
AS the new American president is to take oath on January 20, the debate on immigration is raging in the country with shades of legal, illegal, undocumented and refugee crisis. It is happening in a country that is made of immigrants, a country where not a single president is a native American if we take the debate back to just a few hundred years. A country that wages war in the name of upholding democracy has contributed to a situation where people migrate from these places and are trying to reach to the US. Rather than taking responsibility for these unintended consequences, the leaders of the oldest democracy have always toyed with the immigrants using them to create divisions in the society. A paradoxical situation for the superpower in the 21st century where they support the wars, but fail to take the responsibility for the damage it does.
Those who are new to American history or do not want to acknowledge the history of the European immigration to the new country forget that the original citizens of the United States of America are the native Indians or what the immigrants called them in the beginning-
Red Indians, now a derogatory term.
As we know that history is always shaped by the victors and in the battle for America, European or more precisely British settlers won and made a new country named USA. Since then, all and every kind of immigration to this new country has been encouraged or discouraged depending on who is in power.
This story is from the January 21, 2025 edition of Outlook.
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This story is from the January 21, 2025 edition of Outlook.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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