Immigration #2

           It was interesting to learn about the reactions of Americans throughout history to immigration. When people immigrated from Europe in the 1920s, Americans had very similar negative reactions as they do today to the growing number of immigrants, causing the government to create stricter policies and the citizens to discriminate against the outsiders.  A lot of those who benefit in some ways economically from immigration also have to sacrifice in other areas. Although increased immigration may raise taxes, immigrants are paid less for labor resulting in cheaper goods for sale, so people end up saving money on some things while paying more for others. It was also interesting that some people solely benefit from immigration, being able to use cheaper labor in their businesses. The jobs immigrants take in some places are considered the jobs denied by Americans for being too much work, bad conditions, or low pay, but then in places without immigrants Americans work these same jobs. Also, immigrants often move into cities where there are more job opportunities, so the people who would accept those jobs in rural areas could be able to deny them in urban communities.

        I also found it interesting that globalists and nationalists are divided on much more than just immigration. The disagreements stretch to looking at the world as a whole and either wanting to have an integrated world or completely divide into unrelated countries. In the mid-20th century, a lot of countries were for globalization, but they overreached, by forming international agreements that negatively impacted their countries’ economies. For example, America’s agreement with China in 2000 resulted in a significant loss of American jobs as the jobs were moved overseas to China. Again Americans were able to buy cheaper goods, but a certain part of the population lost their entire income. This caused many countries to move to a more nationalistic view, dividing them from the countries that supported globalism. After Europe had worked to globalize by creating the EU in the late 1900s, the negative cultural and economic impacts caused countries to move towards nationalism with Britain recently leaving the union.   

Even within countries those for globalism are likely for immigration as well, wanting the countries to all work together, while others who are against immigration for fear of losing their culture or jobs, would be more in favor of nationalism, advocating for their country to be separate from others, and not wanting to work together. Countries like America often allow immigration, but they encourage the immigrants to assimilate into the native culture, changing more people to be like them, instead of joining with different cultures and countries.