Daniels, Chapters 1-2

The main thing that caught my attention in these chapters was the point about how we have become more and more unfriendly and unwelcoming towards immigrants coming into the United States.  Being that America is a country founded solely on immigrants it is quite disturbing that in modern times we don’t courteously allow other people in.  To me, there is no reason to attack and ridicule the people who are coming to America legally.  If they are going to go and do the right thing by obtaining a visa and/or applying for citizenship then there should be no reason to resent them for coming.  I completely understand the problem that the United States faces regarding illegal immigrants.  Coming here without taking  the right actions to do so isn’t right.

The main group that comes to mind when thinking of illegal immigrants are the ones coming from Mexico,  even though there are Canadians and Europeans and many people from many other countries who are immigrating illegally.  The reason that Mexicans are just the first ones that come to everyone’s mind is because in California and other west coast sates there has been such an ordeal with the border control and weeding out the illegal aliens.

The people who first immigrated here came because they wanted a better life and a brighter future than that of which they were offered in their home country.  Others came because they weren’t free to practice the religion of their own choice.  Some came to America because there was more work here and they could save money to bring a relative to the states or to send the earnings back home to support a family.  The immigrants these days are no different.  They are chasing the “American dream.”  They want the perfect way of life that some think of when America comes to mind.  They want to provide a better life for their children and families and their homeland doesn’t allow them to.

These days Americans have attitude that causes us to greatly look down upon immigration for the past century or so.  Some look at any type of immigration with their noses up in the air and an “I don’t care” attitude.  We look past immigrants and immediately categorize them as people who just come to America freely and don’t have to pay for anything and reap the benefits that the states have to offer.  That isn’t the case for most, most immigrants are now technically Americans, or at least consider themselves American in some sense.