US immigration

US immigration is a major reason for population growth and cultural interaction in the history of America. According to the demographical data, the number of foreign born people among US immigrants would be approximately 40,500,000 in 2010. A larger percentage of around 23.7% would be Mexicans followed by Chinese and Indians who would contribute 4.7% and 4.2% respectively.

But the after math of September 11 attacks has created a new impact on the US immigration including the tightening of the legal procedures. According to a public agenda survey, half of the Americans said that tighter controls on US immigration would ensure the US national security. Some of the surveys show the optimistic attitude of Americans towards US immigration with 44% supporting the motion of US immigration while 45% went against the immigration. The surveys further prove that Americans support legal immigration and oppose the illegal immigrants.

The impact of US immigration is felt everywhere in the US covering economic, political and social, health, law, and crime, environment, and education aspects. The general public opinion is that US immigration has led to a gradual decline in the life standard of the people. It is has estimated that the number of drop outs in high school has increased among the US immigrants.

The cultural impact of US immigration is evident from the variety of cultural centers, ethnic eat outs, religious monuments and buildings, etc. but the environmentalists warn of the global warming created by America. Americans consist of only 5% of the world population but they are responsible for over one fourth of carbon dioxide production.

The health services available to the US immigrants are inadequate. Moreover many of the residents of America lack any form of health insurance coverage which has cost America a lot in terms of health care services. It is also said that HIV entered America through an US immigrant from Haiti.

The US government has introduced several immigration laws, amended the old ones and modified the irrelevant ones to suit the changing trends in the immigration pattern. The latest one is the green card lottery.

The diversity visa lottery scheme of US immigration provides 55,000 green cards to the nationals of low admission countries. For employers who illegally hire workers, the IRCA or immigration reform and control act was passed in 1986. The 1990 immigration act increased the US immigration limit to 700,000.