The Documented Essay. Immigrants Fitting In. Social Sciences

Name:
Instructor:
Course:
Date:
Immigrants Fitting In
According to the immigration report of 2017 by the United Nations, there is a continual growth in the number of immigrants worldwide in the recent years. There were an estimated 258 million people in 2007 who were classified as immigrants (United Nations). This is from 220 million in the year 2010 and 173 million in the year 2000. More than 60% of all the immigrants are recorded to live in Asia at an estimated 80 million, other in Europe at 78 million and North America is the third largest at 58 million, while Africa comes in at number four with an estimated 25 million (United Nations). Others are distributed among Latin America, Caribbean and Oceania. These are the figures that have significantly reconfigured the dynamics at the policy, social and individual levels. While the numbers are important, they do not match with the struggles that immigrants have to deal with when trying to settle in (United Nations). While most of them are trying to leave behind their homelands in a search of a better future, that future is only as elusive as their ability to find their true identity.
For the most part, being an immigrant is a struggle in itself, having escaped some element suffering from the mother country that are not as pleasant. For most of the immigrants there are several reasons that cause them to abandon their homeland, fortunes, heritage, cultures and even families to come into a new land where they know no one. One of the most common reasons relates to politics and war dynamics. In the recent years, there has been an influx in the number of immigrants that have come to the western nations, looking for asylum. For them, there is not much to go back to see that their countries are on fire from all the infighting and death. Immigrants from countries such as Yemen and Syria have fled from their countries, mainly because of the fighting and as such they are in search of safe havens where they can start over. The other main reason is usually education and generally a better life. This is a course for most of the people that seek scholarships and green cards. They are in search of a better life that their country cannot offer (Mukherjee). In some of the cases, the foreign country offers better education, health services, social welfare and the like, that their countries have skimped on.
Whichever the reasons that immigrants have for moving away from their homeland and seeking a better place to start over, there is always the challenge of settling in and being accepted by the natives. One of the key elements that plaques most of the immigrants including their descendants, is cultural identity. For example, coming to America as an Indian, means that one is trailing along the cultural identity of being an Indian and there is also the opportunity to start over and take on the American identity. For a wide number of immigrants, it is the most tasking element of living abroad (Nuñez). They are constantly trying to toe the line between being an Indian or taking on the American identity and mannerism (Bahrani). If they retain their cultural practices, it means that will be able to maintain their mannerism in an environment that does not accept them for their differences. ...