Immigration Policy : A Nation Of Immigrants

1285 Words3 Pages

The United States has always been known as a nation of immigrants; however as of late, the policy enacted upon immigrants does not seem to reflect that ideology. In order to understand how to effectively write immigration policy, it is important to acknowledge the history, politics, and philosophy of such legislation. Particularly in the last ten years, congress has worked on a lot of immigration policy like the Dream Act, a piece of legislation that worked to provide citizenship to undocumented immigrants. This policy, similar to the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007 and many other legislative actions, was either overly politicized or passed in one house of congress but could not garner the support to pass in the other (Robertson). In November of 2014, President Barack Obama released an executive action on immigration; this document demanded progress in terms of getting serious about illegal immigration and border security, deporting people who threaten national security, and ensuring accountability by implementing background checks and taxes (The White House). While this executive action has the full force of law, it must go under scrutinous judicial review before it is implemented as part of American policy.
The current governing immigration policy is the Immigration and Naturalization Act, it mainly focuses on immigration based on family and employment, but also includes a 70,000 persons quota on refugees seeking asylum. There is such an urgent need for comprehensive immigration reform because the Immigration and Naturalization Act does not provide solutions for illegal immigrants or offer a path to citizenship for people who are undocumented. Although politicians haven’t made overwhelming progress in terms of imm...

... middle of paper ...

...ly targets immigrants and puts them at a great disadvantage. It is not difficult to see the inherent injustice that exists in restricting people who have such a great respect for American ideals from fulfilling their basic political rights.
When Congress is writing legislation concerning immigration reform, they should consider tackling the issue from historical, political, and philosophical standpoints. Writing comprehensive immigration policy is difficult because of political divides and an fundamental inability of America’s legislature to overcome its partisan issues and find a solution to an issue that has lead to the deportation of nearly two million people. However, legislators may be able to overcome partisan divides if they understand the history of failed comprehensive immigration reform and importance of the “America is a nation of immigrants” philosophy.

Open Document