Immigration: Enhancing Culture or Overpopulating?

What happened to the phrase “let freedom ring”?

Our ancestors came to America to escape prejudice, start a new life and to seek new opportunities. People in this day and age who come to our country are still doing exactly that, so why is it that we feel the need to call them aliens and look down on them in disgust? Technically, we are a nation of immigrants.

Immigration is not hurting the “American Experiment,” for we still have our individual rights and freedoms. Immigrants provide business connections to world markets, allowing America to profit in the global economy. Our economy is somewhat reliant on immigrants in the fact that producers have to adapt to constantly changing consumer demands. The people who come to America from other countries not only improve our influence on the world, but they also help to enhance our culture.

Culture has always fascinated me. I have always wanted to travel the world and indulge myself in the culture of other countries. If I don’t get the opportunity to actually go to other countries, I could just go introduce myself to the Arabic family who lives down the street or learn all about the culture of the family next door who moved here from Germany. My point is that there is already so much diversity in America and we should be embracing it, not shunning it.

Immigrants can’t be blamed for causing overpopulation, either, because the world is ever-growing. There will always be an increase of people in America, whether immigrants move here or not. America’s annual population growth of one percent is below our average growth rate of the last century. Without immigration, our labor force would drastically decrease.

The most diverse gathering of races and ethnicities from across the world is living in one place. That place is right here in the United States. This is the country where almost everyone’s ancestors came from somewhere else, so we have no room to judge someone for wanting to start a new life here. The people who are forced to leave their country have the drive to stand on their own somewhere new. They bring with them a sense of cultural wisdom, and that is what helps enrich America.

If you take the time to look, it’s not very hard to see the different cultures in the “melting pot” we call America. By realizing that other cultures that come into our country actually benefit us, maybe we can be less judgemental about someone not being “American.” Because in reality, everyone here is exactly the same.