Immigration Reform: Migration To The United States

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

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.

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,

In the United States, citizens are very familiar and concerned about the topic of the Immigration Reform. Based on the research report from Senior Research Associate Pew Hispanic Center, Jeffrey S. Passel predicted around 11 million or more undocumented immigrants in the US in March 2005, which existed more than 6.5 million undocumented Mexicans, up to 57% of the total undocumented population and the Latin American countries are occupied by another 24%. (Passel, 2005) Furthermore, there are 9% in Asia, 6% of Canada and Europe, and the 4% rest for the others. (Passel, 2005) However, up to September 2006, there was nearly 13 million of the illegal immigrants but almost one-sixth of total, around 2.0 million undocumented

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

People all over the world come to the United States of America for better opportunities, such as employment and reuniting with family. These people are immigrants. However, many people immigrate illegally, meaning they do not comply with proper protocol for becoming a U.S. citizen. Throughout the history of America, reformation of immigration policy has already been implicated in federal law. Presently, immigration reforms are being considered to make it easier for foreigners to start a new life in the United States of America.

Historically, immigration as a percentage of the United States population has been far higher in previous years compared to where it is now. Even as far back as 1870, the foreign-born population of the US was 5,567,229 while the US population was 38,558,371, meaning that immigrants were making up approximately 14.4% of the US population. Calculating the immigration percentage in the same way, it was 13.3% in 1880, 14.7% in 1890, 13.6% in 1900, 14.6% in 1910, and 13.1% in 1920, the last year before the first immigration quota acts were passed (US Census Bureau). During those years in which foreign-born population was steadily 13-15% of the US population, the US saw some of its largest economic and industrial growth ever in a period known as the Gilded Age (Jones). Proponents of comprehensive immigration reform would then say that if we want to see economic growth similar to that time period, we should then allow immigration at a similar rate, which would have a huge benefit on American society.

There can be immigration reform, but the big question is, "who is enforcing it?" The department of homeland security along with, U.S customs and border security, and U.S citizenship immigration services all play a roll in enforcing immigration reform against illegal immigrants. U.S customs and border security secures the border from illegal immigrants. There are two possible approaches to this issue. The United States could send back all immigrants or they could keep them and help them get "green cards". "Green cards" are the part of the transformation process of undocumented illegal immigrants to permanent United States residents. "The United States has border patrol agents, plus inspectors enforcing immigration customs." (Megan Davy, " who does what in immigration Reform"). The United States of America government is working with United States customs and border security to secure the

“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.

Immigration Reform Has Been a hot topic lately, President Barack Obama has recently used his power of executive order to give protection to some 5 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States. The program protects about 5 million immigrants from deportation, and allows them to stay and work here legally. There has been a lot of opposition; republicans believe that the president’s action is unconstitutional, and that the president is usurping power from Congress. What the President is trying to do is push congress into taking action, to pass a bill on immigration reform. In whitehouse.gov, they have a section that outlines the president’s plan for immigration reform. They have for points that they want to attain. Immigration reform usually accomplishes most or some of these objectives. One is to reinforce and strengthen border security. Second is to provide a legal way for undocumented immigrants to earn citizenship. Another objective is to crack down on the hiring of undocumented immigrants. Last objective is to make legal immigration simple and efficient. Within these objectives is amnesty. Amnesty is a hotly debated topic in immigration reform. Those who oppose amnesty argue that amnesty rewards lawbreakers, encourages more illegal immigration, and doesn’t help the economy; they think that it does the opposite of that. Those who argue for amnesty argue that it would be beneficial to the economy because of the increase tax revenues they will receive from the

In 2011, it was calculated that over 40 million immigrants lived within the United States (figure 1-1). Among those forty million individuals, a reported 11.1 million are illegal (figure 1-2)1. It is clear that we need to create a plan of attack to address this large number of people living in this country illegally. There are essentially three avenues that we could travel down in order to complete this task. Either the United States could provide an easier path for citizenship for these people, or we could allow them to stay in the country without becoming citizens through work visas or permits. The third option is to increase the level of enforcement and implement laws that would assist in the deportation of these

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.

According to U.S Citizenship and Immigration Services, in the year 1906, the month of June 29th, President Theodore Roosevelt approved a reformed that caused significant changes in immigration in the United States. That reform is called the Naturalization Act of 1906 which again, changed the immigration reform in the U.S. That law provided immigrants an opportunity to gain a U.S citizenship. But as of today how the terrorist or other things that are happening in the U.S is causing a big problem in becoming a U.S citizen. As of this society, to become a U.s citizen today is more difficult than it was in the back then. But, as of that law, today’s immigrants may have the opportunity to become a U.S citizen. But, what does it take for an immigrant

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.