Journal Week 6
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Persuasive-BasedResearchPaper.docxRunning head: THE AMERICA’S IMMIGRATION LAWS REFORMS 1
THE AMERICA’S IMMIGRATION LAWS REFORMS 9
The Necessity of Immigration Laws Reforms
Myrna Ortiz
Peirce College
April 12, 2018
The Necessity of Immigration Laws Reforms
Thesis Statement
Research indicates that most of the immigrants who live in the United States of America are less likely to participate in criminal activities and that they are more likely to engage in productive activities that may help them improve on their financial status. In this particular case it is evident that harsh immigration laws may not be the ultimate solution to the various security problems facing this country. The proposed immigration laws have scared away immigrants and this has led to the development of a stereotype where they feel that they are being treated and also being branded as criminals. It is also clear that the aspects put forward in order to of deal with immigration problems have been unsuccessful, this can be proven by the fact that immigrants can get deported for taking place in petty crimes that can be described as being non issues (Ewing, Martinez, & Rumbaut, 2015).
Abstract
Discussions about illegal immigration have flooded the United States politics. Some people argue that the immigrants are essential as they can take part in the jobs the Native Americans are not able to take; therefore they should be offered an opportunity to stay in the United States. Other individuals, on the other hand, are holding the opinion that these people should be punished severely since according to them they are engaged in an illegal act. They further argue that the illegal immigrants are taking away job opportunities from the residents of the country and in the process fail to pay the required taxes. Even though there exist some arguments supporting the severe punishment take of the immigrants, many counter-arguments exist too advocating for their stay. The United States government has, therefore, stepped in, in this issue to ensure every individual gets what he or she deserves in the nation regarding immigration and well being of the country (Heer, 2018).
Introduction
For over a decade, efforts to steadily fix the United States immigration system have been outshined by other events in overseas wars and the concerns of internal security to the last crisis which had threatened to destroy the economic condition of the globe. Apart from the ever-changing list of disasters in the country, many years of adherent political wars and the renaissance of an unstable restrictionist movement that flourish on angry rhetoric have made chances for the advancing authentic reforms few and far within. As a consequent, many people have opted in both groups for a good political strategy which had to emphasize on the enforcement of immigration reforms, citing the argument that efficient deportation of non-citizens would cut on the illegal immigration as well as pave the way for more levelheaded results shortly. Instead, the unprecedented expenses on the enforcement of the immigration, passing of state immigration laws, the extraordinary deportation rise and the rampant anecdotes of families who have been separated as well as discrimination lastly took their charge. Voters, on the other hand, showed their tiresome nature of the enforcement-only immigration laws and the unnecessary pain they brought about in the 2012 vote (Ngai, 2014). It is now likely than ever, to craft the rules on immigration that would reflect on the Americans needs and values. Countless firms, as well as the white house congress members, have delivered new ideologies and principles to ensure the workability of the system. The proposals issued however vary and are likely to be altered more even as time moves by as they translate into legislation. This paper, therefore, lays the need for the immigration reforms in the United States at this point and finds the reason behind the arguments to prove the stand that immigration law reforms are necessary for the United States.
Historical background
Regulation of immigration in the United States is dated back to 1790. It was soon after the United States won their independence that they began regulating their immigration department. Since enacted, the law has served to reflect on the politics and the flows of migrants of that time. The new legislation imposed limits in favor of the Europeans, but a law on sweeping enacted in 1965 gave room for other immigrants from other parts of the globe. Recently, regulatory actions and laws have been put into line by concerns of refugees and cases of terrorism. The specification of who could become a United States citizen was done by a bill passed in 1979. The law limited the free whites of ethical and moral character who had existed in the country for two or more years of their privilege. In 1980, there was an extension of the citizenship rights to accommodate residences of African origin. A series of restrictions on the United States immigration were passed beginning 1875 (Ewing et al., 2015). The limits included criminal bans, people possessing contagious infections, polygamist anarchists, prostitutes' importers as well as beggars. Other restrictions were enacted in the target of the growing number of the Asian immigrants in the nation, beginning with the ban of people from China and after that formalizing the prohibition for everyone from the Asian countries.
By the beginning of the 1900s, the country's immigration flow shifted from the western and northern European nations to eastern and southern states in Europe. While responding to this shift, laws were enacted in 1921 and 1924 to restore the previous patterns of immigration by withdrawing the total yearly migration and imposing arithmetical quotas based on the nationality of every immigrant, thus favoring the countries in the western and northern Europe. The extended standing restrictions on immigration started in 1943 when some law which allowed a limited number of travel visas for other people from Asia and race was officially withdrawn on the grounds of exclusions. Congress refused to digest the argument by the presidential commission on the recommendation of removal of the national origins quota system. In 1965, landmark Immigration and Nationality Act was passed. The Act created a new policy favoring the act of family reunion as well as skilled immigrants instead of national quotas. Thanks to the contributions of the then political, geographical and social factors. The law, in addition, put limits on the possible immigration from the western hemisphere (Schuck, 2018). Before the passage of the legislation, the Latin Americans were allowed to get into the United States without any restrictions imposed on them.
