Immigration.....such a challenging issue!

Let’s talk about a  current  topic: IMMIGRATION.

What is immigration?   

According to Wikipedia “immigration is the movement of people into a destination country to which they are not native or do not possess its citizenship in order to settle or reside there, especially as permanent residents or naturalized citizens, or to take-up employment as a migrant worker or temporarily as a foreign worker”

In Italy the situation has been getting difficult lately and, in my opinion, we can’t help dealing with it.

Anyway, what we are considering in our programme is the early 20th century immigration to the U.S.A.

Ellis Island was considered a gate to the country.

It opened in 1892 as a federal immigration station, a purpose it served for more than 60 years.

It is said that at least 40 percent of all current U.S. citizens have their ancestors to Ellis Island.

Here is a video about arrivals in Ellis Island from the website History

When Ellis Island opened, a great change was taking place in immigration to the United States. Arrivals from northern and western Europe slowed and more and more immigrants came from southern and eastern Europe. Among this new generation were Jews escaping from political and economic oppression and Italians escaping poverty in their country. Everybody  had hopes for greater opportunity in the New World.

After an arduous sea voyage, immigrants passed through long lines for medical and legal inspections to determine if they  were fit for the United States. From 1900 to 1914 from 5,000 to 10,000 people passed through the immigration station every day.  80 percent successfully passed , but others were detained for days or weeks.

Passage of the Immigrant Quota Act of 1921 and the National Origins Act of 1924, which limited the number and nationality of immigrants allowed into the United States, effectively ended the era of mass immigration into New York.

Ellis Island opened to the public in 1976. Today, visitors can tour the Ellis Island Immigration Museum in the restored Main Arrivals Hall and trace their ancestors through millions of immmigrants.

Task: Find out the main current Italian  immigration rules and make a comparison with American and British ones. Report them into a talk which we are going to discuss when in class, giving your opinion about this challenging topic.

See you soon!

Prof