Category: Immigration Reform

Section I. Title

This Act may be cited as the “Reforming American Immigration Act of 2019” and is sponsored by Republican Senator, Lindsey Graham, who represents the state of South Carolina. Senator Lindsey Graham has long supported a comprehensive immigration reform. One that increases the number of legal immigrants as well as the number of visas for skilled workers. Graham supports a system that deports any criminals currently living here illegally. Amnesty may be granted to some of the individuals here without a green card, but ultimately the top priority should be securing the nations borders.

Section II. The Contents and Goals of the Bill

The purpose of this bill is reform and modernize the current immigration policies of the United States. To focus on stronger border security as well as encourage a more diverse spectrum of immigrants to enter this country from all across the world. This bill would allow for a more transparent system to legally immigrate and encourage more immigrants to enter through this process, rather than feel the need to attempt to crossover illegally. The current immigration system puts a strong emphasis on admitting immigrants to reunite families as well as fill employment needs. This bill would transition the system to prioritize immigrants who are educated and or qualified for employment. Increasing the amount of immigrants who possess a trade skill or are certified in a specialty field such as STEM, agriculture, or construction. This transition would highlight the economic needs of the nation and reinvigorate economic growth nationwide, rather than act as an element of randomness. In earlier history there was a demand for basic labor – factories, railroads and farming were the major sectors of employment. Todays society has transitioned away from this and has shown that technology, modern farming and a more service oriented economy are in high demand. The United States doesn’t need low skilled workers to build railroads, they need individuals skilled in fields like quantum computing or capable of inventing new technology to keep up with the American consumers demand. An equal number of immigrants would be granted from each continent to stress the diversity this great nation was built upon. Bringing light to underprivileged areas, yet still being fair to those in first world countries. A clearer and more effective background check will be taken to stimulate moral and beneficial immigrants, while restricting people with criminal histories. This step strengthens security and inspires law abiding individuals to populate amongst this great nation. Also permitting people with clean backgrounds will help to reduce crime across the country. Additionally steps will be taken to make it easier to apply for citizenship or residence in the country. These steps will discourage people from attempting to flee into the country illegally. Currently a lottery system is used to grant Green Cards for residence in the United States. The lottery adds an element of chance, rather than accepting the best candidates to enter the country. This is discouraging for potential candidates because it doesn’t benefit individuals who are more valuable to American Society. Finally increasing the number of green cards annually, as well as increasing the number of work visas each year will effectively advocate to people around the world that this country is supportive and accepting of immigrants as long as you come here legally.

The purpose of this bill is to reform a system that currently doesn’t ensure the interests of the American people. It is necessary to make certain that this country promotes a legal, safe and humane group of individuals. While there are some who may oppose this bill because it does not focus upon families or granting amnesty to those who are here illegally, steps will be taken to ensure those here illegally now and have acted in a appropriate manner will not be deported. It is understood that many of the young people brought here as children did not choose to enter in the manner they did and they will not be subject to punishments for the actions of their guardians. Submission of a “residence claim”, by a predetermined date will be necessary in order to continue to live amongst this country. With that being said in order to tightly control our borders and inspire this new system to followed, going forward amnesty will not be granted for any alien attempting cross over the border illegally. A predetermined number of immigrants will be set forth for those trying to reconcile with their families so long as they achieve employment or educational qualifications. Both parties recognize that immigration and diversity are important ideals this nation was founded upon, but this bill is to set forth a method of acquiring safety and freedom across the United States. Politics aside, both parties understand how essential border security is and the threat that not strengthening our border poses to national security. We must unify and fulfill this obligation to the citizens of the United States by funding border security and broadcasting a new immigration system that fuels individuals to follow. Increasing the number of immigrants and work visas will also give hope to those around the world that their goal to enter this country will be satisfied. In todays society with a declining and aging workforce, more citizens are needed to fill the void and fund future retirements. The “Baby Boomer” generation didn’t have enough children to fund the social security demands of this nation, which has put future generations at risk of not receiving these benefits. Furthermore more taxpayers are needed to offset the irresponsible spending by both parties and begin reducing the major debt the United States has. All of these elements make it clear that a new and revised immigration system is necessary in this country.

