Unit 1: Industrialization, Immigration & The Progressive Movement

Nicholas Kristof

A BOOK, “The Christian Examiner,” warns that “ill-clad and destitute” immigrants are “repulsive to our habits and our tastes.”

A former mayor of New York City cautions that they bring disease, “wretchedness and want” to America. And Harper’s Weekly despairs that these immigrants are “steeped in ignorance” and account for a disproportionate share of criminals. Boy, those foreigners were threatening — back in the mid-1800s when those statements were made about Irish immigrants. Once again, the United States is split by vitriolic debates about how to handle immigrants, following President Obama’s executive action to shield millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation. To me, the outrage seems driven by three myths:

Many Americans see foreigners moving into their towns, see signs in Spanish, and fret about changes to the traditional fabric of society. That’s an echo of the anxiety Theodore Roosevelt felt in 1918 when, referring to German and other non-Anglo European immigrants, he declared, “Every immigrant who comes here should be required within five years to learn English or leave the country.” That’s an echo of the “yellow peril” scares about Chinese and Japanese immigrants.

It’s true that undocumented immigrants may lower wages in some sectors, harming low-skilled native-born Americans who compete with them. One study suggests that a 10 percent increase in the size of a skill group lowers the wages of blacks in that group by 2.5 percent. Yet just look around. Immigration has hugely enriched our country. For starters, unless you are a full-blooded American Indian, we have you. Nations, like carpets, benefit from multiple kinds of threads, and Tony Blair, the former British prime minister, was right: “It is a good rule of thumb to ask of a country: Are people trying to get into it or out of it?”

Immigrants today are different because they’re illegals. They’re parasites.

Look, people aren’t legal or illegal, behaviors are. If an investment banker is convicted of insider trading, he doesn’t become an illegal. So let’s refer not to “illegal immigrants” but to “undocumented immigrants.” They have contributed $100 billion to Social Security over a decade without any intention of collecting benefits, thus shoring up the system, according to Stephen C. Goss, the chief actuary for the Social Security Administration. At the state and local level, households headed by unauthorized immigrants paid another $11 billion in taxes in 2010 alone. If these migrants are given work permits and brought into the system, they will contribute $45 billion over five years in payroll taxes to the United States economy, according to the Center for American Progress.

Parasites? No, they’re assets.

Immigration reform is an unconstitutional power grab by a dictator.

Senator Ted Cruz compared Obama’s executive action to the Catiline conspirators seeking to overthrow the Roman Republic. House Speaker John Boehner suggested that it was the action of an “emperor.” Look, I’ve reported in many dictatorships (and been detained in some of them). And Obama is no dictator. It’s difficult for me to judge the legality of Obama’s executive action, because I’m not an expert on legal issues like prosecutorial discretion. But neither are critics furious at Obama. We have a broken, byzantine immigration system — anybody who deals with it is staggered by the chaos — because politicians are too craven to reform it. At least Obama is attempting to modernize it.

Yes, it’s troubling that Obama previously argued he didn’t have this authority. Yes, his executive action is on a huge scale — but it is not entirely new. Obama’s action affects 45 percent of undocumented immigrants, compared to the 40 percent affected by President George H.W. Bush’s in 1990. Let’s leave the legal dispute for the experts to resolve.

I see a different hypocrisy in Obama’s action. He spoke eloquently Thursday evening about the need to treat migrants humanely — and yet this is the “deporter in chief” who has deported more immigrants than any of his predecessors. We as taxpayers have spent vast sums breaking up families and incarcerating honest men and women who just want to work. By a 2011 estimate, more than 5,000 children who are United States citizens are with foster families because their parents have been detained or deported.

We need empathy, and humility. My father, a refugee from Eastern Europe, was preparing a fraudulent marriage to an American citizen as a route to this country when he was sponsored, making fraud unnecessary. My wife’s grandfather bought papers from another Chinese villager to be able to come to the United States.

So remember: What most defines the 11 million undocumented immigrants in America is not illegality but undaunted courage and ambition for a better life. What separates their families from most of ours is simply the passage of time — and the lottery of birth.

1. 
   Which theme is MOST reflected in this reading?
   
   1. 
      Immigration is a problem that needs to be addressed as soon as possible.
      
   2. 
      Americans have a misunderstanding of the effects of immigration.
      
   3. 
      President Obama lacks the constitutional authority to make the necessary changes to immigration policy.
      
   4. 
      Irish immigrants have long been a problem in America
      
      
2. 
   Which statement best describes how the author’s use of the statements made about Irish immigrants in the mid-1800s influences the reader?
   
