Spaces and exchanges : What attracts Immigrants to live in the USA and what does the actual life of an Immigrant look like?

Today, I’m going to talk about one of the four notions studied this year which is “SPACES AND EXCHANGES”. In our modern world, an exchange can take many forms. It could be an exchange of information or a transfer of money for example. But since my focus will be directed on Immigrants, I’ll define these exchanges as a movement of people. Immigration Waves happen in different spaces but I’ll be focusing on one specific country; The United States of America. Which leads us to the following question: What attracts Immigrants to live in the USA and what does the actual life of an Immigrant look like? Through out my oral presentation I’ll try answering this problematic using various documents studied in class.

My first document would be a map representing the number of Immigrants living in the USA. In 2013 Immigrants accounted for 13% of the total 316 million US residents. Those Immigrants, both naturalized and illegal are still highly attracted by that destination until this date since The USA is targeted by nearly 20% of the world’s population each year. But why? The Answer to that question might be found in Obama’s speech about the US naturalization program. In that speech, Obama talks about all the benefits to becoming a US citizen and all the opportunities that it would provide in terms of work, rights, freedoms and cultural enrichment. Indeed, The United states positive point of view regarding naturalization and all the advantages it procures may explain the important number of Immigrants there. I can even quote president Obama saying that committing to the USA citizenship isn’t about changing who you are, but about starting a new journey. But is it really the case?

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