Les immigrés évoquent pour vous la diversité, et l'opportunité, mais également les problèmes liés à la pauvreté et à la barrière de la langue. De notre côté, nous pensons surtout aux problèmes d'intégration, au rejet, voire à l'expulsion des personnes concernées.
Je pense que cela s'explique par notre Histoire respective : en effet l'immigration est à la base de l'histoire des Etats-Unis, alors qu'elle est admise avec plus de réticence en France.
Cependant, ne peut-on pas affirmer qu'il y a aujourd'hui un certain rapporchement entre nos positions : ne tentez-vous pas, comme nous, de réguler, de juguler, cette immigration ?

Il semble que vous reteniez plus les côtes negatifs de l'immigration, surtout dans la vision economique;Alors que l immigration est tout d abord une ouverture vers le monde;
Est-ce que le 11 septembre a change votre perception de l immigration?

On constate que la notion d'immigration pour vous et pour les français représente l'existence d'un problème. Pensez-vous que l'immigration n'a pas un caractère significatif pour le maintien de la croissance économique de votre pays, par example à travers de la réalisation des tâches que les americains et les français ne veulent pas accomplir?.Donc,est ce que le surnomé "premier monde" peut marcher sans immigration?

Je retrouve quant à moi, chez vous comme chez nous, le clivage habituel entre une vision négative et un vision plus positive de l'immigration...
Je remarque simplement que pour certains d'entre vous, l'immigration est un problème de géographie locale (New York, Canada) alors que pour nous elle est une question à portée universelle.
C'est pour moi l'illustration que votre perception du monde est assez largement centrée sur vous même. A mon avis, c'est ainsi que la plupart des européens doivent vous percevoir. N'ayant pas d'amis américains (ceci expliquant peut être cela), j'aurai beaucoup aimé connaître votre point de vue sur nous européens et plus précisément sur nous français et notre rapport au monde extérieur, comme la question de l'immigration.

Immigration is a very interesting problem in the US. America is an immigration "nation" but the doors are beginning to get closed. The service sector does depend on immigration (legal and illegal) but then, there is the struggle with the concept of exploitation ("in the land of freedom"). Most of the answers from our side are quite specific - boat, scared, determined, New York, me, Asians. Which reveals everybody's involvement with this (in one way or another). Yann, I think this explains why our answers are America-centered. On the other hand, you guys are talking about strangers, foreigners as well as integration - a kind of a paradox, which I understand as "Yes, we'll take you, but you will be a stranger." Which shows that Europe is still working on opening up (mentally). More specific: I think that it takes at least one generation to be truly considered French/German/Swedish/etc. It takes about 3 years to be accepted as an American. (not legally but "culturally"). Correct me if I'm wrong.

I have been amazed to see so many negative responses concerning immigrants on the American side since a great percentage of Americans are considered "immigrants". Milena, I think that the "three years" period of becoming an American heavily depends on where and when you start. If one comes here to get a degree (like myself), the assimilation takes place quite quickly along with getting education, friends, social status equaling to this of native people. However, the majority of immigrants comes here to work, very often illegally and not knowing the language, and the society does not want to accept these so quickly. Moreover, after the events of September 11th some attitudes here have become xenophobic towards certain ethnic groups, which makes the situation of immigrants even worse. What about France; are there any specific reasons (maybe from your history) that make the immigrants' conditions so hard, as observed from your replies?

To answer Yann Tesar, I agree with your opinion about how american's view the world, but be aware that this is true, in general. I think people at MIT are actually more aware to different world's issues than the average Americans are.

For what I have been exposed to in this country, I think the french are perceived as not wanting inmigration at all. This is reflected in the news of France of wanting to close the doors to many inmigrants, and also as many have mentioned, due to historical reasons (people felt the same way towards French in the past for some other reason.

My parents were immigrants, but I was born and I grew up here. I was surprised by the number of negative responses to immigration on the American side. From my experience many Americans enjoy the diversity that immigration brings to this country. I also feel that many immigrants assimilate into American society and don't end up in ghettos or a lower social or economic class.

However, I agree that since September 11, some people have become more close-minded to immigration, and prejudice against immigrants (specifically those from Islamic parts of the world) has increased.

I feel that immigration has led to a lot of diversity being introduced into American culture. Has the culture of immigrants in France had a similar effect on French culture?

Milena,
Sabine et moi ne sommes pas tellement d'accord avec ta perception du temps d'intégration d'un étranger dans un pays d'accueil.
Tout d'abord, il nous semble nécessaire d'avoir la nationalité du pays en question pour être pleinement intégré et accepté en tant que citoyen et non comme un étranger.
Ensuite,en France, le délai "d'une génération" varie suivant les situations culturelles, religieuses, linguistiques,... de chaque famille.
Les délais que tu avances pour une complète intégration nous paraissent un peu courts pour les Etats-Unis ! En es tu sure ?
Sabine et Alice

Yann, in response to your comments.

I'm not so sure that Americans associate immigration only with specific places like Canada or New York. I liken Canada to the US; it's a country made up primarily of immigrants and their decendents. I suspect New York appears so frequently for two reasons. First, historically New York was the place that immigrants went through comming to America. The Statue of Liberty is supposed to welcome the new Americans. Second, I think it's important to consider how many immigrants live in New York City. Most of the counts I've managed to find place the foreign-born population of New York at about 35%. Literally millions of immigrants live in that one city.