Immigration Reform During The United States

The United States of America, being a country founded by immigrants, is known all over the world as the land of great opportunities. People from all walks of life travelled across the globe, taking a chance to find a better life for them and their family. Over the years, the population of immigrants has grown immensely, resulting in the currently controversial issue of illegal immigration. Illegal immigrants are the people who have overstayed the time granted on their US, visa or those who have broken the federal law by crossing the border illegally. Matt O’Brien stated in his article “The government thinks that 10.8 million illegal immigrants lived in the country in January 2009, down from a peak of nearly 12 million in 2007.”(Para, 2)

Immigration Reform is a serious and current issue in politics, in government, and in the lives of millions of people. Immigration reform is a term used by the American government and in politics. It refers to the changes to the current immigration policies in the United States. “Reform” is defined as a “change into an improved form or condition, by amending faults or abuses.” So, in a nutshell, Immigration Reform means the improvement of the law regarding how we, the United States, handle immigration. The only reason a country may revise its immigration policy/policies, is if it is having troubles such as illegal immigration. In the United States today, our government is having such troubles – illegal immigration. The statistic on illegal

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.

In the United States, immigration has been high topic of debate. As of 2015, 13.5 percent of the United States population of 321.4 billion were immigrants (Jie). Immigration has been shaping the way America works for many years now. It has brought changes to the economy, workforce, culture, language and politics just to name a few changes. America is often referred to as the melting pot of cultures. Where the “American dream” can be reached as long as you are willing to work hard. However, citizens also demand strict boarders to prevent illegal workers but we still want the free movement of goods. A lot of legislative bills have been past in recent years that have brought change to immigration and the way it is done. The top five bills that have affected the country are as follows; The Immigration Reform and Control Act, IRCA, of 1986 penalized employees for hiring unauthorized workers. However, did nothing towards changing the immigration system or provide resources to implement the employer sanctions provisions. The Immigration Act of 1990 overhauled the immigration system by raising the number of permanent vistas form 290,000 to 675,000 and allotted 555,000 visas annually of underserved counties. The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibly Act, IIRAIRA, of 1996 dealt with government spending and a three or ten year bar on returning to the United States for people who were caught without proper documentations from applying for asylum status within one year

This paper explores the United States, Immigration Policy from an historical, fair and factual perspective. The Immigration Act of 1990 States limited “unskilled workers to 10,000 a year. Skilled labor requirements and immediate family reunification were major goals. The Act continued to promote the nuclear family model, foreign-born in the US was 7%”. This paper will also explore the demographics and diversity, of immigrants, throughout the U.S. This paper includes an article form the website of the Washington, D.C., Immigration Policy Center, and American Immigration Council. This paper will examines significant research data from the Pew Research web site on Hispanic trends and immigration, around the United States. This paper will also cover numbers, facts and trends which shape the immigration policy. This paper will also include five different books written by authors concerning the immigration policy and public issues which most concern Americans. This paper will cover topics of history of social problems and the policies that address immigration, special interest groups advocacy groups, political party and supporters, social justice and ethical issues, policy outcomes of illegal immigrants and how other countries compare to the United States when dealing with immigration.

Immigration Reform is obviously a big issue in America today. I mean everywhere you go; you either see something about or read about it. There is no exact number as to how many illegal immigrants cross the border, but it is estimated to be around 11 to 12 million. This has become a major political and social issue because of the continued flow of illegal immigrants. There is nothing really around that will stop this problem. Nothing has really been done, I mean there are borders and all, but who watches the borders to stop the immigration and even so there is no one there to protect the people who are there trying to prevent it. Anything can happen to the people who are watching the borders such as being shot at and things of the nature,

Ewing, Walter. "The Many Facets Of Effective Immigration Reform." Society 47.2 (2010): 110. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 23 July 2016.

The Immigration Reform and Control Act Bill of 1965, (IRCA) of 1986 P.L. 99-603, signed November 6, 1986; 100 Stat. 3359, was a breath of fresh air for the government. President Reagan signed reform IRCA of 1986, which Can control illegal immigration by requiring employers to attest to their employee status, and only legalize seasonal agricultural illegal immigrants. The stipulations are the Can-not have no known criminal records, or tax violations and had been in the U.S. prior to January 1, 1982 (Laws, 2015). The government Can audit immigration at a state and local administrations level. In the long run, the government Can decipher, between candidates under this act, and grant legal status to

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.

The United States of America, a country created by immigrants, is currently facing what some consider to be an immigration crisis. As of 2012, there is over eleven million undocumented illegal aliens living inside the United States. Both the American public and the lawmakers elected to represent us are divided on the issue. Some people view the influx of immigrants crossing over the border from Mexico to America as a good thing while others view it as a disaster waiting to happen. Regardless of ones view on immigrants coming over, most people are in agreement with the idea that we must change the way we are currently dealing with illegal aliens.

The dilemma of immigration reform is a problematic issue in the United States because it involves the lives of more than 11 million illegal immigrants and the economy of the United States. Immigration reform is a commonly debated issue in politics in the United States. The problem with illegal immigration is the incapacity of Congress to pass reforms addressing border security issues and the dilemmas of the 11.6 million illegal immigrants in the country. It is time for the congress to develop a proper immigration reform policy that would address the following: 1. Reinforce the country’s border security 2.Stricter workplace enforcement verification process and punishment for those hiring illegal aliens 3. Create a path for illegal immigrations to become U.S citizens and 4. Reorganize the legal immigration system. In 2013 a group of senators known as the “gang of eight” wrote the first draft of the “Border Security, Economic Opportunity (S. 744) and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013 also known as the “immigration bill.”” The House of Representatives has not acted on this bill after it passed the Senate with a 68-32-vote margin. (Wolgin,

In order to demonstrate that the failure of immigration reforms is directly associated with the consistent rise of partisan politics, it is imperative to examine the history of reform process and control for the provisions of reform bills and the rate of acceptance based on political ideology. Since the last comprehensive immigration reform was enacted in 1986, I will focus on three major immigration reforms proposed since then. The first most comprehensive bill, H. R. 4437, introduced in 2006, was large and contained very controlling provisions like criminalizing for an undocumented status, significant border construction, and employer sanctions (Wallace, 2014). Partisanship on the reform was intense, as the bill was moved only by Republicans but strongly opposed by Democrats. Consequently, the bill passed in the House but was rejected by the Senate due to public protests and lack of compromise between

Political issues relating to immigration have long been a concern since migrating into the United States became so called “illegal” in the late 1880s. In reality, immigration was barely regulated until the early 1920s when congress passed a Quota Law limiting the amount of people allowed to enter the country annually. Just how immigrants stormed into the United States then, we continue to struggle today in enforcing immigration laws and procedures, protecting our borders from undocumented personnel and, most recent, terrorist threats. The following will describe the current political issues regarding immigration and will focus on a few aspects of the problems the U.S is attempting to adapt and overcome.