The United States is a country of immigrants, from the earliest settlers who found their way from Europe over the oceans to land on the eastern shores. For most immigrants, the reason for their journey centers on the opportunity to better their economic fortunes. However, the history of immigration to the United States of America was not always linked to economic opportunity.
The taking of land and resources from indigenous people, the enslavement of Africans to create pools of cheap labor, and low wages and poor working conditions for recent immigrants were efforts to achieve economic gain by early immigrant groups with significant power, at a cost to those with less power.
In this chapter, readers will explore the link between immigration and poverty from
(1) The standpoint of people's hopes to immigrate for better economic fortune,
(2) Efforts to produce economic prosperity.
Often the latter was built on the availability of immigrant labor and the vulnerability of immigrant populations. Readers will also explore the historical aspects of immigration and key issues that demonstrate the important connections between immigrant status and living in poorness in the country.
Finally, limited programs available to impoverished immigrants are explained, and readers explore issues associated with social justice and various interventions designed to assist this population.