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The Statue of Liberty was a common sight to many immigrants who entered the United States through Ellis Island

Immigration to the United States of America is the permanent movement of foreigners to the United States, and has been a major source of population growth and cultural change throughout American history. The economic, social and political aspects of immigration has caused controversy regarding race, ethnicity, religion, economic benefits, job growth, settlement patterns, impact on upward social mobility, levels of criminality, nationalities, political loyalties, moral values, and work habits. hi Given the distance of North America from Eurasia, most historical U.S. immigration was a riskful venture, which inspired myths and dreams of prosperity and opportunity not found in the Old World. Since the advent of international jet travel in the 1960s, travel to the United States has been made easy by air, but remains difficult, expensive and dangerous for those crossing the Mexican border at unauthorized points.

Immigration boomed to a 57.4% increase in foreign born population from 1990 to 2000. The public started to focus on existing immigration law and immigration outside the law, especially the 7+ million illegal alien workers with 11+ million household members already inside the U.S. and another 700,000 to 750,000 predicted for each coming year. At issue was whether the immigration laws and enforcement system were working as the public wanted them to work. Illegal household members from Mexico alone were estimated at over 8 million. [1].

With proposals passed by the House to criminalize undocumented immigrants and to build a wall along the 2,000 mile border between the U.S. and Mexico in early 2006, the country and Congress saw itself immersed in a debate at the end of March and beginning of April about these laws and the role of immigration should play in the post-9/11 era. Proposals were introduced in Congress to start enforcing hiring laws with more than the 100 inspectors already assigned to that task and proposals to create fraud resistant employment documents gained more traction in Congress. Some in Congress proposed expanding the US-VISIT electronic visas to all U.S. Border crossers and/or visitors. (See also: Illegal immigration to the United States)

American Dream

The American Dream is the faith held by many in the United States that through hard work, courage, and determination, rather than having born in a particular social class, one can achieve a better life, usually in terms of financial prosperity.^[1] It is related to a belief historically held by Christians in the U.S. that the country is a "city upon a hill, a light unto the nations."^[2] These were values held by many early settlers that have been passed on to subsequent generations. The dream that many Americans have was unattainable elsewhere. This Dream has been a major factor in attracting immigrants to the United States. According to historians, the rapid economic and industrial expansion of the U.S. is not simply a function of being a rich and fertile country, but that anybody could get a share of the country's wealth if he or she was willing to work hard.^[3] Many have also argued that the basis of the American greatness is how the country began without a rigid class structure at a time when other countries in the world had more stratified social structures.^[4]

Historical origins of U.S. population

The first successful English colony was established as a barely successful business enterprise, after much loss of life, in 1607 in Jamestown, Virginia. About 16,000 French settlers went to Quebec in the 17th century. Pilgrims established a small settlement near Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620; much larger numbers of Puritans came to Massachusetts and adjacent areas in the 17th century. The Dutch settlements in what is now Albany NY and New York City in the early 17th century. They set up large landed estates and brought in farmers who became renters. These were the nucleus of three of the main areas of settlement in what would become the United States. The fourth main colonial center of settlement is what's called the "frontier" in the western parts of Pennsylvania and the South which was settled in the early 1700s to late 1700s by Scotch-Irish, Scots and others from northern England.

The initial areas of New England settlement had been largely cleared of Indians by major out breaks of measles, small pox etc. among them starting in about 1618. The peak New England settlement occurred in 1629 to about 1641 when about 20,000 Puritan settlers arrived from the East Anglian parts of England. In the next 150 years, their "Yankee" descendants largely filled in New England and adjacent parts of New York. The New England colonists were the most urban and educated of all the colonists and had many tradesmen and skilled craftsmen among them. They mostly settled in small villages for mutual support (nearly all had their own militias) and common religious activity. Shipbuilding, commerce, agriculture and fisheries were their main income sources. New England's healthy climate and abundant food supply resulted in the lowest death rate and highest birth rate of any of the colonies.

The mostly agricultural Southern colonies initially had high death rates for new settlers (from malaria and other diseases). A steady flow of newcomers kept the population growing.

The Middle colonies settlements were scattered west of New York City, New York (est. 1626, taken over by the English in 1664) and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (est. 1682). The Dutch started colony of New York had the most eclectic collection of residents from many different nations and prospered as a major trading and commercial center after about 1700. The Philadelphia colonial center was dominated by the Quakers for decades after they emigrated, mainly from the North Midlands of England, from about 1680 to 1725. The main commercial center of Philadelphia was supplemented by many small farming and trading communities with a strong German contingent located in several small towns in the Delaware river valley.

The frontier was mainly settled from about 1717 to 1775 by settlers from northern England, Scotland and Ireland fleeing bad times and persecution in those areas. After the American Revolution these same areas were the first to resume significant immigration.

All these settlements, as well as being different in detail, had many things in common. Nearly all were settled and financed by privately organized groups of settlers or families using private enterprise without any significant government support or input. Nearly all commercial activity was run in small privately owned businesses with good credit both at home and in England being essential since they were often cash poor. Most settlements were done by complete family groups with several generations often present in the settlement. Probably close to 90% of the families owned the land they lived and farmed on. They all used English Common Law as their basic code of law and except initially for the Dutch, Swedes and Germans, spoke some dialect of English. They nearly all established their own popularly elected governments and courts on as many levels as they could and were nearly all within a few years mostly armed, self governing, self supporting and self replicating. Nearly all, after a hundred years plus of living together, had learned to tolerate other religions than their own. This was a major improvement from the often very bloody Reformation and Counter-Reformation wars going on in Europe in this period. British troops up until the French and Indian War in the 1760s were a rarity in the colonies as the colonists provided nearly all their own law enforcement and militia forces they wanted or needed from their own ranks. Nearly all colonies and states in the United States were settled by migration from another colony or state as immigration only played a minor role after the initial settlements were started.

Immigration to the New England colonies after 1640 and the start of the English Civil War tapered off to less than 1% (about equal to the death rate) in nearly all years prior to 1845. The rapid growth of the New England colonies (~700,000 by 1790) was almost entirely due to the high birth rate (>3%) and low death rate (<1%).

The Middle colonies started as trading centers centered around New York and Albany which had about a 17% formerly Dutch contingent thoroughly mixed with the British by 1780. Many more immigrants arrived in the middle colonies starting in about 1680 when Pennsylvania was founded and many Protestant sects were encouraged to immigrate there for freedom of religion and good land cheap. They came by the thousands as immigrants from Germany, Ulster, Wales, Scotland, north Midlands of England and migrants from New England. By 1790 Pennsylvania was about 33% of German extraction. New York, New Jersey and Delaware had a majority of British and from 7-11% German colonists and descendants with about a 6% black population, and a small contingent of Dutch and Swedish descendants and other Europeans. Nearly all were at least third generation natives.

The Southern colonies were about 55% British, 38% black and roughly 7% second or third generation German. Nearly all the blacks by 1780 were native born with only sporadic additions of new slaves being brought in. All the colonies, after they were started, grow almost entirely by natural growth with immigrant populations rarely exceeding 10% (except in isolated instances).

The last significant colonies to be settled mainly by immigrants were Pennsylvania in the early 1700s, Georgia and the Borderlands in the late 1700s as migration continued to provide nearly all the settlers for each new colony or state. This pattern would continue throughout U.S. History.

Estimated Population of American Colonies 1620 to 1780 Series Z-19 U.S. Census

Year	1780	1760	1740	1720	1700	1680	1660	1640	1620

Tot Pop.	2,780,400	1,593,600	905,600	466,200	250,900	151,500	75,100	26,600	500

Maine	49,100	20,000	-	-	-	-	-	900	-
New Hampshire	87,800	39,100	23,300	9,400	5,000	2,000	1,600	1,100	-
Vermont	47,600	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Plymouth	-	-	-	-	-	6,400	2,000	1,000	100
Massachusetts	268,600	202,600	151,600	91,000	55,900	39,800	20,100	8,900
Rhode Island	52,900	45,500	25,300	11,700	5,900	3,000	1,500	300	-
Connecticut	206,700	142,500	89,600	58,800	26,000	17,200	8,000	1,500	-
New York	210,500	117,100	63,700	36,900	19,100	9,800	4,900	1,900	-
New Jersey	139,600	93,800	51,400	29,800	14,000	3,400	-	-	-
Pennsylvania	327,300	183,700	85,600	31,000	18,000	700	-	-	-
Delaware	45,400	33,300	19,900	5,400	2,500	1,000	500	-	-
Maryland	245,500	162,300	116,100	66,100	29,600	17,900	8,400	500	-
Virginia	538,000	339,700	180,400	87,800	58,600	43,600	27,000	10,400	400
North Carolina	270,100	110,400	51,800	21,300	10,700	5,400	1,000	-	-
South Carolina	180,000	94,100	45,000	17,000	5,700	1,200	-	-	-
Georgia	56,100	9,600	2,000	-	-	-	-	-	-
Kentucky	45,000	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Tennessee	10,000	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Year	1780	1760	1740	1720	1700	1680	1660	1640	1620
New Eng. (ME to CT)	712,800	449,600	289,700	170,900	92,800	68,500	33,200	13,700	100
% Black -1	2.0%	2.8%	2.9%	2.3%	1.8%	0.7%	1.8%	1.5%	0.0%
Middle (NY to DE)	722,900	427,900	220,600	103,100	53,600	14,900	5,400	1,900	-
% Black -2	5.9%	6.8%	7.5%	10.5%	6.9%	10.1%	11.1%	10.5%	0.0%
South (MD to TN)	1,344,700	716,000	395,300	192,300	104,600	68,100	36,400	11,000	400
% Black -3	38.6%	39.7%	31.6%	28.1%	21.5%	7.3%	4.7%	1.8%	0.0%

By 1784 all slavery in the New England states was either completely prohibited or transitioning to its total prohibition.
By 1804 all slavery in the Middle colonies (except Delaware [6.6% Black]) was either completely prohibited or was transitioning to its total prohibition.
All slavery was prohibited in the entire U.S. in 1865 by the 13th amendment to the constitution.

