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Student’s name: Tung Vu
Professor’s name: Donald L. Cassiday
Course: ENGL 1020
Date: July 26th 2017
Immigration in Nebraska
Immigration is the process by which a person or a group of individuals move to a
foreign country to reside in the region permanently or temporarily. Immigration can either be
legal or illegal. For an immigration process to be legal in the U.S, the persons involved have
to follow the policies set by the states before being approved and rendered as American
citizens. Nebraska State has a long history concerning immigration because many immigrants
from different parts of the world settled here, which also included the Native Americans who
also settled in Nebraska from various regions in the United States. Nebraska State represents
a history of many Europeans who moved to the United States in search of better lives, with
the application of hard work and sacrifice to achieve their goals and dreams.
The movement into Nebraska, therefore, resulted in the encountering of different
people from different regions with different ethnicity, language, and religion, making it
difficult to communicate and work together. This in turn led to tension and sometimes
violence in the state of Nebraska. In the early 20th century, there was a massive influx in the
number of immigrants into the state as more than half a million moved into the state at that
time, compared to immigration numbers in the 19th century. Nebraska roots grew
significantly at this time with individuals who prefer more independence transferred to the
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north of Nebraska. The growth was primarily experienced in the economy of the state, as well
as a communal growth (these included both political amendments and social activities). A
unicameral system of governance was introduced into the state after the vote passed a bill for
its introduction in 1934 and the first session began in 1937 and is still used to date.
Luebke & Frederick , (12), state that Nebraska State immigration law was first
enacted in 1882. It was then revised in 1892 and later in 1902. This law was created due to
the distinct anti-Chinese sentiments on the west coast, as many people came here to work
from China. The Chinese were not interested in assimilation, and there were also racial
overtones. At this time, Japanese, south Asians and Filipinos immigrants’ started getting into
the state, which led to the enactment of the first all-purpose federal immigration legislation in
1920. Over the years, Nebraska became home to a lot of immigrants moving to the United
States in search of better working and living conditions. Most of the immigrants are unskilled
and therefore work as labourers and mostly work on the end product in meat packing
business instead of the beginning products since agricultural economic activities require
skilled labour.
Examples of such tasks include:
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Offering transportation services.
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Meat packaging in the processing companies.
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Cattle rearing.
•
Taking care of the firms.
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In the city areas, evidence of high influx immigration in the Nebraska state can be seen by
looking at school data indicating the change in the composition of the state. Five years ago,
data collected from Lincoln public schools’ English language learner’s program student body
was mainly made of the Iraq and students from Kosovo and Bosnia. In Lexington, most of the
community is Hispanic; however, recent research shows the presence of both Ethiopian and
Liberian workers. Less attention is given to matching immigrants’ culture making it harder to
acculturate new immigrants.
In Nebraska State, there are immigration laws set by the state as an effort to regulate
immigration and curb illegal immigration. The laws defined by the states offer the guidelines
established to be followed by law enforcement, employers, an extensive E-verify
requirements and education institutions when assessing immigration status of an individual.
Under law enforcement and immigration in Nebraska there exist a federal program called
secure communities whereby all arrested persons are fingerprinted and then run through the
federal database to check the individuals’ criminal record and immigration status, which
defines an individual’s restriction on public benefit based on their immigration status. During
employment checks, the laws regarding immigrations refer to federal employment eligibility
verification rules and the requirement for form 1-9.
The state of Nebraska E-verify requirements law states that both the local and state
government and contractors are obligated to use E-verify. In regards to giving of driver’s
licenses or identification requirements, the law states that applicants of Nebraska driver’s
license or state identification cards must declare their legal residence or American citizenship
and must provide proof of that. Regarding public benefit restrictions, under the federal law,
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illegal immigrants in Nebraska State are restricted from receiving public benefits since
offering public benefits to illegal immigrants’ strains the economy. They are however
allowed to receive health care, emergency services and any other service that is deemed
necessary to protect life and safety. Under housing ordinances and immigration, the state
laws make it illegal to hire or rent housing services to undocumented or illegal immigrants.
Other immigration rules in Nebraska State dictate that former employees deported due to
their immigration status cannot claim refunds, state tax credits or exemptions
(Communications, 123).
Illegal immigration in Nebraska accounts for about 2.8% of states population
according to research conducted in 2012. The study shows that there are about 55,000
unauthorized immigrants in the state. According to the United States Census Bureau reports
on 2013, about 8% of Nebraska population constituted of immigrants. For Nebraska’s welfare
to be appealing for the residents, the regions’ statutes require the immigration policies and
laws to be followed since they allow for better planning and budgeting of available resources
in the state. Also, the illegal immigration should be discouraged since it causes a strain in the
available economic amenities available for use in any state. Individuals in search of better
living and working conditions in the United States should follow the proper guidelines in
acquiring citizenship in America. Official and institutions associated with immigration should
uphold ethical practices and fairness when dealing with the various immigration cases. They
should also honour, respect and follow immigration guidelines as provided by the
immigration laws and policies (Allport, 32-64).
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As aforementioned, Nebraska has been experiencing a high immigration rate over
time. In most cases, the immigrants tend to look for better living standards and livelihoods.
