Category: Immigration

Event Description

In 1845, a famine caused by potato blight propelled the massive migration of Irelands individuals to America. By the 1850s, the population of Ireland spiked, reaching over eight million, while the country suffered from poverty. When the Great Famine began, Ireland was highly dependent on potato food supply from its agricultural sector. Witnesses reported that the weather conditions were arid in the year of the famine, and potato plains suffered from a fungus, resulting in a significant shortage of potato production. Consequently, substantial numbers of Irish people died from starvation, while another significant proportion of the population decided to leave their home country in search of a better future. This was the primary reason for the profound immigration of the Irish to America.

The importance of this event appeared from the fact that the Irish migration was one of the most significant contributors to the American immigrants inflow. Therefore, it created a profound impact on the creation of the American nation. In addition, the considerable flow of Irish immigrants greatly influenced the social and economic environment of the U.S. during the 19th century. Moreover, Irish-Americans affected the labor forces and even contributed during the Civil War.

Secondary Sources

While searching for appropriate secondary sources, I looked for various materials that might be relevant to the Irish migration of the 19th to the United States. I started with general information on the Irish migration, including the reasons and consequences of the historical event. This was how I discovered my first source: Causes and consequences of global migration by Ruist (2021). Ruist, in his book, highlighted the significance of global migration and provided valuable insights about the events that preceded and caused the rapid migration of Ireland population to America. I considered the material from this book helpful since it contained relevant information about the importance of global migration in general while sharing specific data about the Irish migration as well.

On the other hand, my second source for the research focused solely on Irish American history, paying close attention to the Irish migration. After the general overview of the global migration, including the data about Irish immigrants in the period of the Potato Blight, I wanted to find more specific information about Irish Americans. Even though Dolans (2010) book The Irish Americans: A History was published more than ten years ago, it was considered a highly reliable reference on the Irish American heritage. Just as the first source, the book covered the reasons for the Irish migration. However, it took a more personal perspective, referring to valuable pieces of evidence from the primary sources, and included much more particular material about the Irish Americans. It described the challenges and threats faced by the immigrants and covered the process of the migrants economic, social and cultural assimilation.

Finally, The economic assimilation of Irish Famine migrants to the United States by Collins and Zimran (2019) was chosen as the third source for the research. The reason for its inclusion was that the paper investigated the crucial question of economic assimilation of Irish immigrants who arrived in America fleeing from the famine of 1845. This research provided relatively new data on the famine-era migrants assimilation in the American labor market. It also compared the economic performance of the Irish Americans with other migrants and the native population.

Primary Sources

After the initial research, I looked for the primary sources to support the material from the secondary ones. Firstly, I investigated the primary references from my chosen sources. As a result, I found an autobiography of an Irish individual who lived in Ireland during the times of the potato famine. The memoir was called Rossas recollections, written by Rossa (1898). It depicted the period of the Great Irish Migration from the personal perspective, providing excessive information about life in Ireland during the 19th century. It helped me to elaborate the investigation of the living conditions and social events that propelled millions of Irish people to escape their home country. The second primary resource was a letter from William Dunne (1846) to his nephew John Curtis. It provided additional perspective on the dramatic events in Ireland that sparked the emigration.

Research Question

Based on the review of the chosen sources, I consider the following questions to cover the most interesting aspects of the Irish Famine migration: What caused Irish people to migrate to America in the 19th century, and what characterized the process of Irish American cultural and economic assimilation in the United States?

Thesis

Thesis statement: In the 19th century, the Irish were driven by the Great Famine and overpopulation to immigrate to America, where they faced social discrimination but managed to assimilate to the new environment.

