Three Different Immigration Policies
The United States has been always seemed as the land of the opportunity, where anyone could achieve the American dream and live a happy life. This is one of the reason why people see the United States as the country to go and find opportunity for jobs and a second chance in life. Over the years, the United States has had four major immigration waves to the country. The first wave was when the colonist arrived to the Americas and settle what it is now the United States.
The first wave lasted about one hundred and seventy five years were the first colonist settle. Most of them come from England, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Scotland, Sweden,Wales, Denmark, Finland, and what is now Ukraine. It brought around 450,000 to 500,000 immigrants. The second wave lasted from 1820 to 1870 and almost seven million immigrants entered the United States and where most of them came from northern and western Europe. The third wave of immigrants lasted from 1881 to 1920 and approximately twenty three million immigrants came to the United States where most of them came from eastern and southern parts of Europe. And lastly the last wave of immigrants started from 1965 until the present. The last wave of immigrants are mostly from Latin America, mostly from México, Puerto Rico, and Cuba. As most of the immigrants that came to the United States, they came to the United States to get a second chance in life in the land of the opportunity. In the first three waves of immigration, most of the immigrants came from Europe. Very few came from other parts of the world but the most recent and current wave of immigration are coming from Latin America. That is why most of the immigrants from the current wave of immigration are mostly from Latin America.
Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and Cubans are in a total different positions of legal status and policies towards them when it comes to immigration policies. While Mexicans are automatically deported once they are taken by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), Puerto Ricans are citizens as soon as they are born like any person born in the United States, and Cubans have the dry feet vs. wet feet policy which is saying if a person from Cuba makes it to dry land in the United States, they could apply for legal status in the United States as a political refugee. However, if they are found in water they would face deportation back to Cuba. As one can see, within these three Latino groups there are major differences when it comes to immigration policies. According to Marisa, she states that at first these groups did not voluntary came to the United States because they wanted to, it was because they had to since the United States had more opportunities than their own countries. However, that has changed over the years.
In the beginning, the first wave of Cubans was because of economical status. Because many people own companies in Cuba and were scared of socialism that the Cuban government was implementing, they fled to other countries to continue their companies, which they the United States as an opportunity. The second wave of Cuban immigration was because of political reasons, which this is the most current. Compare to Puerto Ricans, Puerto Ricans have the benefit of being a common wealth to the United States which they automatically become citizens of the United States. When you compare Cubans and Puerto Ricans with Mexicans, Mexicans have no loopholes to the immigration policies in the United States. For those who are undocumented and if they are captured by ICE, they are automatically deported to México with no ways to stay in the United States.
The way that I see the immigration policies between Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and Cubans is that Puerto Ricans and Cubans have more chance to stay in the United States than Mexicans because either they are automatically become United States citizens because they are common wealth, Puerto Ricans, or because they could file asylum from their home country, Cubans, while Mexicans have no chance to stay in the United States unless they are born or they become citizens which takes years. The reason why Mexicans have no mercy to stay in the United States is because the United States sees no political problems in México, that concerns the United States, that will allowed Mexicans to file asylum. Which personally, I think that the United States is right when it comes not allowing Mexicans to file asylum since there is no political reasons that will concern the United States, however I believe that they should really pass an immigration law that would benefit those immigrants who do not have documents in the United States of America.
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