Concerns About Immigration Reform

Immigration Reform is a serious and current issue in politics, in government, and in the lives of millions of people. Immigration reform is a term used by the American government and in politics. It refers to the changes to the current immigration policies in the United States. “Reform” is defined as a “change into an improved form or condition, by amending faults or abuses.” So, in a nutshell, Immigration Reform means the improvement of the law regarding how we, the United States, handle immigration. The only reason a country may revise its immigration policy/policies, is if it is having troubles such as illegal immigration. In the United States today, our government is having such troubles – illegal immigration. The statistic on illegal

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.)

In the United States, immigration has been high topic of debate. As of 2015, 13.5 percent of the United States population of 321.4 billion were immigrants (Jie). Immigration has been shaping the way America works for many years now. It has brought changes to the economy, workforce, culture, language and politics just to name a few changes. America is often referred to as the melting pot of cultures. Where the “American dream” can be reached as long as you are willing to work hard. However, citizens also demand strict boarders to prevent illegal workers but we still want the free movement of goods. A lot of legislative bills have been past in recent years that have brought change to immigration and the way it is done. The top five bills that have affected the country are as follows; The Immigration Reform and Control Act, IRCA, of 1986 penalized employees for hiring unauthorized workers. However, did nothing towards changing the immigration system or provide resources to implement the employer sanctions provisions. The Immigration Act of 1990 overhauled the immigration system by raising the number of permanent vistas form 290,000 to 675,000 and allotted 555,000 visas annually of underserved counties. The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibly Act, IIRAIRA, of 1996 dealt with government spending and a three or ten year bar on returning to the United States for people who were caught without proper documentations from applying for asylum status within one year

After hearing the news, I felt as if my worries were crawling right back up to my shoulders. As if I was at the top of the mountain and then had someone push back down. Finding out that the Senate has plans to take down the DACA was as if they were closing the doors to my success. As the Congress debates over immigration reform, August the 15th marks the second anniversary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. On the 15th of August 2012, President Obama began a policy calling for deferred action towards certain young individuals who came to the United States as children and are known as Dreamers(LOGOS). This policy allows this group of people to have similar rights that are initially reserved for the citizens of the United States, like applying for employment or having a social security. The Daca program also secures the young dreamers from deportation.

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.

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.

What role will immigrants have in the future of American crime? Unlike the past and the present, it is difficult to determine exactly what sort of role immigrants will play in the future. According to the U.S. Census Bureau (2010) “The next half century marks key points in continuing trends — the U.S. will become a plurality nation, where the non-Hispanic white population remains the largest single group, but no group is in the majority” (p. 11). Estolano LeSar Perez, a researcher with Los Angeles 2050, says this could have a real impact on something that preoccupies many Americans: crime.

“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.

To fully understand why immigration reform is such a highly contested measure, it bears analyzing current laws and previous reform attempts. Part of the reason why immigration reform has been so difficult to achieve is due to the vast number of current laws and regulations. Currently the U.S. has many different classifications for incoming immigrants and varying quotas. Incoming documented immigrants are classified in four ways: family based immigration, economic immigration, refugees and asylum seekers, and diversity immigrants. There is an annual limit of 675,000 permanent immigrants worldwide, with Congress and the President setting limits for refugee seekers (Immigration Policy Center). Family-sponsored visas are limited to 226,000 visas per year. Family immigration allows citizens and permanent residents to sponsor family members, spouses, unmarried minor children and parents, for visas, under qualifying conditions. There is also preference given to the adult children and siblings of citizens and the spouses and unmarried children of permanent residents (Immigration Policy Center). In the search for workers, the U.S. allows workers to immigrate for a temporary or permanent basis. Workers are divided into categories and the majority are for highly skilled workers, who are sponsored by an employer.

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 undocumented immigrants are taking the jobs of Americans. They also have high pay rates. Also there is the rinks of illegals getting payed under the table.Numerous illegal immigrants are cheerful the length of they look for some kind of employment. It is hence vital for them to be sanctioned so that there are sufficient individuals inside these fields of work.

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

I have a little but of a mix for my political ideology. I would say I lean more left (liberal) but have some conservative chariterstics. I do strongly believe that immigration reform is necessary but I think there should be provision on the terms. Such as, if you are a immigrant here already you should be contributing to our economy and society by having a job and paying taxes. I also believe the affordable care act is beneficial to the well being of the country. This gives health care to millions of pervously uninsured people. On the conservative sign I don’t think minimum wage should be increased to $15 a hour. I strongly feel someone working at McDonalds should be getting paid as a EMT who saves peoples lives. If minimum wage is moved to