Immigration Reform: A Case Study

Immigration of Latinos has long caused cultural conflict, especially when it comes to the illegal immigration of Latinos. Unfortunately, the issue has long been debated and there seems to be no clear cut answer on how to resolve the problem. Many Americans often overlook the struggles that Latinos endure and place stereotypes upon this group of people that are untrue. Furthermore, most Americans are misinformed or uninformed about the other side of this hot issue. The purpose of this essay is to give the reader a better understanding of Latino immigration from a cultural perspective and what these immigrants, both legal and illegal experience when relocating to a new country as well as a brief discussion on the issue of immigration reform.

Immigration Reform At this time, the United States has allowed more immigrants to enter the country than at any time in its history. Over a million legal and illegal immigrants take up residence in the United States each year. Immigration at its current magnitude is not fulfilling the interests or demands of this country.

​Immigration is defined as the act of leaving your country of origin and going to another different one to stay there permanently (Dictionary.com). Reasons, why people escape or leave their original countries, are varied; ranging from war, poverty, natural occurrences such as earthquakes while others just take the step for fun purposes. A reform is a change from the way things were done originally and make them better. Therefore, immigration reform is a term that is frequently used in political talks that refer to the alteration of the immigration policy of the nation. The debate is currently prevalent in the United States of America. It is a topic that has been discussed and reforms put across since around 1986 but it’s never addressed fully due to the conflicting stands taken by the leaders, the democrats, and the Republicans always have different views. Recently, the President Obama tenure has reawakened the issue. Some people support the reforms while others do not. It is a time the United States of America undertook immigration reforms as a solution to its porous borders.

Edwin notes that the failure and monetary costs of the ‘enforcement-only’ approach that the government is currently practicing. Edwin acknowledges the need for effective immigration reform; he proposes an immigration policy that rises and fall with U.S labor demand coupled with strict enforcement of wage and labor laws. Edwin also discusses the value of illegal immigrants on the American economy.

The costs and benefits current, native workers see when the number of H-1B visas distributed are increased, is depended on several factors. One factor is the age of the current, native worker. In a study conducted by Sari Pekkala Kerr, stated that there is a substitutionary effect, that occurs with young skilled immigrants workers, versus older, current native workers (4). This is a cost to older, current native workers, but a benefit for younger, current, native workers. Younger, current, native workers are more complementary to young, skilled immigrants. Another factor is the skill set held, by the current, native worker. By having more skilled workers, generally speaking, regardless of citizen or immigration, will increase the productivity and innovation in the firm. This is a benefit for specialized, current, native workers.

Abascal, Maria C. "Reform's mixed impact on immigrants: the new law's implications seem clear, but the indirect effects could be critical." The American Prospect, vol. 21, no. 7, 2010, p. A17+. Student Edition, Accessed 17 Oct. 2017.

There are not many people who know that there is war going on within America. A war, that is capable of impacting the future of America. Millions of “Dreamers” are fighting to be recognized as American citizens. In recent months and years, the debate on immigration reform has been heated and often uninformed. Every president mentions in his speech to take action on immigration reform. But unfortunately he ends up taking action against immigrants by deporting them. Is the country founded by immigrants has closed doors for the immigrants? People are fighting for the immigration reform. In order for the bright future of America we need to fix the present problems. A land of opportunity has taken many hits but the immigration reform made us think about our legal system. It is essential to understand that “immigration reform” is not a cup of tea. The question many are asking is that how can we accept millions of people into our labor force? We are already struggling from unemployment rate, which is peaking high. In this paper I will be primarily focusing on the role of immigrants on our economy, businesses and society, and how it impacts our society.

his executive power to push for changes to our immigration policy. The United States Senate

The United States Immigration Reform is specifically targeting the problem of 12 to 20 million undocumented workers in the United States. How would you trust and come out of the shadows if at any point the government changes their minds and deports you. As an immigrant there was times when I felt like I would be deported because of fear from how I got into this country. My dad would always blackmail me and my sisters to do what he wants or he would deport us and he did the same thing to my mother. Living in that ocnstent fear is painful and I don’t think that any immigrants would trust the presiden’t word about helping them and give them legal status.

“Pelosi said, "It is more important to pass comprehensive immigration reform, to me and to my caucus, than to win the election in November” (Foley, 2014). That was what Joe Garcia was trying to accomplish with his policy H.R. 15.

Many immigrants working without permits, and again, getting payed under the table. This is illegal on the part of the employer and only makes the problem worse because of the amount of people that do this, and allow more illegals to work in the country undocumented.

Ever since before the inception of a stricter limitation on granting of U.S. educational visas in the aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attacks, the US immigration policy for foreign graduate students has become the focus of a powerful debate in congress. Those who are worried about the policy change argue that it will damage the nation’s transformational capability. For example, most of the U.S. University representatives are becoming more and more alarmed that these boundaries might cause a

On January 2014, President Obama gave his state of the union address. He brought up some issues, including the plan for immigration reform. By training youth immigrants and natives to stimulate the economy and to create more jobs. This topic was barely touched in his State of the Union address, but he did say this short on immigration:

In a 2008 debate, now-President Barack Obama proclaimed, “We are a nation of laws and we are a nation of immigrants, and we can reconcile those two things,” (CNN, 2008). The hype surrounding Obama’s first term election included “hope” for immigration reform—an important platform of his campaign. In 2012, Obama’s re-election was partially attributed to an increase in support from the Latino demographic. The Latino vote helped Obama win key states and compromised 10% of the electorate—the highest ever recorded (Lopez & Taylor, 2012). With less than a year for Obama left in office, immigration legislation is struggling. Despite bi-partisan efforts, the future for comprehensive immigration policy is bleak. The Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act (S.744) made great strides towards comprehensive reform in 2013. The arduous passage of S.744 was a victory for immigration reform but its subsequent failure in the House of Representatives is symbolic of an over-arching problem facing immigration reform policy in the United States.

How long has illegal immigration been a problem in the united States of America. According to the Pew Research Center, the number of illegal immigrants in the United States now exceeds 11 million Without an effective route to citizenship, American breeds a culture of national security problems because there is no option for these individuals other than those provided by people who skirt the law and often take advantage. Migrant workers and their families work to the benefit of business owners without proper protections and do themselves and all of America a disservice in the long run without a clear path forward. The 1836 ads targeting immigrants claimed that Houston was located on a “river” and boasted that there was “no place more healthy.”