Legal Immigration Should Not Be Punished Than Native Born Citizens

The long-term effects of immigration policy, such as DACA, can only be speculated. Recent activity from the Trump administration has suggested the dismantling of DACA while proposing stricter immigration policy such as the merit-based immigration policy known as Reforming American Immigrants for Strong Employment (RAISE) Act (Gelatt, 2017). Therefore, continuously studying immigration policy is essential to understanding the potential impact on the United States. This capstone will examine social-disorganization theory and how it perpetuates the stigma associated with immigrants and criminal behavior, specifically as it relates to DACA and the future of immigration policy.

Although illegal immigrants only make up less than four percent of the total population in the United States, five percent of the population in both state and federal prisons is made up of those who are not United States citizens. Between 2010 and 2014, 121 illegal immigrants who were released from immigration custody were later charged with murder (Shoichet, 2015). Figures show that immigrants are three times more likely to be convicted of murder than the general population. Each year, approximately 900,000 legal and illegal immigrants are arrested, and 700,000 of these end up being released. Illegal immigrants account for 12 percent of murder sentences, 20 percent of kidnapping sentences, and 16

Immigration is one of the central themes of the founding of the United States and as such it is often the epicenter of controversy among both citizens and policymakers. Throughout the twentieth century, American citizens and policymakers have brought to the forefront the importance of immigration and the role immigrants play within society. This can be a cause of friction between immigrants and multi-generational citizens because immigrants are often viewed with a negative connotation. They are often blamed for stealing jobs from hardworking citizens, draining the healthcare system and adding to the homeless population. They are associated with crime, poverty and in general they are perceived as undesirable members of society (Spenkuch, 2014). The relationship between crime and immigrants is of particular importance because there is a common perception that immigrants cause crime and their neighborhoods are riddled with criminal activity. Also important to note is that the characteristics of immigrants tend to coincide with members of the native-born population that are disproportionally incarceration. In general, they are poorly educated, earn low wages and are young, males. This led to the perception that incoming immigrants continuously add to the lower class, criminal population. In order to clearly understand the relationship between the two concepts they must be examined both from a theoretical and empirical viewpoint

A couple of facts that counters the image of illegal immigrants as criminals include, “The anti-immigrant forces draw, for example, on the ‘2006 (first quarter) INS [immigration and Naturalization service/FBI statistical report on undocumented Immigrants’ with its array of alarming statistics about illegal immigrants and crime to make their case that undocumented immigrants not only break the law entering the country but also break the laws, with a proclivity to violent crimes, once they make their homes here.” And, “One of the most disturbing findings of the IPC study was that immigrant children and immigrants with many years in the country are more likely to become criminals than first-generation immigrants or those with less than 15

Criminality in our country is often assigned to you at birth determined by trivial categories such as race, class, gender, immigration status, religion, and the list can continue forever. Life outcomes can be predetermined when taking all of these identities into account, making someone more susceptible to the reach of the mass incarceration system. However, I will be focusing on undocumented immigrants and how being seen as “illegal” is part of their daily lived experiences and how there are very strong parallels between the immigration detention centers and prisons in the United States. Undocumented people experience similar forms of social and political disenfranchisement that people affected by the criminal justice system also have to

Researchers argue that criminal records affect people at different levels according to their race or ethnic group. According to Jacobs (2015), African Americans and Hispanics are disproportionately arrested and convicted. Jacobs (2015) also found that 78.1 percent of African Americans are convicted of a crime compared with 11.6-16.8 percent of whites. Hispanics also have a higher percentage of convicted crimes than the white population. (Kimani, 2016, p. 20). As a result of convictions, these groups of minority groups face more obstacles when they look for work. According to Heitzed (2013), when the effects of criminal record and race are combined the problem grows disproportionately. Another minority group affected by the criminal

Illegal immigrants have often been scorned due to the misconception that they engage in more crimes than U.S. citizens. However, studies show that there is a negative correlation between first generation immigration and crime. Essentially, first generation immigrants have little impact on the U.S. crime rates. Nevertheless, studies show that second generation immigrants are engaging in crime at a significantly higher rate than native born citizens. However, research shows that first generations immigrants who migrate at an earlier age tend to have higher rates of offending than older first-generation immigrants. Essentially, the younger first-generation immigrants rapidly assimilate to mainstream American culture. While some immigrants follow

