Immigration has always been a complex issue in the United States. Previous and current administrations have had great difficulties in setting policies and programs in place to address this problem. During the course of American history, laws were enacted to address such issues. There were numerous legislative milestones in regards to immigration in the United States. In order to understand the current issues regarding immigration, we have to look back at the policies that were in place along with the goals that they intended to serve. According to (Barusch, 2012), the United States had an open immigration policy; which means that anyone could relocate to this country. As a result of this policy, the government had to redefine
People who are illegal immigrants, travel distances and cross borders to seek a better life while they are desperately looking for a better opportunities, they are also running away from famine, wars or violence from their homeland. For example, Mexico and most central and South America countries unfortunately have a poor economic, environmental and life is not easy to live there. These countries also still engaged in a war with various reasons. Especially; Mexican drug cartels which kills more than 80,000 people in every year. Therefore, United States being the main country that so many immigrants attract as they try to cross the border illegally. As they looking a place that provides freedom of speech and religion, steady jobs, a safe environment, and benefits for the poor and unemployed. It has become a home for many of them. “In 2012, the population of immigrants in the United States illegally is estimated to 11.43 million, rough 3.7% of the entire US population. 59% of the immigrants in the country illegally are from Mexico”. 25% of all the immigrants in the country are illegally reside in California State. As the crossing the border and the journey is hard, in 2008, 53% out of all the immigrants are males which are younger than 40 years old. Some people believes that this people deserve a chance because most of them come with a good intentions. Specifically, they just want jobs where they can get decently paid so they can support them self and their family back home.
Immigrants are basic facts of a strong U.S. economy, fulfilling the intrinsic need of the labor force for workers. We as immigrants have more of a tendency of working for our money to survive and to make our children have a better life, in a tough economy and in a country that isn’t even ours. How can immigration and immigrants life overcome? What difference can we do to fix the immigration dilemma occurring in the United States? This are some questions that many people may have asked someday. Immigration is a huge dilemma in the United States and we want to make a difference. This subject relates to me because as my parents, I am also an immigrant. We all want to make a difference in this world but why don’t we start by finding answers to help people who are immigrants? It is estimated that around $94 Billion dollars are spent on deporting immigrants. The government is spending an exorbitant amount of money, instead, that money could be better spent on other purposes, such as health plans for everyone or help the society build more shelters and livings for the amount of homeless that there are. Not only in the United States but in other countries in the world.
Immigration is a major factor that is greatly contributing to the unprecedented demographic changes that are presently occurring in the United States. Limited literature exists concerning the psychosocial and mental health problems experienced by immigrants as a result of immigrating and subsequent adjustments. Undocumented immigrants have no legal rights and are often emotionally, physically, and economically abused. Without the right to vote and stay in the U.S. legally, immigrants have little power to change oppressive social structures. Given the dramatically growing immigrant population in the U.S., multicultural social justice counselors are confronted with a challenge to provide culturally responsive services for this population
Immigration is a tremendous problem in America today. Thousands of immigrants every year travel illegally into the United States, and the United States immigration system is in turmoil. It takes years for immigrants to be admitted into the U.S.; for example, David Joseph, spent two years of his life in Khrome 's detention center. A good idea to quickly welcome immigrants that will benefit the American society would be to increase border patrol, and to allow more the immigrants who will be beneficial to our society to be granted citizenship or to at least allow work permits for them. With the increased patrol of the border dangerous and violent immigrants that would harm the U.S. would not be allowed in to our country to terrorize the U.S. citizens. Also if we could put these new citizens to work they would help bring large corporations back to the U.S. because the new citizens will be willing to work almost any job. Another way we could provide for these immigrants is to provide charity 's for them.
The United States has been a country filled with immigrants ever since it began to flourish a few hundred years ago in the eighteenth century. Everyone, to begin with, had their eye on the United States. They were all in search of a bright future with a new life in a new place, just as the many immigrants we see here today are. People were curious about life here and what later on was called the “American Dream;” they wanted to know what it was really like. However, over the years, legal residency in the country became hard to achieve. This was when illegal immigration really became a big deal in the United States. These individuals, over the years, have found their own ways into the country contrary to the different processes they are
A native of Mexico, Gonzalez came to the United States using a visa, to visit family members and in 1994, police convicted Gonzalez of the abduction and rape of a Waukegan, Illinois woman. During his conviction his attorney, Vanessa Potkin, addressed that at twenty years old, Gonzalez spoke very little English, had no criminal record, and yet the police wanted to pin the crime on him. Twenty years later, DNA from the crime cleared him of both charges, and Gonzalez is now threatened with deportation. Situations such as this occur often in the United States with immigrants subjected to being accused of crimes because of their inability to speak proper English and lay victim to stereotypical views. Americans have the misconception that all immigrants pose a threat to the United States and that immigrants entering the United States have the intent to perform terrorist attacks. This way of thinking continually perpetuates the stereotype that immigrants are dangerous. Although terrorists may be immigrants, not all immigrants could be terrorists, terrorists and immigrants posses many differences. Domestic terrorists or terrorists, who enter the country, have the intent of using violent acts to achieve a political goal. To further prove this argument, Sharon Bass, an Immigration Service Officer at the US Department of Homeland Security, addresses that “the average immigrant migrates to the United States to better their lives or their family’s lives, seek employment or reunite with
In order, for immigrants who come to the United State to work they must have documents in order to prove to their employers they are eligible to work. If they are not able to prove that they are eligible to work in the United States, they must take in a cash only paycheck where they have the possibility of being mistreated as workers and are being paid under federal minimum wage. The major key, in order to work in the United States is to have a Social Security number or have a work visa. If those immigrants have neither of those things they have to find a way to get the documents they need in order to work, even if it means that they have to get illegal and fake documents to provide for their family. As the tightening of the United States border has continued over the years. It has been getting harder and harder to prove that fake documents are the real deal, and many immigrants are trying to find documents that are allowing them to work as well not getting caught by the United States government. “A decade ago one could purchase simply ‘identify kits’- a driver’s license, a green card, and social security card-for only $100, but since the United States sealed it borders undocumented residents are willing to pay up to $5,000 for the mandatory national ID cards implemented by the DHS last year and hailed as a breakthrough in surveillance technology” (Romero, 2008). As the more and more things, the United States does to tighten up the border from illegal immigrants. The prices
Immigration has been and continues to be a very recognized and densely debated topic in the United States. In its simplest form, the term immigration is defined by Oxford Dictionaries as the action of coming to live permanently in a foreign country. For centuries, people from around the world have immigrated to America for many reasons, such as political freedom, religious freedom, refuge and economic opportunity. They leave their countries and travel to America to find opportunities that they were not able to find in their country of origin. A large amount of immigrants residing in the U.S come from Latin American countries. Most immigrants from these countries come to America seeking employment. They want to work to support themselves and their family, whether they are with them in America or remain in their country of origin. Doing so however, is not an easy task due to many social, political and economic barriers. This raises the question of what the major economic hardship that a Latino immigrant would face in the United States may be. It is likely that the prime economic issues an immigrant would face in recent times is finding employment in a labor market that expects educated and skilled individuals as applicants and an economy that is still recovering from the Great Recession.
