Response, review the initial posts of your peer. How did your answer differ from your peers' answers? What do you suppose is the reason for the difference in answers? What additional items would you like to share with your peers that they may not have identified?

When considering why immigrants come to America, their country of origin has to be considered. While most people love the feel good idea that almost all immigrants come here for freedom and economic security, there are usually other factors involved.

Mexicans did come over for economic reasons, but it was because of high population growth. Because of the high population, “Mexico added more than 2 million people annually to its workforce. The Mexican labor market, however, has been unable to absorb them”. Cubans are another Latin group that has immigrated to America, but for different reasons. In 1959, Fidel Castro led an uprising that overthrew their government. Castro’s government then became a communist regime. To escape the political oppression, Cubans started to immigrate here. Within 20 years, over 1 million Cubans had immigrated. Asian immigration had different reasons for wanting to immigrate. Despite the Pearl Harbor attack in the 1940’s, the 1950’s saw over 20,000 service members’ return to America with Japanese wives. It was said that “Americans marveled at Japanese tenacity and economic skill, at their ability to rise from the ashes of World War II to economic independence”. Filipino immigration was due to our military. With both an Air Force and Naval base in the Philippines, servicemen married Filipino women and the women’s family would eventually immigrate to America to be with them. Indochinese countries such as Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia did not marry service members, but much like the Cubans, “they came as political and economic refugees from the brutal policies imposed by communist regimes”. With the discussion today about Syrian refugees, political reasons still play a role in immigration. Despite the reasons why they come, the opportunity for personal and economic security is possible for anyone willing to work for it.