The control of our nation’s borders and the regulation of who can enter and leave the country is
an integral part of homeland security. The Department of Homeland Security is charged with
preventing the entry of terrorists, securing the borders, and carrying out immigration
enforcement functions. Many of the 22 agencies that make up the Department of Homeland
Security have as their primary mission 1 or more of these tasks yet there is a significant ongoing
debate about immigration and the role of Homeland Security. Summarize the current debate
regarding immigration and homeland security. Explain and support your views on the
immigration debate.
The current debate regarding immigration and homeland security falls under whether or
not these 22 agencies are capable of distinguishing the difference between undocumented
immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers and how these two populations need to be
differentiated and treated differently. Much of the current debate on immigration and the role of
Homeland Security pertains to the legal immigration system as well as the large population of
undocumented individuals and the reform. When individuals think of the immigration reform
people believe it is vague or broad and that is why the illegal migration within America is so
large.
“The US immigration system does not reflect the vast, mostly unanticipated changes in
the nation and the world since Congress last meaningfully reformed this system (27 years ago)
and last overhauled the law (52 years ago)”(Kerwin, 2018). The current undocumented
population within the United States needs to be downsized, as well as permanently remain low.
Many people are dating others without the country, then the person they begin a family with or
moves to the US gains access to a visa and then leaves that person and blames it on other issues
within the relationship. Why bother allowing people to take advantage of the system. There are
many red flags that pop up when people ask questions regarding their visas and then ask
questions about divorce or even business between their own country and the United States. There
are many people who do what they think is correct to get a visa, but they do it for the wrong
reasons or have bad intentions.
In previous history the presidents and congress have viewed immigration differently and
specific issues such as deportation and humanitarian issues as a big problem. The overall the
debate pertains to so many smaller areas within the legal immigration system as well as how
many individuals we have within the United States that are undocumented. If the United States
was able to legalize the current undocumented population that is eligible to be citizens, it would
lower the amount of undocumented illegal aliens. “the most effective way to combat illegal
immigration is to have an immigration policy that provides adequate and timely means for the
United States to admit legal immigrants”.().
The immigration debate is so large and can be misunderstood by many people as well as
many individuals having their own thoughts and opinions on immigrants. Many of us are
immigrants to the United States whether or not you want to believe it is another discussion. My
ancestry comes from Hawaii on my father’s side, which was overthrown in 1893 when the
Kingdom was then changed to US territory two years later. My mother’s grandmother was an
immigrant who was originally from Europe. Many family trees do not originate from the United
States. That is what makes our country so great, we allow many people to come and live the
American Dream, to escape their nightmare of their previous lived location. The immigration
debates can get heated but at the end of the day we need to recognize we are all human trying to
live the life we desire and are so grateful for. I wish people would take the right measures and go
through the right process to live here in the United States but not everyone does. I also
understand that the United States population would become an issue if many people were to just
leave their countries in attempt to get into the US. There are many issues that arise when
speaking about immigration. Psalm 20:4 “May the Lord grant all of your requests” (NIV). As we
continue to figure out what to change to better our country things will get better and we will be
able to help those who need to come to the US.
Dwyer, P., Terrence. (2015) Legal issues in homeland security: U.S. supreme court cases
Retrieved from: Looseleaf Law Publications, Inc., 2015
Kerwin, Donald, and Robert Warren. National interests and common ground in the US
immigration debate, 2017, Retrieved from: cmsny.org/publications/jmhs-ntlinterests-
commonground/.
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