US Immigration Statistics
History of Immigration in the United States
Immigration in the United States
The United States government has, as of yet, failed to establish a unified, reasoned and just policy regarding immigration despite repeated attempts across many presidential administrations. This failure stems from many factors. Among these reasons, lies an underlying fear shared by many individuals in the nation’s population that has its origins in a strong racial and ethnic prejudice that seems to be a part of the American psyche.American history is replete with examples of this prejudice beginning with the institution of slavery that was extant at the very beginnings of the Republic and the near genocide of an entire race of Native American populations. Nearly every ethnic group that has immigrated to the United States has felt the toxic psychological, economic and social impact of this prejudice.
It is this subtext of American culture that the current president, Donald Trump, had effectively exploited to secure his nomination and subsequent election to the presidency. Since the inception of his administration, he has made repeated attempts through the use of the executive order to implement a blatantly anti-immigration policy specifically targeting certain ethnic groups; many of these attempts were subsequently thwarted by the courts.
An unfortunate by-product of his often-crazed pronouncements and attempts to abuse the power of his office as chief executive has been the rise of acts of violence against minority immigrant populations especially focused on those here illegally and an alarming increase in hate crimes in general.
However, in response to this current political reality, there has been a concomitant rise in an awareness of the plight of those who came to this country primarily motivated by a desire to make life better for themselves and their families. Links to some of the individuals and groups involved in countering the impact of bigotry and hatred leveled against immigrant populations – especially in the Pacific Northwest - are reported here.
