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Effects of immigration on the economy
Effects of immigration on the economy
Effects of immigration on the economy
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The record-high unemployment rates in the United States, following the 2008 global financial crisis, led to major changes in public debate over immigration reform and, ultimately, to the enactment of immigration reform policies on the state levels across the country. Using Kingdon’s “Three Streams” and Baumgartner and Jones’ Venue-Shopping theories, this paper will discuss the policy-related impacts of the crisis on U.S. immigration reform.
According to Kingdon (2011), policy change often occurs at the convergence of the three main streams of the policymaking process: problem, policy, and politics. The problem stream refers to the issue or the policy problem that needs to be addressed; the policy stream presents the policy solutions that aim
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The Depression in the U.S. during the early 1920s and the economic downturn resulted from the Oil crisis in 1970s both witnessed major changes in the nation’s immigration policies.5 The 2008 crisis—the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression—can thus be expected to have significantly impacted our immigration policies. Although the immigrant population shrank as a large number of immigrants had been employed in the sectors that were more affected with the current crisis, they were blamed for causing the continuous increase of unemployment rates and for the loss of jobs occurring across the country.6
In the post-2008 economic crisis, the issue of immigration reform has taken on a new sense of urgency. It had become a “problem.” Given the rise of unemployment rates and the decreased demand in labor force, immigrants became more dependent on policies that would help them overcome both the economic and social challenges facing them at the time. Local communities across the country, on the other hands, were begging for more restrictive policies to reduce undocumented immigrant population, and limit their access to state benefits.7 As a result, immigration reforms were pushed for, on both national and state
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This reflects the
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responsiveness of the political stream, given the circumstances that did not allow them to move forward with any solution on a national level. Since 2008, immigration legislation made the policy agenda in all 50 states across the country, 46 of which enacted into their law into law a total of 240 immigration-related bills.9
Baumgartner and Jones (2013) would argue that the constant pressures from constituencies for either liberal or restrictive changes have understandably made political actors, including politicians and lobbyists, search for alternative venues to realize their policy aims. This is what they call the “Venue-shopping” strategy, which refers to the choices political actors make in choosing which decision-making body of the political structure they will pursue to promote their policy aims. The result is still immigration reform, though facilitated on the state-level and through the executive branch, instead of the legislative body of the
Immigration has existed around the world for centuries, decades, and included hundreds of cultures. Tired of poverty, a lack of opportunities, unequal treatment, political corruption, and lacking any choice, many decided to emigrate from their country of birth to seek new opportunities and a new and better life in another country, to settle a future for their families, to work hard and earn a place in life. As the nation of the opportunities, land of the dreams, and because of its foundation of a better, more equal world for all, the United States of America has been a point of hope for many of those people. A lot of nationals around the world have ended their research for a place to call home in the United States of America. By analyzing primary sources and the secondary sources to back up the information, one could find out about what Chinese, Italians, Swedish, and Vietnamese immigrants have experienced in the United States in different time periods from 1865 to 1990.
The United States was formed by the immigration of many people from all over the world. Americans take pride in knowing that we are a people of vast ethnic backgrounds and culture. However, at the present time, the flow of illegal immigration, as well as a large influx of other legal immigrants is placing a strain on our land of "huddled masses." Legal immigration to the United States can easily be handled and is welcomed by most Americans. However, the flow of illegal immigrants, especially from Mexico, must be stemmed, due to the strain it is placing on the government, (at the local, state and federal level), as well as the general population. Illegal immigrants are costing the United States over 24 billion dollars a year in taxpayers money (National Review 12.13.93). Something must be done to reduce the flow of illegal immigration into the United States. The focus of this paper will be the problems caused by and possible solutions to the problem of illegal immigration.
Obama Administration proposed what is called Comprehensive Immigration Reform. It is composed of six sections aimed at fixing the current immigration system. It includes enhanced border enforcement, interior enforcement and the most controversial section; an amnesty program to legalize undocumented immigrants. In other words, it creates a pathway to citizenship for unauthorized immigrants that is fair and feasible. Many argue that even though Comprehensive Immigration Reform is good for America because it addresses important issues like creating a committee to adopt the number of visas available to changing economic times, preventing people from working without permits and creating programs aimed at helping immigrants adjust to life in America. Yet it rewards violators of current U.S. laws who entered the country illegally, and those who entered the country legally but overstayed their visas. Opponents of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform proposal claim that immigrants have a negative impact on the economy; overwhelming social services of many states, and posing a threat to American workers as a result of big corporations exploiting immigrants with low wages and poor working conditions. With the recent economic downturn and the severe recession that hit the U.S, many individuals blame immigrants for their economic misfortune and lack of employment. For both the opponents and proponents of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Proposal, for the millions of the undocumented immigrants and their families, and lawmakers; immigration has become an emotional political issue. Despite the resistance of many, America should embrace comprehensive immigration reform.
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.
Ewing, Walter. "The Many Facets Of Effective Immigration Reform." Society 47.2 (2010): 110-117. Academic Search Complete. Web. 4 Nov. 2013.
