In the first article, The Economic Benefits of Comprehensive Immigration Reform, Raúl Hinojosa- Ojeda argues that if the United States government moved from an ‘enforcement only policy’ to a comprehensive immigration reform, both individuals born in America and immigrants would increase benefits. The comprehensive immigration reform that Ojeda describes “legalizes current unauthorized immigrants and creates flexible legal limits on future immigration in the context of full labor rights…” (Ojeda page 175). Ojeda further argues that the current U.S. policy creates a wage floor, and if undocumented immigrants gain citizenship, the wage floor will rise, increasing the wages of all workers. The rise in wages cited in the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) states that a comprehensive immigration reform would increase consumer consumption and wages and would increase the creation of jobs and tax revenue. This is mainly based on the concept that IRCA was implemented during a time of recession, but was still able to raise wages and investments made by immigrants. Ojeda explains, through the example of the IRCA, it is estimated that comprehensive reform, over 10 years, would create 1.5 trillion dollars in United States gross domestic product (GDP) (176). However, they add that one of the issues with the IRCA, is the lack of flexible limits set on the number of workers allowed to enter the United States. In the 1990, therefore, U.S. labor demands were not met.
The U.S. govemment has faced the struggle for various decades to put an end to unauthorized immigration from Mexico and into the United States. Immigration as a whole has increased from 71,877,120 in 1960 to 213,316,418 in 2010 according to the data created and also reported by the World Bank. The government has made multiple attempts to stop the immigration process by implementing harsher measures along the U.S. and Mexico border and at work sites across the entire country. These measures however, have failed to end unauthorized immigration as a whole as immigrants still find a way to sneak by, settle, and make a living.. Americans who have a reason to oppose immigration argue that the safety and the strength of the nation’s economy are greatly threatened. However, strong supporters argue that instead of damaging and putting the economy at risk they provide a more stable environment.
One of the most controversial topics today in politics is what to do about illegal immigration in the United States. Should we consider all of the illegal immigrants felons? Should we give them full citizenship rights? These are all important questions related to illegal immigration. In 1986, the Immigration Reform and Control Act made it illegal for employers to knowingly hire undocumented workers and imposed fines of up to $11,000 for each violation. Recently, the United States House of Representatives passed a bill, entitled H.R. 4437 (The Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005). Just recently, due to massive overpopulation, the problem of illegal immigration is really starting to be taken seriously in our nation's capital. There is one thing that all sides of the debate agree on: that America needs to get tougher about controlling our country's borders. Up to 12 million people are living illegally in the United States today. This number is growing rapidly and is quickly overpopulating our own backyards. For these reasons, I believe that we should back this Act and should hope that the Senate will also agree.
During the late 1500’s to the 1700’s, America had no written policy on immigration. Settlers came from around the globe with high hopes of riches and prosperity in the new land. It wasn’t until 1790 did the U.S. attempt to unify the States on who could become a U.S. citizen. Under the Naturalization Act, “free white persons” of “good moral character” could become citizens after two years of residence in the country. Of course this law had no implications on who could actually become a U.S. citizen. So the U.S. decided to start monitoring who was coming into America by the use of the Steerage Act of 1819. It was designed to continually report all immigration by the use of passenger manifests. These manifests were to be turned into the local Collector of Customs, then the Secretary of the State and finally reported to Congress. By 1875 the U.S. had finally implemented exclusion laws and centralized a control for immigration. These laws limited specific people the U.S. deemed “Undesirable”. This mainly consisted of criminals, prostitutes and Chinese contract laborers. This lasted until 1891 when the United States created a comprehensive national immigration law called the Immigration Act. This law created a Bureau of Immigration under the Treasury Department, allowed for deportation of illegal aliens and added polygamists and contagious diseases to the list of people who could not enter (cite). Over the next 100 years, the immigration policy became less biased of ethnicity and instead focused more on how many were entering the U.S. per year.
We are now in the 21st century and like the beginning of the 20th century the United States finds itself in the throes of a period of mass immigration. More then one million immigrants enter the Unites States, both legally and illegally every single year. Many argue that this new wave of mass immigration may help sustain the success that our nation is having in regard to the way of living that many American have come accustomed to and yet others believe that although our nation was created by immigrants it is time to "shut down" our borders. The truth of the matter is that there will always be issues in regard to immigration and the policies that the government sets forth in order control who comes into this country. Also now more then ever immigration policy has a greater affect on the American people because of the fact that we find our selves living in a time of danger or as some might argue, a perceived danger in regard to terrorism. Also with the proposal of President Bush?s new guest-worker program raises more issues in regard to immigration. The following paper will attempt to overview current immigration policy and also state what immigration policy should be over the next 25 years.
The United States of America’s national immigration problem has sparked many bitter altercations and deliberations among the political spectrum of the United States government. Approximately thirteen million illegal immigrants are currently residing within United States borders. The processes involved in both legal and illegal immigration needs to be reformed and become more restrictive towards those illegal immigrants.
