Anti Immigration Sociology

Immigration has always been an issue in the United States, which is often portrayed as harmful and as major threat to American culture. As a result, various anti immigration policies have been aimed against immigrants in order to prevent and preserve the miscegenation of American culture, such as English only policies. Among the largest minority groups in the U.S, are Latinos who currently compose of 15% of the U.S population (Delgado and Stefancic 3). Unfortunately, Latinos have been accused of taking American benefits, jobs, and have wrongfully been depicted as a result of not assimilating to American culture. Latinos are often accused of resisting assimilation, but what has failed to be acknowledged is that there are obstacles set in

Immigration of Latinos has long caused cultural conflict, especially when it comes to the illegal immigration of Latinos. Unfortunately, the issue has long been debated and there seems to be no clear cut answer on how to resolve the problem. Many Americans often overlook the struggles that Latinos endure and place stereotypes upon this group of people that are untrue. Furthermore, most Americans are misinformed or uninformed about the other side of this hot issue. The purpose of this essay is to give the reader a better understanding of Latino immigration from a cultural perspective and what these immigrants, both legal and illegal experience when relocating to a new country as well as a brief discussion on the issue of immigration reform.

Immigration has been a major topic since the beginning of the United States of America. This phenomenon is what helped the establishment of this country; and even today it continues to have an impact in in most aspects of the lives of North American’s. The subject has also brought much criticism and created divided opinions about its immediate and long term impact. Migration itself it’s not a problem, but the modern dilemma of who is allowed to migrate and reside permanently in a country “legally.” It is interesting to explore this subject under three basic theories that Sociology deals with: symbolic interactionism, conflict theory and social functionalism. Each theory brings us closer to understand some of the reasons why “illegal immigration” is controversial today. The purpose of this paper is not to persuade but to explore and expose some ideas on a recurrent social issue.

Migration is not a new phenomenon throughout the history of human, but the issue of migration has become more of a problem since the emerging of modern states. The distinction between immigrants and local citizens has become official with the emergence of nation-state authority and the ideas of sovereignty, citizenship and nationality. From the 19th century, the control of passport and visa has made the borders between immigrants and citizens even clearer and more identified. Today, as there are more restrictions on entering a country, states have to deal with regulating policies for immigration to control the influx of people

Immigrants have been migrating into the United States and concentrating themselves in large urban areas for more than a century (Crowley and Ebert, 2014). These immigrants, particularly the Mexican population, have experienced forces of being both pushed out of Mexico as well as pulled into America for reasons involving economic restructuring, employment opportunities, and differences in compensation (Jenkins, 1977; Pew Research Center, 2009; Sanderson, 2013; Crowley and Ebert 2014). However, in contrast to their traditional urban destinations, Hispanic immigrants have been moving to non-traditional destinations in rural America for the past few decades due to legislation and job openings among a variety of other factors (Crowley and Ebert, 2014). Unfortunately, immigrants are not always warmly welcomed into these communities, and they may experience difficulties that could make them rethink the decision of immigration all together. The purpose of this paper is to identify those forces that have influenced Hispanic immigration into the United States, especially into rural communities, as well as some of the obstacles that these immigrants

5) and has actually made concessions that play into the labeling of community members as good-immigrant and bad-immigrant. The labels of good and bad immigrant only helps to further normalize the criminalization and dehumanization of people based on their migrant status. “The logical consequence of adopting a good-immigrant and a bad-immigrant binary is agreement that the undocumented are criminals and thus the natural and race neutral solution must be to punish and deport the undocumented for their reputed transgression–not to challenge the underlying structural reason people migrate.” (Gonzales, p. 151) This leads to the fragmentation of the migrant population and often leads to the splitting of families. The short term victories in immigration reform with the onset of bills such as DACA (Deferred Action for Children Act) playing on the depiction of parents forcing illegal migration on their children and the institutional recognition of it not being the child’s fault that their parent were criminals continues to deny the larger societal structures that continue to only perpetuate deferred consequence under the guise of progress.

The study highlighted how the viewpoints Latinos hold on subject matters such as immigration, abortion, self-identification, family relations, vary based on which generation they pertain to and the degree of assimilation they have undergone. A common trend pointed out in the study was that the more assimilated a Latino was, the more likely they were to hold conservative views on immigration, despite the fact that their grandparents were immigrants. The 2005 study found that those believing that, “’immigrants to the

The long-term effects of immigration policy, such as DACA, can only be speculated. Recent activity from the Trump administration has suggested the dismantling of DACA while proposing stricter immigration policy such as the merit-based immigration policy known as Reforming American Immigrants for Strong Employment (RAISE) Act (Gelatt, 2017). Therefore, continuously studying immigration policy is essential to understanding the potential impact on the United States. This capstone will examine social-disorganization theory and how it perpetuates the stigma associated with immigrants and criminal behavior, specifically as it relates to DACA and the future of immigration policy.

