Immigration by definition simply means the international movement of people from a country to another of which they are not citizens or natives of. Many people move to a new country to reside temporarily or sometimes as permanent resident where they sometimes apply for green cards or citizenship. The United States has a long history of immigration which started roughly early 1600’s with the first European settlements. Many immigrants from different parts of the world came to America to seek for jobs, security, education, many as well came as pilgrims, while some arrived in search for religious freedom.
Centuries later, hundreds of thousands of African slaves came to the United State against their will. They came with their hand chained and they help worked on American farms, companies and construction. Today, America immigration policy is at the center of politics and economic debates. It is well centered around some of the problems the United States is facing today. Currently under the supervision of the 46th president of the United State, Donald Trump, immigration has taken a long twist and this is one of the most controversial era in the country’s history.
As stated earlier, people migrate to the United State to look for jobs, protection and moreover a better life. However, under the Donald Trump administration, immigration has taken a deep slope as President Trump has plan to minimize the numbers of legal immigrants and also put an end the illegal immigrants who flock into the country from different borders illegally. President Trump thinks that immigrants has affected American citizens in many areas despite the fact that the DHS has created many laws to regulate legal and illegal immigration.
One potential isadvantage of immigration to the United States is the cost it places on government agencies and taxpayers. It also place a huge task on the DHS who administer citizenship and immigration service to ensure that no immigrant, legal or illegal, represent a threat to the United States and its citizens. Immigrants who became tax paying citizens contribute to the success of a nation while other place a financial strain on the country and the government. Despite the fact that it has its own cons, immigration also provides several economic benefits to the United States.
Many immigrants (legal or illegal) work in low paying jobs that most American citizens are not willing to work. Many American companies take advantage of this opportunities of using immigrants to keep their business competing at a high level. In recent months, there have been many controversies concerning the issue of immigration and a specified group of people seems to be targeted. Few days after President Trump was sworn in as president, he immediately placed a travel ban on several countries across the globe.
The ban created a lot of chaos and controversy as a specific race and religion seem to be the main target. The countries that were ban were heavily Islam and Muslim majority and this is still a growing issue in the United States. Many American Muslim citizens were unhappy about the situation and many Muslim travelers across the globe were left with decisions to make as many were detained on arrival to the United States. Many were deported despite not having any criminal records and some deportees were citizens of the United States but muslims.
In as much as immigration is a big problem in the United States according to Donald Trump, I would say immigration has also exposed American to a new ideas of life. Immigration has brought diversity in the form of language, culture, tradition, food etc… America is great today not only because of its people alone. It is great because of the different ideals, culture and values, it shares with other people. Functionalism Functionalism sees each part of the society in terms of how it contributes to the stability of the whole (Ashley Crossman 2017).
In addition, a functionalist society believe that a society is held by social consensus in which members agree upon a specific goal and they work hard together to achieve that set goal which is believed to be best for the society as a whole. With this, I believe a functioning society would see immigration (legal or illegal) as a necessity for the society because immigrants would be very useful in the labor market. The reason behind this is that immigrants are willing to work for numerous hours for a low pay in order for them to provide for themselves and their families.
Most immigrants do not care about the condition of the jobs and all they need is money for food and shelter. The functionalist believe that without immigrants who work in the field everyday, many supermarket for instance would not have fresh fruits and vegetables for consumers. In addition, Americans at large would not take these jobs because it is extremely difficult and many are not made for cheap labor. The main goal of a functionalist society is that the society are carefully structured to create a social balance.
When one part of it is not working, it automatically affects the others. Another example of a functionalism view on immigration is that many of these immigrants help makes the society diverse with its food, cuisine, tradition languages etc… America today is unique and it is considered one of the most diverse nation on earth. This was made possible with the help of immigration (immigrants). Symbolic-Interaction Symbolic interactionism is a systematic approach to understanding the relationship between humans and their society.
The basic idea of symbolic interactionism is that human actions and interaction are understandable through exchange of thoughtful symbols and communication. In this symbolic approach, the society sees immigration as a system that rob American citizens of their rights and opportunities. In this sense, they feel like their jobs are been giving away to individuals know as ‘aliens’. They neglect the fact that these aliens work extremely hard for a very cheap labor but despite that, they are still accused or branded “illegals”.
As a matter of fact, the symbolic interaction is solely based on conformity bias. This is the tendency to interpret information in one’s own perceptions. The symbolic society also sees immigrants especially illegals as criminals because they cross the border without government authorization. This kind is society neglect the facts that most of these immigrants are fleeing from persecution, hunger, war and for many various reason. Despite the conflicts and torment these immigrants go through on a daily basis, the symbolic society forget about all of that because they are illegal.
With this fact, the immigrant community is looked down upon because they are been labeled harshly and unfairly. Conflict theory By definition, the conflict perspective describes all the inequalities that exist in the society. This approach allows those with powers and status to maintain firm control over scarce resource. Karl Marx is the founder of the conflict theory. Unlike functional theory which sees the society as an arena of peace and unity, conflict theory however interprets the struggle for power between the groups. This system is completely based on competition, supply and demand.
In the conflict theory, there is a struggle between the working class providing cheap labor and the capitalist who sit and enjoy the fruit of the workers labor. Moreover, the capitalist society who argue that immigrants are really helpful to the society because of the cheap labor they provide. The opposite side (poor) and working class would also debate that their jobs are being given away to immigrants. They could also argue that the capitalist intentionally conditioned their labor cost at a low rate that would easily distract them from getting jobs.
In conclusion, the conflict theory might be helpful in many ways but the disparity between various groups and organizations of people is something that will always continue to be in full effect. Overview The three sociological perspectives which are functionalism, conflict and symbolic interaction is very important and it has led to a debate as to which view is more important as to as the others. I personally love the functionalist view which addresses the society as a whole but, however, it also has its flaw if the whole society agrees on something negative or bad.
A functioning society sees immigrants both legal and illegal as a necessity for our society because immigrants would be very useful in the American labor market. Apart from been useful in American labor market, I believe immigration help unite us as a people with different ideas, beliefs, religion, ethnics, background, traditions, norms, foods, race and so on. America would not be as great or interesting if everyone one all practice the same language, food and many more. This is what a functionalist society believe in and I support this notion. The topic Immigration is a very interesting one and I believe it has its own benefits and flaws.
Without Immigration, America would not even be the land it is today. America was founded by immigrants. Some of its benefit is that they work extremely cheap because American citizens would not do those tenacious hours of work for low cost. On other benefits of immigration is the diversity, culture, traditions it brings. The immigration of people from different parts of the world helps to bring a balance in diversity, which is essential to the survival of the human race and without diversity, we would all be the same thus having no genetic variation and no natural selection.
The topic of immigration is very complex and becoming more depressing everyday due to the question of illegal immigration. American today has forgotten the help of immigration because of the vast number of illegal immigrants present in the country today. The future of immigration in America is uncertain and it is very difficult to predict what the outcome might be due to “illegals” all mixed with the “legal”.