Population growth by significant immigration can sometimes be seen when populations grow by more than 80% {a 3% growth rate) in a 20 year interval.

U.S. Population 1790

According to the source, The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy by Kory L. Meyerink and Loretto Dennis Szucs, the following were the countries of origin for new arrivals coming to the United States before 1790. The regions marked * were part of Great Britain. The ancestry of the 3.9 million population in 1790 has been estimated by various sources by sampling last names in the 1790 census and assigning them a country of origin. The Irish in the 1790 census were mostly Scots Irish. The French were mostly Huguenots. The total U.S. Catholic population in 1790 was probably less than 5%. The Indian population inside the territorial U.S. 1790 boundaries was less than 100,000.

U.S. Historical Populations
Country	Immigrants Before 1790	Population 1790 -1

Africa -2	360,000	757,000
England*	230,000	2,100,000
Ulster Scot-Irish*	135,000	300,000
Germany -3	103,000	270,000
Scotland*	48,500	150,000
Ireland*	8,000	(Incl. in Scot-Irish)
Netherlands	6,000	100,000
Wales*	4,000	10,000
France	3,000	15,000
Jews -4	1,000	2,000
Sweden	500	2,000
Other -5	50,000	200,000

Total -6	950,000	3,900,000

Data From Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPS)
Several West African regions were the home to most African immigrants. Population from US 1790 Census
Germany in this time period consists of a large number of separate countries, the largest of which was Prussia.
Jewish settlers were from several European countries.
The Other category probably contains mostly English ancestry settlers; but the loss of several states detailed census records in the burning of Washington D.C. in the War of 1812 makes estimating closer difficult. Nearly all states that lost their 1790 (and 1800) census records have tried to reconstitute their original census from tax records etc. with various degrees of success. The summaries of the 1790 and 1800 census from all states survived.
The Total is the total immigration over the approximately 130 year span of colonial existence of the U.S. colonies as found in the 1790 census. Many of the colonists, especially from the New England colonies, are already into their fifth generation of being in America. At the time of the American Revolution the foreign born population is estimated to be from 300,000 to 400,000.

The 1790 population already reflects the approximate 50,000 “Loyalists or Tories”, who emigrated to Canada at the end of the American Revolution and the less than 10,000 more who emigrated to other British possessions including England.

Already by 1790 the ancestry question is starting to become meaningless as many people from many different countries intermarry in each generation and nearly all these ancestries are starting to merge to become--American. The total white population in 1790 was about 80% British ancestry and roughly doubles by natural increase every 25 years. The native born population of the U.S. has never fallen below 85% of the population after about 1675--100 years before the American Revolution.

Relentless population expansion pushed the U.S. frontier to the Pacific by 1848. Given the U.S. geography, most immigrants came long distances to settle in the U.S.. However the Irish leaving Canada for the US in the 1840s, the French Canadians who came down from Quebec after 1860, and the Mexicans who came north after 1911, found it easy to move back and forth.

Immigration 1790 to 1849

In the early years of the U.S., immigration was only about 6000 people a year on average, including French refugees from the slave revolt in Haiti. The French Revolution, starting in 1789, and the Napoleonic Wars from 1792 to 1814 severely limited immigration from both Britain and Europe. The War of 1812 (1812-1814) with Britain again prevented any significant immigration. By 1808, Congress had banned the importation of slaves, slowing that human traffic to a trickle. After 1820, immigration gradually increased. For the first time, federal records, including ship passenger lists, were kept for immigration. Total immigration for one year in 1820 was 8,385, gradually building to 23,322 by 1830 with 143,000 total immigrating during the intervening decade. From 1831 to 1840, immigration increased greatly, to 599,000 total, as 207,000 Irish, even before the famine of 1845-49, started to emigrate in large numbers as Britain eased travel restrictions. 152,000 Germans, 76,000 British, and 46,000 French formed the next largest immigrant groups in that decade. From 1841 to 1850, immigration exploded to 1,713,000 total immigrants as at least 781,000 Irish, with the famine of 1845-49 driving them, fled their homeland to escape poverty and death. The British, attempting to divert some of this traffic to help settle Canada, offered bargain fares of 15 shillings, instead of the normal 5 pounds (100 shillings) for transit to Canada. Thousands of poor Irish took advantage of this offer, and headed to Canada on what came to be called the "coffin ships" because of their high death rates. Once in Canada, many Irish walked across the border or caught an intercoastal freighter to the nearest major city in the United States - usually Boston or New York. Bad potato crops and failed revolutions struck the heart of Europe in 1848, contributing to the decade's total of 435,000 Germans, 267,000 British and 77,000 French immigrants. Bad times in Europe drove people out; land, relatives, freedom, opportunity and jobs in America lured them in.

Population and Foreign Born 1790 to 1849 Census Population, Immigrants per Decade
Census	Population	Immigrants-1	Foreign Born	%

1790	3,918,000	60,000
1800	5,236,000	60,000
1810	7,036,000	60,000
1820	10,086,000	60,000
1830	12,785,000	143,000	200,000 -2	1.6%
1840	17,018,000	599,000	800,000 -2	4.7%
1850	23,054,000	1,713,000	2,244,000	9.7%

The number of immigrants from 1830 on are from immigration records. The census of 1850 was the first census in which place of birth was asked. It is probably a reasonable estimate that the foreign born population in the U.S. reached its minimum in about 1815 at something like 100,000 or 1.4% of the population. By 1815, most of the immigrants that arrived before the American Revolution had passed on, and there had been almost no new immigration.

The total number immigrating in each decade from 1790 to 1820 are estimates.
The number foreign born in 1830 and 1840 decades are extrapolations.

Nearly all population growth up to 1830 was by internal increase; about 98.5% of the population was native-born. By 1850, this had shifted to about 90% native-born. The first significant Catholic immigration started in the mid 1840's, shifting the population from about 95% Protestant down to about 90% by 1850.

In 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, concluding the Mexican War, extended U.S. citizenship to approximately 60,000 Mexican residents of the New Mexico Territory and 4,000 living in California. An additional approximate 2,500 U.S. and foreign born California residents also become U.S. citizens.

In 1849, the California Gold Rush spurred significant immigration from Mexico, South America, China, Australia, Europe and caused a mass migration within the United States resulting in the state of California being admitted to the union on September 9, 1850, with a population of about 90,000.

File:Stamp-us-irish-immigration.jpg

U.S. postage stamp commemorating the vast Irish immigration to North America during the Great Potato Famine

Immigration 1850 to 1930

Between 1850 and 1930, about 5 million Germans immigrated to the United States with a peak in the years between 1881 and 1885, when a million Germans left Germany and settled mostly in the Midwest. Between 1820 and 1930, 3.5 million British and 4.5 million Irish entered America. Before the 1840s most Irish immigrants were Irish Presbyterians or Scotch-Irish. After 1840, the Catholics arrived in large numbers, in part because of the famines of the 1840s.

In this Rosh Hashana greeting card from the early 1900s, Russian Jews, packs in hand, gaze at the American relatives beckoning them to the United States. Over two million Jews would flee the pogroms of the Russian Empire to the safety of the US from 1881-1924.

Between 1840 and 1930, about 900,000 French Canadians left Quebec to emigrate to the United States and settle, mainly in New England. Given the Quebec population at the time, this was a massive exodus. 13.6 million Americans claimed to have French ancestry in the 1980 census. A large proportion of them have ancestors who emigrated from French Canada, since immigration from France has been very low during the entire history of the United States.

The years 1910 to 1920 were the high point of Italian immigration to the United States. Over 2 million Italians immigrated in those years, with a total of 5.3 million immigrating between 1820 and 1980. About a third of them returned to Italy, after working an average of 5 years in the US.

About 1.5 million Swedes and Norwegians immigrated to the United States within this period, due to opportunity in America and poverty and religious oppression in united Sweden-Norway. This accounted for around 20% of the total population of the kingdom at that time. They settled mainly in the Midwest after their arrival in America; Minnesota in particular has a large proportion of people with Swedish and Norwegian ancestry. Danes, however, had comparably low immigration rates due to a better government and economy; most Danish immigrants were Mormon converts who moved to Utah.

Over 2 million Eastern Europeans, mainly Catholics, immigrated during the years of 1880 to 1924. People of Polish ancestry are the largest Eastern European ancestry group in the United States. Immigration of Eastern Orthodox ethnic groups was much lower.

From 1880 to 1924, around 2 million Jews moved to the United States, mostly seeking better opportunity in America and fleeing the pogroms of Eastern Europe. After 1933 Jews who tried to flee Nazi Germany were often denied access to the United States, highlighted by the event of the S.S. St. Louis. Immigration restrictions laws passed in the 1920s tried to achieve four goals: reduce drastically the number of unskilled immigrants; favor uniting of families by giving preferences to relatives; keeping the ethnic distribution stable by allocating quotas according to how many from each national origin were living in the U.S.; with no quotas initially set for Mexico and Latin America because of the on going Mexican Revolution.

By the 1920s, the United States had relatively large populations of many European immigrants spread out over 150 years who had joined the original British descendants majority in America. The foreign born population in the U.S. has never exceeded 15% since before 1675 and has never been a land of immigrant majorities since then. Americans of British ancestry have always been and remain in the majority.

The Mexican Revolution of 1911-1929 killed an estimated one million Mexicans [2] and drove at least a million refugees temporarily into the U.S. Many returned in the 1920s or 1930s. The recorded immigration was 219,000 from 1910-1920 and 459,000 from 1920 to 1930. Because of the porous border and the poor or non-existent records from this time period, the real numbers are undoubtedly higher. This recorded number of Mexican immigrants drops to only 23,000 from the decade of 1930 to 1940. Indeed 100,000s returned during the Great Depression either voluntarily or with some U.S. persuasion.

