The immigration pattern to America has greatly changed over the years, in who and why they are coming. First the Irish because of the famine, then the Italians for job oportunities, then the Chinese for religious and commercial purposes. Nowadays there are immigrants coming in from all over the place for all sorts of reasons.
Like ToniAnn says, without the different types of immigrants coming to America all those years ago, the diversity present in New York City would not exist. It’s very exciting to think that Five Points alone was home to first New Yorkers, then the Irish, then the Italian, and then the Chinese, who turned it into the thriving Chinatown we know today. People from other countries make it their priority to get to America, and especially to New York City, whether by legal means or not. Many families were split up in order to get to New York City. Husbands would come first leaving wives and children, who waited in their home countries for years sometimes. Other times, a man and wife would come to America, leaving their children behind. After earning enough money, they would send back for those they left in their country, and they would reunite with their families.
Why so many people would want to come to and stay in America is a strange concept, because although there were more opportunities to make money, the treatment of immigrants was absolutely horrible. In Anbinder’s book, he says that many men returned to their countries in order to buy land, or returned only for the winters when there was no work. But he says that most returned to America a few months later. This is what strikes me as odd. If they made so much money while they were here, and took it back home to buy land and make something out of it, why would they ever return to America, where they are constantly mistreated?
Like William says in his blog, most of the Old Immigrants were coming in order to start over and “breathe free.” This comcept of a better life in America existed in most other countries, and is what seduced many people into immigrating here. However, once here, the competition and jealousy for land and acceptance became outraageous and led to laws being passed against immigrants. As much as this was supposed to help, all it did was lead to the breaking of laws by immigrants who either came in illegally, or who overstayed their visas in order to stay in this country.
In Susan’s bog, she points out that discrimination is less of an issue in today’s society, and that the hardships puling immigrants to America are probably not very likely to happen nowadays. I believe this to be very true. However, in America, and especially in New York, we are still very well off in economic and political aspects. This still attracts many people to New York, but of much higher diversity. Now there are immigrants from Hispanic countries, as well as the age old immigrants from Europe and Asia.
