Immigrants come to America for many reasons and most of these reasons include the search of a better life. The Cambodian and Chinese immigrants in the videos were escaping the restrictions and turmoil of their native lands. Now, this is a very valid reason and most people would, arguably, agree that they should have left. But, when it comes down to where they go, it becomes a national issue. People understand that these immigrants had no choice but to leave; however, when these immigrants arrive at their country illegally, they become cautious.

There are clear boundaries set for those who arrive to America illegally. If they overstep those boundaries, there are also clear consequences. In “Sentenced Home” we encounter troubled people that grew up in an unfortunate environment. We cannot blame people like Kim Ho Ma for wanting to join a gang for a sense of belonging. However, their decisions to do wrong were under their control and it is just to deport them because they were clearly presented with the consequences. However, it would seem unfair to the victims because their homeland was a very unfamiliar environment and they just did not know what to do or how to handle the situation. It would seem just and fair to anyone that is not involved in their problem, but if anyone were to step into the immigrants’ shoes, it would not be fair to any of them.

Illegal immigration is a very troubling issue due to much controversy with the law, ethics, and morality. It is very hard to easily decide whether the immigrants should stay or be deported. They will face even worse retribution in their homeland! However, illegal immigration is still illegal. These people simply do not belong there and, for the safety of the nation (especially after the 9/11 attacks), the Americans did not want to take the chance of allowing potential threats into the country.

The people in the Golden Venture sought a better life as they suffered many grueling days at sea to get to America. Their hopes and dreams were shattered as the INS caught them at the shore when they arrived. Some people got on the ship to escape the one-child policy in China and it seems perfectly reasonable to escape that kind of restraint. However, as I said before, the law demands that they leave, but how do we expect them to leave when they have so much to lose as well?

Flushing

Bayside and Flushing, two neighborhoods that are fairly close to each other but differ in a lot of categories. Flushing is an area dominated by people from Asia. As you can see from the table below, 54.6% of the total population is foreign born. Since most of the people are foreign born, they might have trouble finding high paying jobs because of language barriers, cultural assimilation etc. The median household income is rough $52,000. Also about 50% of the people living in this area have gone to some sort of college, and 38% have at least one degree. Overall, Flushing is a very diverse neighborhood that is still developing into one of the major areas in the city.

PLACE OF BIRTH
Total population 251,278 +/-7,484 251,278 (X)
Foreign born 137,133 +/-5,499 54.6% +/-1.2

WORLD REGION OF BIRTH OF FOREIGN BORN
Foreign-born population, excluding population born at sea 137,117 +/-5,495 137,117 (X)
Europe 13,629 +/-1,449 9.9% +/-1.0
Asia 97,093 +/-4,709 70.8% +/-2.0
Africa 1,064 +/-419 0.8% +/-0.3
Oceania 28 +/-33 0.0% +/-0.1
Latin America 24,985 +/-2,627 18.2% +/-1.7
Northern America 318 +/-154 0.2% +/-0.1

Bayside

Bayside, a neighborhood to the east of Flushing, is dominated by whites unlike the majority of the population in Flushing. Approximately, 56% of the people in this region are whites and 35% are Asians. Unlike Flushing, only 40% of the population is foreign born and out of those, 85% came after the turn of the century. This means that the people in this area have assimilated with the American culture and hold high paying jobs. The median income of Bayside is roughly $72,000, about $20,000 higher than flushing. As a result, people in this area can take advantage of many resources that are not available in the Flushing area. 65% of the people have gone to college, and 48% of those have at least one degree. Bayside is one of the most prosperous neighborhoods in New York City.

PLACE OF BIRTH
Total population 118,499 +/-4,128 118,499 (X)
Foreign born 48,540 +/-2,707 41.0% +/-1.7

Screen Recording

Having visited the Tenement Museum in lower Manhattan, we were exposed to the life that many immigrant families, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, experienced when they first arrived in New York through Ellis Island. All these immigrant families shared a common idea: to take advantage in the “Land of Opportunities”. The immigrant families envisioned America to provide them with all the tools necessary to live a happy life. But was this assumption rational or just wistful thinking on part of the immigrants? A brief visual tour of one of the tenements on 97 Orchard Street gave us the answer. Noisy street vendors and non-stop pedestrians on the black and white pictures along with our guide’s story telling describe the neighborhood livelier than texts do.

The actual tenement museum was a few houses down the road from the visitor center. This clever arrangement took us back in time to the past Orchard Street where many ancestors of current New Yorkers lived in. The entrance to the building was very narrow, thus we had a hard time getting through. The first thing we noticed was the compact space and dim lighting. Another astute observation we made was that everything was made of wood — this was quite hazardous in the event of a fire. Moving up the creaking staircases, we encountered the first room where the apartment suite was not entirely restored. In this suite, the interior was left purposely untouched to give visitors the atmosphere of that time period. Jacob Riis, a muckraker, described the living conditions of immigrant families in tenements in hopes to bring about social reform. In his book, Where the Other Half Lives, he described that a single room contained 6-7 members of one family.

In particular, we noticed sweatshops in each of the apartments. The immigrants worked long, laborious hours trying to make as much clothing as possible because they were paid per piece and not per hour. Imagine the atmosphere of the room while they worked and the sweat pouring over their brows as they sewed the cloth together. They probably did not waste a single second of their working hours doing anything else besides concentrating on the clothes. It was shocking how wealthier people even detested the clothing because they considered the immigrants dregs of society and did not want these immigrants handling their clothes.

The entire family worked for countless hours everyday, slept in cramped spaces every night, lived with caution because of a vulnerability to fire, and dreamed of a better life for their children. Yet, their traditions lived on their culture thrived in their hearts throughout the hardships and tribulations. These people must be acknowledged for what they have been through and what they experienced. The heart of the immigrant lives on, even today.

The Irish faced a dire situation starting in 1845 called the Great Famine, also known as the Irish Potato Famine. One third of Ireland’s population was entirely dependent on the potato as the main source of sustenance, especially for the poor. This staple food made the agrarian economy grow rapidly. However, a common potato disease called potato blight decimated the potato livestock leaving the people with insufficient food supply and less will to remain in their homeland. Emigration skyrocketed at that point and social, political, and economic issues only encouraged people to leave the country.

In contrast to the trend in the 1900’s, the trend in the late 2000’s has been starkly opposite. The Immigration Explorer, a tool on the New York Times website, tells us the migration patterns of various groups to America during an extended time period. Looking at the population of Manhattan, NY in 1890, and 2000, we notice a drastic decrease in the population of foreign born Irish. The population of Manhattan was roughly 1.5 million in both these time periods. The difference is that in 1890, there were 190,418 foreign-born Irish to the 4,147 in 2000. That’s a 98% decrease in the Irish population in New York. Much of this can be attributed to Ireland’s recent economic upturn.

In 1996, Ireland reached its migration “turning point,” making it the last European Union Member State to become a country of net immigration. The main reason being that rapid economic growth created an unprecedented demand for labor across a wide range of sectors, including construction, financial, information technology, and health care. This had a direct impact on the unemployment rate as it fell from a 15% to 3.6% in no time. Ireland had turned from “being a country of emigration to a country of immigration.” The cause of a decrease in Irish immigrants to the US and an increase in emigrants to Ireland is because of this Irish economic prosperity, better known as the “Celtic Tiger” era. This change in the population flow of Ireland is significantly reflected in the Irish immigration trend in the Immigration Explorer. The economic boom in the late 20th century and early 21st century became a major attraction for immigration to Ireland and also helped keep the Irish natives. Thus, there is an apparent decline in the migration of Irish people to America.