Immigration 1930 to 2000

Immigration patterns of the 1930s is dominated by the Great Depression of 1929, which hit the U.S. hard and lasted over ten years there. More people left the U.S. than arrived in some years in the 1930s. In the last prosperous year of 1929 there were 279,678 immigrants recorded, but in 1933 only 23,068 came to the U.S.

In 1934, the Tydings-McDuffie Act, which provided for independence of the Philippines on July 4, 1946, stripped Filipinos of their status as U.S. nationals. Until 1965, national origin quotas in the immigration law strictly limited immigration from the Philippines. In 1965, after revision of the immigration law, significant Filipino immigration begins totaling 1,728,000 by 2004.

In 1938, the immigration that never happened is one of the great tragedies of the twentieth century as shown in the Evian Conference of 1938 the immigration of the oppressed from Nazi Germany and Adolf Hitlers policies was limited to only a small fraction of those who wanted to leave Germany. Hitler would have been more than happy to allow emigration of the Jews etc. he had started rounding up, but there were no governments willing to take more than a very few of them. How many people could have been saved by a more far sighted immigration policy from the subsequent Holocaust will never be known very precisely, but it probably numbers in the millions. Due in part to anti-Semitism, isolationism, the Depression, and xenophobia; the immigration policy of the Roosevelt Administration made it very difficult for refugees to obtain entry visas. See also:Kristallnacht (November 9, 1938), The Holocaust, Bermuda Conference, British Mandate of Palestine, White Paper of 1939, SS St. Louis

In 1945, The War Brides Act allows foreign-born wives of U.S. citizens who had served in the U.S. armed forces to immigrate to the United States. In 1946, The War Brides Act is extended to include fiancés of American soldiers who were also allowed to immigrate to the United States. In 1946, the Luce-Cellar Act extends the right to become naturalized citizens to newly freed Filipinos and Asian Indians. The immigration quota is set at 100 people a year.

At the end of World War II, "regular" immigration almost immediately increased under the official national origins quota system as refugees from war torn Europe and United Kingdom started immigrating to the U.S. After the war, there were jobs for nearly everyone who wanted one, including immigrants [while women were pushed back into the home]. From 1941 to 1950, 1,035,000 people immigrated to the U.S. including 226,000 from Germany, 139,000 from UK, 171,000 from Canada and 60,000 from Mexico and 57,000 from Italy.

The Displaced Persons (DP) Act of 1948 finally allowed displaced people of World War II to start immigrating. Some 200,000 Europeans and 17,000 orphans displaced by World War II were allowed to immigrate to the United States outside of immigration quotas. Truman signed the first DP act on June 25, 1948, allowing entry by 200,000 DPs; and then followed by the more accommodating second DP act on 16 June, 1950, allowing entry for another 200,000. This quota, included acceptance of 55,000 Volksdeutschen, required sponsorship of all immigrants. The American program was the most notoriously bureaucratic of all the DP programs and much of the humanitarian effort was undertaken by charitable organizations, such as the Lutheran World Federation and other ethnic groups. Along with an additional quota of 200,000 granted in 1953 and more in succeeding years, a total of nearly 600,000 refugees are allowed into the country outside the quota system, second only to Israel’s 650,000.

In 1950, after the start of the Korean War, the Internal Security Act barred admission to any foreigner who is a Communist or who might engage in activities "which would be prejudicial to the public interest, or would endanger the welfare or safety of the United States."

In 1950, the invasion of South Korea by North Korea starts the Korean War and leaves a war ravaged Korea behind. There is little U.S. immigration because of the national origin quotas in the immigration law. In 1965, after revision of the immigration law, significant Korean immigration begins totaling 848,000 by 2004.

In 1952, The McCarran Walter Immigration Act affirms the national-origins quota system of 1924 and limits total annual immigration to one-sixth of one percent of the population of the continental United States in 1920, or 175,455. The act exempts spouses and children of U.S. citizens and people born in the Western Hemisphere from the quota. In 1953, the Refugee Relief Act extends refugee status to non-Europeans.

In 1954, Operation Wetback forces the return of thousands of illegal aliens to Mexico. [3]. Between 1944 and 1954, "the decade of the wetback," the number of illegal immigrants coming from Mexico increased by 6,000 percent. It is estimated that, in 1954, before Operation Wetback got under way, more than a million workers had crossed the Rio Grande illegally. Cheap labor displaced native agricultural workers, and increased violation of labor laws and discrimination encouraged criminality, disease, and illiteracy. According to a study conducted in 1950 by the President's Commission on Migratory Labor in Texas, the Rio Grande valley cotton growers were paying approximately half of the wages paid elsewhere in Texas. The United States Border Patrol aided by municipal, county, state, and federal authorities, as well as the military, began a quasi-military operation of search and seizure of all illegal immigrants. Fanning out from the lower Rio Grande valley, Operation Wetback moved northward. Illegal immigrants were repatriated initially through Presidio because the Mexican city across the border, Ojinaga, had rail connections to the interior of Mexico by which workers could be quickly moved on to Durango. The forces used by the government were actually relatively small, perhaps no more than 700 men, but were exaggerated by border patrol officials who hoped to scare illegal workers into flight back to Mexico. Ships were a preferred mode of transport because they carried the illegal workers farther away from the border than did buses, trucks, or trains. It is difficult to estimate the number of illegal immigrants that left due to the operation--most voluntarily. The INS claimed as many as 1,300,000, though the number officially apprehended did not come anywhere near this total.

The failed 1956 Hungarian Revolution, before being crushed by the Soviets, forged a temporary hole in the Iron Curtain that allowed a burst of refugees to escape, bringing in 245,000 new Hungarian families to the U.S. by 1960. In the decade of 1950 to 1960, the U.S. had 2,515,000 new immigrants with 477,000 arriving from Germany, 185,000 from Italy, 52,000 new arrivals from Holland, 203,000 from the UK, 46,000 from Japan, 300,000 from Mexico, and 377,000 from Canada.

After the Cuban revolution of 1959, led by Fidel Castro, refugees flowed in from Cuba. An estimated 409,000 new families had emigrated to the U.S. by 1970.

The Immigration and Nationality Act Amendments of 1965 (the Hart-Cellar Act), passed by a Democratic controlled Congress, abolished the system of national-origin quotas. Over 28,000,000 have legally immigrated since 1965 under its provisions.

Because of the wide use of family preferences put into immigration law, immigration from now on is mostly "chain immigration" where recent immigrants who are already here sponsor their relatives. Instead of national origins system, what we now have is an immigrant origins system where ever increasing numbers of the recent immigrants sponsor ever increasing numbers of their relatives. Total immigration for the decade totals 3,321,000 immigrants including about 200,000 each from Germany, Italy and the UK as well as 400,000 from Canada and 453,000 from Mexico.

The U.S. withdrawal from South Vietnam and the subsequent armed Communist takeover of South Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia in 1975 brought a new wave of refugees, many of whom spent years in Asian camps waiting to get into the U.S.. By 1990, 543,000 Vietnamese family members are settled in the U.S. and 863,000 are here in 2000. Significant Philippines immigration starts with 501,000 family members here in 1980, 913,000 in 1990 and 1,222,000 by 2000. South Korean immigration starts in 1980 with 290,000 family members here in 1980, 568,000 in 1990 and 701,000 in 2000. In 2000 turmoil and war in Central America bring 692,000 family members from the Dominican Republic and 765,000 from El Salvador by 2,000. The Cuban American family continues to grow with 608,000 family members here in 1980, 737,000 here in 1990 and 952,000 here in 2000.

Two new large immigrant groups show up in 2000: the Chinese with 1,391,000 family members; India with 1,003,000 family members. Both groups are well represented with high levels of expertise and education.

In 1986, the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) was passed, creating for the first time, in theory, penalties for employers who hire illegal immigrants. IRCA as proposed in Congress was projected to give amnesty to about 1,000,000 undocumented workers. In practice, amnesty for about 3,000,000 immigrants already in the United States was granted. Most were from Mexico. Legal Mexican immigrant family numbers were 2,198,000 in 1980, 4,289,000 in 1990 (includes IRCA) and 7,841,000 in 2000. Adding in another 12,000,000 illegals of which about 80% are thought to be Mexicans would bring the Mexican family total to over 16,000,000 -- about 16% of the Mexican population.

The Immigration and Nationality Act Amendments of 1965 removed quotas on large segments of the immigration flow and legal immigration to the U.S. surged. The number of legal immigrants rose from about 2.5 million in the 1950s to 4.5 million in the 1970s to 7.3 million in the 1980s to about 10 million in the 1990s. In 2006, legal immigrants to the United States now number approximately 1,000,000 legal immigrants per year of which about 600,000 are Change of Status immigrants who already are in the U.S. Legal immigrants to the United States now are at their highest level ever at over 35,000,000. Net Illegal immigration has also soared from about 130,000 per year in the 1970's, to 300,000+ per year in the 1980's to over 500,000 per year in the 1990's to over 700,000 per year in the 2000's. Total illegal immigration may be as high as 1,500,000 per year [in 2006] with a net of at least 700,000 more illegal immigrants arriving each year to join the 12,000,000 to 20,000,000 that are already here. (Pew Hispanic Data Estimates[4]) (See: Illegal immigration to the United States)

Immigration summary 1830 to 2000

According to the U.S. Census, the top ten countries of birth of the foreign born population in the U.S. since 1830 are shown below. These numbers show the foreign population in each census and people will usually show up for several census. Blank entries means they did not make it into the top ten for that census and not that there is ‘’no’’ data from that census. The 1830 numbers are from immigration statistics as listed in the 2004 Year Book of Immigration Statistics [5]. *The 1830 numbers list un-naturalized foreign citizens in 1830 and does not include naturalized foreign born. The 1850 census is the first census that asks for place of birth. The historical census data can be found online in the Virginia Library Geostat Center [6] Population numbers are in thousands.