Although events such as San Bernardino in 2015 provide anecdotal evidence of immigrants committing acts of extreme violence, these events are extremely rare. Nonetheless, tragedies such as these inevitably grab headlines and capture the attention of millions of Americans across the country. Tragedies such as the attack in San Bernardino hold strong emotional appeal to proponents for restrictive immigration policy. However, these rare and uncontrollable events should not provide the base of logic for America’s national immigration policy as they are not a proxy for immigrant behavior as a whole. Various statistics regarding crime among immigrants may reveal an underlying reason for lower crime rates, which is that the majority of immigrants understand the implications of committing a crime and know that it would not be in their best interest as a new member of the country they wish to call home. Natives, moreover, have crime rates five times that of immigrants. This demonstrates the potential positive externalities that immigrants contribute to the social sphere by lowering the crime rate and acting as models within urban America.

Yee, V., Davis, K., & Patel, J. (2017, March 06). Here’s the Reality About Illegal Immigrants in the United States. Retrieved November 10, 2017, from https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/03/06/us/politics/undocumented-illegal-immigrants.html

Along with its economic classes, American is known for its freedom, its liberty, and the melting pot of ethnicity. This ethnic diversity comes form the immigrant population in the country. However this perfect country is a major falsehood. These untrue ideals of harmony, freedom, success, and equality are deceptive and do not show the struggles that immigrants face when coming to this class dominated country. The immigrants of today do not come from just Europe, but overwhelmingly from Asia and Latin America. “They are driving a demographic shift so rapid that within the lifetimes of today 's teenagers, no one ethnic group – including whites of European descent – will comprise a majority of the nation 's population’ (Colombo, Cullen, Lisle). These immigrants challenge the social myth that everyone has an equal chance in life. They

It is proven that immigrants are far more afraid and less likely to as well participate in any crime involved activities, quit their jobs, shoplift, hurt others in any way, shape or form, or do something that could get them arrested. It’s the sense of fear they have for getting deported, but it may also be that good spirit in which they truly came here to start a better life with no problems. Many comparisons between cities, communities and counties are done by economists to differentiate the links of local concentration of immigrants and the rates of crime and violence in that specified area. Results showed that the higher number concentration of immigrants, the lower crime rate. There is no proven connection found between immigrants and higher crime

Immigrants arrive here in America to establish a better quality of life. They come here to get a job, raise their families, and get an education. To express their need for stability is important. In “Border on Our Backs,” Rodriguez carries some sociological information of how Latinos feel judged. The author states, “Just who precisely needs to be pardoned? Those who are exploited and who’ve been here forever…or those who’ve been complicit in our dehumanization” (562)? He feels criminalization in the way the Latin immigrants are treated. Rodriguez talks about some racial profiling in

The United States of America has always been a refuge where poor and oppressed people from the far corners of the world can come to begin a new life. Much of the nation’s allure to prospective immigrants is in its promise of equal opportunity for all, regardless of race, creed, or color. But the pressures of rising unemployment rates, congested cities, a crippled healthcare system, and national debt skyrocketing out of control have caused America to defend her borders against the influx of immigrants that threaten her already ailing economy. Still, despite all the heightened security measures incorporated in recent decades, a steady stream of immigrants continue to enter the country illegally. The Washington Times reports that there are

Many immigrants come to the United States in search of the opportunity to have a better life. They have the willingness to work, seek out educational opportunities and to be productive members and contributors to society. Rarely do you find those instances where immigrants come here to take, destroy all that our nation has built and established. When you hear the current administration in the media use fear, as part of cultural destructiveness to destroy how our society view other cultures and diminish the worth of individuals within their own Netting, Kettner, McMurtry, Thomas, (pg. 64, 2012). By doing that the narrative around immigrants’ changes, people start to believe that immigrants are here committing crimes and a higher rate in comparison to Americans that are born here; For instance, during one of Donald’s Trump 2016 campaign speeches he said “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best,” They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re

The thought of arriving immigrants in any host country has been accompanied by reactions of exclusion, and continues to expand throughout the years. During any social illness, immigrants tend to be the first to be held responsible by their recipient societies. Most crimes are associated with immigrants due to the fact that they may not posses the same socio-economics status as natives. Another contributing factor is the media that conducts numerous stories that highlight the image of immigrant crimes to recall the alleged difference between native and foreign born. Undoubtedly, the correlation between immigration and crime has become one of the most controversial discussions in current society. As we enter a new era, immigrants will have