Issues Facing Latino Immigrants in Today's Political Climate
Issues Facing Latino Immigrants in Today’s Political Climate
The United States is a country built on immigration, both legal and illegal. One of the most influential groups in terms of immigration in America is the Latin American demographic. Latin Americans influence everything from their local economies, politics, culture and society in general. There are a number of arguments made both for and against continued immigration by Latinos, from the fact that all Americans are descended from immigrants to the fact that they provide needed labor in areas that many American citizens are less inclined to work in. The argument against immigration is that allowing Latin Americans in steals jobs from U.S. citizens, they contribute unduly to crime statistics or that they take advantage of social services reserved for legal Americans without paying the taxes that keep these programs in service. In this paper, I will present a brief history of Latin American immigration and present arguments both for and against continued movement into the United States. The close of the paper will be reserved for my opinion on what the best course of action would be to curtail the problems facing immigration in the United States. “The first significant wave of Mexican workers coming into the United States began in the early years of the twentieth century, following the curtailment of Japanese immigration in 1907 and the consequent drying up of cheap Asian labor. The need for Mexican labor increased sharply when the Unites States entered World War I. The Mexican government agreed to export Mexican workers as contract laborers to enable American workers to fight overseas. After the war, an intensifying nativist climate led to restrictive quotas on immigration from Europe and to the creation of the U.S. Border Patrol, aimed at cutting back the flow of Mexicans. But economic demand for unskilled migrant workers continued throughout the Roaring Twenties, encouraging
The United States is a country built on immigration, both legal and illegal. One of the most influential groups in terms of immigration in America is the Latin American demographic. Latin Americans influence everything from their local economies, politics, culture and society in general. There are a number of arguments made both for and against continued immigration by Latinos, from the fact that all Americans are descended from immigrants to the fact that they provide needed labor in areas that many American citizens are less inclined to work in. The argument against immigration is that allowing Latin Americans in steals jobs from U.S. citizens, they contribute unduly to crime statistics or that they take advantage of social services reserved for legal Americans without paying the taxes that keep these programs in service. In this paper, I will present a brief history of Latin American immigration and present arguments both for and against continued movement into the United States. The close of the paper will be reserved for my opinion on what the best course of action would be to curtail the problems facing immigration in the United States. “The first significant wave of Mexican workers coming into the United States began in the early years of the twentieth century, following the curtailment of Japanese immigration in 1907 and the consequent drying up of cheap Asian labor. The need for Mexican labor increased sharply when the Unites States entered World War I. The Mexican government agreed to export Mexican workers as contract laborers to enable American workers to fight overseas. After the war, an intensifying nativist climate led to restrictive quotas on immigration from Europe and to the creation of the U.S. Border Patrol, aimed at cutting back the flow of Mexicans. But economic demand for unskilled migrant workers continued throughout the Roaring Twenties, encouraging