Section III. Supporters among interests groups

A multitude of interest groups will push for the bill to pass. First and foremost large tech companies such as Microsoft or Intel, who have previously been linked to promoting immigration reform will be strong supporters. Because this bill focuses on shifting towards a system that prioritizes educated or qualified individuals especially in the STEM fields, a considerable desire for these workers will push these companies to support it’s passing. The thought that they can hire these new immigrants at a lower wage, will push the tech industry to fund its authorization. Also with the technology field growing every day in todays society, the need for individuals in the STEM fields is necessary in order to keep up with the rapidly growing sector. Other interest groups include private prisons and private security contractors who stand to gain off border security. Many of the private prisons across the United States are used as detention centers for illegal immigrants and these prisons make substantial profits off doing so. Stricter immigration laws would equate to larger profits amongst private prisons and private security who work towards finding and detaining illegal immigrants. For example, according to OpenSecrets.org, since 2017, CoreCivic, has received over $225 million in funding from Immigration and Customs to manage immigrant detention facilities. This mass amount of funding would fuel CoreCivic and other similar private prison contractors to push the bill through Congress. While many would argue the demand for private prisons will decline with stricter border security, implementing legislation that explicitly punish illegal immigrants will fuel private security contractors to fund these proposed plans. Another key group of interest groups would include organizations based on the principles of reform. For example the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) is an association centered around anti immigration. FAIR is an establishment that prides itself on advocating for a well thought out and enforced immigration system and has spent over $1.5 million since 2016 federally lobbying (West, opensecrets.org). Each of these interest groups all have large cash flow, which can be used to push the bills forward. Tech giants such as Microsoft stand to gain hundreds of millions of dollars through this new collection of individuals and understand the need for innovation.

Section IV. Strongest bill opponents

Beyond just stating the opposing party, there will be opposition towards this bill by a collection of individuals and organizations. Many of the Democratic primary candidates such as Senator Harris and Senator Bernie Sanders have been incredibly vocal in promoting a DACA bill. Their campaigning on a platform that promotes giving citizenship to DACA members as well as moving away from border funding. These two stances starkly contrast this bill and in many regards promote illegal immigration. Other representatives such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar have both described their policy to be against the criminalization of illegal immigrants. They stand to promote an easier system for undocumented people to gain citizenship and vouch for opposing border security and organizations such as ICE. All of these individuals want a pathway to immigration easier for individuals who didn’t follow the current procedures. They all control a huge voice across the media and could stand as huge threats to the passing of the proposed bill. Media influence is an essential aspect in todays politics and negative media attention could complicate swinging the votes of the moderate representatives. While the individuals listed before are all essentially a lost cause in garnering support, more moderate left wing candidates could be deemed “winnable”. It can be argued that the less radical members of Congress would be open to negotiation in order to make prominent gains on their side too. Cutting deals to help out DACA members could certainly sway their votes. Many sectors of employment such as the agriculture and construction stand to gain a lot from legal and illegal immigrants. They are able to pay low skilled individuals residing here at incredibly cheap costs. “Since 2008, political contributions from agribusiness and construction industries combined have totaled more than $1 billion. Individuals, political action committees (PACs), and companies or trade groups within the construction industry have offered up more than $543 million in contributions”(Geoff, opensecrets.org). These fields of work would generate a lot of opposition towards the bill and would fund many lobbyists against pushing the bill through. This bill poses a threat to their huge profit margins, which they certainly don’t intend to lose.

Section V. Some ideas that might have to be avoided or worked-around for some members of opposition.

In todays society, politics has become so divided that pushing a bill through can be incredibly difficult. Parties often support and oppose the passing of legislation strictly on the basis of what party is promoting it, rather than the actual substantive ideas. Because of this, many deals and changes may have to be made in order for the opposition to pass this bill. Incorporating support for DACA recipients to gain citizenship might be a necessary step in order to compromise. Working around not prioritizing reuniting families may also be a crucial step, due to democrats valuing this highly. Although if this proves to be ineffective, setting aside a predetermined number of immigrants for those trying to reconcile with their families could be a step to take in order to swing more votes. Since this bill is more conservative in it’s ideals and is sponsored by a Republican Senator, it will likely pass through the Republican controlled Senate, but many Representatives from the House must be won over in order for it to pass through the House too. Since the Democratic party controls the majority in the House of Representatives, they control the majority on every standing committee in the House, which will prove incredibly difficult to overcome. Due to this, it may be in the interests to make the proposed bill more moderate in the interests of those committees. Multiple referrals of the proposed bill to different committees may also benefit it being passed. Putting all the efforts on one committee in the House of Representatives could result in the bill dying and never making it to the floor for a vote.

The aim of this essay is to show Barack Obama’s attempt to influence Congress to pass the immigration reform 2013-2014, in which a number of issues have to be addressed such as what the immigration reform and how the relationship between congress and the presidency affects the passing the bill, the issue of the importance of legislating the immigration reform 2013-2014 has to be addressed, which method did the presidency try to use to get the legislation passed, how the presidential administration decided to persuade legislators to pass the immigration reform, What devices has the presidency used to try to influence congressional behaviour and how the devices are used. Lastly how the presidency strategy to achieve the reform has changed over time.

The “Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act,” or S.744 was a proposal introduced by Charles Schummer on April 26, 2013, for reforming the U.S. immigration system written by a bipartisan group of eight senators known as the ‘Gang of Eight.’ The bill tackled all areas of the immigration process from border and enforcement issues to legal immigration reforms (American Immigration Council, 2019).

