Immigration Reform In Texas

“Federal government decisions about immigration have always been upheld by the US Supreme Court, which overruled attempts for any state to have a say regarding immigration”(Find-Law 2). Typically the state of Texas laws regarding immigration have to do with employment, education, licensing, and state benefits. Even though federal government has the majority of the say regarding the laws of immigration, they have to be able to know when they need to back off. Every state requires different laws when dealing with immigration laws. Almost every Texas state law that has to do with immigration is challenged either by the Federal government or civil liberties groups. The federal government does not like the idea of having different laws

The exploration and settlement of Texas was built on the three Spanish institutions: missions, presidios, and ranches. A mission was a religious and educational center, a presidio was a military outpost or base for protection, and a ranch provided resources needed for survival. Through the influence of Hispanic culture in Texas, ranching in Texas has been established and further developed.

For years to decades’ immigrations has been an issue and maybe in some way a solution to big business gain. Is a real way to fix it or find a balance? It has been and will always be an ongoing subject with politics to come. Since the 1800s Texas borders has had a large population of undocumented immigrants. Though in the current century it does not have the high population with undocumented immigrant now, it is a targeted border for migration.

The return and removal of illegal immigrants from the United States is one of the most widely discussed topics. Since 2007the United States Customs and Border Protection (ICE) has returned or removed over 1.2 million illegal immigrants from the United States. ICE has expanded its Criminal Alien Program to included incarcerated criminal illegal aliens.  In 2007, ICE identified 164,296 convicted criminals who were incarcerated in Federal, state and local penitentiaries (These are people who came into the United States illegally and committed a crime.)

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.

Back in 2007 there were several concerns over immigration as a whole and exploding proportions of illegal immigrants crossing the border in the Arizona area. Arizona attempted to resolve the influx of people across the border by imposing heavy fines on employers hiring illegal immigrants. At that time in Arizona there was a democratic governor Janet Napolitano that continually vetoed the Arizona’s legislature attempt to reduce illegal immigration. In 2009 the state replaced the Democratic governor with a Republican governor Jan Brewer who was supportive of reforms for immigration in Arizona. In 2010 the immigration problem was so sever that Arizona passed legislation allowing the state to enforce federal law for identification of legal immigration into the United States. This sparked a nation wide discussion on illegal immigration and immigration reform.

​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 mid 1800s, many people around the world decided to leave their homes and immigrate to Texas. Fleeing crop failure, land and job shortages, raising taxes, and famine, all of this caused them to dismiss to Texas and create a new life. Most of the immigrants that came to Texas they were lost and desolated in Texas, they didn’t have any money and didn't spoke english in Document A it says how they lived when they came to Texas “With no other shelter, these unfortunate victims lived in hole they had excavated in the ground, without roofs and without drinking water except that that fell from heaven…” For the immigrants the U.S was seen as the land of economic opportunity,

Brannon, Ike, and Logan Albright. Immigration’s Impact on the Texas Economy. Austin: Texas Public Policy Foundation, Mar. 2016. PDF.

Texas has also long supported an increase in border security. In 2006, Gov. Rick Perry announced a plan that assigned Department of Public Safety personnel as well as other resources to the border to assist in law enforcement. He also added an additional $3.8 million in grant funding for state criminal justice planning funds to the Texas Border Sheriff’s Coalition. (Texas House of Representatives) The state’s legislative policy has been one of strict anti-immigration. In Texas’s 81st Legislative session, the issue of Voter ID arose. The Voter ID bill would require photo identification or two forms of other identification in order to vote. During the 81st session, Democrats filibustered to prevent the issue from being voted upon, it is very likely this is the only reason the bill did not pass and it likely will pass should it reappear in the 82nd session.

Perhaps, you caught wind of Texas’ denial of birth certificates to anchor babies, i.e., children born to illegal immigrants. The story broke in May, with the release of a civil lawsuit against the state.

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.

As the largest state by area in the continental U.S. as the second most populous, Texas has its significant share of public policy challenges with which to contend. And as the discussion hereafter will show, many of these challenges serve as a microcosm of the broader pubic policy issues facing the United States. The issues addressed here below help to provide a better understanding of the complexities of public policy maintenance in a large and diverse state.

U.S. as an immigration country, has a long history of immigration. It is a complex demographic phenomenon that has been a major source of population growth and cultural change of the United States. People came here because of varies reason, the major reason among them are fleeing crop failure, land and job shortage, rising taxes, and famine. Nearly 12 million people immigrate to the United States between 1870 and 1900, making it the world largest immigrate country.

This passage is important because Diane Guerrero has said some important information about immigration reform in this country. She was only fourteen years old when her parents were arrested while she was at school, and after they were deported back to Colombia, Diane was left all alone. No one showed up to check on her well-being not even the police, ICE, or child protective services. So not only did her parents disappear from her life, but it had seemed as if she had become invisible.