Public opinion on the topic of immigration and ethnic relations is many sided. This is because the public hold divergent opinion on the topic. A section of the public supports immigration while another section does not support the idea.
Further studies reveal that people tend to support past immigration and their imminent support to the growth of the economy than current and future migrations. This implies that public opinion towards immigration has been changing over time that is, from a more receptive attitude to a more concerned attitude.
To some extent, the impact of immigration on the society as a whole causes the change in attitude. This has led to changes in laws which target immigration issues.
A number of research studies have been carried out to establish factors that influence peoples’ attitude towards immigration and ethnic relations in the United States. This paper aims to discuss public opinion on immigration and ethnic relations.
The rise in immigrant population disturbs most people in America. Immigration into America can either be legal or illegal. The public is concerned about illegal immigration.
This is because the state does not have statistics of the illegal immigrants. This hinders planning. From the various studies carried out, the public view immigration in three perspectives.
First, they believe that illegal immigration is on the rise and is causing a serious problem on the social and economic growth of the country.
Further, the public is also for the idea of a strong but not penal approach to enforcement of immigration laws. Finally, the public supports liberal immigration reform provision to deal with illegal immigrants.
On particular immigrant group, the public is more positive to some immigrant groups than others. For instance, over 50% of Americans are positive about immigrants from Asia, Latin America and Mexico coming to live and work in America. In terms of race, the White Americans do not welcome immigrants.
They base their arguments on increased crime, moral decay, social values and tax evasion. Black Americans negatively associate immigrants with scramble for job opportunities and slow growth of the economy. Public opinion on immigration can also be divided on a political line.
The republicans and democrats hold different views on immigrants. Democrats are more receptive to issues relating to immigrants than republicans. In addition, public opinion also depends on age group.
Youths tend to be against the immigrants since they subject them to compete for the scarce resources available as such public amenities. They also compete for the available job opportunities.
In summary, it can be deduced that the public concerns on immigration and ethnic relations are increasing over the years. In general, the public is more concerned with illegal immigrants than legal immigrants.
What is evident from these studies and finding is that there are more negative impacts of immigration in the domicile country than positive impacts. Besides, the public hold diverse opinion on immigrants. The public give these opinions based on the race, political affiliations and age group among others.
Public opinion on immigration has been changing since the ancient times and so are the laws on immigration. Besides, these opinions have been instrumental in policy formulation.
They have also assisted in defining the collective vision of national identity. Finally, they have affected the daily behavior of nationals. These behaviors define the overall social climate of a nation.