It was to make changes to the family and employment-based visa categories for immigrants, it was supposed to make it easier for non-immigrant workers to work in all sectors of the economy, and provides legal status to 11 million illegal immigrants within the United States (American Immigration Council, 2019).

If passed enforcement measures such as undocumented immigrants will be allowed to register for the new Registered Provisional Immigrant (RPI) program almost immediately, before those in RPI status can apply to become lawful permanent residents. The Department of Homeland Security has to verify that the Comprehensive Southern Border Security Strategy has been set up and active, 700 miles of fencing has to be be completed, 38,405 border patrol agents have to be deployed, and the E-Verify employment verification system has to be in place. (American Immigration Council, 2019).

However for this legislation to be passed by congress the legislative power (congress) had to agree with the terms of the legislative bill provided by the executive power (presidency).The relationship between the presidency and Congress has been a difficult one for several scholars as it has changed over the course of years (Han, 2011). The further apart the presidency and congress are the less likely a political agreement is going to be agreed, so factors such as the number of president loyalists from both the executive and legislative branch, leadership skills and popularity matter as it will make the process of passing bills to law easier (Han, 2011).

However, if the government is divided it would make policymaking as a tedious process, this encourages a partisanship approach which makes legislating bills difficult as individual parties will promote their interests which can create an inefficient government (Han, 2011).

The senate (lower part of congress) approved the immigration bill by 68-32 majority which 14 republicans joined the democrats to support the legislation which shows a bit of bipartisan approach as some members of the opposite party supported the legislation however the real test was whether the bill would pass in the house of representatives, in which Boehner who at that time was the speaker of the United states house of representatives made it clear that the house would not take senate bill and wanted to do its own job developing an immigration bill (Washington Post, 2019) .

The information provided in the above paragraph is further supported by the fact that by stating that they want to deal with the immigration bill in chunks that the members of the house of representatives can deal with and the American people can get behind (the Guardian, 2019).

Obama’s administration changed their strategy in an effort to entice John Boehner and other members of the house of united states of representatives to change their minds by introducing a new five smaller scale immigration bills due to Boehner’s complaints about the document is too long to read which was true in retrospect as the document was 1300 pages. The new five smaller scale immigration bill dealt with increased border security, agricultural worker visas, a new employment verification system for employees and additional measures for local law enforcement agents to detain suspected undocumented immigrants. However, none of the bills says anything about offering undocumented immigrants a legal status (Washington Post, 2019).

The presidency wanted to signify that they want to use a Bipartisan in which Obama, in a Spanish language television Telemundo in which he addressed that he was not going to use executive authority to expand a 2012 decision to suspend deportations of young immigrants brought to the country illegally by their parents, because using it would undermine his credibility and make him seem like he is using a partisanship approach (Washington Post, 2019).

However, if Obama used his executive powers such as the veto power in which he can disapprove and veto it within ten days in which he must explain the reason why he vetoed it. This can strain the relationship between the presidency and Congress as the presidency can send a clear message as to where they stand on an issue even though it goes against a large legislative majority in congress (Pika and Maltese, 2013).

However, as the year was about to end, important issues such as Syria, the budget, and the debt ceiling were a priority and House leaders made no move to bring to the floor the committee-passed bills or formulate another strategy. The 16-day government shutdown in October deepened the rift between Democrats and Republicans, and Congress and the executive branch, and exacerbated tensions within the GOP. Later that month, GOP leaders concluded that there was not enough time left in the year to bring immigration legislation to the floor (Muzaffar Chishti, 2019).

In 2014 the republicans had a retreat in which they released their immigration principles in which like the senate plan raised issues on increased border security, new workplace hiring verification rules, and changes to the current visa programs for foreign workers and families. The republicans also stated who came as children, a group known as “Dreamers,” would be afforded legal status and, potentially, citizenship(Costa and O’kofee, n.d.).

However, the republicans clearly stated that the 10 million immigrants have no special path for citizenship for breaking immigration laws however they allowed immigrants to work in the country if they meet provisions such as paying taxes, admitting that they broke the law and learning English(Costa and O’kofee, n.d.).

[bookmark: _Hlk25097693]The principles also emphasized that immigrants could not attain legal status until border security benchmarks were attained (Costa and O’kofee, n.d.). The approach used by the republicans is a partisan approach due to their reluctance to comprise with the democrats over how to best deal with the illegal immigrants(Costa and O’kofee, n.d.).

This is further implemented by the republicans by not being satisfied with the senate bill fine of $2000 which only amounts to $7 per month. The republicans also realised that the conditions they mentioned such as paying taxes will be very difficult to enforce and lastly the criteria for passing the criminal background check has a major loophole (Parker, 2014).

The immigration bill needed a commitment to fiscal responsibility, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO)approximates that the bill will save about $135 billion during the first decade of implementation, a figure that involves the cost of securing the border (Parker, 2014). The bill will also save taxpayers as much as $685 billion in the coming ten years. That’s a savings of almost $1 trillion ($820 billion) over twenty years (Parker, 2014).Moreover, the CBO approximates that the Senate bill pledged to reduce illegal immigration from one-third to one-half in the ten years following its enactment (Parker, 2014). The Republicans however refused this bill due to them not wanting to lose their country to immigrants.

