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Immigration to the United States is a complex demographic phenomenon that has been a major source of population growth and cultural change throughout much of the history of the United States. The economic, social, and political aspects of immigration have caused controversy regarding ethnicity, economic benefits, jobs for non-immigrants, settlement patterns, impact on upward social mobility, crime, and voting behavior. On a per capita basis, the United States lets in fewer immigrants than half the countries in the OECD.〔 Prior to 1965, policies such as the national origins formula limited immigration and naturalization opportunities for people from areas outside Western Europe. The civil rights movement of the 1960s led to the replacement〔 of these ethnic quotas with per-country limits.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Per Country Limit ) in 1965.〕 Since then, the number of first-generation immigrants living in the United States has quadrupled,〔 from 9.6 million in 1970 to about 38 million in 2007.〔 Nearly 14 million immigrants entered the United States from 2000 to 2010,〔"(Immigrant Population at Record 40 Million in 2010 )". Yahoo! News. October 6, 2011.〕 and over one million persons were naturalized as U.S. citizens in 2008. The per-country limit〔 applies the same maximum on the number of visas to all countries regardless of their population and has therefore had the effect of significantly restricting immigration of persons born in populous nations such as Mexico, China, India, and the Philippines – the leading countries of origin for legally admitted immigrants to the United States in 2013; nevertheless, China, India, and Mexico were the leading countries of origin for immigrants overall to the United States in 2013, regardless of legal status, according to a U.S. Census Bureau study. , 66% of legal immigrants were admitted on the basis of family ties, along with 13% admitted for their employment skills and 17% for humanitarian reasons.〔 Migration is difficult, expensive, and dangerous for those who enter the US illegally across the Mexico–United States border.〔 Virtually all undocumented immigrants have no avenues for legal entry to the United States due the restrictive legal limits on green cards, and lack of immigrant visas for low skilled workers.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Why Don't They Just Get In Line? )〕 Participants in debates on immigration in the early twenty-first century called for increasing enforcement of existing laws governing illegal immigration to the United States, building a barrier along some or all of the U.S.-Mexico border, or creating a new guest worker program. Through much of 2006 the country and Congress was immersed in a debate about these proposals. few of these proposals had become law, though a partial border fence had been approved and subsequently canceled.〔 ==History== (詳細はindentured servants.〔 The mid-19th century saw mainly an influx from northern Europe; the early 20th-century mainly from Southern and Eastern Europe; post-1965 mostly from Latin America and Asia. Historians estimate that fewer than 1 million immigrants came to the United States from Europe between 1600 and 1799.〔 The 1790 Act limited naturalization to "free white persons"; it was expanded to include blacks in the 1860s and Asians in the 1950s.〔 In the early years of the United States, immigration was fewer than 8,000 people a year,〔 including French refugees from the slave revolt in Haiti. After 1820, immigration gradually increased. From 1836 to 1914, over 30 million Europeans migrated to the United States.〔 The death rate on these transatlantic voyages was high, during which one in seven travelers died.〔 In 1875, the nation passed its first immigration law, the Page Act of 1875.〔 The peak year of European immigration was in 1907, when 1,285,349 persons entered the country.〔 By 1910, 13.5 million immigrants were living in the United States.〔 In 1921, the Congress passed the Emergency Quota Act, followed by the Immigration Act of 1924. The 1924 Act was aimed at further restricting immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe, particularly Jews, Italians, and Slavs, who had begun to enter the country in large numbers beginning in the 1890s.〔 Immigration patterns of the 1930s were dominated by the Great Depression. In the final prosperous year, 1929, there were 279,678 immigrants recorded,〔 but in 1933, only 23,068 came to the U.S.〔 In the early 1930s, more people emigrated from the United States than to it.〔 The U.S. government sponsored a Mexican Repatriation program which was intended to encourage people to voluntarily move to Mexico, but thousands were deported against their will.〔 Altogether about 400,000 Mexicans were repatriated.〔 Most of the Jewish refugees fleeing the Nazis and World War II were barred from coming to the United States.〔 In the post-war era, the Justice Department launched Operation Wetback, under which 1,075,168 Mexicans were deported in 1954.〔 The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, also known as the Hart-Cellar Act, abolished the system of national-origin quotas. By equalizing immigration policies, the act resulted in new immigration from non-European nations, which changed the ethnic make-up of the United States.〔 In 1970, 60% of immigrants were from Europe; this decreased to 15% by 2000.〔 In 1990, George H. W. Bush signed the Immigration Act of 1990,〔 which increased legal immigration to the United States by 40%.〔 In 1991, Bush signed the Armed Forces Immigration Adjustment Act 1991, allowing foreign service members who had serve 12 or more years in the US Armed Forces to qualify for permanent residency and, in some cases, citizenship. Appointed by Bill Clinton,〔 the U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform recommended reducing legal immigration from about 800,000 people per year to approximately 550,000.〔 While an influx of new residents from different cultures presents some challenges, "the United States has always been energized by its immigrant populations," said President Bill Clinton in 1998. "America has constantly drawn strength and spirit from wave after wave of immigrants () They have proved to be the most restless, the most adventurous, the most innovative, the most industrious of people."〔 Nearly 8 million people immigrated to the United States from 2000 to 2005; 3.7 million of them entered without papers.〔〔 Since 1986 Congress has passed seven amnesties for undocumented immigrants.〔 In 1986 president Ronald Reagan signed immigration reform that gave amnesty to 3 million undocumented immigrants in the country.〔 Hispanic immigrants suffered job losses during the late-2000s recession,〔 but since the recession's end in June 2009, immigrants posted a net gain of 656,000 jobs.〔 Over 1 million immigrants were granted legal residence in 2011.〔("U.S. Legal Permanent Residents: 2011" ). Office of Immigration Statistics ''Annual Flow Report.''〕 ;Persons Obtaining Legal Permanent Resident Status Fiscal Years〔(Legal Immigration to the United States, 1820-Present )〕 Source: US Department of Homeland Security, ''Persons Obtaining Legal Permanent Resident Status: Fiscal Years 1950 to 2013''〔"(Yearbook of Immigration Statistics: 2012 - Legal Permanent Residents )". U.S. Department of Homeland Security〕〔"(U.S. Lawful Permanent Residents: 2013 )" (PDF). Annual Flow Report, May 2014〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Immigration to the United States」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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