What reasons motivate people to immigrate to the United States?
We know that most newcomers leave behind poverty and unemployment in their homelands in search of better fortunes in America. However, research on this subject suggest that the causes of immigration are often more complex and numerous than most assume. The capacity of natural disasters, environmental crises, overpopulation, wars, and civil unrest to uproot and set in motion millions of people around the globe and refugee and asylum policies that extend relief to some non-citizens fleeing political, ethnic, religious, and gender persecution. This is but a short list of the different reasons to mass immigration to the United States today. Evaluating the causes of U.S. immigration can reveal a great deal about recent immigrants, their homelands, and America's image abroad.
Daniel Tichenor from the Rutgers University states in his essay U.S.A. Immigration, "The story of the American people is a story of immigration and diversity."
United States
1888 cartoon in Puck attacks businessmen for welco...
San Jose, California May Day MarchEach immigrant in this country has a different reason of why he or she came to the
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United States. Throughout the years the reasons change for the new immigrants; according to the American Immigration Web Page, "from 1607-1830 the major reasons were political freedom, religious tolerance, economic opportunity, people wanting a better life, better job, more money and some were forced to leave because of slavery."
There are two types of motivation for immigration "push" and "pull" factors. According to Daniel Tichenor, push factor is "the need to leave in order to survive." Push factor is the case of the people that was mentioned before, the people that have to leave their country for political freedom, religious tolerance, and the slavery. An example of this is the case of Turkey, Morocco, Egypt, and Senegal. "These countries involve men looking for a job education,