From what I’ve gathered (based on my own experiences in the city and from the readings and discussions we’ve had in class), immigrants not only make up our city, but they define it. When Europeans first settled in Chicago, we had a lot of cultures coming together, making the city what it has become. Today, we experience large groups of Hispanic populations immigrating to Chicago, and it is starting to change our culture, including more Spanish signs and directions, introducing new foods, holidays, and rituals, and possibly most important to the economy, supplying Chicago and the United States with cheap labor from illegal immigrants and more of a pronounced Hispanic population in custodial work, lawn maintenance, and un-sought-after-jobs.
The biggest difference between today’s immigrants and the immigrants from the past is the stigma of illegality and the economy. Back in the 1930s, the economy was starting to be on the rise due to war and industrialization. Today we are facing the biggest recession since the Great Depression. This means that more people are out of work, and the unskilled labor that they could take over is being done by immigrants who will work for less. This places a negative stigma on the new Hispanic immigrants in Chicago and all over the country. Going off of this topic is the illegal immigrants who work for less, don’t pay taxes, and (who many Americans believe, but not me personally) get away with using public aid and public assistance and aren’t contributing with things like state and federal taxes. It is all a big mess, due to the fact that it is a different time.
The immigration experience is not an easy one for any time in any city, however, there are some factors that make immigrating today much harder than in years past (besides the economy and legality). The biggest factor is how strongly Hispanic families want to hold on to their culture and language, yet they want to be American citizens. Although this is not the case for all families, it does harden and hinder the immigration process, taking families longer to get on their feet, and more generations to get to the point of assimilation.
Overall, the process of immigration seems ridiculously difficult, and I applaud immigrants both past and present for their incredible journeys and successful integration to the United States.
Great post. I agree with you that many of the paranoid delusions American-born citizens hold against immigrants are rather unfortunate. The one that annoys me the most is the "they don't pay taxes!" argument. At the very least, they pay sales tax which is valuable in itself.
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