The presidency chances of getting the immigration passed reduced drastically when in June 2014 Eric Cantor lost the Republican primary election to Dave Brat (Washington Post, 2019). It was a loss that many advocates believed that spoiled the remaining hopes among immigration advocates because David Brat did not share the same views on immigration issues.(Washington Post, 2019).

Individuals who have worked under Cantor however noted that he supported the notion of fixing the immigration system however through small-scale issues such as border security and legal status for young undocumented immigrants (MIN KIM, 2014).

This is the reason why Cantor lost the Republican primary to Dave Brat because he failed to convince his party that he had the same notions of immigration system as they do. This shows a chance for a bipartisan approach to be adopted by both the presidency and congress wasted and it furthers the notion of partisan approach especially on the side of congress (MIN KIM, 2014).

In conclusion the presidency tried using a bipartisan approach to pass the immigration reform however due to the presidency and congress conflicting interests especially in the house of representatives using a bipartisan approach became difficult to put in actuality, this is because the house of representatives which was basically republicans did not Want to grant illegal immigrants citizenship due to factors such as it came with a huge fiscal responsibility, uncertainty of accurate information of immigrant background checks. However other factors such as the budget and debt ceiling took precedence and made the immigration reform not a top priority agenda for congress. All this encouraged the partisan approach and the reform did not pass.

Bibliography

1. American Immigration Council. (2019). A Guide to S.744: Understanding the 2013 Senate Immigration Bill. [online] Available at: https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/guide-s744-understanding-2013-senate-immigration-bill [Accessed 12 Nov. 2019].
2. Han, L. (2011). New directions in the American presidency. New York: Routledge, p.86.
3. Washington Post. (2019). [online] Available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2014/06/26/timeline-the-rise-and-fall-of-immigration-reform/ [Accessed 12 Nov. 2019]. (Washington Post, 2019)
4. Pika, J. and Maltese, J. (2013). The politics of the presidency. 8th ed. SAGE, pp.219-220.
5. the Guardian. (2019). John Boehner refuses to be drawn on immigration citizenship debate. [online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/21/john-boehner-house-immigration-bill [Accessed 13 Nov. 2019].
6. Muzaffar Chishti, F. (2019). U.S. Immigration Reform Didn’t Happen in 2013; Will 2014 Be the Year?. [online] migrationpolicy.org. Available at: https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/us-immigration-reform-didnt-happen-2013-will-2014-be-year [Accessed 13 Nov. 2019].
7. Costa, R. and O’kofee, E. (n.d.). House GOP leaders embrace immigration fix that includes legal status for undocumented. [online] The Washington Post. Available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/house-gop-leaders-embrace-immigration-fix-that-includes-legal-status-for-undocumented/2014/01/30/c49ab006-89f3-11e3-833c-33098f9e5267_story.html [Accessed 14 Nov. 2019].
8. Parker, C. (2014). The (Real) Reason Why the House Won’t Pass Comprehensive Immigration Reform. [Blog] Brookings. Available at: https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2014/08/04/the-real-reason-why-the-house-wont-pass-comprehensive-immigration-reform/ [Accessed 15 Nov. 2019].
9. MIN KIM, S. (2014). Cantor loss kills immigration reform. [online] POLITICO. Available at: https://www.politico.com/story/2014/06/2014-virginia-primary-eric-cantor-loss-immigration-reform-107697 [Accessed 19 Nov. 2019].

The United States of America is often seen as a melting pot. A metaphor that describes the many different nationalities, cultures, and ethnicities that make up this country. This all started when Europeans and many others fled their countries because of crop failure, land and job shortages, rising taxes, and famine. America was seen as a land of economic opportunity and they were looking for a better life. It was the best choice for anyone seeking political asylum, jobs, or freedom. Immigration continues to be the center of national debate and specifically the center of presidential debates. With the vast amount of immigrants entering the U.S. both legally and illegally come many opinions from Democratic and Republican lawmakers on what to do with immigration policy, whether or not immigration is beneficial or detrimental to the U.S., and possible solutions.

