Immigration

Historian Oscar Handlin once wrote, "I thought to write a history of immigrants in America. Then I discovered that the immigrants were American history." Indeed, no other country in the world can claim to being a "nation of nations," and to having the same diversity of nationalities and ethnicities.

This diversity has always been a source of national pride but it has been a source of friction as well.

The United States has traditionally been regarded as a "melting pot," where people of various ethnicities and nationalities immigrate and assimilate into the American way of life. However, a growing number of immigrant groups defy these expectations and hold on to many aspects of their traditional values, such as religion and language. Recent policies regarding immigration now embody this trend towards a plurality of cultures, or multiculturalism.

This paper compares the "melting pot" and multiculturalism approach to immigration. The first...
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