Immigration Reform : The Current Immigration Policy

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Immigration Reform
The current immigration policy is badly in need of repairing. Its harsh treatment of immigrates has created mistrust between citizens and law enforcement, is costly in terms of clean environment, resources and human lives. Fixing this policy will vastly improve living situations for both citizens and immigrants.
Although illegal immigration is against the federal law, many states believe that the government isn’t doing a very good job enforcing it. Some states, like Arizona, have came up with their own attempt in order to compensate for this issue. In 2010, Arizona established the state’s Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act (SB 1070), a law that makes it so that the police can stop anybody “suspicious” and ask for proof of their legal status, in order to prevent illegal immigration. People who would be stopped for this are those of color, of course, which makes them more susceptible to racial profiling and will infringe upon the rights of actual U.S. citizens. Laws, such as this bill, that target and mistreat minorities, are seen as unfair by the public, according to American Academy of Political and Social Science. Cooperating citizens are part of the reason why the law enforcement is able to do their job so well, but when citizens deem the law as unfair, they do not cooperate, which makes means the police won’t be able to do accomplish their task (Kirk et al). The federal government relies on states to enforce immigration laws while states rely on the police to locate illegal immigrants, who then rely on the citizens that refuse to hire them and report them (Kraehenbuehlt). However, when citizens perceive as the law to be unfair, they don’t report illegal or otherwise immigrants, and in fact...

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...n of these walls also damages the water supply, kills fish in the rivers and harms the environment around it (York and Schoon). This begs the question, what is the purpose of debating immigration when the country itself could potentially face living in an inhabitable land?
Ultimately, it is in the United States’ best interest to reform its immigration policy. Fixing it will repair the relationship between citizens and the law enforcement, which will result in safer communities. It will also bring into attention the environmental hazards the nation is facing today, bringing into action clean-up methods which will result in a better land and resources. Cleaning up will also result in job creation, which will give the economy a much needed boost. Overall, it is imperative that the immigration issues should be addressed so that the nation’s future will be much brighter.

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