Immigration policy has changed drastically from the 1800s up until the current day. In the 1800s, America encouraged open immigration to settle its empty lands and following the civil war, states started to create immigration laws. However, in 1876 the Supreme Court decided that immigration laws were a matter of federal responsibility. Therefore, the Bureau of Immigration and U.S. Border Patrol was created. From the 1900s to the 1950s, roughly 24 million immigrants arrived in the “Great Wave”. WW1 reduced immigration from Europe although the ending of the war caused mass immigration. In 1924, the national-origins quota system was created to limit immigration by assigning each nationality a quota. This favored mostly Northwestern Europeans. Over the next 20 years, immigration was relatively low following WW2 and the depression. The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 was created to protect the Immigration Act of 1924 from its controversy. In the 1960s, Congress changed the national-origins quota system into a different system. It was designed to unite families and attract skilled immigrants. This shifted immigration away from Northwestern Europe and the majority of applicants for immigration visas started coming from Asia and Latin America. At the time there were roughly 320,000 immigrants per year although this would triple to over a million by the 21st century. The system continued to limit the number of immigration visas for many years. Congress created the Refugee Act of 1980 to have a policy for the admission of refugees. Congress then created the Immigration Reform and Control Act to control the alarmingly high rates of illegal immigration. Employers were giving many American jobs to illegal immigrants. In 1990, Congress created an Immigration Act to increase the total level of immigration to 700,000; visa availability increased by 40 percent.

In 2000, the Legal Immigration Family Equity Act was created to help illegal aliens trying to get a green card through marriage, employment or other categories. It was hard for them to get approval due to the long line of people ahead of them. The terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, changed the way people saw immigration. 20 foreign-born terrorists took part in the attack that caused 2,974 civilian deaths. The terrorists had entered the country on tourist or student visas. In response, the House passed the Border Protection, Anti-terrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005, which focused on the border. In 2006, the Senate passed the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006 which gave amnesty (pardon) to a majority of illegal aliens already in the country as well as dramatically increased legal immigration. In 2012, President Obama announced an executive order called Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA). It would have granted three-year, renewable work permits and exemption from deportation to illegal aliens with children who are American citizens or lawful permanent residents. Approximately 3.6 million aliens would have been eligible. However, multiple states filed lawsuits against the federal government and a temporary injunction blocked DAPA from going into effect while the lawsuits proceeded. However, in 2012 he also initiated an immigration policy called DACA known as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. DACA provided a 2-year deferment from deportation actions and provides eligibility for a work permit. The 2016 presidential election of Donald Trump came with a wide range of promises regarding immigration. Among those promises: build a border wall and make Mexico pay for it, deport all illegal aliens, defund sanctuary cities, ban Muslims from entering the United States, limit legal immigration, and triple the number of ICE agents. In 2017, he signed several executive orders. He signed a travel ban which restricted the admission of the citizens from seven countries—Libya, Iran, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, North Korea and Venezuela (Chad was included in the final executive order but removed from the list the following year), banning over 135 million potential immigrants and nonimmigrant visitors. Trump also repealed the DAPA order. Lastly, he announced plans to phase out DACA, making the potential recipients eligible for deportation. As of 2018, the fate of DACA remained uncertain. A federal judge ruled that the program must resume processing new applicants, and the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case in October 2019 with a decision coming in 2020.

Immigration laws today are very complex. The Immigration and Naturalization Act allows an annual limit of 675,000 permanent immigrants to enter the U.S. There are certain exceptions for close family members. Each year non-citizens can enter temporarily. Congress and the President are able to determine a specific number of refugee admissions. Immigration law can be separated into three major categories. Family-based immigration allows U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents to petition the government to allow family members to migrate to the United States where they are located. There is no limit on the number of spouses, minor children, or parents that citizens can petition for. However, there is a limit of 480,000 family-based visas issued each year. As the world becomes more globalized, employers are able to recognize the importance of diversity and skill sets offered by individuals of different cultures. U.S. immigration law allows workers to stay in the U.S. permanently and temporarily. There are different visas available depending on the type of work that the individual performs and other factors. For example, there is a visa for athletes and skilled performers and a seperate one for religious workers. Immigrants who receive a work visa are often endorsed to get one by a specific employer. Under current immigration law, there are 140,000 visas per year for permanent employment-based immigration. Additionally, U.S. immigration law imposes specific restrictions on the number of immigrants that can be admitted based on their nationality. Last, U.S. immigration law allows individuals who are immigrating for humanitarian reasons to apply for visas. For example, refugees are permitted at times in the U.S. if their homeland is too unstable to return to. Asylum is similar to refugee status, but asylum is sought from individuals who are already in the United States. Immigration law requires you to petition for asylum within 12 months of arriving in the U.S.

