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Exploring Immigration and Family Life
Immigration refers to moving to another country to live there, while migration is a broader term that includes movement within or across national borders. Migration to the United States has been shaped by a wide range of circumstances, including economic opportunity, family reunification, political or religious persecution, war, displacement, and environmental crises.
Immigration has been a major source of population growth and cultural change in the United States. Different historical periods brought different national, racial, and ethnic groups to the country. During the seventeenth century, for example, about 175,000 English migrants came to Colonial America. Over half of all European immigrants to Colonial America during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries arrived as indentured servants. The mid-nineteenth century brought large numbers of immigrants from northern Europe, the early twentieth century saw more immigrants from southern and eastern Europe, and after 1965 immigration increasingly came from Latin America and Asia.
Duration: 1 minute and 41 seconds.
Immigration to the United States, 1820–2013. This animated map shows where lawful permanent residents came from before immigrating to the United States. Each dot represents 10,000 people, and brighter countries indicate higher levels of migration over time (Metrocosm, 2016).
Contemporary Immigration
Until the 1930s, most legal immigrants to the United States were men. By the 1990s, women made up just over half of all legal immigrants. Contemporary immigrants also tend to be younger than the native-born U.S. population, with people between the ages of 15 and 34 overrepresented. They are more likely to be married and less likely to be divorced than native-born Americans of the same age.
U.S. immigration has changed significantly across historical periods. Earlier immigration waves came mostly from Europe, especially Germany, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Italy, Austria-Hungary, Russia, and Poland. Since 1965, immigration has been more diverse, with large numbers of immigrants from Latin America and South/East Asia, especially Mexico, China, India, the Philippines, Cuba, Korea, El Salvador, Vietnam, and the Dominican Republic (Pew Research Center, 2025).
The chart above shows the three major waves of immigration to the United States. Pew Research Center identifies three broad periods of immigration: the Northern Europe wave from 1840 to 1889, the Southern and Eastern Europe wave from 1890 to 1919, and the modern era from 1965 to 2025 (Pew Research Center, 2025).
Immigrants have also historically tended to settle in places where others from similar backgrounds already live. This pattern, seen throughout U.S. history, can provide social support, cultural familiarity, and economic networks, while also shaping the formation of ethnic communities.
Duration: 3 minutes and 36 seconds.
Sociologist Cameron Lippard examines the experiences of Mexican migrant workers who harvest Christmas trees in rural America through temporary work visas. His research shows that relationships between growers and migrant workers are shaped by both economic dependence and inequality. Although some workers may find rural life more familiar or welcoming than cities, they still face racial and social discrimination that affects their sense of belonging (American Sociological Association, 2019).
Immigrants in the United States have different legal statuses. Some are lawful permanent residents, naturalized citizens, refugees, asylees, or visa holders, while others are unauthorized, meaning they live in the country without current legal permission. Members of the same family may also have different legal statuses, creating what sociologists describe as mixed-status families.
Immigration, Public Opinion, and Family Life
Immigration remains a significant issue in U.S. public life. Political leaders, media commentators, and members of the public debate immigration in relation to border security, economic effects, national identity, citizenship, and immigrants’ rights. Public opinion varies, with some Americans favoring stricter federal enforcement and others emphasizing immigrants’ contributions, rights, and dignity.
Recent research suggests that immigration enforcement can also affect everyday family and community life. In a 2025 Pew Research Center survey, 19% of U.S. adults said they worried that they, a family member, or a close friend could be deported, with concern particularly high among Latino adults and immigrants (Pew Research Center, 2025). Such concerns may affect family stability, employment, and willingness to interact with public institutions.
These effects may be especially significant in mixed-status families, in which family members have different citizenship or immigration statuses. Detention or deportation can result in family separation, loss of income, caregiving disruptions, and prolonged uncertainty. Zarrugh and Romero (2019) show that affected families and advocacy groups may respond through vigils, protests, and public storytelling that draw attention to the human consequences of immigration enforcement (Zarrugh & Romero, 2019).
Immigration is also an enduring part of U.S. society. Immigrants contribute to the labor force, participate in communities, and shape the nation’s cultural and demographic development. For sociologists, immigration is therefore not only a policy issue but also a social process that affects family formation, community belonging, and ideas about citizenship.
Licenses and Attributions for Immigration and Family Life
Open Content, Shared Previously
Adapted by Sarah Earl-Novell from 3.1: History and Background in Race and Ethnic Relations in the U.S.: An Intersectional Approach by Erika Gutierrez, Janét Hund, Shaheen Johnson, Carlos Ramos, Lisette Rodriguez, & Joy Tsuhako, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
Modifications by Sarah Earl-Novell include remixing, editing, contextualization, and the addition of original content.
References
American Sociological Association. (2019). Strangers in a familiar land [Video]. YouTube.
Metrocosm. (2016, May 5). Here is everyone who has emigrated to the United States since 1820 [Video]. YouTube
Pew Research Center. (2025, February 20). Americans continue to view several economic issues as top national problems.
Zarrugh, A., & Romero, L. A. (2019). Detention, disappearance, and the politics of family. Contexts, 18(3), 32–35.
Figure Attributions
Figure 4.10.1. Pew Research Center. (2025, August 21). Key findings about U.S. immigrants.
This page titled 4.10: Immigration and Family Life was last modified on Fri, 23 Oct 2026 17:32:38 GMT and is shared under a mixed 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Sarah Earl-Novell.
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