Theories

With each immigration wave that the United States has experienced, the culture and context of life in the United States have changed considerably.

Immigrants who are considered members of ethnic groups already residing within the United States often have advantages over native-born members of those groups.

Although the United States was created through immigration and has absorbed a steady stream of newcomers from many lands throughout its history, the term “immigrant” remains an often unclear or ambiguous word for many Americans. . .

Sociologist Milton Gordon’s concept of identificational assimilation helps to explain how minority groups develop a sense of peoplehood, an important stage in the assimilation of U.S. immigrants.

In 1938, shortly before he died, social historian Marcus Lee Hansen revolutionized the understanding of the assimilation of immigrant generations into American life by suggesting that assimilation and ethnic identity within the so-called melting pot of America were far more complex than had been assumed.

The eugenics movement had a significant influence on U.S. immigration policy. Politicians, reformers, and civic leaders imbued with a sense of Americanism and scientific justification enacted laws to limit immigration to what they regarded as “desirable” types.

As a concept cultural pluralism is an alternative to the “melting pot” view that immigrants should assimilate to American culture by abandoning their own cultures, languages, and other traditions.

As a result of family members or neighbors contacting others from their home countries for purposes of inspiring them to become their new neighbors in America, chain migration has had a significant impact on the history and growth of immigration to the United States.

Through its many publications, public statements and links to conservative legislators, the Center for Immigration Studies has become an influential voice in the congressional debate over immigration policy.