Kristen Suarez
Professor Grenier
FIU- SYP3000
December 10, 2013

Third World Immigration’s Influence on America’s Way of Life To begin, it goes without saying that the topic of immigration in the United States has been a very controversial topic for quite some time. During this week’s readings, I found myself weighing both the pros and the cons of immigration reform and trying to decide which side of the spectrum I fall when considering whether third world immigration is in fact, a threat to America’s way of life. My initial gut reaction was that I would not oppose immigration and do not find it threatening to America’s way of life. This initial decision was conducted before completing the readings and I found my decision was based on the fact that I did not want to be considered a “racist” or discriminatory in any way. Also, as I have mentioned in one of my previous discussions, both my parents immigrated to the United States from Cuba during the “freedom flights” in the mid-sixties. My grandparents brought came to this country along with my parents for opportunity and to escape the tyrannous and communist leader, Fidel Castro who had just taken over. I immediately thought that without immigration, my parents would have never come to this country and who knows, maybe I wouldn’t even exist to write this paper! Then, the words of Peter Brimelow caught my attention in the section of “What About My Grandfather?”, Brimelow writes: “Many Americans have difficulty thinking about immigration restriction because of the lurking fear: This would have kept my grandfather out...but it must also be stressed that that was then; this is now. There are important differences between the last Great Wave of Immigration and today’s” (Brimelow 1995). I can really stand behind Brimelow’s reasonings in the article--immigration today, is much different that what it was in the