1. Definition/ explanation of the selected ideas, casesUnited States is a nation of immigrants, comprises diverse racial groups with a large number of single race white, Hispanic, black and also Asian community. Today, the society accepts that diversity is the strength of the USA as it is playing a vital role in America economic, cultural development.
So for Chinese non-immigrants and immigrants, the pursuit of the American Dream is the common factors for them to come to the USA. The American Dream is the idea that anyone willing to work hard and think ambitious can come to the US and “make it” according to their ability and achievement and regardless of their racial identity. Looking back into history, the coming of Chinese non-immigrants and immigrants contributed to the national greatness and propensity, many of them are especially valued by the science and innovation strength in United States.
However, it seems that the treatment the Chinese received in the United States was unequal almost from the start. In United States, the value of equality claims that all men were born equal with the same right and no one could dominate or take the right away from others. But at a time when both Chinese non-immigration and immigration visa issues are becoming a divisive, hot-button political hotspot, is value of diversity and equality and American dream still possible for Chinese? Starting from February 2017, the United States began to perform the random phone-call survey one to three days before the visa interview on Chinese applicants who are planning to study in America; what’s more, the original provision regulated that “for those whose US visa is due within 48 months can renew the visa service without interview “, but now the term is reduced to only “within 12 months”. At the same time, immigration policy for Chinese has been tightened as well. At the president campaign stage, one of Trump’s most distinctive slogans is to drastically adjust the immigration policy, as he came to power, Trump started to stop spouses of H-1B Visa holders from working in USA in 2017. Apart from that, one of his 10 Points Immigration Plan includes “Immediately terminate President Obama’s two illegal executive amnesties.
All immigration laws will be enforced”, which showed that anyone who enters the U.S. illegally is subject to deportation.
According to American immigration officials, nearly 39 thousand Chinese citizens are waiting to be expelled for breaches of the US immigration law. Therefore, the days of illegal Chinese immigrants will be much more difficult than before. In addition to restrictions on students or immigrants’ visas, the White House has considered ending a program allowing frequent Chinese travelers to the U.S.
to get 10-year visas.2. Summary of the selected case studyFrom above information, coupled with Trump’s first Nation Security Strategy Report after his taking office, we can see the United States is tightening both the immigrant and non-immigrant visas system for Chinese citizens who plan to enter the United States to pursue specific goals or activities. And in summary of the cases, because of the visa issues, some Chinese believe that the United States will no longer be the first choice for them to pursue their dreams and achievement; For American citizens, Trump is trying to reduce the number of ‘Chinese outsiders’ by tightening the visas, in order to protect citizens’ valuable employment opportunities.3.
Application: how the case study reflects the idea?In terms of the ideas reflected by the cases, for those who disapproved of Trump’s limitation hold the opinion that the practices may contradict the value of diversity, equality, and most importantly it is slamming the doors on many Chinese students or visitors’ American dreams.Above all, by shutting out the Chinese citizens, Trump returns to the practice of isolationism, which contradicts the highly praised value of diversity. Why diversity is such a significant value for the United States? I think we can find answers from the practice of affirmative action, which is implemented in the areas of employment, education, and business, in order to preserve race-based admissions and achieve racial diversity. For example, global businesses supported race-based admission policies because they felt it important to employ and maintain a diverse workforce; the supreme court approved race-conscious university admissions as racial diversity in higher education is essential to American political stability, and economic development. However, by decreasing the visa numbers of Chinese workers or students, Trump is opposing diversity of composition in American society. Trump’s limitation can be also considered as a kind of inequality for Chinese students.
According to the immigration experts, international immigrants especially Chinese immigrants contribute a lot to the economic and cultural aspects of the United States, and the government should not take the lead in limiting immigrants to the United States, which is unfair to Chinese. For example, Chinese students with self-funding contributes to the financial resources of American universities. A senior Nicole Wang from Guangzhou, China, believes that “These students are contributing to the university’s infrastructure … So it would be helpful for them to see that they are valued by the university.” Lastly, Trump’s limitation of Chinese visas is un-American. By banning certain Chinese students or immigrants from coming to the USA, Trump smashes millions of the American Dreams. Just as China has experienced a remarkable economic ascent, Chinese Americans are modern exemplars of the “American Dream,” going from servitude to success in 150 years. For many Chinese, it’s a story repeated throughout cultures that the penniless immigrant arrives on American shores seeking a new life and, through hard work and determination, prospers and thrives. Such tales are a quintessential part of the “American Dream”, but by tightening Chinese students’ visas, Trump is depriving the opportunities for them to pursue their American dreams.