Country/Year	1830*	1850	1880	1900	1930	1960	1970	1980	1990	2000
Austria						305	214
Bohemia			85
Canada	2	148	717	1,180	1,310	953	812	843	745	678
China			104							1,391
Cuba							439	608	737	952
Czechoslovakia					492
Dominican Republic										692
El Salvador										765
France	9	54	107
Germany	8	584	1,967	2,663	1,609	990	833	849	712
Holland	1	10
Hungary						245
India										1,007
Ireland	54	962	1,855	1,615	745	339
Italy				484	1,790	1,257	1,009	832	581
Korea								290	568	701
Mexico	11	13			641	576	760	2,199	4,298	7,841
Norway		13	182	336
Philippines								501	913	1,222
Poland					1,269	748	548	418
Russia/Soviet Union				424	1,154	691	463	406
Sweden			194	582	595
Switzerland	3	13	89
United Kingdom	27	379	918	1,168	1,403	833	686	669	640
Vietnam									543	863
Total Foreign Born	108*	2,244	6,679	10,341	14,204	10,347	9,619	14,079	19,763	31,100
% Foreign Born	0.8%*	9.7%	13.3%	13.6%	11.6%	5.8%	4.7%	6.2%	7.9%	11.1%
Native Born	12,677	20,947	43,476	65,653	108,571	168,978	193,591	212,466	228,946	250,321
% Native Born	99.2%	90.3%	86.7%	86.4%	88.4%	94.2%	95.3%	93.8%	92.1%	88.9%
Total Population	12,785	23,191	50,155	75,994	122,775	179,325	203,210	226,545	248,709	281,421
	1830*	1850	1880	1900	1930	1960	1970	1980	1990	2000

Immigration 2000 to 2010

Top Ten Foreign Countries Foreign Born Population

Country	#/year	2000	2004	2010	2010
Canada	24,200	678,000	774,800	920,000	2.3%
China	50,900	1,391,000	1,594,600	1,900,000	4.7%
Cuba	14,800	952,000	1,011,200	1,100,000	2.7%
Dominican Republic	24,900	692,000	791,600	941,000	2.3%
El Salvador	33,500	765,000	899,000	1,100,000	2.7%
India	59,300	1,007,000	1,244,200	1,600,000	4.0%
Korea	17,900	701,000	772,600	880,000	2.2%
Mexico	175,900	7,841,000	8,544,600	9,600,000	23.7%
Philippines	47,800	1,222,000	1,413,200	1,700,000	4.2%
Vietnam	33,700	863,000	997,800	1,200,000	3.0%
Total Pop. Top 10	498,900	16,112,000	18,747,600	21,741,000	53.7%
Total Foreign Born	940,000	31,100,000	34,860,000	40,500,000	100%
	#/year -1	2000 -2	2004 -3	2010 -4	2010 -5

Data from 2000 U.S. Census and 2004 Yearbook of Immigrant Statistics.

The average number of legal immigrants/year immigrating from 2000 to 2004
The number of foreign born immigrants in the U.S. from 2000 census
Year 2004 foreign born. Year 2000 foreign born plus 2000 to 2004 immigration
Year 2010 foreign born assuming average number per year is maintained till 2010
Percent of foreign born from this country
Legal immigration numbers as reported to immigration authorities only

Note:

PEW Hispanic Center [7] reported on the March 2005 Current Population Survey (CPS), conducted jointly by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Census Bureau, that they conservatively estimated at least 500,000 Mexicans had crossed the border illegally each year since 2000. This would significantly increase the 2004 Mexican population estimate by at least 2,000,000 and the 2010 projected population by at least 5,000,000. PEW also reported that there were an estimated 7,200,000 unauthorized workers from Mexico working in the U.S. in 2005 with household members totaling somewhere between 11.5 and 12.1 million. Some of these were counted in the 2000 U.S. census and all should not be added arbitrarily to these numbers. The number of unauthorized workers from other countries is known even less precisely but it is estimated (by PEW) that Mexicans compose approximately 90% of the unauthorized workers. This would imply that at least 50,000/year additional unauthorized workers cross the border each year.

Immigration to states

Percentage change in Foreign Born Population 1990 to 2000

North Carolina	273.7%	South Carolina	132.1%	Mississippi	95.8%	Wisconsin	59.4%	Vermont	32.5%
Georgia	233.4%	Minnesota	130.4%	Washington	90.7%	New Jersey	52.7%	Connecticut	32.4%
Nevada	202.0%	Idaho	121.7%	Texas	90.2%	Alaska	49.8%	New Hampshire	31.5%
Arkansas	196.3%	Kansas	114.4%	New Mexico	85.8%	Michigan	47.3%	Ohio	30.7%
Utah	170.8%	Iowa	110.3%	Virginia	82.9%	Wyoming	46.5%	Hawaii	30.4%
Tennessee	169.0%	Oregon	108.0%	Missouri	80.8%	Pennsylvania	37.6%	North Dakota	29.0%
Nebraska	164.7%	Alabama	101.6%	South Dakota	74.6%	California	37.2%	Rhode Island	25.4%
Colorado	159.7%	Delaware	101.6%	Maryland	65.3%	New York	35.6%	West Virginia	23.4%
Arizona	135.9%	Oklahoma	101.2%	Florida	60.6%	Massachusetts	34.7%	Montana	19.0%
Kentucky	135.3%	Indiana	97.9%	Illinois	60.6%	Louisiana	32.6%	Maine	1.1%

Source: U.S. Census 1990 and 2000

Average change in U.S. from 1990 to 2000 was a 57.4% increase in foreign population.

See:Census 2003 publications [8] for more complete information.

National Science Foundation Immigration Study

In the 1990's previous studies (and many subsequent} of the fiscal impacts of immigration were found to have serious deficiencies. Many of these represented not science but advocacy from both sides of the immigration debate. These studies often offered an incomplete accounting of either the full list of taxpayer costs and benefits by ignoring some programs and taxes while including others. More important, the conceptual foundation of this research was rarely explicitly stated, offering opportunities to tilt the research toward the desired result. [9] To help solve this problem Congress in 1990 appointed a bipartisan Commission on Immigration Reform to review the nation's policies and laws and to recommend changes. In turn, the commission in 1995 asked the National Research Council of the National Science Foundation to convene a panel of experts to assess the demographic, economic, and fiscal consequences of immigration. The panel [10] consisted of over 15 well respected professors from highly ranked universities.

National Science Foundation Immigrant Economics Federal State Local Net Annual Fiscal Impact per Household [1997]

Source of Immigrant	Europe/ Canada	%	Asia	%	Latin America	%	Other	%	All	%	Total Cost *

California	$1,631	26%	$1,081	25%	($7,206)	43%	$3,313	6%	($2.206)	100%	($20.0) billion
New Jersey	$449	26%	$2,022	25%	($5,625)	43%	$3,052	6%	($1,613)	100%	($15.0) billion
Illegal Immigrant Economics **
California	$1,631	6%	$1,081	9%	($7,206)	81%	$3,313	4%	($5,509)	100%	($22.0) billion
New Jersey	$449	6%	$2,022	9%	($5,625)	81%	$3,052	4%	($4,225)	100%	($17.0) billion

_{The figure gives the net fiscal gain or loss to the various levels of government by immigrants from different areas. California and New Jersey are used as example calculations to show the possible range of results. Source: The New Americans, National Science Foundation Table 6.4, pg 284[11] * Total costs calculated for all U.S. immigrants, legal and illegal, 9.166 million households 1995 ** No adjustments for changes since 1995, assumes 4 million illegal households, percent distribution from Pew}

The National Science Foundation panels charge was to address three key questions: [12]

What is the effect of immigration on the future size and composition of the U.S. population?
What is the influence of immigration on the overall economy?
What is the fiscal impact of immigration on federal, state, and local governments?

The report by 15+ researchers was issued after 3 years study was called “The New Americans: Economic, Demographic, and Fiscal Effects of Immigration” (1997) Edited by James P. Smith and Barry Edmonston, ISBN 0-309-06356-6. The book is considered by many to be the "Gold Standard" against which other studes should be compared. Its available on line at [13].

"As long as there is a virtually unlimited supply of potential immigrants, the nation must make choices on how many to admit and who they should be." National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences, 1997.

(See also: Illegal immigration to the United States for further discussion)

Laws concerning immigration and naturalization

The first naturalization law in the United States was the March 26, 1790 Naturalization Act which restricted naturalization to "free white persons" of "good moral character" who had resided in the country for two years and their current state of residence for a year. In 1795 this was increased to 5 years residence and 3 years after notice of intent to apply for citizenship, and again to 14 years residence and 5 years notice of intent in 1798.

The passage of the Fourteenth Amendment passed in 1865 was originally passed to protect newly emancipated slaves, but has been interpreted by the judicial system to also protect the children of almost all persons born in the U.S.. The phrase: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside" was interpreted by the Supreme Court in precedent set by United States v. Wong Kim Ark in 1898, to cover everyone born in the U.S. regardless of the citizenship of the parents, with the exception of the children of diplomats. See the articles jus soli (birthplace) and jus sanguinis {bloodline) for further discusson.

The next significant change in the scope of naturalization law came in 1870, when the law was broadened to allow Negroes to be naturalized. Asian immigrants were excluded from naturalization but not from living in the United States. There were also significant restrictions on some Asians at the state level, for example in California, non-citizen Asians were not allowed to own land. Since a significant number of people never go through naturalization, once they are authorized to live in the US, this restriction for most was mostly a formality.