Illegal immigration has been a hot topic in the United States. For those who were born in the states, they are primed to see that most illegal immigrants are not welcome. Yet these immigrants see the United States as a land of opportunity. According to independent research by the Pew Research Hispanic Trends Project, there were 8.4 million unauthorized immigrants employed in the U.S.; representing 5.2 percent of the U.S. labor force (Goodman, 2014). We will examine the different sociological perspectives to understand this topic.

“In general, the results from the current study suggest that only three of the independent variables are significantly related to attitudes toward violence: social capital, machismo (male superiority), and perceptions of treatment of Latinos by U.S. non-Latinos...the findings of this research demonstrate that factors that influence Latino attitudes toward violence may be unique from predictor variables that in the past have been used to explain maladaptive assimilation outcomes. The assimilation experience of contemporary Latinos in the United States, although similar to that of previous generations, is unique and seemingly more complex. Researchers must give consideration to the widespread negative sentiments toward undocumented immigrants in the Latino Attitudes Toward Violence 155 United States and how an inhospitable

When Americans think of racism, they usually think of slavery, and that racism is no longer a problem in America. However, this is not the case. Racism is still obvious in America. Racism can be linked directly to stereotypical mindsets of certain groups of people.  Today’s racism is not restricted to whites and blacks, and it has come to define many different groups and races. Pigmentation as well as physical characteristics and features still are influential for classifying people. It is easy to overlook the racism that hides below the surface and is part of American life. Today, an estimate 54 million Latinos live in the U.S. and around 43 million people speak Spanish. Although Latinos are the country’s largest minority, anti-Latino prejudice is still common. Very few Americans recognize, acknowledge, and respect the contributions of one of America’s greatest ethnic groups – Hispanics. Americans are often confused as to who Hispanics really are and what they represent in America. Although the United States is known for having a melting pot of diverse cultures, recent studies have shown the rise of discrimination against Latinos and Hispanics immigrants. A person’s legal status should not be an excuse for mistreatment.

In the essay “Our Fear of Immigrants,” Jeremy Adam Smith writes about why it is we fear immigrants. Smith divides his essay with numerous examples and comparisons, through biological, sociological and psychological explanations. As unorthodox as it sounds, our hesitation towards outsiders can be explained in various ways we never believed imaginable; in Smith’s investigation, he unveils the bewildering reality about the contrasts between ourselves, as adults, and children when it comes to immigration. He begins with a distressful story of a classroom of 4th graders from Berkeley, California, who missed their classmate named Rodrigo when he didn’t return from Christmas break, due to his parents’ expired visa. Rodrigo’s classmates thought that it was so unfair, that they complained to their congressmen. Smith then contrasts this response of empathetic children to unsympathetic adults from Berkeley, California, who protested against immigrants who seek shelter in the U.S for the families. Smith pondered the questions: “Why do immigrants provoke such strong feelings of both empathy and revulsion, a polarization that pits fourth graders in Berkeley against the citizens of Murrieta?” and “What characteristics and qualities do Rodrigo’s classmates possess

A major point in unit 2, political ideologies would be the basis of many class discussions. The political ideology of undocumented immigrants that would incline them to side with Democrats would mirror certain political trends that were talked about in class, like the fact that African Americans tended to vote for Democrats rather than Republicans. The class would also frequently delve into how political ideologies provide many different ethnic and social groups political orientations towards political issues. The article connects to this by providing the political ideologies of both undocumented immigrants and working class voters in the midwest in addition to the reason why these groups take their respective

In April 2010, the state of Arizona passed what is now known as the most controversial immigration enforcement law. The “Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act”, later referenced as SB 1070, required immigrants to carry they registration document on their person at all times. This would seem like reasonable expectation, that one must always carry identification documents on them. However, the controversy surrounds the part of the bill that “requires police to question people if there’s reason to suspect they are in the U.S. illegally” (Bash, 2010). This created a statewide discrimination against Latinos as well as other who looked to be of foreign descent.

Immigration is a controversial topic that has impacted our society for decades perplexed by policies media coverage, perceptions based on one’s own lack of knowledge, personal experiences and a host of other factors that influence how our society views immigrants and immigration policies. The United States is a diverse population of people and filled with experiences that come from various walks of life that contribute to enhancing our social culture, economic development, and cultural acceptance.