Why Arabs came to the United States?

Why Arabs came to the United States?

Introduction

The migration of Arab American took place during the 19^th century. Arab Americans is a representation of all religious practices, unlike the way people think it to be Muslims. Their region of origin mainly comprises of the Middle East and some parts of North Africa. Their primary language is Arabic (Weston, Mary Ann 92). The population of Arab American has been on the increase, and the US decides not to have a clause of Arabic race in their census because they did not want to have Arabic identity. According to statistics, the Arabic population has been increasing from 850,000 in the year 1990 to 1.2 million in 2000 (Hassan et al. 7). There are several reasons why Arabs migrated into the United States in the early 19^th century as discussed below;

The first reason is the fall of the Ottoman Empire which happened in the early 19^th century. Because of this, there was no peace in the region and people wanted to have peace (Kaufer et al. 55). The political unrest was unfriendly to many people, and they wanted a place where they could make money and live comfortably.  The new government that came into power also made it mandatory for all to join the military, which made Arabs migrate to the US (Staeheli et al. 1599). The second reason is because of politics and the economy. The main reason why Arabs moved to America was purely economic. Most of the immigrants were unskilled, illiterate and thus wanted to be peddlers in America because it dint require any skills. Through this, they would work and bring their incomes to their country to support themselves and their families (Hassan et al. 10). On the other hand, there was a small group of Arabs who were educated and migrated to the US to gain political ground in the country (Weston, Mary Ann 98). These small group comprised of writers who later came up with Pen League, which is a literary society with the aim of uplifting Arab American literature.

Another reason for migration was the reduction of quota laws which was introduced after World War I preventing more immigrants in America (Kaufer et al. 47). This happened after World War II thus allowing new more Arabs to migrate to the US. The migration after World War II was accelerated because of the Palestine war in 1948 (Staeheli et al. 1599). Most of them were refugees who finally settled and became Arab Americans. After World War II, the United Nations tried to partition the area of Palestine to bring peace. This was considered necessary after what resulted from the holocaust. The Jews accepting this partition, but the Arabs opposed it because it was unfair to the natives who lived in Palestine (Hassan et al. 15). This made them migrate to the US in large numbers to avoid turmoil and wars.

Additionally, Arab migrated to the US in search of education because they were derived. Many of the Arabic students went to America to attend the university with the purpose of returning to their country after completing school (Kaufer et al. 47). On the contrary, many of them opted to remain in America after completing their studies because of more job opportunities in America. Other graduates who wanted additional training also got a reason to stay (Weston, Mary Ann 102). They thus became citizens of America and did not want to go back to their home country because of the peace in America.

After many immigrants went to America, strict quotas were introduced to reduce the number of immigrants into the country. In 1965 when these acts were abolished, it became another reason for the migration of Arabs into America (Hassan et al. 19). When Iraq republic was established, a lot of conflicts arose in deciding who will be the president. These conflicts led to wars and military coup in the years 1958, 1963 and 1978. As a result, many Arabs migrated into America because of displacement.

It is because of the above reasons, that explain why by 1950, Arabs had settled in major cities in America. Soon they went to school, and few who were learned went for white-collar jobs and sought more education opportunities (Malek, Alia 101). Since at the beginning they were only Arabs, later most of the people who migrated to America were Muslims since they realized that there were more peace and economic prosperity in America than in their home countries (Hassan et al. 20). In conclusion, we can state that the reasons why Arabs came to the United States include; searching for peace, comfortable environment, economic prosperity, to gain political ground, avoiding conflicts and wars, and searching for education (Weston, Mary Ann 106). Also, the removal of strict quotas on migration encourages many to migrate to safer places together with more job opportunities in America. Finally, immigration is a matter that cannot be avoided by any nation because of natural calamities, conflicts, the search of employment, and want to have better education (Hassan et al. 34). All countries in the world should thus consider making their laws favourable for the people who would want to live in that country because in so doing, they will open more opportunities and increase market thus growing the economy.