Is The United States Still The Land Of Opportunity?
I do not think the US is still the "Land of Opportunity"
People say America is still the land of opportunity, but they don’t know what many immigrants went through. They first getting through the country with the chance of being deported in Ellis Island. If they got through, they would try to get a job. The conditions were horrible, and they worked very long hours, for little pay. That doesn’t sound like a land of opportunity to me.
Reason why the US isn't the land of opportunity:
The immigrants would work in horrible conditions.
Ellis Island was a pain to get through.
Immigrants didn’t get good jobs when they came over from their countries, if they got a job at all.
They had the chance of not getting a job, because many immigrants lied about their skills to get through Ellis Island. When shop owners realized they had no skills, they wouldn’t hire them.
Some immigrants who worked in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory had a very little bit of space wide to work a whole sewing machine.
When immigrants first arrived, they would have to take many health tests, such as getting their heartbeat listened to, and climbing up stairs to see if they have breathing or walking issues.
If the immigrants got a job, they would be working for a very small sum. Some shop owners cheated their workers.
Some immigrants would work in basements with little light.
They also had to get checked for diseases, so officials would take a button-hook and lift up immigrants eyelids to see if they have trachoma.
After all the examinations, they would have to answer of series of questions, and if they didn’t get deported before them, there was a chance they would here.
Almost all immigrants worked extremely long hours for little pay.
Some immigrants didn’t speak english, and due to that language barrier they wouldn’t be able to be hired
It was so hard for immigrants to get jobs, and if they did it wouldn’t be a great job, so that doesn’t make America the land of opportunity, if they aren’t getting any. Many immigrants would work in sweatshops, which would mean cramped work spaces, small pay, and very long hours. All immigrants ha the risk of being deported, and many did. Those who didn’t had to deal with the terrible jobs. America isn’t really a land of opportunity after all.