Immigration has been an ongoing event in America since the start of this country. America used to allow immigrants from all over the world to freely come into the country because back when United States was just starting out there was so much land to settle on. After the civil war happened more laws were starting to pass to regulate the amount of immigrants that would come into the United States. Once World War 1 began immigration slowed down because it was harder to travel out of the country. However, right after it ended immigration became a lot heavier and new laws had to be passed. One of the laws that were passed was called National-Origins Quota System, which basically said that there was a specific quota that needed to be met for each nationality of immigrants to come into the United States. Over the next years immigration slowed down a bit, and then in 1986 congress passed an act called Immigration Reform and Control Act. One of the biggest parts of this act was enforcement to prevent illegal admission into the United States. The act banned hiring and harboring illegal immigrants. However, because of poor enforcement this act did not really succeed. About a decade later they tried to enforce more laws in order to prevent these illegal immigrants from entering the country, the passed a law called Illegal Immigrant Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act. The main purpose of this act was to aid border control by hiring better border patrol and more agents to enforce
Immigration quickly began with the idea of achieving the American dream. It brought men, women, and families from all over the world to America, in search for life, liberty and happiness. Those early immigrants brought with them their own cultures, traditions and languages. Most of us currently living in the United States of America recognize our history derives from these early immigrants. This has made America a wonderfully diverse country. However, for years, illegal immigrants and legal immigrants has become a dominant issue. Mary Sanchez states her opinion in her article, “Immigration and U.S. Borders”, by saying “America needs to return to the country it once was and welcome with open arms all immigrants who come here with the purpose of having a better life.” I agree America should get back to fully accepting legal immigrants.
Today the United States is the home to the largest immigrant population in the world. Even though immigrants assimilate faster in the United States than any other developed nations, immigration policy is still a highly controversial issue. The steady increase in the immigrant population in America enrages the natives who think the immigrants take away jobs opportunities, benefit from government benefits unfairly, increase crime and terrorism in the country, and do not integrate into mainstream social and political life which threatens to erase this country’s culture and distinctive character. However, economic theory predicts and academic research confirms immigration has a net positive effect on the natives and the overall economy.
The United States of America is not a perfect nation, however certain qualities that America possesses includes America as the land of opportunity, prosperity, and simply being a better place to live leads citizens from other countries to aspire to live in America. Countries in the twenty-first century still endure poverty, high mortality rates, poor or no health insurance, and are forced to endure inhumane and unethical treatment by the enforcement of leaders of certain nations. Therefore, the issue of immigration and the entry of unauthorized “illegal” immigrants in the United States is still a relevant issue in today’s society. An illegal alien or immigrant is defined as “a foreign person who is living in a
Many of you are aware of the immigration issue we are facing on a day to day basis. There are many opinions regarding immigration and immigrants but it is time for some facts to be brought to the public eye. Firstly, who are immigrants? When most of us think of the term immigrants Latin American individuals come to our mind or cheap laborers who don’t speak our language. Technically speaking, all of our ancestors were immigrants. The English language itself is a derived from the Germanic language. Ethnic background should not matter in the quality of a person and all the racist comments and views on immigrants are really contradictory, seeing as everyone in the United States has a different amount of diversity in their ancestry. Every
An immigration policy in the United States assessed to be one of the boiling issues of political debates for more than two decades which drives to its foreign policy through consideration on national and societal security in its soil, particularly in a global arena. Some might express that auspicious immigration policy can be a threat to national security of the United States, in contrast, others may argue that it does not pose such a threat to its soil. Since end of 1800s the United States is considered to be one of the preeminent immigrant subsidiary nations till end of 20th centuries. As a result of auspicious policies on immigrants, on the contrary, lack of appropriate mechanisms in order to control over the flow of immigrants into its soil, “more than eleven million undocumented immigrants out of forty-one million have been well nested in its soil”, according to the credible source. Thus, a former policy on immigration must have been brought both positive and negative consequences to the United States, particularly for its social, economic, political, and security environments. Nonetheless, there is not clear and specific information on how many of immigrants are considered to be immigrants with assimilation or without assimilation. What are their pros and cons for the sovereignty of United States? Therefore, which option or combination of options best address national and societal security in the United States?