Immigration

Immigration

An immigrant is defined as a person who comes from one country to live in a another country.  The United States is, by definition, a nation of immigrants.  Every single person who currently lives in the United States can trace his or her ancestry back to someone who immigrated to the land upon which our country rests.  Archaeologists believe that the first people to live in North America traveled over an ice bridge between Asia and what is now Alaska, so American Indians can trace their heritage to people who immigrated to North America.  Much later, in the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries, Europeans immigrated to what is now the United States, when they came to colonize it.  Those Europeans also brought over slaves, which was a form of forced immigration.  Since then, people have continued to immigrate to the United States.

Take a moment to review the table below. It shows the top ten countries from which people immigrated to the United States in 2013.  These ten countries account for half of all immigrants who came to the United States during 2013.

2013 Lawful Permanent Resident Flow
Country	Region	Number of Immigrants	Percent of Total
Mexico	Latin America	135,028	13.6
China	Asia	71,798	7.2
India	Asia	68,458	6.9
Philippines	Asia	54,446	5.5
Dominican Republic	Latin America	41,311	4.2
Cuba	Latin America	32,219	3.3
Vietnam	Asia	27,101	2.7
South Korea	Asia	23,166	2.3
Colombia	Latin America	21,131	2.1
Haiti	Latin America	20,351	2.1

What do you notice about the location of the countries that people are leaving to come to the United States?  Based on the information you see in the chart, which two regions sent the most people to the United States in 2013? Just as in 2013, for the last thirty years, more immigrants have come to the United States from Asia and Latin America than anywhere else.

One reason for this is that the United States changed its immigration rules with the Immigration Act of 1965. This act reversed the restrictions of the 1920s, making it easier for people from a more diverse set of countries to immigrate. Immigrants from Asian and Latin American countries benefited from this change.

The United States government estimates that at the end of 2012, there were about 22,660,000 legal immigrants living in the United States along with another 11,430,000 illegal immigrants.  The total population of the United States at the end of 2012 was about 315,000,000 people.  That means that seven percent of the population of the United States were legal immigrants, 3.6 percent of the total population were illegal immigrants, and overall almost ten percent of the United States population were immigrants. 

Reasons for Immigration

People immigrate to the United States for many reasons, but the two most important reasons are political freedom and economic opportunity.  People who live in the United States enjoy many freedoms.  People who are oppressed in other countries are drawn to the United States for a few different reasons. In this interactivity, you will learn about the reasons immigrants migrate to the United States. Click the player button to begin.

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Immigration Controversy

Politicians will continually debate the issue of immigration. It is widely agreed upon that immigrants have made valuable contributions to America in a variety of different fields (including music, sports, and education). There are also many minorities with immigrant family backgrounds who have been elected to public offices at both the state and national levels. Yet some Americans feel immigration policies need to be reformed. Immigration can cost the government and take away valuable jobs from native-born Americans. In this interactivity, you will discover the contributions and controversies surrounding the issue of immigration. Click the player button to begin.

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Immigration Review

Now that you have completed your investigation of modern immigration, review your knowledge in this non-graded activity. Click the player button to get started.