3. Critical analysisHowever, putting down the Asian identity, are Trump’s policies the right ones? From the angle of approving the restrictions, Trump’s limitation helps to sustain American own greatness, pursue citizens’ own American dreams and enhance the superiority of global talent competition of the United States. Mark Krikorian, the executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, firmly disagrees the opinion that America is missing out by not opening its doors to immigrants. “Whose American Dream are we talking about?” he asks.
“Immigration policy is a boon for the immigrants coming here. But what about the American dreams of Americans?” In 2006, Chinese students accounted for 11.6 percent of the total number of international students in the United States, and China has ranked first, or second to India, in numbers of students studying in the United States. For American students, high quality Chinese students and faculties make American universities more competitive, which lead local students to spend more effort studying. In spite of this, skilled immigrants from China and India have been a source of innovation strength for the United States, locals who have lower ability of technology and math always lost their places to Chinese. Besides the ‘threaten’ of Chinese students and skilled immigrants, illegal Chinese immigrants also take the jobs opportunities away from the hands of the local, which ‘rob’ their American dreams in a way.
According to a report released by an Immigration Policy Institute in Washington, there are 210 thousand illegal Chinese citizens living in the United States in 2012, and they are still flooding the American market, competing with American workers. In the U.S., workers have been replaced by low-cost foreign workers. As a result, for more than 25 years a huge number of Americans have experienced stagnant wages and incomes, with trade agreements exacerbating the problem. For American, anybody who needs a leg up in the labor market, in particular young workers who don’t have college, handicapped people or recovering drug addicts, sees his prospects sabotaged by illegal workers. Trump’s limitation on Chinese visas is a kind of way to sustain American own greatness, pursue citizen’s own American dreams.
We can see that the rise of Donald Trump to the top of the United States Republican Party is not as incredible as establishment pundits profess, in fact, he is the voice for an increasing number of Americans. Analyzing from the positions of American students and high-skilled employees, Trump’s policy may improve their competitiveness in the global talent market, which enhances the superiority of local’s competition and protect their own American dreams. And as low-skilled immigration isn’t good for American competitiveness in the long run, Trump is maintaining the good slogans about American greatness.4. Personal opinionIn my opinion, stronger limits on Chinese both immigrants and nonimmigrants visas are depriving many Chinese rights to pursue the American dream, also it is a kind of talent outflow for United States. If Trump administration attempts to restrict student visas, Chinese students may look to study in other nations as United States is no longer a golden place for them to pursue the happiness and dreams. We can see from the news that many tech companies and scholars have raised their voices against President Trump’s Jan.
27 executive order on immigration in 2017, since hundreds of researchers and high-skilled workers who could be affected by the travel ban are parts of the large U.S. innovation company, which relies heavily on foreign talent in particular Chinese. So White House proclamation on visas and immigration has serious implications for diplomatic and humanitarian, in part because it weakens U.S. science and engineering capacity.However, the limitations enhance the superiority of global talent competition of the United States, it protects the American dreams of Americans. By decreasing Chinese immigrants, more job opportunities are promised for American high-skilled workers.
Taking about illegal Chinese immigrants again, although there are certainly examples of undocumented immigrants becoming prosperous, they are mostly concentrated in low-paying jobs and have essentially no power to bargain for improved conditions. Some businesses have sought to evade the inconvenient immigration restriction, resulting in the displacement of workers by low-cost foreign labor, which depressed the underprivileged local. Therefore, in this case, Trump is trying to opening the path to success for his citizens, he’s limitation does not mark a grand departure from Chinese’ American dream, but rather presents American own values, benefits in their ugliest, most flagrant and unapologetic form.
