1102 Group Presentation:
Foreigners
India Mayo
Kurtis Noblitt
Odalys Reyes
Jonathan Sheppard
Who is a foreigner?
n.- someone who is not accustomed to conventional cultural norms
characteristic of a particular society, generally of different origin, race, or
religion. Foreigner, synonymous with alien and outsider, is a term that often
carries prejudiced connotation stemming from the human tendency to reject that
which is different, as a reaction to potential threat of the unknown.
Immigrant
permanent residence by visa or visa
adjustment
Alien
not born in the U.S., but may be a
citizen or national (Philippines)
Citizen
entitled to protection and the rights of
citizenship (Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands,
Guam, U.S. territories)
National
allegiance to U.S., entitled to
protection, but no citizenship
(American Samoa, Swains Island,
outlying U.S. possessions)
United States Immigration
• American “melting pot”- people from many
different nations forming a greater whole.
• The “pot” is not always as accepting as the
founding fathers envisioned it.
United States Immigration
• Until the mid- to late- nineteenth century, minimal
immigration restrictions
• Only exception- Alien & Sedition Acts of 1798
- allowed President to deport “dangerous”
aliens
-not actually against foreigners, but a political
tool
-allowed to expire, no real effect
United States Immigration
• In early- to middle- 1800s, immigration encouraged
to help expanding Western states
• Some states, esp. California, sent recruiters to
other countries
•Tensions- nativist political parties
-Know-Nothing party
-Workingmens’s Party (California)
United States Immigration
• In 1875, first national immigration restrictions
•1880-1890’s changes in labor threatened jobs,
making immigrants unwelcome
• Fear of foreign anarchists, accented by
assassination of President McKinley in 1901
United States Immigration
• In 1917, limits placed on immigration included
racial quotas
• In 1939, Congress refused to rescue over 20,000
children from Nazi Germany because Germany’s
quota would be exceeded
United States Immigration
“Americans have always been ambivalent hosts,
greeting newcomers with alternate warmth and
aversion.”
Source: http://www.mindspring.com/~louve/usimmigration.html
Wieland
“As to the motives which induce men to
change the place of their abode, these
must unavoidably be fleeting and mutable.
If not bound to one spot by conjugal or
parental ties, or by the nature of that
employment to which we are indebted for
subsistence, the inducements to change
are far more numerous and powerful, than
opposite inducements.”
The Colonel
• Negative stereotype for foreign power:
• opposite democracy
• violation of human rights
• uncivilized brutality
Carolyn Forche spreads the message of
widespread oppression and destitution in other
countries, especially South American ones, that
are governed under the same principles as the
U.S.
Pudd’nhead Wilson
•The Italians
•Seen as Exotic and Attractive
•Viewed differently than other
Immigrants
Incidents In the Life of a Slave Girl
Slaves as foreigners:
 Possessions: not granted human rights
 Of native African origin
 One slave thinks there is a queen of America,
they have no rights in they eyes of the government:
Not citizens in the country of their birth.
 Alienated from society
Linda only feels relief from prejudice on her trip to Europe.
Here, foreigners embodiment of such qualities contrast, thus
emphasize the negative practices of Americans.
“I remained abroad ten months, which was much longer than I had
anticipated. During all that time, I never saw the slightest symptom of
prejudice against color. Indeed, I entirely forgot it, till the time came for us
to return to America.” – page 185
Immigration in
America Today
In 2003, 34.6 million (11.9% of population)
foreign born immigrants living in America,
both legally and illegally
• Legal immigrants: about 1,000,000 green cards last year
•family
• employment
• humanitarian
• States with the
largest increase in their
immigrant populations
were Texas, Georgia,
North Carolina, New Jersey, Maryland,
Washington, Arizona, and Pennsylvania
• Top sending countries are Mexico, China,
the Philippines, and India
Effects of Immigration
Negative:
• Large influx into labor market depresses wages and working conditions
•contributes to widening social gap separating rich and poor
• denies natives entry level opportunities
• increases dependence on cheap labor
• Immigrants nearly twice as likely to be on welfare than natives
• Contributes to poverty and breeds crime:
• “29 percent of the inmates in federal prisons are aliens” according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics
(2002).
•high immigration cities were found to have twice as much violent crime as low immigration cities
(Tale of Ten Cities, FAIR, 1999)
• net cost of immigration runs from $30 billion to $50 billion a year, estimate
Illegal Immigration
 11 million, according to the Center for
Immigration Studies, a nonpartisan research
organization in Washington
 Perception:
 Sympathetic vs. Xenophobic
 TRUE Enforcement and Border Security Act of 2005: not yet
passed
 Operation Streamline II: December 12, 2005. No
tolerance policy that jails all immigrants illegally
crossing the border
•number of undocumented
immigrants picked up by
border control has dropped
from 150/day in mid 2005
to 10/day.
Xenophobes?
 polls on immigration have been very consistent: at least twothirds of Americans think that the level of immigration to this
country should be reduced
"We ought to increase legal
immigration for our country's
advantage. The high-tech world we
are now dominating is dependent on
educated folks, but we're short...of
workers. It is to our nation's
advantage to encourage highpowered, smart people to come into
our country."
(Iowa Gazette, Jan. 6, 2000)
George W. Bush
“Our high-tech companies
are vitally dependent on
immigrant brainpower. Our
schools are not turning out
the numbers of American
scientists and technologists
that we so badly need.”
- Steve Forbes
Post 9/11 Prejudice
“On July 11, 2004, Rajinder Singh Khalsa, an Indian Sikh man,
was accosted by a group of men as he stood in front of his brother's
restaurant wearing a turban. "Give me that dirty curtain," one of the
men said. "It's not a curtain," Khalsa said. "It's a turban." "Go back to
your country," another man shot back. Khalsa said: "But we are
American, where should we go?"
The man suggested Iran. Khalsa said: "We are not Iranian. We are
not Muslim. We are Sikhs from India." He said: "Then go back to
India." The men began to attack his brother. "Don't do this, he's
innocent," Khalsa said. The men then turned to him. They beat him on
the nose, eyes, head, everywhere, not stopping until he was
unconscious on the pavement. Before they left, they took off his turban
and threw it away.”
-Divided We Fall: Americans
in the Aftermath by Valarie
Kaur
Opinion: 1
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Opinion: 2
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Opinion: 3
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Personal Perspective
America: The Melting Pot