After the immigration of 123,000 Chinese in the decade of 1870 to 1880, who joined the 105,000 who had immigrated from 1850 to 1870, Congress in 1882 passed the Chinese Exclusion Act which specifically limited further Chinese immigration. Since nearly all these immigrants were men on work contracts it is not known how many returned when their contracts were completed--estimators seem to belief about one-half did return. What is known is that there soon developed a significant demand for Chinese women to emigrate which was not allowed. This 1882 act changed the 1868 Burlingame Treaty that had encouraged immigration. The ban was supposed to be temporary but was extended repeatedly and made permanent in 1904. Immigration records show 61,000 Chinese immigrated in the 1881 to 1890 decade. The fine print also allowed an average of 20,000 Chinese per decade to immigrate to the U.S, until the 1930s--pimarily wives for the highly male dominated earlier immigration. The bill was the culmination of decades of labor agitation, particularly by California unions, who had succeeded in getting passed their own Anti-Coolie Act in 1862. Until after 1869 this California ban was routinely ignored as the Central Pacific Railroad needed thousands of Chinese workers to help it build its section of the transcontinental railroad. The ban was resented by some in Asia, but was not repealed until 1943.

The Empire of Japan's State Department negotiated a so-called Gentlemen's Agreement in 1907, a protocol where Japan agreed to stop issuing passports to her citizens who wanted to emigrate to the U.S. In practice the Japanese government compromised with its prospective emigrants and continued to give passports to the Territory of Hawaii where many Japanese resided. Once in Hawaii it was easy for the Japanese to continue on to Japanese settlements on the west coast if they so desired. In the decade of 1901 to 1910, 129,000 Japanese immigrated to the U.S. or Hawaii, nearly all males and on five year work contracts and 117,000 more in the decades from 1911 to 1930. How many of them stayed and how many returned is unknown but it is estimated that about one-half returned. Again this immigrant flow was at least 80% male and the demand for female Japanese immigrants almost immediately arose. This need was met in part by what are called "postcard wives" who immigrated to new husbands who had chosen them on the basis of their pictures. (Similar marriages also occurred throughout the female-starved West). The Japanese government finally quit issuing passports to the Territory of Hawaii for single women in the 1920s.

Congress also banned persons because of their health or lack of education. An 1882 law banned entry of "lunatics" and infectious disease carriers. After President William McKinley was assassinated by a second-generation immigrant anarchist, Congress enacts in 1901 the Anarchist Exclusion Act to exclude known anarchist agitators. A literacy requirement was added in Immigration Act of 1917.

In 1921, the United States Congress passed the Emergency Quota Act establishing national quotas on immigration. The quotas were based on the number of foreign-born residents of each nationality who were living in the United States as of the 1910 census.

A more complex quota plan replaced this "emergency" system under the Immigration Act of 1924 (Johnson-Reid Act). The reference census used was changed to that of 1890, which greatly reduced the number of Southern and Eastern European immigrants. An annual ceiling of 154,227 was set for the Eastern Hemisphere. Each country had a quota proportional to its population in the U.S. as of the 1920 census.

In 1932 President Roosevelt and the State Department essentially shut down immigration during the Great Depression as immigration went from 236,000 in 1929 to 23,000 in 1933. Total immigration in the decade of 1931 to 1940 was 528,000 averaging less than 53,000 a year.

The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (the McCarran-Walter Act) revised the quotas again, basing them on the 1920 census. For the first time in American history, racial distinctions were omitted from the U.S. Code. Nevertheless, most of the quota allocation still went to immigrants from Ireland, the United Kingdom and Germany. The anti-subversive features of this law are still in force.

The Immigration and Nationality Act Amendments of 1965 (the Hart-Cellar Act) abolished the system of national-origin quotas. There was, for the first time, a limitation on Western Hemisphere immigration (120,000 per year), with the Eastern Hemisphere limited to 170,000. Because of the family preferences put into immigration law, immigration is now mostly "chain immigration" where recent immigrants who are already here sponsor their relatives. Family related immigration is often outside the quota system. The American people were assured by the Immigration Subcommittee Chairman Senator Edward Kennedy that-- "The bill will not flood our cities with immigrants. It will not upset the ethnic mix of our society. It will not relax the standards of admission. It will not cause American workers to lose their jobs." (U.S. Senate, Subcommittee on Immigration and Naturalization of the Committee on the Judiciary, Washington, D.C., Feb. 10, 1965. pp. 1-3.)

The 1980 Refugee Act -- Established policies for refugees redefining "refugee" according to United Nations norms. A target for refugees was set at 50,000 and the worldwide ceiling for immigrants was reduced to 270,000 annually.

In 1986, the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) was passed, creating for the first time penalties for employers who hired illegal immigrants. These penalties are very seldom enforced and forged documents are rampant leading to wide spread illegal immigrant employment. IRCA also contained an amnesty for about 3,000,000 illegal immigrants already in the United States, and mandated the intensification of some of the activities of the United States Border Patrol or INS. Because the immigration authorities do not detain any but a very small fraction of the approximate 1,000,000 illegals they catch but either sends them back or releases them on their own recognisance in the U.S. these border actions are very ineffective.

By one account, the actual number of annual legal immigrants was estimated at 500,000 to 600,000 in 1989. This subsequently increased and is now well over 1 million annually, not including illegal migration or temporary work visas.

The 1990 Immigration Act (IMMACT) -- Modified and expanded the 1965 act; it significantly increased the total immigration limit to 700,000 and increased visas by 40 percent. Family reunification was retained as the main immigration criteria with significant increases in employment-related immigration.

Several pieces of legislation signed into law in 1996 marked a turn towards harsher policies for both legal and illegal immigrants. The Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) and Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) vastly increased the categories of criminal activity for which immigrants, including green card holders, can be deported and imposed mandatory detention for certain types of deportation cases. As a result, well over 1,000,000 individuals have been deported since 1996.

Contemporary immigration

Legal immigration to the U.S. soared from 2.5 million in the 1950s to 4.5 million in the 1970s to 7.3 million in the 1980s to about 10 million in the 1990s. After 2000 legal immigrants to the United States number approximately 1,000,000 legal immigrants per year of which about 600,000 are Change of Status immigrants who already are in the U.S. Legal immigrants to the United States now are at their highest level ever at over 35,000,000 legal immigrants. Illegal immigration may be as high as 1,500,000 per year with a net of at least 700,000 more illegal immigrants arriving each year to join the 12,000,000 to 20,000,000 that are already here. (Pew Hispanic Data Estimates[14]) Contemporary immigrants settle very predominantly in seven states: California, New York, Florida, Texas, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Illinois. These are all high foreign born population states, together comprising about 44% of the US population as a whole. The combined total immigrant population of these seven states is much higher than what would be proportional, with 70% of the total foreign-born population as of 2000.See Also: Section :1.5 Immigration 2000 to 2010 and 1.6 Immigration Changes to Each State--this article. (See also: Illegal immigration to the United States)

Nonimmigrant visas (mostly work visas)

There are a number of employment-based temporary visas (defined as "nonimmigrant" visas under the immigration law), including the following popular ones, among others:

H-1B

The H-1B classification is for professional-level jobs that require a minimum of a bachelor's degree in a specific academic field. In addition, the employee must have the degree or the equivalence of such a degree through education and experience. Before the H-1B petition can be filed with USCIS the employer must file a "Labor Condition Application" (LCA) with the Department of Labor demonstrating that it is paying the required wage for this position in the geographic region where the job is located. The required wage for the position is the higher of the "actual wage" that is paid to other employees in this position or the "prevailing wage" which is determined by government surveys and the state labor office offices.

As a general rule, a person who is in one nonimmigrant status may not change status or change employers in that status until he or she applies with USCIS for such a change, and such change is granted. However, a provision called "H-1B portability" permits certain individuals already in the United States in H-1B status to commence employment for a new employer once a new employer's H-1B petition is filed with USCIS.

At the dawn of the 21st century, the controversy revived when many high-tech and software-engineering workers started to arrive from abroad on "H-1B" visas. H-1B expansion was widely unpopular, but was supported by a number of different groups, including campaign donations from corporate interests and from persons who support the arrival of persons from abroad who are highly skilled. Critics claimed that these visas decreased the wages of American citizens, displaced American citizens, enabled corporations to enforce extreme workplace discipline and get around laws concerning working conditions, created national security problems and increased the risk of transmitting new diseases to the United States. However, except for isolated cases of abuse, these fears are mostly unwarranted. In order to obtain an H-1B visa, the employer must show that it will pay the higher of the prevailing local wage or the wage it pays other U.S. citizens who have similar education and experience. The employer is not required to prove there are no American workers available to perform the work unless the employer has a high percentage of current workers in H-1B status ("H-1B dependent"). However, some economists saw H-1B expansion as an assault on the American middle class that benefited the wealthy and made it impossible to maintain traditional American standards of living, or provide incentives to improve productivity as rapidly as nations like Japan with more restrictive immigration policies.

The companies who hired worker on H-1B visas usually argued that the U.S. lacked enough American workers to do the work. A few economists argued that, whatever the truth of that assertion, hiring these foreign workers provided more benefits to the U.S., and otherwise the recruiting companies would simply offshore the entire operation. It was claimed this would likely prove worse for the U.S. economy as a whole, because in the first scenario foreign national workers living in the United States would at least spend money in the United States, while the multi-national corporations that would purportedly export the jobs to overseas locations would probably not pass down as much of the savings to the U.S. consumer who purchased for them.

L-1 intracompany transferee

The L-1 classification is for international transferees who have worked for a related organization abroad for at least one year in the past three years that will be coming to the United States to work in an executive or managerial (L-1A) or specialized knowledge capacity (L-1B).

To qualify as an international executive, the employee must meet the following requirements:

Direct the management of the organization or a major component or function;
Establish the goals and policies of the organization, component, or function;
Exercise wide latitude in discretionary decision-making; and
Receive only general supervision or direction from higher-level executives, the board of directors, or stockholders of the organization.