The U.S. immigration system and immigration come with several pros and cons. In low-skill employment areas, it is true that a vast amount of immigrant workers may depress wages. From a general labor market standpoint, however, immigration helps to fill in the gaps which can form when there is a low unemployment rate. Immigrants can relieve the risk of under-performance issues occurring in the local economy. When immigrants get an income raise, so do the incomes of every other household. Although illegal immigrants may be here without the proper documentation, that doesn’t mean that they don’t contribute to the economy. Illegal immigrants still have to purchase goods in order to survive, and on all of these goods, they are required to pay taxes. These taxes benefit the entire country. It isn’t about having one group of people trying to take jobs from another. It is the process of a family trying to provide for themselves and contribute to their local community. Even when considering illegal immigration, the average person doesn’t come to a new nation because they’re looking to cause trouble. Most want to contribute, which is why the presence of immigrants is beneficial to virtually everyone. On the contrary, immigration can cause overpopulation issues. As wealthy countries like the U.S. become overpopulated, under-population issues can begin to form in the developing world. In addition, the U.S. immigration system is horrible. There are more than 2,000 children being held in custody without their parents at the southern border daily; migrant adults and children are facing overcrowded facilities; since the start of Donald Trump’s presidency, two dozen migrants have died in custody with US Border Patrol, including six children. There is a backlog of 850,000 asylum cases waiting for a day in court and fewer than 450 judges to handle them. Roughly 11 million undocumented immigrants are living under the fear of deportation; 3.6 million were brought to the United States as children. As of last November, more than 3 million people were waiting for family-based visas, and more are in line for employment-based visas. Trump’s administration has cut the number of refugees the United States admits by 60 percent, even as a global refugee crisis rages on. Under the Trump administration when migrant families illegally cross the border they are charged with a criminal offense. This administration uses Section 1325 of U.S. immigration law to target asylum-seekers.

The U.S. immigration system needs serious reform, which is why we need to elect congressmen and a president who will work diligently to solve this crisis. I agree with presidential candidates Sanders, Harris, and Castro who have publicly said they would pursue legislation to provide a path to citizenship for the 11 million unauthorized immigrants currently living in the United States in their first 100 days in office. We should repeal Section 1325 which makes it a criminal and not a civil offense to cross the border between ports of entry. What we need to do is have a sane immigration system that keeps us safe at the border, but does not criminalize the activity of a mother fleeing here for safety with her young children. The Trump administration ended the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and several lawsuits have been filed against the administration for terminating the program unlawfully and we need to bring it back. Immigrants in the U.S. should be granted citizenship if they are working and are not a burden to society. They make a substantial proportion of the working force. They are indispensable to the U.S. economy. They are more important to the country than some of the other lazy citizens. Building a wall is just stupid because sooner or later someone else will demolish it (look at the Berlin Wall).

The US, while founded by immigration, is surprisingly stringent in their outlook on the Latinx border and from Muslim countries, many times families being demonized by the president. To combat this, the policy of DACA is being enacted to recognize immigrants as potential workers and participants in American society, something that should not only be kept but expanded on. Following events like 9/11, Muslim and even Latinx immigrants to an extent have been demonized by American politics, in which democrats believe in orderly data collection, something the republicans view as a burden to our economy. Various bills were enacted by both political parties, policies that not only counter-acted each other in the fight over immigration but helped spread certain views on individual people. Coming from latin america, which is crippled by economic devastation, workers struggle to obtain green cards, resulting in illegal immigration.

The immigration policy was made to make regulations for people who are coming into the country and to ensure our country is safe. In the article how the policy works, it explains how the immigration policy has different systems to make sure everyone is in a country for a reason such as for work, school, families, or they were born and live here. There are many systems to keep our nation safe such as DACA. This issue is happening nationwide from California all away to the southern states and the west coast. Many families are in danger just because they don’t have the correct papers. Families are getting chased and jumped in their own homes and are told they do not have any rights. Many regions are in danger but there some that are in more danger than others.

Some examples of those regions are California, Texas as well as many country regions that rely on agriculture. Immigrants’ labour is one of the most efficient labor in agriculture and they are not being given what they give into their work everyday. Latinos and Hispanics all over the country are one of the largest ethnic groups that have most cases of illegal immigrants. More than half of America’s population is Hispanic and Latino ethnic groups. ICE (Immigration And Customs Enforcement) are going into people’s homes without permission and some simply not considering their rights. We need to be able to tell these people that they do have rights and they can be safe. We need to save these groups of people and keep families together because there is some thought of America as their home.

Perspectives on this Policy Issue

There are many opinions on the subject of immigration. Immigration is a controversial subject and there are many sides to it. The current state of this issue is still in debate, however many Hispanic citizens, as well as many positions, agree that depending on the background of the immigrant and its record in the country they should be allowed to stay and provide for the country. Over time, the Immigration policy was different, as before the policy was not as restrictive as it is now. Immigration has opened the country to refugees and out of the country begins to have a safe place to stay and live a new life, however that has changed. Not all sides agree however there is always some fact in what people say, but there can also be misconceptions by many politicians.

Ever since the attack of 9/11, the immigration policy has become stricter than ever. There was a restriction on Muslims as well as Hispanic immigrants and it is also known as the Patriot Act. However, depending on each party and ethnic group the perspectives are different. The democratic party for example believes in creating DACA immigrant students and workers can be safe and stay in the US to have a better life. This is a policy that has kept families and young immigrants safe for generations. They gave young immigrant students to have a career and to be able to give back to their families. However, republicans have a different opinion. Republicans are a more conservative party and don’t like to pay taxes for certain programs and believe that immigrants are draining our country’s economy. In an article known as The Immigration Debate explains both sides of the argument and explains that there is a court blockage of love 1,000,000”(6). However, there is research that says because of small businesses there are more jobs that are also producing more profit to both the business and the country itself. It is said that because immigrations our country’s economy is rising 50 percent.

