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��tl��;M�71�' Tl�Tcnti�m Elise Kendall �" $�h Grade � RAMS � Mr. Bibeau � Human Rights Essay What is the American Dream? We are taught through hard work we can find a better life in America. Is this true for an immigrant? For some immigrantsthis is true. They struck gold in Americawhich made their lives better but, for most, they were left poor and living in substandardneighborhoods strugglingfor a better life. Is the grass really greener on the other side? I will explore how the changes in immigration throughout the centuries have affected today's current attitudes of immigration in the United States. For ce�i�ies, immigrants have been coming to the United States for a variety of reasons; to escape war, poverty, famine and many other uncontrolled issues with their country. Before 1882, anyone could come to America and many did. With the huge jump in population, the Federal Government decided to control who came in to the United States. Throughout the twentieth century many laws were created regardix�.g what immigrants could and could not da Many early laws were focused on non-white immigrants such as the Chinese or Africans. Some laws protected racial, religious, and ethnic outlooks of the United States, while others discouraged certain races to immigrate. Only people of certain background and heritage were allowed to move to the United States. J�'Ian�� employment laws and child-labor laws were created at the expense of poor immigrants that had been maimed or worse, lost their lives because no one protected their rights. After World War I� Congress passed the Displaced Person Act, which allowed people left homeless after the war to move to the United States. This meant now all races would be allowed to immigrate. Immigrationlaws today now deal with modem immigrationproblems such as the amount of people coming into the United States at a time. Since 1970, immigration in the United States has almost tripled. As of the year 2000, the United States had 13.1 million foreign-born people and that is the o�ciai count not the unreported illegal immigrates not accounted for. Immigration is a huge issue in America. People should he able to move and live in any country they please but, there does have to he a limit on how many people can be living in one country at a time. Animals can move around and live wherever they please without being stopped so why can't humans? I think that everyone should be able to