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The history of immigration can be viewed in four differnet eras, The Colonial Period, Midnineteenth Century, Turn of the 2oth Century, and Post 1965. The settling of America began with an idea. That idea was that people can join together and agree to govern themselves by making laws for the common good. With that idea in mind, 102 English colonists set sail in 1620 on the Mayflower. This is considered to be the start of European migration. In 1638 the Swedes began their migration to America. They were an organized group of colonizers sent by the Swedish Government to establish a colony in Delaware. In 1655, the colony was lost to the Dutch. During the colonial era most of the immigrants to the U.S. came from Northern Europe. Their numbers declined during the 1770s, but picked up during the mid 1800s. New arrivals came from several countries, but mostly from Germany and Ireland where crop failures caused many to leave their homelands. Other groups also arrived from the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, the Scandinavian countries, and Eastern Europe. Some significant historic dates in US immigration include the Naturalization Act of 1790 which stipulated that “Any alien, being a free white person, may be admitted to become a citizen of the United States." In 1875 The Supreme Court declared that regulation of US immigration is the responsibility of the Federal Government. In 1891 The Federal Government assumed the task of inspecting, admitting, rejecting, and processing all immigrants seeking admission to the U.S. In the 1924 Act it reduced the number of US immigration visas and allocated them on the basis of national origin. In 1940 The Alien Registration Act required all aliens (non-U.S. citizens) within the United States to register with the Government and receive an Alien Registration Receipt Card (the predecessor of the "Green Card"). Some other facts on the history of immigration would be that most legal immigrants were male but in the 1990’s women accounted for just over half of all legal immigrants, indicating a shift away from male dominated immigration of the past. Also that contemporary immigrants tend to be younger then the native population of the US with people between ages of 15 and 34. And finally that immigrants are also more likely to be married now and less likely to be divorced then native born Americans of the same age. Public opinion about immigration has been changing slightly over the past few years. The gap between the political elite and the public has been increasing. When asked if immigration was a large foreign policy issue, 60% of the public said that it was and in fact they ranked it 6 th on a list of top foreign policy issues. However, only 14% of the political elite felt the same way and they placed immigration 26 th on their list of issues. This was up from 55% and 18% respectively in 1998([|__www.cis.org__], 2008). This creates a political stalemate supporters for amnesty of immigration want one thing, but the public opinion is so strong that it keeps legislatures from doing anything that may be construed as unpopular by the public. When it comes to amnesty for illegal immigrants, however, the public has been changing their opinion slightly over the past few years. In June 2006, 52% of the public thought there needed to be some kind of reform when it came to immigration as compared to 44% who did not want amnesty. In April 2009, 61% supported amnesty while only 35% opposed it ([|__www.immigrationforum.com__], 2009). What was most surprising about the findings is that even though illegal immigration is a much more predominant issue in the Southwest the opinions by region are almost identical on whether or not there should be reforms placed upon immigration. People from the South, East, Midwest, and West were all polled and 54%, 51%, 48%, and 44% all were in favor of a decrease in immigration respectively ([|__www.adweek.com__], 2009). This means that although the issue is more commonly brought up and more directly affects the Southwest they are not alone in their feeling that something needs to be done about the immigrants coming to America. The opinions on immigration are no different when it comes to partisan response either. Both republicans and democrats have increased their percentage of people who want a decrease in immigration. 61% of republicans and 44% of democrats want a decrease, this is up from 46% and 39% just last year ([|__www.adweek.com__], 2009).  Immigration is a large issue in public opinion and that means that it will be and has been talked about immensely both by politicians and the media. It will continue to be an issue of importance until something is done in the legislature that people agree upon and that will help to calm down the public’s opinion on immigration. .

PLAYERS Immigration is an interesting issue when it comes to party stances. The republicans claim to support immigration reform; however, rarely support amnesty for illegal immigrants. Their goal in this is to support measures that ensure a safe, legal and orderly nation, one free of individuals leaving here illegally and taking jobs from legal Americans and sucking up tax dollars. On the other hand, democrats also support immigration reform – on a much larger scale. Democrats claim to want to see everyone have their chance at life, liberty and the pursuit of freedom, no matter where you come from or how you got here. They are more open to the idea of granting amnesty to illegal immigrants and fight for the rights of those living within the borders, legal or not. They believe that because we call ourselves “the land of the free,” everyone deserves a chance to prove themselves. Both parties have not changed much with their respective stances on immigration. However, immigrant minorities have changed their support of parties recently. In 2000 and 2004, there was a sizable chunk of support for President George W. Bush and the republicans in the presidential elections. In the 2008 elections, 68 percent of latinos supported Barack Obama over the republican candidate, Sen. John McCain (U.S. News & World Report, 2009). There are many interest groups involved in the immigration debate – some of which mask themselves as non-partisan and are really not. Some of the major ones include the American Immigration Control Foundation (history of supporting republican amendments), the Federation for American Immigration Reform (leans conservative), and the American Civil Liberties Union and AFL-CIO – both of which tend to support amnesty and policies from the democrats. A perfect example of a party using the media to change public opinion on the issue is right after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York. Immediately after, the Bush administration made flying more difficult, increasing FAA regulations that included profiling. Immigration was brought to the forefront once again and the borders were shut and the country was isolated.

Sources: http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/politics/2009/01/30/republicans-and-latino-voters-has-the-gop-shifted-on-immigration-reform.html http://www.cis.org/