Several laws since 1965 have made a lot of focus on the refugees. The refugees' clause gave room for the Indochinese refugees running away from their violence infested countries in the 1970s, and including them, relief from other nationalities Chinese included Haitians as well as the Nicaraguans. Another law enacted in 1990 created a temporary status of protection that functioned to shield immigrants, majorly from Central America, off deportation to natural disaster facing nations. The Congress enacted another primary law in 1986, the immigration reform and Control Act (Yoshikawa et al., 2017). The law granted the validation of millions of unlawful immigrants, mainly from the Latin America, who merited, regarding certain conditions which were put in place. Also, the law forced sanctions on the employers who appointed unlawful immigrants. The subsequent clauses made in the years 1996, 2002 and 2006 were addressing concerns of terrorism and illegal immigration cases. The measures put a lot of emphasis on border control and placed a significant priority on the enforcement of the laws concerning the hiring of immigrants as well as tightening the admissions eligibility. The most recent alterations on the policy of immigration have exempted themselves from the original pattern. In 2012, the then president Barrack Obama took an executive action allowing young adults who had illegally entered the United States to apply for an adoption relief as well as a work permit. He then extended the program on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and went ahead to set up a new program to give benefits of the same kind to some of the unauthorized immigrant parenting children born in the united states, in the year 2014. However, the action by President Obama was challenged by over 26 states putting the program of DACA on hold.
Positional and counter arguments
The United States is a big nation made up of immigrants, and now the hot-button matter in the county is immigration reforms. Many of the American residents believe that the changes would only be beneficial to the undocumented immigrants and that it would cost the nation a lot. However, there exist reasons for the essence of the immigration law reforms in the United States. Immigration reforms would positively impact on the United States' economy and the nation in general. There is need by the country to reduce the growing population caused by unauthorized immigration. At the same moment, it has to deal with a large number of undocumented immigrants living in the United States illegally today. Hence there is a need for a plan by the country that would make secure the borders of the nation and tend to legalize the stay of the undocumented immigrants in that country. The approval of the pending Senate plan into law would see the undocumented immigrants get applications for more legal status. The process would allow the immigrants to come out of the shadows and commence legal working in the country for the country's economic good since they would have legal earnings thus able to pay taxes. When their contribution is estimated for over the next 75 years, it will come out that these immigrants would contribute as much as 600 billion us dollars to over 4.6 trillion dollars especially into the social security trust fund. The now legalized immigrants would as well aid in supporting the retirees through the social security taxes (Moore, 2017).
The immigration reforms would also aid in the reunion of the torn apart families. By offering a chance for the undocumented immigrants to apply for legalization, it gives them an opportunity to live in the United States without any threats of deportation thus eradicating the fear. In this context, the bill would fix the now broken immigration systems of the nation that result in the current division of families. Similarly, the reforms would give protection to the vulnerable employees who are facing exploitation by their employers and bar the same employers from the illegal hiring of workers, thus, protecting the ailing American economy too. By passing the immigration law reforms, the United States would be able to strengthen its borders as well as to ensure sufficient internal security. It will open legal immigration of individuals, therefore, putting a full stop to the issue of unauthorized immigration. It should be understood that immigrants make the U.S wealthier instead of stealing from it, as others argue. The immigrants will provide a pathway for introduction of millions of other taxpayers into the United States to aid the economy positively (Golash, 2015). The reforms are much needed since it will eradicate the issue of the aliens who are illegally in the nation thus legal reforms on the immigration laws is very necessary.
Conclusion
America is a superpower nation, should take into consideration the process of population influx by strengthening its immigration laws. Many people have regardless of the continents they originate from, have the passion for living and working for the nation, due to the job opportunities it presents and its strong and stable economy. However, people who go to the United States especially those who are illegally in have the great fear of deportation since there are no proper protective laws for them. Lack of protection of the undocumented immigrants in the United States has also brought about the issue of the family split. To ensure stronger borders security, legal citizenship for all, and legal access to the legal immigrants, the country should rethink on the immigration law bill and enact it with a lot of confidence and as soon as possible. The Americans may argue that this issue does not affect them so much, but they should look like the situation now in Mexico caused by the problem of human rights violation that many people are now trying to escape from. The Mexico issue is no different to the American if the immigration law reform is not passed for it resulted from drug trafficking and without the drug in the Mexican market, there would be limited issues with the violations in the country. The Americans should, therefore, fight the vice of drug trafficking and not the human beings who are the victims (Ewing et al., 2015). Contrary to the arguments of punishing the illegal immigrants in the country, there exist a lot of genuine backing arguments for the adoption of the immigration reforms. The immigrants pay taxes to mean they should be subjected to the same county's benefits. Therefore it is of an excellent essence for the United States to work on the immigration law reforms to fix the problems herein.
References
Golash-Boza, T. M. (2015). Immigration nation: Raids, detentions, and deportations in post-9/11 America. Routledge.
Heer, D. (2018). Immigration in America's future: Social science findings and the policy debate. Routledge.
Moore, K. M. (2017). US immigration reform and the meaning of responsibility. Immigration, 12.
Ngai, M. M. (2014). Impossible subjects: Illegal aliens and the making of modern America. Princeton University Press.
Schuck, P. (2018). Citizens, strangers, and in-betweens: Essays on immigration and citizenship. Routledge.
Yoshikawa, H., Suárez‐Orozco, C., & Gonzales, R. G. (2017). Unauthorized status and youth development in the United States: Consensus statement of the society for research on adolescence. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 27(1), 4-19.
