Illegal Immigration: A Neglected Problem In American Chinatowns

Since the first arrival of Chinese in the United States in 1571, the history of the Chinese in America has gone over two hundred years. From early coolies to later intellectuals, Chinese keep their immigration to the United States with their own American Dreams. The great contributions made by generations of Chinese in America compose an important chapter in the prosperity of America today. As the major residential quarters of the Chinese in the Untied States, Chinatowns play a significant role not only in the history of the Chinese in America, but also in the development of the United States, the country. Today, although Chinatowns have become the shelters only for old generation Chinese Americans and new immigrants with little education who cannot afford to live outside the Chinese communities, Chinatowns are still of great importance because they are proof of the long history of Chinese in the United States and place where Chinese Americans can reserve their Chinese cultural heritage. At present, Chinatowns are threatened by a lot of problems such as overpopulation, monotonous economic structure and so on. Among them, the problem of illegal immigration is the most serious one. The problem of illegal immigration has, to some extent, attracted the attention of both China and the United States. If it cannot be well solved, the problem will threaten the development of Chinatowns, and impose bad impact on both countries.This thesis is going to make a close examination on illegal immigration in Chinatowns. The focus of illegal immigration is the group who come to the Untied States through human smuggling. Many of those illegal immigrants are from the costal areas of China like Fijian province.