As a result of the potato blight in the middle of the 19th century, Ireland suffered a devastating famine that cost more than a million lives (Dolan, 2010; Ruist, 2021; Rossa, 1898). The inadequate food supply and dramatic labor market conditions propelled about 19% of the Ireland population to emigrate in the 1850s, mainly moving to America (Dolan, 2010). Substantial numbers of Irish immigrants without proper education decreased the U.S. labor market opportunities for natives, which resulted in social hatred and discrimination (Dolan, 2010; Collins & Zinran, 2019). However, during the last half of the 19th century, the next generations of migrant families managed to shorten the educational and economic gap compared to the natives and adapt to the alternative cultural environment (Dolan, 2010; Collins & Zinran, 2019).

References

Collins, W. J., & Zimran, A. (2019). The economic assimilation of Irish Famine migrants to the United States. Explorations in Economic History, vol. 74, no. 1, pp. 1-22.

Dolan, J. P. (2010). The Irish Americans: A History. Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Dunne, W. (1846). William Dunne to his nephew John Curtis, April 25, 1846 [Letter]. Web.

Rossa, J. D. (1898). Rossas recollections, 1838 to 1898.The Project Gutenberg. Web.

Ruist, J. (2021). Causes and consequences of global migration. Anthem Press.

Introduction

September 15, 1981, is still deep-rooted in my mind as if it was yesterday. It is now only just two weeks since I celebrated my thirty-first birthday. People find it puzzling that I celebrate my birthday not on the day I was born, but on another day that is special in my life. According to psychologists, one should forget his or her past and lay down their upsetting history to be able to focus on a more promising future. My life story, however, can never be complete without the events that happened before this date.

Both of my grandfathers were of Chinese descent. One grandfather came from the province of Fujian, China. The other grandfather came from the province of Yunnan, China. They both migrated southward to Cambodia during the time when China suffered an economic depression. During this migration, many countries migrated from China to not just Cambodia but also Vietnam and Laos (Mandal, 1981, Marilyn & Cooper, 1985). During this migration, they brought along with them Chinese cultural practices and traditions. Among these practices were getting married to multiple wives and practices such as feet binding and Feng Shui.

Main body

Both grandfathers were businesspersons. They sold everything, from rice to clothes to pots and pans and other household appliances. In addition, they raised chickens, ducks, cows, and pigs for sale. One of my grandfathers is famed for being one of the most versatile businesspersons at his time, considering that he engaged in almost every business one can think of, from being a snake breeder to being a brewer of alcohol, to be a Feng Shui master. Through struggle and resilience, both men were able to adjust and establish themselves in the relatively comfortable life of Siem Reap in Cambodia.

The grandfather from Fujian married two wives, one Chinese and the other from the Khmer, an ethnic majority of Cambodia. With these wives, he was able to have 24 children, 12 children from each wife. My mom was a direct descendant of the Khmer wife. The grandfather from Yunnan married a Cambodian woman, with whom they had six children. My father was one of their six children.

Both my parents were the eldest of their siblings. This meant a lot of responsibility for both families. Being the eldest, my mother had to help with her dads business. She never received proper schooling like her brothers and sisters. Moms brothers and sisters were also ordinary people. One of my moms brothers was a high school teacher while one of my moms sisters was a physical education teacher.

My dad, on the other hand, was known to have a photographic memory. He was therefore able to work and help with earning the family income and go to school at the same time. Just like my dad, his siblings were extremely high achievers in academics. Two of his brothers were medical doctors while one sister was the Dean of a university, the university where dad was a professor of Physics. These were just stories told to me by my mom. Because my mom neither knew how to read nor write Khmer, these stories were often passed down orally.

My parents got married and had six children and for a while, their lives in Cambodia were going well. That was until the Khmer Rouge turned the country upside down. The chaotic life between 1975 through 1979 is clear in my mind (Stuckey, 1996; Maguire, 2005). After the Khmer Rouge came to power, between two to three million Cambodians were massacred for political purposes (Silverburg, 2011). In his pursuit of patriotism, my father refused to leave the country for the United States. This decision cost him his life. The killings were so bad that among my dad and moms 100 immediate family members only fifteen survived.