Consequently, most of these individuals tend to be under skilled, and not specialized to
undertake technical ventures that may require technical knowledge and skills. As a result,
most of this group end up working as labourers in both domestic and commercial fields.
Citation
Allport, Alan. Immigration Policy. Infobase Publishing, 2009.
Communications, College of Journalism and Mass. Strategic Discussions for Nebraska: Immigration in
Nebraska. University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2008.
Luebke, Frederick C. Nebraska : an Illustrated History. U of Nebraska Press, 2005.
Running head: ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY
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ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY
Name: Tung Vu
Course: English Composition 2
Instructor: Donald L. Cassiday
Date: July 18th 2017
Immigrants and the Labor Market
Over the years, the United States has witnessed an influx of both legal and illegal
immigrants who seek to live and work in the country. This movement has been a major
subject of interest that has attracted debate across the nation. Some sections of the population
claim that continuous immigration is likely to cause job losses while lowering the wages,
especially for the poor American workers. On the other hand, other people argue that
immigration is good for the nation basing their argument on the idea that continuous
immigration will increase production activities leading to higher wages as a result of an
expanded economy. Therefore, this study seeks to support the argument that immigrants will
take jobs meant for the American workers and lower their wages, especially for the societal
poor people, by researching on articles that support the paper’s argument.
Agreeably, the population of immigrants moving into the United States has been
increasing over the years. According to Procon.org (2016), there are approximately eleven
million illegal immigrants living and working in America. Also, the nation admits an
estimated one million legal immigrants every year. These immigrants often compete with the
Native Americans for the available jobs. Ideally, the supply of labour is inversely
proportional to the price that employers are willing to offer as wages in exchange for labour.
Therefore, as the population of immigrants increases the amount of labour supply increases
leading to decreased wages. From an economics viewpoint, an increase in the immigrant
population will increase the demand for consumer products leading to the expansion of the
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ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY
economy that favours the creation of jobs for newly developed industries. However, this
increase is disproportionate since statistics often reveal that an increase in the population of
workers by say 10 percent may only cause a slight adjustment in the industrial growth while
the negative effect on the jobs and wages for the native Americans is immense, (Procon.org,
2016).
Soderlin (2017) claims that the influx of foreign workers has enabled the growth of
agricultural firms in Nebraska since the immigrants provide cheaper labour that allows
different companies to maximize on production while saving on the basic costs of production.
On the other hand, opportunities for the poor American workers are taken by the immigrant
workers. For instance, Soderlin notes that should Trump’s administration implement its
immigration policies, decreased numbers of immigrants will move to areas such as Nebraska
to offer their unskilled labour in agricultural work that would in turn create higher demand
for the native American workers causing a rise in the wages, (Soderlin, 2017). Therefore,
immigration takes jobs from the Native Americans, reduces the wages, and hurts the poor
citizens. Importantly, most of the immigrants are less educated and less skilled, and therefore,
their net effect is on the lowly skilled and less educated Americans. Besides, economists feel
that the low skilled and uneducated immigrants often consume more public resources as
compared to the amount of taxes they contribute as a result of engaging in cheap labour,
(Jaynes, 2009). Therefore, the immigrants cause an overall negative effect on the labour
market by taking away jobs from the American workers, reducing the wages, and affecting
the poor American. According to Nowrasteh (2016), the immigrants cause a slight increase in
the wages of a few senior workers, but create significant competition for jobs that require less
skills and education. In this case, the agricultural companies in Nebraska might require
employing immigrants that provide cheap labour in their farms as opposed to employing the
educated and skilled Americans.
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ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY
In conclusion, the influx of immigrants into the United States will not only take away
jobs from the American people, but will also decrease the overall wages since immigrants are
willing to provide cheaper labour owing to their low skills and levels of education. Therefore,
this will hurt the poor American citizen because he or she will be forced into either remaining
unemployed, or performing involving tasks at a lower compensation.
References
Porter, Eduardo. "Immigration and the Labor Market." The New York Times. The
New York Times, 25 June 2013. Web. 18 July 2017.
"Labor Market Effects of Immigration Enforcement at Meatpacking Plants in Seven
States." Center for Immigration Studies. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 July 2017. https://cis.org/LaborMarket-Effects-Immigration-Enforcement-Meatpacking-Plants-Seven-States
Soderlin, Barbara. "Nebraska, Iowa agriculture businesses fear Trump's immigration
policies will cause loss of labor." Omaha.com. N.p., 20 Mar. 2017. Web. 19 July 2017.
http://www.omaha.com/money/nebraska-iowa-agriculture-businesses-fear-trump-simmigration-policies-will/article_6f1ec62d-b34e-597e-92dd-a4be2f4f4b7e.html
"Latino Immigrants Are Changing the Politics of ... Nebraska!" The American
Prospect. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 July 2017. http://prospect.org/article/latino-immigrants-arechanging-politics-%E2%80%A6-nebraska
"New Americans in Nebraska." American Immigration Council. N.p., 08 Aug. 2016.
Web. 19 July 2017. https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/new-americansnebraska
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