   1. 
      It causes the reader to feel animosity and anger towards the Irish.
      
   2. 
      It causes the reader to feel sympathy for the Irish immigrants.
      
   3. 
      It causes the reader to rethink some negative feelings towards modern day immigrants
      
   4. 
      It causes the reader to embrace all immigration
      
      
3. 
   What is meant by the word vitriolic as used in the passage? (first full paragraph)
   
   1. 
      Loud and noisy
      
   2. 
      Passionate
      
   3. 
      Infrequent
      
   4. 
      Unnecessary
      
      
4. 
   Based on what you read, how would Teddy Roosevelt respond to the points made by the author of this passage?
   
   1. 
      He would dismiss them because of his stern views on immigrants
      
   2. 
      He would like them because they coincide with his own opinions
      
   3. 
      He would agree with the author on everything except presidential power
      
   4. 
      He would disagree with immigrants coming to America
      
      
      
5. 
   Which is NOT a problem posed by immigrants and mentioned in the passage?
   
   1. 
      Burden on taxpayers
      
   2. 
      Lower wages
      
   3. 
      Harm low skilled, native born Americans
      
   4. 
      Negatively affect wages of blacks
      
      
6. 
   Which statement best explains the author’s stance on the use of the term “illegal immigrant?”
   
   1. 
      Use the term when appropriate because immigrants who came to the US illegally should be termed illegal immigrants.
      
   2. 
      Stop using the term because people are not illegal, only their actions are
      
   3. 
      Continue using the term because most Americans identify with it
      
   4. 
      Use the term less because it lowers self-esteems
      
      
7. 
   Which of these is a synonym for “byzantine” as used in the passage? (last paragraph on first page)
   
   1. 
      Roman, because the Byzantines lived when the Romans did
      
   2. 
      Outdated, because the Byzantine Empire disappeared years ago
      
   3. 
      Broken, because that term was also used
      
   4. 
      Working, because sometimes opposite terms are used to make a point
      
      
8. 
   Why did the author refer to President Obama as the “deporter in chief?” (second paragraph on second page)
   
   1. 
      President Obama has deported the most illegal immigrants
      
   2. 
      President Obama wishes to deport all illegal immigrants
      
   3. 
      President Obama himself avoided being deported
      
   4. 
      President Obama coined the phrase himself
      
      
9. 
   Which statement best summarizes how the author constructs their argument?
   
   1. 
      He uses only facts and statistics to support his premise
      
   2. 
      He uses personal narratives and stories to appeal to the reader’s feelings
      
   3. 
      He uses a combination of statistics and personal testimony to make his argument
      
   4. 
      He uses chronological order of events to construct his argument
      
      
10. 
    Which statement best completes the incomplete summary of the article?
    

• 
  Fear and anger has been misdirected at immigrants for over a century.
  
• 
  Immigrants are not a threat to the American way of life.
  
• 
  Immigrants should be viewed more as assets to the country than freeloaders.
  
• 
  _____________________________________________________________
  
  

1. 
   Immigration reform should be avoided because it is unconstitutional.
   
2. 
   Immigration reform is not needed because immigrants bring no problems.
   
3. 
   Immigration reform is needed to lessen the negative impact of immigrants.
   
4. 
   Immigration reform can be done humanely and constitutionally.
   

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2014: 11.4 undocumented immigrants

2013: over 662,000 undocumented immigrants arrested, over 64% of them from Mexico

2013: 438,421 unauthorized immigrants removed from the US, 45% of them with prior criminal records

Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC – refers to undocumented children who came to US without parents) and how much money the government spent on programs to help them.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/06/us/immigration-statistics-fast-facts/

2012: 14,721 - $278 million

2013: 24,668 - $376 million

2014: 60,000 (estimated) - $911 million

Learning Goal 8 – I will be able to:

2. 
   Support & Opposition
   
   1. 
      Some supported immigration like Business leaders who wanted cheap labor, Churches, political bosses/machines because it would give them power.
      
   2. 
      Many more opposed like labor unions (would take jobs from Americans) and Nativists who feared too many immigrants were being allowed in and who would refuse to learn American customs and the English language and would take away from American culture
      
      1. 
         Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 – banned C. immigration for 10 yrs
         
3. 
   Overall, immigrants came in large numbers
   
   1. 
      Took days or weeks to get to a European port
      
   2. 
      Rode in steerage – below ship’s deck – hot, cramped, many got seasick
      
4. 
   Adjusting to a New Life
   
   1. 
      Ethnic Neighborhoods –neighborhoods with others from same country
      
      1. 
         Common language, food, religion, culture, etc.
         
      2. 
         Started businesses – opened shops, banks, etc.
         
   2. 
      Benevolent Societies – Organizations that helped immigrants
      
   3. 
      Problems immigrants faced
      
      1. 
         Tenements – overcrowded apartment style buildings
         
      2. 
         Many new immigrants were farmers back home but lacked $$ to buy land
         
         1. 
            Worked in mines and factories in cities – low wages, long hours
            
         2. 
            Others worked in sweatshops working long hours in hot, unhealthy conditions making clothing
            
         3. 
            Some worked as bakers, carpenters, or as skilled workers
            
      3. 
         Helped in industrial growth of Pittsburgh and the nation
         

-1. Church leaders supported immigration b/c many immigrants were persecuted. _____________________________________________________________________________

-2. Unions supported immigration because they needed workers. _________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________

-3. The Chinese Exclusion Act was the 1^st time the US Congress forbade a group from coming. _____________________________________________________________________________

-4. The tenements in ethnic neighborhoods caused benevolent societies to help. _____________________________________________________________________________

-5. Nativists encouraged more immigrants to come to America. __________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________

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