To qualify as an international manager, the employee must meet the following requirements:

Manage the organization or department, subdivision, function or component of the organization;
Supervise and control the work of other supervisory, professional or managerial employees, or manage an essential function within the organization, or a department or subdivision of the organization;
The authority to hire and fire, or recommend hire/fire and other personnel actions (such as promotion and leave authorization), or if no employees are directly supervised, functions at a senior level within the organizational hierarchy or with respect to the function managed; and
- Exercises discretion over the day-to-day operations of the activity or function for which the employee has authority.

To qualify as a specialized knowledge transferee, the employee must meet the following requirements:

Possess knowledge of the company product and its application in international markets; or
An advanced level of knowledge of processes and procedures of the company.

An employee has specialized knowledge if the knowledge is different from that generally found in the particular industry. Possible characteristics of an employee who possesses specialized knowledge including knowledge that is valuable to the employers competitiveness in the market place; knowledge of foreign operating conditions as a result of special knowledge not generally found in the industry; has worked abroad in a capacity involving significant assignments which have enhanced the employer's productivity, competitiveness, image or financial position; possesses knowledge which normally can be gained only through prior experience with that employer; or possesses knowledge of a product or process which cannot be easily transferred or taught to another individual.

TN Visa (TN-1) for Canadians/Mexicans to work in the United States

General Information about TN Status Since the effective date of January 1, 1994, (NAFTA) facilitates travel to and employment in the United States (U.S.) of certain Canadian and Mexican workers. NAFTA created TN classification for eligible Canadian and Mexican professional workers and affected terms of Canadians' admissions to the U.S. under other classifications. A TN position must require services of a NAFTA professional whose profession is noted in Appendix 1603.D.1 (see attached Appendix 1603.D.1); the TN employee must possess the credentials required as well as proof of qualifying citizenship. TN status allows unlimited multiple entries to the U.S. for the period of service required by the U.S. employer (includes foreign employers), up to a maximum of one year, extendible indefinitely as long as the temporary purpose of the employment continues.

There is no annual limit on Canadians granted TN status.

Self-Employment in the U.S. Not Permitted TN: Members of Appendix 1603.D.1 professions who are self-employed outside the U.S. may pursue business relationships from outside the U.S. (e.g. contracts for services) with U.S.-based companies and obtain TN status to engage in these prearranged activities in the U.S. However, under TN classification an alien is not permitted to come to the United States to engage in self-employment in the United States, nor to render services to a corporation or other entity in which he/she is a controlling owner or shareholder. Other NAFTA Admissions Categories Nationals Canada and Mexico may also seek admission as B-1 (business visitor), E-1 (treaty trader), E-2 (treaty investor), or L-1 (intra-company transferee) nonimmigrants under NAFTA. This bulletin does not address those alternatives.

TN Processing and Admissions Procedure Canadians may apply for TN-1 classification directly at a U.S. Class "A" port-of-entry, at a U.S. airport handling international traffic, or at a U.S. pre-flight/pre-clearance station in Canada1. Documentation must include:

Proof of Canadian citizenship,
$50 filing fee,
Proof of required Appendix 1603.D credentials; and
Letter from U.S. employer (or a sending employer in Canada) describing nature and duration of professional employment and salary/wages in the U.S2.

Canadian citizens are visa exempt and do not need consular visas to travel or apply for admission to the U.S. TN-1 applicants at land ports-of-entry must also pay a modest I-94 fee.

TN-2 non-immigrants from Mexico must be approved beneficiaries of I-129 petitions filed by prospective US employers and approved by the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' Nebraska Service Center. Documentation must include:

Proof of Mexican citizenship,
Form ETA-90353 Labor Condition Attestation (LCA) certified by the US Labor Department,
$130 filing fee,
Proof of the purpose for entry, and proof of participation in a permitted NAFTA professional activity.

Mexicans applying for admission to the US under TN-2 classification must obtain visas at US consulates. Note that the above requirements will sunset on December 31, 2003. On and after January 1, 2004, Mexican TNs will file the necessary paperwork with a Department of State Consulate in Mexico in order to receive a TN visa. Visit the Department of State web site for more information on the procedures Mexican citizens must follow in order to obtain a TN visa.

Family Members Spouses and unmarried children under 21 of Canadian and Mexican professionals obtain TD status. They can be included on the application of the TN principal (no separate filing fees) and admitted for the same duration of stay. TD nonimmigrants may study in the US under this classification, but are not authorized for employment. Canadian dependents' eligibility may be adjudicated at a US port-of-entry. Although Mexican family members are automatically included in TN petitions filed at the Nebraska Service Center, they must file separate application for TD visas at US consulates. Note: Dependents are not required to be Canadian or Mexican citizens.

K Visas for immediate relatives

Even though these visas are issued to people who have the intent to immigrate permanently to the United States, they are still technically classified as nonimmigrant visas (temporary). U.S. citizens may petition the USCIS for a K temporary visa for fiancé(e)s, spouses and unmarried dependent children of said fiancé(e)s and spouses. In the case of fiancé(e)s, the K-1 visa will allow them to stay in the U.S. for 90 days to marry the petitioning citizen and apply for adjustment of status to legal permanent resident. If the marriage is not concluded within that time, the fiancé(e) will be subjected to removal proceedings. In the case of spouses, the K-3 visa is valid for two years and may be extended indefinitely as long as the marriage on which it is based is not dissolved. The holders of K-3 and K-4 status are eligible for work authorization and may leave and re-enter the United States as long as their visas are still valid.

Same-sex partners

Foreign same-sex partners of United States citizens are currently not recognised by the INS and accordingly cannot be sponsored for a K Visa or for Permanent Resident status. Many families based on a same-sex relationship are accordingly forced to live outside the U.S., if a different visa type cannot be procured. Many foreign partners reside in the U.S. as illegal aliens. The Uniting American Families Act, if passed, would create a new family category, "Permanent Partner", allowing foreign partners recognition by the INS. The term "Permanent Partner" was established to avoid sensitivities about same-sex marriage and civil unions.

V Visas and LIFE act for spouses of Legal Permanent Residents (Green Card holders)

Adjustment of status is the final step of what is commonly called the green card or (LPR) process, i.e. that of becoming a legal permanent resident (LPR). It requires that the foreign national in question file an I-485 Application for Adjustment of Status, most often based on a preexisting and approved or approvable I-140 Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker or I-130 Petition for Alien Relative. Due to comprehensive immigration reform in 2002, I-485 applications and I-130 or I-140 petitions may be filed concurrently given the immediate availability of an immigrant visa number. The application must be filed with an I-693 Medical Examination of Alien issued by a licensed Civil Surgeon and a G-325A Biographic Information form, which documents provide a complete medical and immunological history as well as a record of the foreign national's places of employment and residence for the last five years. The USCIS then sets a date for the foreign national to have their fingerprints, picture and signature recorded for their FBI background check and entry in the USCIS database. An usually perfunctary interview with an USCIS officer is required in the vast majority of cases.

A pending adjustment of status application entitles the applicant to work and travel authorization in the forms of an Employment Authorization Document (EAD) card and Advance Parole documents that must be renewed on a yearly basis. The application may be considered abandoned if the applicant does not attend a biometrics appointment or interview. Applications may also be denied for any of the following reasons:

The underlying immigrant petition is denied or withdrawn
The applicant is found to have entered or resided in the United States illegally (although this is may be waived for one who originally entered with a valid visa and is an immediate relative of the US citizen-petitioner)
The applicant is judged as undesirable on the grounds of prior criminal convictions, affiliation with unsuitable political parties or organizations (e.g. former members of the Communist Party), poor character or have debilitating health problems, as well as other grounds.

If an adjustment application is approved, a permanent residency card (green card) valid for ten years is issued to the applicant. After five years LPRs are eligible to apply for naturalization, except that an LPR who obtained their green card through marriage may apply for naturalization after only three years if he or she is still living with the same spouse who originally filed the petition for the LPR.

Legal Permanent Residents (LPR)s, have some restrictions on their rights. If they marry a foreign born spouse, the green card holder may have to remain separated for years from his spouse or family while the paper work needed to get immigration authorization grinds through the system. The option of returning to their original home to immediately effect a reunion with their spouse and family is often not attractive.

INA 245(i) was initially enacted by Congress in 1994, with an expiration of November 1997. INA 245(i) allowed otherwise ineligible 'adjustment of status' applicants to apply for and receive green cards in the United States by paying a $1,000 fine.

In late 1997 amid much controversy, the law was extended to allow Immigrant Visa Petitions or Labor Certifications filed before January 14, 1998 to be 'grandfathered', essentially extending the time limit for 'adjustment of status.'

With INA 245(i) set to expire on January 14, 1998, a mechanism was implimented to unite families --effectively expediting entry of spouses and their children into the United States-- by creating a nonimmigrant classification for families of LPRs through the Legal Immigration Family Equity Act of 2000 (the LIFE Act), signed into law by President Clinton on December 21, 2000 as Public Law 106-553.

The LIFE act extended, until April 30, 2001 the "grandfathering deadline" of the previous amendment to Section 245(i) of the Immigration & Nationality Act (INA), giving applicants who failed to meet the previous 1997 INA deadline, a second extension in which to file an Immigrant Visa Petition or Labor Certification.

This extension to applicants for Immigrant Visa Petitions or Labor Certifications who filed prior to April 20, 2001, who were physically present in the United States, allowed them to be 'grandfathered', as was permitted with the previous extended deadline of INS 245(i), and gives applicants the opportunity to transfer their eligibility later.

Section 1102 of President Clinton's LIFE act of 2000 amended section 101(a)(15) of the Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a) (15)) adding a new nonimmigrant classification, paragraph ('V' Visa), for certain spouses and children of lawful permanent residents (LPRs), who have waited at least 3 years for the availability of an immigrant visa number in the family-based second (F2A) preference category in accordance with the State Department’s monthly Visa Bulletin.

