Walls and Welcome Mats

Immigration and the American Dream

Lars Ortiz

• Publisher: Lerner Publications
• Year: 2024
• eBook ISBN: 9781728455976

Audisee eBooks with Audio combine professional narration and sentence highlighting for an engaging read aloud experience!

Since the founding of the United States, immigrants have made important contributions to the history and culture of the country.

Yet immigration has always been a topic that stirs up strong passions. Throughout history, immigrants have faced anger, fear, and violence.

The United States houses more immigrants than any other country in the world. Over forty million people living in the United States were born in another country. They are doctors, technology experts, construction workers, and teachers as well as parents, friends, and neighbors. So why do immigrants continue to face prejudice and even violence at the hands of other Americans?

Walls and Welcome Mats: Immigration and the American Dream examines the ways immigration has shaped America and how the backlash against it has shaped the conversation around migrants and refugees. Author Lars Ortiz explores the history of immigration in the United States from before the country was born to present-day debates surrounding the southern US-Mexico border wall. This in-depth account of American immigration reveals the faces behind the issue, the past and present challenges faced by immigrants, and the optimism that leads people to seek a better future in a new land.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 American Story
• Chapter 2 Out of Many, One
• Chapter 3 
Backlash: Part I
• Chapter 4 
Immigration in the Twenty-First Century
• Chapter 5 
Backlash: Part II
• Chapter 6 Debunking Myths about Immigrants
• Chapter 7 The Power of a Diverse Nation
• Glossary
• Source Notes
• Selected Bibliography
• Further Reading
• Index
• Photo Acknowledgments
• Back Cover