Iranian Immigration to the U.S. Term Paper

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It was this tumultuous political and religious environment that led this second wave of Iranian immigrants to the United States.

Because many of the supporters of the Shah's regime had relatives studying in the U.S. As a result of the first influx of Iranian immigrants, they sought asylum in that manner. Others made their pleas based on political and religious persecution issues. Others still, entered the country on student visas and managed to obtain permanent status later.

Assimilation is difficult for any migrating group, but the Iranians faced severe obstacles in the form of fierce discrimination and outright hatred by many Americans. With Americans being so ethnocentric it is extremely difficult for anyone to come from a different culture and fit in with the majority in the United States. With the prevailing sentiment towards Iranians after the Iranian Hostage Crisis, it was more than difficult, it was virtually impossible. Further, these Iranian immigrants tended to be well educated and earned good incomes, which made them more likely to seek high-status, high-income employment, which differed from the historical route of the traditional non-white immigrant. As a result, it can reasonably be argued that this situation fits within Karl Marx's Conflict Perspective, because conflict perspective focuses on the conflicts that are inherent whenever two groups are in pursuit of the same set of finite resources.

While the majority of these Iranian immigrants were Muslim, this group also consisted of Jews, Bahais, Zoroastrianists, and minority Islamic sects (Gillis, 2011). Thus, holding religious beliefs which greatly conflict with the Christian beliefs of the majority of Americans. One need only view the persecution of and discrimination of Jews in the United States to gain empathy with the plight of the Iranian immigrant. Not only did they come from a different culture but, they held religious beliefs which were not popular or mainstream in the United States.

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Perhaps Nassir Ghaemi best described the differences in beliefs and cultures between Iranians and Americans when he wrote "Americans are pragmatic; Iranians are not; Americans are Calvinistic; Iranians are not; Americans worship the future, Iranians the past; Americans value forthrightness, Iranians complexity; Americans are postmodern; Iranians are not; and, Americans have imbibed science, Iranians literature" (Ghaemi, 2009).

The current culture in Iran seems to be going through a transition to a more liberal environment. However, even with the demise of the Ayatollah and the election of Khatami, the current environment does not lend itself to the return of this particular group of immigrants (Haugom, 1998). "The dress codes and other regulations of public behaviour are not as rigidly enforced as before, the authorities interfere less in the private lives of citizens than during the 1980's, censorship of art, books and the mass media has been eased, and Western popular culture is slowly finding its way back into Iranian society, not least by means of satellite television. However, relaxation of the laws of public conduct and the easing of censorship does not mean that these regulations are about to be lifted" (Haugom, 1998).

In my opinion, this particular group of immigrants had no choice but to immigrate to the United States. Had they stayed in Iran they faced tremendous hardships, persecution, and possibly death at the hands of the new regime. Given that set of circumstances I feel certain that I too would have chosen to immigrate regardless of the discrimination, persecution, and hatred that I would have faced in the United States. As an immigrant to the United States, at least I would have my life and my liberty......

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