Section 1102 also added section 214 (o) to the Act (8 U.S.C. 1184(o)) in order to provide the terms and conditions of V nonimmigrant status and employment authorization, and makes conforming amendments to sections 214 (b) and 214 (h) of the Act (8 U.S.C. 1184 (b) and 1184 (h)) to include reference to the V nonimmigrant classification.

Prior to the passage of the LIFE Act of 2000, aliens who were married to a U.S. Citizen and living abroad had to obtain an immigrant visa 'outside of the United States' prior to admission.

Following President Clinton's signing and enactment of the LIFE act of 2000, spouses of U.S. Citizens and their children who were beneficiaries of pending or approved visa petitions could be admitted initially as nonimmigrants and adjust to immigrant status later while in the United States.

This amnesty allowed aliens already present in the U.S. to obtain 'V' nonimmigrant status while remaining in the United States. In addition spouses and unmarried children under 21 years old could apply for visa abroad and for admission to the United States as a 'V' nonimmigrant.

The 'K' nonimmigrant classification in the LIFE Act of 2000 was limited to a fiancee or fiancee of a U.S. citizen seeking to enter the U.S. to complete a marriage within 90 days of entry, and the fiance/fiancee's child.

However, changes were made to the LIFE Act of 2000 and effective August 14, 2001 at Subsection 1103(a), which amended section 101(a)(15)(K) of the Act, and implimented a new "K" nonimmigrant classification.

Subsection 1103(a) redesignates the "K" nonimmigrant classification as section 101(a)(15)(K)(i) of the Act, adds a classification for the spouse of a U.S. Citizen at section 101(a)(15)(K)(ii), and classifies the children of aliens at section 101(a)(15)(K)(iii) of the Act.

The new section 101(a)(15)(K)(ii) of the Act has three requirements for an alien to obtain this nonimmigrant classification.

The alien must already be married to a U.S. Citizen who has filed a relative visa petition on his or her behalf with the Service for purposes of an immigrant visa.
That same U.S. citizen spouse must be petitioning on that alien's behalf to obtain a nonimmgrant visa.
The alien must be seeking to enter the United States to wait the "availability of an immigrant visa.

More information on the LIFE Act of 2000, the August 14, 2001 and other amendments can be perused online at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) website, or by contacting a local Services field office.

Legal Permanent Residents (LPRs), more commonly known as Green Card holders, are foreigners who do not have U.S. citizenship but are permitted to live and work here. Those who have opted to get married to non U.S. citizens are unable to bring their spouses and families directly to the U.S.. The foreign spouse of a U.S. Green Card holder must wait for approval of an 'immigrant visa' from the State Department before legally entering the U.S.. Due to a backlog in processing, such visas can sometimes take upwards of five years to be approved. In the interim, the foreign born spouse and family cannot enter the U.S. on any other visas, or as visitors. LPRs always have the option to return to their country of citizenship but lacking U.S. citizenship and if they want to stay in the U.S. and stay married to their "foreign" family they are in a semi-unique situation:

Temporary visitors and non-immigrants coming to the U.S. on temporary visas for work, business or studies (including on H1, L1, B, and F1 visas) can sponsor their dependant spouses to travel along with them and return with them when they leave.
American Citizens have more options and can sponsor their spouses to come to the U.S. in non-immigrant status and then convert to an immigrant status under the Legal Immigration and Family Equity Act (the "LIFE Act")

The V visa page has more details on the V visa as enacted by the LIFE Act.

Political asylum

In contrast to economic refugees, who generally do not gain legal admission, other classes of refugees can gain legal status through a process of seeking and receiving political asylum, either by being designated a refugee while abroad or by physically entering the United States and requesting asylee status thereafter.

Asylum is offered as part of the United States' obligation under the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees. Under these agreements, a refugee is a person who is outside his or her country of nationality (or place of habitual residence if stateless) who, owing to a fear of persecution on account of a protected ground, is unable or unwilling to avail himself of the protection of the state. Protected grounds include race, nationality, religion, political opinion and membership of a particular social group. The signatories to these agreements are obliged not to return or "refoul" refugees to the place where they would face persecution.

Advocates of refugee protection claim that for the most part, such persons are fleeing warfare; escaping persecution based on political or religious beliefs; or are victims of torture in their countries of origin. Critics claim the process has been widely abused and large numbers of people claim persecution simply to obtain the benefits of living in the United States. The primary benefit for such an asylum applicant is the eligibility for a work permit (employment authorization) by simply filing an application for asylum with USCIS (former INS). To the later dismay of a large number of these applicants, however, if their claims of persecution are not backed up by genuine evidence or proofs, the claims are eventually denied and they are placed in removal (deportation) proceedings in the Immigration Court. Since the effective date of the 1996 IIRIRA legislation, an applicant must apply for asylum within one year of entry or be barred from doing so unless there were certain exceptional circumstances. Some asylum cases have been also granted based on sexual orientation or gender, where cultural norms of the home country create and sustain conditions that make life unsafe or unbearable for the individual.

As of 2004, recipients of political asylum faced a wait of approximately 14 years to receive permanent resident status after receiving their initial asylee status, because of an annual cap of 10,000 green cards for this class of individuals. However, in May 2005, under the terms of a proposed settlement of a class-action lawsuit, Ngwanyia v. Gonzales, brought on behalf of asylees against USCIS, the government agreed to make available an additional 31,000 green cards for asylees during the period ending on September 30, 2007. This is in addition to the 10,000 green cards allocated for each year until then. This should speed up the green card waiting time considerably for asylees. However, the issue is rendered somewhat moot, since the enactment of the REAL ID Act of 2005 (Division B of United States Public Law 109-13 (H.R. 1268)) eliminated the cap on annual asylee green cards and currently an asylee who has continuously resided in the US for more than one year in that status has an immediately available visa number.

Miscellaneous documented immigration

In removal proceedings (deportation) in front of an immigration judge, cancellation of removal is a form of relief that is available for certain long-time residents of the United States. It allows a person being faced with the threat of removal to obtain permanent residence if that person: (1) has been physically present in the U.S. for at least ten years, (2) has had good moral character during that period, (3) has not been convicted of certain crimes, and (4) can show that removal would result in exceptional and extremely unusual hardship to his or her US citizen/permanent resident spouse, children, or parent. Unfortunately, this form of relief is only available when a person is served with a Notice to Appear (like a civil summons) to appear in the proceedings in the Immigration Court. Many persons have received their green cards in this way even though removal or deportation was looming.

Member of Congress may submit private bills granting residency to specific named individuals. A special committee vets the requests, which require extensive documentation. Congress has bestowed the title of "Honorary Citizen of the United States" to six people. The only two living recipients were Winston Churchill and Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu (Mother Teresa), the other instances were posthumous honors.

The Central Intelligence Agency has the statutory authority to admit up to one hundred people a year outside of normal immigration procedures, and to provide for their settlement and support. The program is called "PL110" after the legislation that created the agency, Public Law 110, the Central Intelligence Agency Act.

Illegal immigration

Main article Illegal immigration to the United States
See also: United States immigration debate, 2006 U.S. immigration reform protests, and H.R. 4437

Illegal immigration has recently resurfaced as a major issue in United States politics. Various bills are in the United States Congress to either provide for legalization and amnesty of those present in the country illegally, or alternately to crack down on employers that hire undocumented workers and build a wall along the Mexican border.

Public attitudes on contemporary immigration

Public attitudes about immigration in the U.S. have been heavily influenced by the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. The number of Americans who told the Gallup poll they wanted immigration restricted increased 20 percentage points after the attacks.[15] Half of Americans say tighter controls on immigration would do "a great deal" to enhance U.S. national security, according to a Public Agenda survey.[16]

Public opinion surveys suggest that Americans see both the good and bad sides of immigration at the same time.[17] A June 2006 NBC/Wall Street Journal poll found the public evenly divided on the fundamental question of whether immigration helps or hurts the country, with 44 percent saying it helps and 45 percent saying it hurts the U.S.[18] Surveys do show that the U.S. public has a far more positive outlook about legal immigration than illegal immigration. The public is less willing to provide government services or legal protections to illegal immigrants. When survey data is examined by race, African-Americans are both more willing to extend government services to illegal immigrants and more worried about competition for jobs, according to the Pew Research Center.[19]

Three-quarters of immigrants surveyed by Public Agenda said they intend to make the U.S. their permanent home. If they had it to do over again, 80 percent of immigrants say they would still come to the U.S. But half of immigrants say the government has become tougher on enforcing immigration laws since 9/11 and three in 10 report they have personally experienced discrimination.[20]

Political issues surrounding immigration

1888 cartoon in *Puck* attacks businessmen for welcoming large numbers of low paid immigrants, leaving the American workingman unemployed

Debates over immigration numbers

Please refer to Illegal immigration to the United States

Immigration in popular culture

The history of immigration to the United States of America is, according to the claims of some, the history of the United States itself and the journey from beyond the sea is an element found in the American myth, appearing over and over again in everything from The Godfather to Gangs of New York to "The Song of Myself" to Neil Diamond's "America" to the animated feature An American Tail.

As in many myths, the immigrants role has been exaggerated as immigrants, from even well before the Revolution, are never more than 15% of the population and sometimes considerably less. The original immigrants were often poor and uneducated but the succeeding generations took good advantage of the opportunities offered to nearly all. The reality is even better than the myth in some ways as the succeeding generations learn how to cooperate or at least tolerate each other to build a strong system of shared core beliefs that has succeeded far beyond its original founders would have ever believed possible.

Quotations

The most famous literary work supporting immigration was the 1883 poem "The New Colossus" by Emma Lazarus. It contrasted the Statue of Liberty with the statue Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It is not an official government document and was never agreed to by Congress, but is a popular romantic sentiment attached to a popular statue.

