3... 3) my ancestors also fought them for land which is called war. 4) this land was unowned.
1. No on is "native to America." They just happened to be here since about 10,000 BC. The earliest possible European voyage was in the 2nd century AD. Most agree it occurred in the 6th Century AD.
2. So they bought New York island. What about all of Virginia, North Carolina, Illinois, Iowa, and Kansas. I suppose it was given as a "gift."
3. This is also how the US received the entire Southwest and Mountain states.
4. The land was unowned in the traditional European sense of land ownership. That doesn't mean that something is not "owned."
do i have to explain this 500 times? 1) native americans aren't even native to america. 2) my ancestors bought land from them which is rather generous of them considering number 3... 3) my ancestors also fought them for land which is called war. 4) this land was unowned.
LMAO. This sound like one big oxymoron. I do realize the migration of asians trough Russia and Alaska but that was thousands of years ago.
Speaking of which I wonder what the English initially wanted the Indians to do for them when they came to America?
Last edited by mas23; 11-28-2010 at 09:05 PM..
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LMAO. This sound like one big oxymoron. I do realize the migration of asians trough Russia and Alaska but that was thousands of years ago.