Government Action

As we all know, all policies and the government makes all decisions immigration. Each branch works together to make bills to eventually become laws or programs. The government needs to keep policies that help workers and immigrants stay in this country there should be a compromise for students and workers. The United States Congress has passed various bills in the U.S. Imigration, and a portion of the bills have profited or punished a large number of settlers while private bills have been acquainted with one worker or one group of foreigners.

In today’s government Washington is pending a movement bill presented in the Senate and the Place of Delegates. In the Congress Legislature it stated that , “ It likewise connections to recordings and the content of witness declaration before Congressional Panels and Subcommittees on immigration.”(1) These panels and sub communities were only some of the groups that had created the Comprehensive Immigration Reform, the Secure Borders Act, the DREAM Act, the AgJobs bill, the Domestic Partners bill or any other piece of immigration legislation. We trust that the data contained on this page helps you in seeing how the U.S. movement laws and systems influence you regardless of whether you are an individual looking for a visa, a green card or U.S. citizenship, or whether you are a business supporting outside conceived experts for movement benefits.

Some of the bills that are going through congress today are the Belief Act, which is like DACA, and they are trying to help immigrant dependents to help keep families together and protect the families of students and DACA holders. Recently, a bill was in the House of reps in the year 2019 called the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act of 2019. In an article known as hispanic culture it states that , “This bill increases the per-country cap on family-based immigrant visas from 7% of the total number of such visas available that year to 15%, and eliminates the 7% cap for employment-based immigrant visas.”(4). This explains and shows the struggles of hispanic worker and how they are trying to have a better life but is not given the chance.The bill additionally sets up progress rules for business based visas from the year 2020 to 2022 by saving a level of laborers with cutting edge degrees or outstanding capacity, gifted and different specialists, and financial specialist’s visas for individuals not from the two nations with the biggest number of beneficiaries of such visas. Of the unreserved visas, not more than 85% shall be allotted to immigrants from any single country. The bill is used to give visas to immigrants that come to the country for work. Another policy that went through congress and the most known policy is called DACA. DACA had to go through the whole process in order to be active in our government.

Our current president, Donald Trump, is not the biggest fan of immigration.President Trump believes that a wall should be made to protect the United States from illegal immigrants. He believes that immigrants should be native to the US and people outside coming in should have the same rights. The president is more conservative than other politicians. President Trump believes that a wall should be made to protect the United States from illegal immigrants and that DACA should be abolished and shut down. There are many daca holders who are students that are being attacked and judged by the american government and ice officers such as one case in Berkeley . In the San Diego Jornal it was stated that, “There was a case of a boy in the wake of spending around more than about fourteen days in detainment, a UC Berkeley understudy will be permitted to come back to grounds while his migration case is pending”(2). Luis Mora went through around five minutes before Judge Ana Partida before she consented to discharge him for the base conceivable bond of $1,500. Eleven individuals there to help Mora jammed into one side of the little court at Otay Plateau Confinement Office, where Mora was held.THere are many cases of children just like luis mora and there should be a chance to help young immigrants like him to study here in the united states.

In California there are state and local governments creating ways to protect students and families from these policies being made.For example, California legislators proceeded with the state’s development of rights and securities this year for migrants who enter the nation wrongfully, with laws marked by Gov. Gavin Newsom permitting them to serve on government sheets and commissions and prohibiting captures for movement infringement in town halls over the state. The endeavors by Newsom and Democrats in the California Law Making body to give shelter to foreigners remain in sharp difference to the arrangements of President Trump, who keeps on pushing for both another divider in the U.S.- Mexico fringe and action against refuge searchers.

Furthermore, there are many things that the government is doing to protect Immigrants from the country but especially high populated lationo populations such as california. As we all know, any policy goes through the government and the government makes all decisions immigration. Each branch works together to make bills to eventually become laws or programs. The government needs to keep policies that help workers and immigrants stay in this country as always there is a compromise and there should be a compromise for students and workers that are in the United States.Congress has passed numerous bills on U.S. immigration. Some of the bills have benefited or penalized millions of immigrants while private bills have been introduced to benefit one immigrant or one family of immigrants.

Roadblocks and Solutions

Immigrants who want to live and work in the United States, Republican party leaders in the House of Representatives released a set of principles for immigration reform . It marks a tentative sign that they might consider compromising with broader efforts passed by the Democratic-controlled Senate.Under current policy, the thousands of scientists and engineers who seek permanent residence in the United States must compete for a total of 140,000 ‘green cards waiting years for approval. There are private sectors that can help such as a private immigration lawyer or a private org that can help immigrants get to the place to be able to stay and live their better life. However, there are still many roadblocks in the way. All we need to do is ask help and be there to help.