We have created the land of free. Nonetheless, there have been a number of Immigration Acts in the United States. The first one was the Naturalization act of 1790. Then the immigration act of 1965 passed, and immigration restrictions applied to Mexican Immigrants for the first time. Nearly 30 years later in 1986, the immigration Reform and Control Act was, created which granted amnesty to immigrants that had lived in the United States before 1982. Nevertheless, this later act made it a crime for employers to hire undocumented immigrant workers. In order to create a successful Immigration Reform Policy, the government has to consider several socioeconomic areas including border control, worker programs, education, and the economy. “All the elements of this problem must be addressed together” (Bush 2006)
Illegal Immigrants have always been an issue in America. The solution would seem to be to create and put into action an Immigration Reform. The only problem with this is which reform to choose and put into action. In order to create and implement a reform, America needs to address these main issues: Americans thinking immigrants are stealing their jobs, the bills passed on Immigration in the past compared to the ones to be passed, immigration in relation to politics, and the future of America. Which reform idea is the best? Which one will be the most successful in America? Will the new reform still recognize America as the melting pot, or will immigrants no longer be a huge part of America as a nation?
Immigration is the reason for the foundation of our country. The colonists first fled to America in search of freedom from religious oppression. As a consequence, white men wiped out large numbers of natives from the land through disease and battle. The debate over who has the absolute right to this land will never cease – natives or immigrants. Over many, many years the immigrants have controlled America. The original immigrants have founded a nation on this land and paved a way for opportunities for all other men except the natives who they drove out to the worst pieces of real-estate. After forming a nation, the immigrants have one thing to fear, history repeating itself. This uneasiness is seen as far long ago as Benjamin Franklin who worried that the growing population of German...
It has been nearly three decades since the last time Congress reformed our immigration system. From the Reagan era to the Obama administration, the country has undergone financial, social and political changes yet our immigration policies continue to be the same. Since the implementation of the last immigration reform in 1986, the United States government has spent nearly $187 billion ($220 billion when adjusted to 2013 dollars) in immigration enforcement agencies and programs alone (Meissner, Kerwin, Muzaffar & Bergeron, 2013). The high costs and the increasing public concern has led Americans to recognize the brokenness of our current immigration system and how it has not kept up with changing times. Research has shown 71% of Americans say undocumented immigrants should have a pathway to remain in the country legally (Pew Research Center, 2013). Although Congress and the White House have had numerous failed attempts to pass immigration reform in the past, H.R. 15 proposes an updated bipartisan system that can further secure the borders and solve problems surrounding immigration (Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act, 2013.
The United States immigration system is broken. The current policies we have are no longer working effectively. Many natural born Americans do not even understand the system. As American citizens, we need to be informed of not only the immigration policies we currently have, but we need to be informed about all of the policies our country has in place. Regardless of how we earned our citizenship, immigration policies still affect us. We must be aware of the problems that lie within the current system in order to improve the system in the future. 2016 is an election year, and it is vital for voting citizens to be aware of the immigration system, as it is a substantial issue among the candidates. While some characterize
Immigration has been a political debate for decades, Congress have had trouble reaching an agreement on immigration for years. With all the confusing they brought the executive and judicial branches of Government into the mix for help, President Donald J. Trump signed executive papers on border security, refugees and interior enforcement. The U.S. citizens, cities and states are against the orders and challenge the court decisions (Danielle Renwick and Brianna Lee). The House of Representatives passed 5 major Immigration laws, which are the following; 1. Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 which improved the immigration system, made an employer program and provided legalization for about 3 million immigrates who entered in 1982. However
Immigration policy should be designed with the citizens best interests, and should not prioritize the convenience of people immigrating. This does not mean that immigrants should be inconvenienced, but quick citizenship and low barriers of entry shouldn’t come at the expense of economic instability. The current immigration policy in the United States is heavily criticised for being superfluous and unfair to people trying to gain citizenship. Despite the occasional mistreatment of foreigners, the current system serves the best interests of our citizens by putting in place through background checks and regulations to restrict an excess amount of people coming into the country which would put a strain on our economy.
The current immigration policy in the United States has allowed for various issues to develop over the past several years. One major barrier to reform is the differing viewpoints of the pro- and anti-immigration politicians. While both sides agree that the immigration policy needs to be reformed, they cannot agree on how to deal with the issues (Immigration Policy Handout, April 4). Problems such as overstayed visas, border security, the number of illegal immigrants in the country, refugees, and Dreamers need to be solved.
Cases involving illegal immigrants have been booming at an unprecedented rate in the U.S. since the late 1990s. To absolve this matter, border security has been enforced throughout the entire country with the objective to reduce the entry of illegal immigrants across the border. These actions include the mass deportation of illegal immigrants, increasing security at the national borders and screening. This whole initiative has reduced the number of illegal immigrants living in the U.S. However, current findings have proven that increasing enforcement and investment in the current method of border security has given a huge negative impact to the nation. The U.S. government should not invest in nor enforce the current method of border security because it prevents the rapid growth of the U.S. economy, robs illegal aliens of their human rights, and, surprisingly, causes an influx in the pool of undocumented migrants in the country.