Introduction
Specific anti-immigrant rhetoric seems to be typical of modern political debates in the United States. This situation provokes many questions regarding the role of immigration in contributing to increasing social benefits or, instead, depriving nationals of many available resources because of high flows of immigrants (McCorkle 149-150). Although the issue of immigration in the context of the United States is often discussed as a social problem requiring solutions, the history of the country’s development demonstrates that immigration is mostly an advantageous phenomenon.
Main body
The history of the United States provides a variety of examples to support the idea that immigration is a source of economic and social benefits for the population. Thus, a high rate of migration was always observed in the country, forming a culturally and ethnically diverse population. According to Foner, “By 1910, the U.S. population was almost 15 percent foreign born, a height we still have not reached today though it is coming close, at 13.5 percent in 2016” (5).
Today, the percentage can be even higher, and it is almost impossible to reject the idea that immigrants participate in all social and economic spheres of life in the country, leading to generating resources for the country’s progress (Dabach et al. 308; Foner 5-6). For instance, migrants open new businesses in the United States, create job positions, increase capital, and develop communities following the examples of American ancestors (Dabach et al. 309-310). From this perspective, immigrants have changed American society and formed a unique diverse national culture, and their contribution to this process is hard to be overestimated.
Increased migration processes in the world are the result of active globalization, and it is almost impossible to ignore the advantages of this tendency for the United States. Officials in many developed countries all over the globe support migration processes in the context of globalization as natural ones and associated with social progress (Foner 10-11). The reason is that modern economies can develop successfully only with a focus on active flows of human and financial resources in the world (Foner 11-12). In this context, restrictive policies related to immigration that are currently promoted in the United States can be discussed as questionable and requiring revisions to evaluate all their pros and cons.
Despite the fact that many US authorities provide arguments against promoting immigration in the country, they can intentionally disregard benefits associated with this social phenomenon typical for the formation of the US nation. On the one hand, the opponents of intense immigration state that migrants often act illegally, violate social stability and negatively influence the economic balance (Dabach et al. 312). On the other hand, the problem of legal and illegal migration cannot be discussed in one context because these processes have various impacts (McCorkle 149-151). Furthermore, legal migrants often perform as hard-working employees, motivated entrepreneurs, and active members of communities who develop their neighborhoods.
Conclusion
Even though the question of immigration in the United States is regarded today as a controversial topic that requires finding effective solutions, actual outcomes of immigration for the country support the idea that this process is rather advantageous. The problem is that promoting anti-immigrant policies, officials and social activists do not accentuate the difference between legal and illegal migrants. Additionally, they tend to pay no attention to the role of immigration in the development of American society with reference to ancestors’ contribution.
Works Cited
Dabach, Dafney Blanca, et al. “Rethinking Immigration as a Controversy.” Social Education, vol. 82, no. 6, 2018, pp. 307-314.
Foner, Nancy. “The Uses and Abuses of History: Understanding Contemporary US Immigration.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, vol. 45, no. 1, 2019, pp. 4-20.
McCorkle, William David. “Using History to Inform the Modern Immigration Debate in the United States.” Journal of International Social Studies, vol. 8, no. 1, 2018, pp. 149-167.