Illegal aliens

In the years between 1980 and 1985, about 600,000 immigrants were legally admitted each year. In addition, hundreds of thousands of persons entered the country illegally, most of them fleeing poverty or war in Mexico or Latin America. Many illegal aliens supply cheap labor as farm workers at harvest time or work at menial tasks which Americans shun. Up to 1986 the law forbade illegal immigrants to work in the United States but did not penalize employers for hiring them. These circumstances encouraged many people to risk illegal employment in the U.S. However, an immigration law passed on October 17, 1986 attempted to stamp out the incentive for aliens to enter the country illegally by imposing strict penalties on businesses hiring illegal aliens.

Vietnam War – a conflict (1954-75) between South Vietnam, aided by the United States, and the Vietcong (a Communist-led army and guerrilla force in South Vietnam) and North Vietnam, receiving military aid mainly from Communist China.

² church sanctuary movement – a movement of American churches helping refugees and illegal immigrants by giving them shelter and protection from eviction.

In addition, this law provided the opportunity for aliens who had lived and worked in the U.S. since 1981 to apply for status as permanent residents. As many as half the nation’s estimated 3 to 5 million illegal immi­grants became able to apply for legal status.

In the 1980s immigration, both legal and illegal, had a substantial impact on U.S. population growth. When both legal and illegal entries were counted, close to one half of all growth was attributable to immigration. America’s future ethnic composition and population growth will clearly be affected by the immigration and population policies the government pursues.

Immigration and identity crisis

Americans continue to debate the issue of immigration. Some groups in favour of tightening immigration restrictions argue that overpopulation is a threat. Based on current rates, U.S. population could double in only 40 years. Restricting immigration would curb the rate of growth. Other arguments for restricting immigration are rooted in the same fears that aroused nativist¹ sentiment at the turn of the century. Many Americans fear that immigrants may lower the quality of life in America by taking away Americans’ jobs and by importing the same social and economic ills that exist in the countries they left. Furthermore, they argue that tightening restrictions is a necessary measure to preserve America’s national identity. On the other hand, many Americans more optimistically emphasize the cultural wealth and diversity which im­migrants have been bringing to the nation since its conception.

The debate over immigration comes at a time when Americans are wrestling with the problem of identity. In the past, the majority of Americans considered themselves WASPs. Many groups, for example blacks, whose ancestors were brought over as slaves, were not regarded by the majority as true Americans. Newcomers were expected to assimilate and live on the majority’s terms. The mass migration at the turn of the century brought a new heterogeneity to American society which challenged WASPs to acknowledge that Americans could be Catholic or Jewish, almond-eyed or olive-skinned. Still, in the early 1900s, America’s policy towards Americanizing immigrants stressed assimilation into WASP culture, and, still, the country’s leaders were old stock American Protestants. Before John F. Kennedy became the first Catholic to be elected President of the United States in 1960, all other presidents were Protestant.

Since the 1960s, as the ethnic composition changed even more, with fewer and fewer people able to claim WASP status, Americans’ attitudes towards ethnic and religious differences have altered. Pressure on immigrants to Americanize and altogether forget their background has relaxed. High political offices are held by non-whites and non-Protestants.

Americans are aware that the national ethnic, religious identity – WASP – which once unified the country under certain shared assumptions and values, has disappeared.

¹Nativist – a person protecting the interests of native citizens against those of immigrants.

In a country where currently 6 percent of the population is foreign-born, where more than 10 percent speaks a language other than English at home, and where newcomers are crossing the borders daily in droves, diversity is a major characteristic. The well-known picture of America as a melting pot where all groups come together, creating a new, distinct American type, is not an adequate metaphor. On the whole, a more accurate picture of American society today, one that conveys its astonishing variety of cultures, each preserving its own distinctiveness, is vegetable soup.

E. Fiedler, R. Jansen, M. Norman-Risch “America in Close-Up”;

D. Stevenson “American Life and Institutions”