Many roadblocks that exist in today’s society and government are the politics of today and the parties that are over running our government. Another roadblock is also the financial struggles as well the debt that we are in that can prevent many immigration programs to shut down. Some real world practical solutions we can offer or that the government can offer is to keep DACA and as well as provide working permissions to immigrants and as well as have refuge programs that can help people that are in harm’s way in their own countries. There are many that are of the need of help and we should start now. There are many roadblocks in the way of help but we need to fight the best we can for others that need that help and show that we care. Most of the actions do need for the government to act. We need for the democratic politicians to help and fight for these immigrants that help and provide for our country more than anyone else does.

Conclusion

In conclusion immigration is an issue that still has things to change but I think that together as a country we can try to protect those immigrants that have come to have a better life for them and their families. If we are able to come together and fight for our freedoms and the freedoms of others, anything can happen. Over time, the Immigration policy was different before the policy was not as restrictive as it is now. Immigration has opened the country to refugees and out of the country begins to have a safe place to stay and live a new life, however that has changed. Not all sides agree, in an article known as Immigration reform it has stated, “that conservatives see the financial burden of immigrants.”(10) however there is always some fact in what people say, but there can also be misconceptions by many politicians. There are ICE officers going into people’s homes without permission and some simply not considering their rights. We need to be able to tell these people that they do have rights and they can be safe. We need to save these groups of people and keep families together because there is some thought of America as their home.

Following events like 9/11, Muslim and even Latinx immigrants to an extent have been demonized by American politics, in which democrats believe in orderly data collection, something the republicans view as a burden to our economy. Various bills were enacted by both political parties, policies that not only counter-acted each other in the fight over immigration but helped spread certain views on individual people. Coming from latin america, which is crippled by economic devastation, workers struggle to obtain green cards, resulting in illegal immigration. arious bills were enacted by both political parties, policies that not only counter-acted each other in the fight over immigration but helped spread certain views on individual people. Coming from latin america, which is crippled by economic devastation, workers struggle to obtain green cards, resulting in illegal immigration.

Word cited

1. American Immigration Council. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/
2. The Dream Act, DACA, and Other Policies Designed to Protect Dreamers. (2019, September 3). Retrieved from https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/dream-act-daca-and-other-policies-designed-protect-dreamers
3. Council on Foreign Relations. (n.d.). The U.S. Immigration Debate. Retrieved from https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/us-immigration-debate-0
4. Shen, H. (2014). Principles for compromise. Nature, 505(7486), 15.
5. González-Carriedo, R. (2016). Immigration Reform: The Contrasting Views of the Press. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 38(3), 307-323. https://www.shusterman.com/legislationusimmigration#a
6. https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/immigration/sd-me-berkeley-bond-20180117-story.html

When being an immigrant you must go through lots of processes to become a citizen in the US most involving lawyers. Before becoming a citizen in the US, you need to go see a lawyer to help you in court. Sometimes you can do it on your own. Should immigrants use lawyers/should we as in Americans let them stay? Yes, they should use lawyers because they know how the government works. We should most definitely let immigrants stay because they build a culture in America.

I think that when you’re an immigrant you should get help from anyone trying to help. A lawyer is sometimes the best to look to when you’re becoming a citizen. In the book ‘’ immigration: policies, challenges, and impacts’ talks about how there are 1,607 bills related to immigration and refugees alone. In going through all that you would want help going through all the bills related because as someone who doesn’t know laws. You would need help explaining. On the article on ‘’ more than a dreamer less than a promise’’ talks about an act that could help temporary citizens. Not everyone knows the aspects in which this act helps. When becoming a DREAMER or trying to learn about you need a lawyer/ someone who knows their way around the government. In conclusion, if you’re trying to become a citizen the best way is to have a lawyer. Also, it’s your choice if u want one or not.

When having and growing in a country I find as though having immigrants are and make up the culture. In the magazine titled ‘’ immigration issues in America,’’ it says that there are 43 million immigrants in America. This shows that most Americans are or know someone who is an immigrant. They make up our country. In the same magazine title, it talks about how most come here and are willing to work. They served the economy for the best. If they’re coming here and are willing to work at jobs no one else is willing to work let them. In conclusion, we should allow people of all backgrounds willing to help stay. They add culture to the world.

Although, I do get why they make the process harder for immigrants to become citizens. Cause, they could also bring chaos, warfare, and hatred to America. At the same time, I find that having and helping immigrants makes the world evolve into something greater. Immigrants change the way we look at things and adds a new thing to explore to your country.

So, back to my question should immigrants have lawyers and are allowed to stay? Yes, they should be allowed and want to. All evidence shows and points to every reason why immigrants aren’t bad and should be able to have lawyers help them. They deserve the same help as the US citizens get. My final statement is that we should allow immigrants to come in live freely and have the rights as all citizens do.