"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she

With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Emma Lazarus

Media

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Making of an American (1920)

References

2004 Year Book of Immigration Statistics [21]
Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970 [22]
The Foreign-Born Population: 2000; U.S. Census [23]
Virginia Library Geostat Center Census Data [24]
The New Americans: Economic, Demographic, and Fiscal Effects of Immigrationl Edited by James P. Smith and Barry Edmonston, National Science Foundation ISBN 0-309-06356-6. [25]

Secondary sources

Archdeacon, Thomas J. Becoming American: An Ethnic History (1984)
Bankston, Carl L. III and Danielle Antoinette Hidalgo, eds. Immigration in U.S. History Salem Press, (2006)
Berthoff. Rowland Tappan. British Immigrants in Industrial America, 1790-1950 (1953).
Bodnar, John. The Transplanted: A History of Immigrants in Urban America Indiana University Press, (1985)
Briggs, John. An Italian Passage: Immigrants to Three American Cities, 1890-1930 Yale University Press, (1978)
Daniels, Roger. Asian America: Chinese and Japanese in the United States since 1850 University of Washington Press, (1988)
Daniels, Roger. Coming to America 2nd ed. (2002)
Daniels, Roger. Guarding the Golden Door : American Immigration Policy and Immigrants since 1882 (2005)
Diner, Hasia. The Jews of the United States, 1654 to 2000 (2004)
Diner, Hasia. Hungering for America : Italian, Irish, and Jewish Foodways in the Age of Migration (2003)
Eltis, David; Coerced and Free Migration: Global Perspectives (2002) emphasis on migration to Americas before 1800
Gjerde, Jon, ed. Major Problems in American Immigration and Ethnic History (1998) primary sources and excerpts from scholars.
Glazier, Michael, ed. The Encyclopedia of the Irish in America (1999), articles by over 200 experts, covering both Catholics and Protestants.
Greene, Victor R. A Singing Ambivalence: American Immigrants Between Old World and New, 1830-1930 (2004), coving musical traditions
Joseph, Samuel; Jewish Immigration to the United States from 1881 to 1910 Columbia University Press, (1914)
Kulikoff, Allan; From British Peasants to Colonial American Farmers (2000), details on colonial immigration
NWF Population and Environment Key Resources [26]
Meagher, Timothy J. The Columbia Guide to Irish American History. (2005)
Miller, Kerby M. Emigrants and Exiles (1985), influential scholarly interpretation of Irish immigration
Henry A. Pochmann, and Arthur R. Schultz; German Culture in America, 1600-1900: Philosophical and Literary Influences (1957)
Sletcher, Michael, ‘Scotch-Irish,’ in Stanley I. Kutler, ed., Dictionary of American History, (10 vols., New York, 2002).
Sowell, Thomas. Ethnic America: A History (1981), by a conservative economist
Thernstrom, Stephan, ed. Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups (1980) (ISBN 0-674-37512-2), the standard reference, covering all major groups and most minor groups
U.S. Immigration Commission, Abstracts of Reports, 2 vols. (1911),
Carl Wittke, We Who Built America: The Saga of the Immigrant (1939), covers all major groups
Yans-McLaughlin, Virginia ed. Immigration Reconsidered: History, Sociology, and Politics Oxford University Press. (1990)

^ Boritt, Gabor S. Lincoln and the Economics of the American Dream. Page 1. December 1994. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0-252-06445-3.
^ Ronald Reagan. "Final Radio Address to the Nation". January 14, 1989. URL accessed June 3, 2006.
^ Cullen, Jim. The American Dream : A Short History of an Idea that Shaped a Nation. June 14, 2004. Oxford University Press, USA; New Ed edition. ISBN 0-19-517325-2.
^ Heiner, Robert. Social Problems: An Introduction to Critical Constructionism. Page 114. August 16, 2001. Oxford University Press, USA. ISBN 0-19-512992-X.

Recent: post 1965

Vanessa B. Beasley, ed. Who Belongs in America?: Presidents, Rhetoric, And Immigration (2006)
Bogen, Elizabeth. Immigration in New York (1987)
Bommes, Michael and Andrew Geddes. Immigration and Welfare: Challenging the Borders of the Welfare State (2000)
Borjas, George J. ed. Issues in the Economics of Immigration (National Bureau of Economic Research Conference Report) (2000) 9 statistical essays by scholars;
Borjas, George. Friends or Strangers (1990)
Borjas, George J. "Welfare Reform and Immigrant Participation in Welfare Programs" International Migration Review 2002 36(4): 1093-1123. Issn: 0197-9183; finds very steep decline of immigrant welfare participation in California.
Briggs, Vernon M., Jr. Immigration Policy and the America Labor Force John Hopkins University Press, 1984.
Briggs, Vernon M., Jr. Mass Immigration and the National Interest (1992)
Fawcett, James T., and Benjamin V. Carino. Pacific Bridges: The New Immigration from Asia and the Pacific Islands . New York: Center for Migration Studies, 1987.
Foner, Nancy. In A New Land: A Comparative View Of Immigration (2005)
Levinson, David and Melvin Ember, eds. American Immigrant Cultures 2 vol (1997) covers all major and minor groups
Meier, Matt S. and Gutierrez, Margo, eds. The Mexican American Experience : An Encyclopedia (2003) (ISBN 0-313-31643-0)
Mohl, Raymond A. "Latinization in the Heart of Dixie: Hispanics in Late-twentieth-century Alabama" Alabama Review 2002 55(4): 243-274. Issn: 0002-4341
Portes, Alejandro, and Robert L. Bach. Latin Journey: Cuban and Mexican Immigrants in the United States. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985.
Portes, Alejandro, and Jozsef Borocz. "Contemporary Immigration: Theoretical Perspectives on Its Determinants and Modes of Incorporation." International Migration Review 23 (1989): 606-30.
Portes, Alejandro, and Ruben Rumbaut. Immigrant America. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990.
Reimers, David. Still the Golden Door: The Third World Comes to America Columbia University Press, (1985).
Smith, James P, and Barry Edmonston, eds. The Immigration Debate: Studies on the Economic, Demographic, and Fiscal Effects of Immigration (1998), online version
Zhou, Min and Carl L. Bankston III Growing Up American: How VIetnamese Children Adapt to Life in the United States Russell Sage Foundation. (1998)

External links

History

Immigration policy

Current immigration

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
- US Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Cornell University's Legal Information Institute: Immigration
Immigration & Naturalization Legal Services - Citizenship, Visa & Green Card Applications.
The PBS newsmagazine NOW focuses on America's "Guest Workers" including interviews with actual guest workers who work in Montana's forests
US Immigration History
Immigration in U.S. History
Significant Books on Immigration, Immigrants, and Ethnicity
The Biculturation of the Vietnamese Student by Min Zhou and Carl L. Bankston III

Economic impact

Immigrants and the Labor Market from Dollars & Sense magazine

en:Immigration in the United States

[1] Boritt, Gabor S. Lincoln and the Economics of the American Dream. Page 1. December 1994. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0-252-06445-3.

[2] Ronald Reagan. "Final Radio Address to the Nation". January 14, 1989. URL accessed June 3, 2006.

[3] Cullen, Jim. The American Dream : A Short History of an Idea that Shaped a Nation. June 14, 2004. Oxford University Press, USA; New Ed edition. ISBN 0-19-517325-2.

[4] Heiner, Robert. Social Problems: An Introduction to Critical Constructionism. Page 114. August 16, 2001. Oxford University Press, USA. ISBN 0-19-512992-X.

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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 [[Image:Statue-de-la-liberte-new-york.jpg|160px|thumb|right|The [[Statue of Liberty]] was a common sight to many immigrants who entered the United States through [[Ellis Island]]]]
 '''Immigration to the United States of America''' is the permanent movement of foreigners to the [[United States]], and has been a major source of population growth and cultural change throughout [[history of the United States|American history]]. The economic, social and political aspects of immigration has caused controversy regarding race, [[ethnicity]], religion, economic benefits, job growth, settlement patterns, impact on upward social mobility, levels of criminality, [[nationalism|nationalities]], political loyalties, [[morality|moral]] values, and work habits.
+hi
 Given the distance of North America from [[Eurasia]], most historical U.S. immigration was a riskful venture, which inspired myths and dreams of prosperity and opportunity not found in the [[Old World]]. Since the advent of international jet travel in the 1960s, travel to the United States has been made easy by air, but remains difficult, expensive and dangerous for those crossing the Mexican border at unauthorized points.

v t e Immigration to North America
Sovereign states	Antigua and Barbuda Bahamas Barbados Belize Canada Costa Rica Cuba Dominica Dominican Republic El Salvador Grenada Guatemala Haiti Honduras Jamaica Mexico Nicaragua Panama Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Trinidad and Tobago United States
Dependencies and other territories	Anguilla Aruba Bermuda Bonaire British Virgin Islands Cayman Islands Curaçao Greenland Guadeloupe Martinique Montserrat Puerto Rico Saint Barthélemy Saint Martin Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saba Sint Eustatius Sint Maarten Turks and Caicos Islands United States Virgin Islands

Revision as of 19:17, 7 September 2006

American Dream

Historical origins of U.S. population

U.S. Population 1790

Immigration 1790 to 1849

Immigration 1850 to 1930

Immigration 1930 to 2000

Immigration summary 1830 to 2000

Immigration 2000 to 2010

Immigration to states

National Science Foundation Immigration Study

Laws concerning immigration and naturalization

Contemporary immigration

Nonimmigrant visas (mostly work visas)

H-1B

L-1 intracompany transferee

TN Visa (TN-1) for Canadians/Mexicans to work in the United States

K Visas for immediate relatives

Same-sex partners

V Visas and LIFE act for spouses of Legal Permanent Residents (Green Card holders)

Political asylum

Miscellaneous documented immigration

Illegal immigration

Public attitudes on contemporary immigration

Political issues surrounding immigration

Debates over immigration numbers

Immigration in popular culture

Quotations

Media

See also

General

Laws

History

United States

Controversy

References

Secondary sources

Recent: post 1965

External links

History

Immigration policy

Current immigration

Economic impact