Nowadays, United States is the country that has variety of cultures, races, etc. mixing together by having immigrants in their countries. However, they need to control these group of people also. More people out of country are trying to stay in the U.S. However, this is not an easy process to deal with. There is an immigrant policy that they have to go through. In the past, United States is wide open for people to settle down on this land. There is no process of immigrants. However, in the middle of 1840 to 1880, immigrants started to come in the U.S. such as Irish and Chinese because of demanding of unskilled and cheap labors. In the 1920, automation replaced unskilled labors as a result immigrant’s policy is limited quotas for immigrants
First, immigrants come to the U.S. to work and bring valuable skills which help grow the economy despite the negative views surrounding their part in the U.S. economy. Since the 2008-2009 recession the view on immigration and its effects on the economy has been more negative than positive (Peri, 2012). A study done by Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government found that about 50 percent of American adults believe that immigrants burden the country because they, “take jobs, housing, and healthcare”, while the other 50 percent believe that, “immigrants strengthen the country due to their hard work and talents” (Delener & Ventilato, 2008). Over the past decade, “over half of the increase in the U.S. labor force,… was the result of immigration-l...
Portes, Alejandro, and Ruben G. Rumbaut. Immigrant America: A Portrait. N.p.: University of California Press, 2006.
For over ten years, efforts to make changes to the United States immigration system have been put aside due to wars, attacks within our homeland and even worldwide financial crisis but it seems as though this being brought up more and more often. The history of the US immigration policy was more concerned with immigration enforcement over immigration reform. It was not until a few years ago that the US citizens voted they were tired of enforcement-only immigration policies and the pain they caused on immigrant families. So most feel now is the time to draw up new immigration laws that reflect American values and beliefs, and it ne...
The arrival of immigrants to the United States is often associated with fear. Immigrants are vulnerable to attacks if they are cast as threats to the way of American life. A deeper look into immigration policies reveals that immigrant restrictions are seated in racialized notions. Immigrants before the founding of the nation came for the opportunities of a better life. The immigrants who would continue to come thereafter came for much the same reasons. But government policies demonstrate repeated attempts to block the immigration of undesirable immigrant communities.
The Great Depression destroyed most of the “aspect of American life, and the immigration was no exception” (Daniels, 59). The Great Depression occurred in 1929 was a worldwide hopelessness. The altered conditions affected a large numbers of people to leave, some used their own resources and the others were assisted by the United States government. During this time, it caused American government to give each country a maximum number of people allowed to enter the country, it did not disturb Latin American or Canadian immigrants. The Mexican immigrants that work in the United States had become very important to the economy of the country. Later in the 1950s, there was about 200,000 Mexican crosses the border without permission. They worked hard under poor conditions and accepted lower pay than the native workers. During the 1930s, the number of people leaving the United States had outdone the number of people arriving. While the American facing tough time with Great Depression, the “LPC clause” was passed by the President Hoover to prevent the Mexican from immigrating into the country. In 1848, the 80,000 Mexicans living on what had develop American soil could either transfer to what was left of Mexico or continue to stay and automatically become a United States citizen. The Great Depression caused the Mexican workers to move from one work place to another job and budgetary losses. Robert Divine a historian, describes that when immigrant answered “that there he had been waiting for job; the anti-contract labor clause could be used to deny the permission to enter.” This means that an official would have asked an immigrant, if they are looking for a job in the United States and if the answer was yes then the person was denied to enter the
The fundamental of policymaking consists of a lengthy time process that goes through many steps in becoming a Bill. The process of policymaking is introduced in the beginning step of the Policy Formulation Phase, as the problem goes through a Legislation it goes into the Policy Implementation Phase, which than forms into a law or vetoed. Many policies do not become a Bill’s, but the certain ones that do they achieve the goal to guide the society with immense decision making and balanced outcomes.
Immigration has been a controversial topic for over the past centuries. However, along with the election of a new president. the public has also created a fight to overcome the challenges the government has thrown to those undocumented immigrants. Immigration can be described as a person relocating to a new place and settling in a form of advancement. While there are benefits to having immigration, people do not always view the positive side for both parties. Native people often view immigration as a threat to their country by arguing about the lack of jobs and some illegal immigrants take advantage of receiving help from the government. However, according to the Cato Journal, immigrants both legal and illegal contribute to the growth of the economy and the creation of jobs.Regardless of being a native born citizen, any person living in the U.S mus...
The study also took a close look at how the courts deal with the issue, the administrative interpretation of the law, and the application of the reform to be very critical and increasingly impossible. The author discovered that immigration reform has chronic problems, citizens’ disinterest to participate in the political process, government inefficacy, and centralized decision making away from the very communities imparted. The lack of enforcement is mounting pressure on states’ budgets (appropriation and allocations) of resources as the number of beneficiaries for social services increased. On the other hand, Dorsey and Diaz-Barriza (2007) studied President Barack Obama stands on immigration when he was then senator and compared them to conservative and liberal position. In the research, the author lamented that then senator Obama called for a comprehensive immigration reform that would deal with the issues of border security, employers sanction for hiring illegal individuals and a path to earned citizenship. Both sides agreed in part, but disagreed with the issue of path to citizenship which created gray lack. Today, the debate continues between the both political parties and the states leading the president executive action on immigration in recent
The first major concern regarding the borders for the United States is illegal immigration. In January of 2000, the INS estimated that there were 7 million illegal immigrants in the United States with the number growing by about 500,000 a year. Under the Bush Administration, funding has increased along main entry points, displacing illegal immigrants points of entry into the country. Yet the increase has displaced immigration to rural immigration points, causing many every year to die from starvation and heat stroke. Despite the harsh conditions, immigration has grown rather th...