2.3 Migration to America in a Historical and Global Context
By Adam Tyler
From my research on the topic of migration to America in a historical and global context, I have learned many things about migration that I hadn't learned before. I especially learned that migration centered around America a whole lot more than other countries. There were a whole lot of events that centered around migration in America that shaped the country into what it is now. For example, the US gained so many migrants that 1/5 of America are migrants, at least since 2017, so that'd be about 20% or presumedly 38 million migrants. And with the number of migrants keeping on growing and growing, America has a wide variety of races. Although migrants have definitely changed culture in America, some people aren't very pleased with the migrants. This is mostly because migrants are used to being in a developing country, so when they come to a developed country, they're ready to work really cheap, which can upset some American workers who really don't want to get let go. This causes racism, the use of a scapegoat, and social issues in America about migrants, making people nowadays more determined to keep migrants out of America.
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| Migration is rising in the newer years |
About the earliest example of the large-running migration to America trend is the Irish Potato Famine. This event was caused when the Irish could no longer take care of themselves due to a shortage of potatoes (which were Ireland's main crops). This caused many Irish to pack up their bags and leave to America. There were about 1,000,000 Irish, who were the first poor refugees to ever come to the United States. I was pretty surprised when I found this out online, because my family roots are mainly Irish, so my ancestors could have been on that boat to America. 3,000 Irish Catholics arrived in Boston in 1847 where they took unskilled jobs and were charged about $1.50 a week in a broken down, old apartment room. The small space and poor living conditions unfortunately caused many Irish to get sick and either die or become driven to despair. There ultimately became an increase in crime about 400% (just wow) and about 1500 children roamed the streets causing chaos. Americans eventually became sick and tired of the Irish taking their jobs, so this lead to 'No Irish Needed Apply' signs in windows of stores. So yeah, Boston didn't handle the Irish very well. However, I learned that there was a bright side to the Irish migrating to America through New York. About 52,000 Irish were 372,000 of the population in 1847. Although at first, Irish were immediately conned and nearly lost everything by street smarts, they later started working their way through life by working on docks. Also, the infant mortality rate rose up high, and unfortunately there was a bit of a rise in crime. By 1850, Irish were 43% of the foreign born population. And, after the Civil War, Irish were the main source of labor, which helped America rebuild itself again. Although there were plenty of downsides to the Irish moving to New York, I think it was certainly better than Boston. So, I learned that without the Irish, we probably would have had much more trouble rebuilding America after the Civil War.
Another big migration was the California Gold Rush. In 1848-1855, there was a colossal discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill, California. Almost immediately, there was a giant migration for people who were seeking vast fortune. About 1/3 of the "49ers" were migrants, especially from Mexico, China, France, Germany, Russia, Ireland, Italy, West Indies, and even Australia. In fact, there were about 30,000 immigrants from France. And in 1852, there were about 20,000 Chinese, 2,000 of which had migrated to San Francisco. Nine out of ten of these 49ers were men. The Chinese especially played a big part in the California Gold Rush as they were definitely more disciplined and dedicated to mining. This was because after The Opium War with Britain, the Chinese were desperate for trade and foreign domination. However, by the time several Chinese got to America, the gold was almost all gone, so they mined on their own. Americans felt threatened by this since many Chinese were taking their mining work. In 1852, there became a foreign miners' tax and 30 years after, the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 suspended Chinese migration for 10 years. Despite learning that the Chinese were a pretty big part of the California Gold Rush, I also learned that other migrants were treated unfairly to while trying to hit a gold mine. For example, a group of French miners were forced to leave their stash after putting up a French flag and several Mexicans raided mines after they weren't allowed to mine from America. America just wanted the gold for itself, which is kinda selfish even if it was on American property. But without the California Gold Rush, we probably wouldn't have so many Chinese in America.
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| People from Tijuana trying to cross border |
A recent example of migration in America is the Tijuana Run, which happened on November 25, 2018, pretty close to Thanksgiving. This is probably the best example of migrants in America that I found. Originally, it all started off as a peaceful march from Central American migrants waiting at the Southeastern border, but it quickly got out of control and several tried to get into San Diego. This forced the US to shut down the border while tear gas pushed back the migrants. The border was later reopened on Sunday evening. This event overall caused many people to support President Trump's anti-migration idea. The US Customs and Border Protection Agency may have even got more ammo after this incident. This was also the first real big threat to Mexico president-elect Andres Manuet Lopez Obrador, who was forced to negotiate with Washington to handle the situation. Guests were becoming increasingly desperate to get into America. In the incident, some tried to negotiate, some tried to climb the walls (but got hit by gas), and some just tried to make a run for it. I think I express myself with a Twitter quote from Senator Brian Schatz, "Tear gas across the border against unarmed families is a new low." It certainly is, Brian Schatz. 500 people were in the march, 39 were arrested, and several were injured. And although this problem isn't officially solved yet (Trump wants the migrants to wait in Mexico), the idea of more ammunition on the border guard I think is a pretty good idea, since some migrants even tried to throw projectiles at the guards.
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| Migration is overall decreasing |
In conclusion, I learned the migrant experiences like the Irish Potato Famine, the California Gold Rush, and the Tijuana Run all shaped America, either in good ways or in bad ways. Without these events, we wouldn't have so many Irish, Chinese, or even more border enforcement, but without these events, we might have had a better chance at Americans being a bigger part of America and the economy stabilizing. Even today, migrants are a problem since no one really knows how to deal with them, but I think if we just take precaution and let them in, everything will eventually work out in the end. However, I'm probably not the one to do anything about this, cause my idea could fail too. One way or another though, migrants are definitely shaping America and I'm positive there will be plenty more migrants coming into America, ready to shape it.
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