The history and the arguments about immigration will be addressed at “The Live of Immigrants” at 6 p.m. today in the Charleston/Mattoon room of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.

“The key themes are questions of identity and questions about the legal status (concerning immigrants) and what that means,” said John Coit, assistant professor of history.

Coit will speak about documented versus undocumented immigrants along with concentrating on the United States’ sense of identity.

He said he wants people to realize that immigration laws have not always been like they are now.

“When we talk about immigration, we tend to treat certain kinds of identities and laws as if they have always been the same,” he said. “I think it is important to understand we have not always had the same type of immigration laws or the same sense of national identity as we do now.”

Coit said immigration laws changed in the early 1920s, when the United States decided not to allow undocumented citizens into their country.

“We went to an immigration policy, which, by and large, did not require immigrants,” Coit said.

When people do searches for illegal immigrants in the workplace, he said legal, documented immigrants are often searched.

Coit said natural citizens of the United States usually do not carry documentation, and can also be subject to search.

He said people usually blended the three categories of immigrants into one unit -illegal, legal and children of immigrants.

Coit will also address border security in his lecture.

“What I hear people say is that if can get control of the borders, we can control immigration,” he said.

He said doing this would affect the economy and immigration laws.

Coit will also discuss the difference between a citizen, a refugee and an immigrant in the speech.

He said a person is born or naturalized in the U.S. is considered a citizen of the U.S. as stated by the 14th Amendment.

A refugee is someone who survived the Holocaust and is therefore exempt from the quotas the U.S. has on immigration, he said. An immigrant is someone who needs a visa to be allowed into the U.S.

“One of the continual arguments for immigration is the notion that the U.S. is a nation of immigrants,” Coit said.

Coit said students should attend this event in order to learn how to openly discuss national and political issues in a constructive manner.

“Different viewpoints have a chance to be presented after the speech is over,” he said. “However, I am not going to specifically engage in questions about whether or not to allow immigrants into the United States.”

Coit said roughly half of the people that enter the U.S. are legal immigrants on valid visas.

“I think it’s important (to learn about immigration) because it will help us understand the world we live in a little bit more,” he said.

Heather Holm can be reached at 581-7942 or haholm@eiu.edu.