Living During The Progressive Era Essay

America is a country that lets in thousands, nearly millions, of immigrants each year. In fact, approximately 3,687,564 foreigners arrived in our country between the years 1891 and 1900. The United States’ biggest cities, including New York City and Los Angeles, have grown from international ports to diverse metropolises that hold hundreds of cultures. There have been several acts put in place by the government to control the influx of immigrants. People looking forward to coming to the United States to escape religious prosecution or to start a new life are being stopped by the government. Are we stopping brilliant minds from making inventions to institutionalize the world by not letting them through our borders? Or, is the government limiting the immigration of people to save jobs to American citizens? Living during the Progressive Era was very inspiring,
This place was called Ellis Island. People entering the eastern side of the United States would have to go to Ellis Island and get background checks in order to get into the country. Some people were deported and sent back to their home country because they weren’t healthy, or they didn’t have the right to. There were so many people migrating to the United States that the government had to put even more laws on immigrants. One was called the General Immigration Act of 1882. This act put the biggest borders on foreigners, laborers or not. The law limited the immigration of “any convict, lunatic, idiot, or any person unable to take care of himself or herself without becoming public charge”. This basically told senior citizens, people with mental illnesses, any unintelligent being, or killer that they couldn’t enter the country. This is morally wrong, other then not letting murderers into the country. This act broke families apart from each