Immigration and Integration

I am a big believer in the value and advantage of assimilating other people and cultures into our own. I admire the path our nation has taken in the pursuit of immigration from all countries and nationalities. 

 "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free..."  

This quote has been a huge influence on my life and given me the understanding that we all have immigrated from somewhere.  There is nothing that triggers my patriotism like these words, they give me a great feeling for the potential this nation has and the hope it used to illicit from the masses worldwide.  But alas we have lost our way.  Immigration has become a negative connotation invoking hatred and fear across not just our nation but many others around the world. Why?

I love the idea of immigration.  Bringing new cultures in is a way of expanding the greatness and diversity of a country but this benefit is not without its drawbacks and I believe it is important that these drawback are addressed and corrected if we still want to have immigration to keep in line with our over nostalgic society.  We in many ways see the past through rose colored glasses, believing things were better and more wholesome in the past while the present is some decayed cesspool of filth and depravity.  We are blind to the progress of the world and allow the media and government officials to play fear games with our minds convincing us the world is much more dangerous and depraved than we can imagine.  They like to ignore the fact that crime and violence are at an all time low.  This is the perfect time in human history for mass migration yet we fight it with violence, bigotry and condemnation.

Now bear with me here, I am sure you have already decided which direction I am going but I assure you there is more to this.  Yes I believe in immigration, I believe in the value of mass migration and giving people looking for a better life the chance to earn that life.  I would like to emphasize the word "Earn"  We have created a system where people who come to this country and others expect to be handed everything and do not want to attempt to insert themselves into the culture they have come to by learning the language and customs of the host country.  I have time and time again see these people who say they just want a better life asking for handouts and expecting our culture to adapt to them instead of the other way around. The more we feed into these negative expectations the more we will lose what made us great instead of immersing these people into our culture thus making us a richer and more diverse nation.

I do believe in respect of peoples culture and tradition and language to a point, but when they attempt to force the host country to capitulate to their culture it makes me take a pause and examine the truth about the situation of immigration we face.  It has become evident the way of life Americans have become accustomed to is eroding away and every transition must have a period of birth pangs before a new culture can truly assimilate into an existing one but it seems that the arriving cultures have no interest in assimilation instead they expect us to assimilate to them.  

When I was young I had the opportunity to meet many people who had immigrated to the United States from other countries and it was their contention they assimilate to the culture of the host nation, they learned our laws language and culture.  They were proud to become Americans and although they were able to maintain their own set of culture and beliefs they did not try to force their cultural beliefs on others.  Do we really want the influx of Syrian refugees to bring their harsh treatment of women into our culture or do we want the freedom of our culture to influence them? This is a question we must ask ourselves.  Is the timing right for immigration? I believe yes.  But we must watch the cultural impact on our own nations very carefully.  Each of these immigrants must be made to understand we do not believe in many of their ways and we will not tolerate their behavior or we risk turning our world into theirs.

We must also understand that it is in the best interest of corporation that we fear the incoming cultures because then they are more easily able to exploit those cultures.  It is beneficial for them to hire people who do not understand their rights and therefore cannot defend themselves from dishonest and corrupt business practices.  By allowing illegal immigration we open these incoming masses to be exploited by a system that will take advantage of every weakness they can.  They practice enforcing long hours and low wages.  Make no mistake illegal immigration makes victims of us all save corporate interests.  It is nothing more than a new age of slavery and that is why immigration and assimilation is so important.  So the strong cannot dominate the weak.

Now with a huge influx of refugees businesses are foaming at the mouth to take advantage of the naivety of the new additions to their culture.  They have no interest in education these incoming people of how things work in their country and are only interested in their exploitation.

The victims are all of us who allow hatred and bigotry to guide our thoughts.  Immigration is a great thing if done correctly but by allowing unchecked masses to cross borders with little or no oversight only opens the victims and host nation up to victimization by overbearing governments and abusive corporations.