I was lucky to be among the fifteen. In 1980, I remember our family struggling to make our way to a refugee camp in Thailand. It was not easy crossing the border from Cambodia to Thailand. A distant relative from New Jersey sent us some money to be used as payment for the locals. This was to help us get us across to the Thai border. Bandits robbed us on two occasions. It was traumatizing. The first group of bandits took the little money that we had with us. The second group demanded to take my eldest sister away if mom could not give them money or gold. Mom promised the bandits money if they could wait until we reached the refugee camp in Thailand. They refused the offer and decided to hold my eldest sister for ransom. Mom was forced to gather up some money from relatives who were already in the refugee camp to exchange for the release of my sister.

The locals that lived along the Cambodian and Thai border never received their payment for their help for their failure to get us across safely. The locals and mom got into an intense argument and mom refused to back down because she did not have any money left with her to give. She accused the locals of manipulating her for money and at the same time working with the bandits, who called them friends as they robbed us. She demanded the locals to leave us alone; otherwise, she would call on the UNHCR for help.

Once we made it across to the refugee camp my moms little sister sponsored us to the United States. Her sister, the physical education teacher, had come to the United States during the late 1960s to study abroad. She never experienced the Khmer Rouge as we did, although she always ensured that she was updated on all the events. I verified this when I got a chance to chat with her one day at the house. She left for the United States soon after she participated in the Olympics volleyball qualifier games when they were held in Cambodia during the late 1960s.

It was on September 15, 1981, when we arrived in the United States. A day I will live to remember. I had heard many stories about the Land of Opportunities; however, what I experienced was incomparable to the stories. From the great scenery, buildings that went to the sky, taller than anything I had imagined before, America was miles apart from Cambodia. Back in Cambodia, the only world I knew was the jungle, dirt roads, and our wooden stilt hut.

The Khmer Rouge had moved us around the country so much that we never got the chance to settle in one place for long. When we got to the United States, we soon were acclimated to the new life. We lived in a good rent house, very comfortable, and after a while, my mother was able to drive a car. I also got a new American nickname, but my favorite experience was eating burgers and french-fries.

Conclusion

My familys cultural and ethnic story was a story of constant adjustment and reinvention of us. When my grandfathers migrated to Cambodia, they had come along with their Chinese cultural practices and had adopted the newly found Cambodian cultural practices. Back in Cambodia, we had considered ourselves the Khmer of Chinese ancestry. In the United States, we considered ourselves the Cambodian-American of Chinese ancestry. What a change in events! All my life, I have been constantly adjusting and reinventing myself, together with my family as we move from one place to another and from one country to another.

I have come to accept this as my destined life. I have also learned many lessons from all the experiences I have had. For example, I have learned that our ideas and concepts as we hold so dearly are bound to change with time as time passes on and lifes challenges take their toll on us. For example, we were brought up as Buddhists, although my eldest brother became a Baptist minister and my mom remained a Buddhist.

Some of us, however, became agnostics, because of all the chaos in our lives. I have also learned that ones environment is extremely important in changing his believes. As we move into a more global environment we can only imagine what our children and nieces and nephews world will be like. As we move into a more global environment, I can only imagine what the world will be like for our children, nieces, and nephews.

References

Maguire, P. H. (2005). Facing Death In Cambodia. Columbia: Columbia University Press.

Mandal, R. B. (1981). Frontiers in Migration Analysis. New York: Concept Publishing Company.

Marilyn, J., & Cooper, R. (1985). Migration with imperfect information:a theoretical and empirical study of individual decisionmaking. Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania.

Silverburg, S. R. (2011). International Law: Contemporary Issues and Future Developments. Boulder: Westview Press.

Stuckey, M. E. (1996). The Theory and Practice of Political Communication Research. New York: SUNY Press.

Introduction

Illegal immigrants denote the people who unlawfully cross-national boundaries into host nations in a way that infringes immigration laws or individuals who remain in a given country beyond limitations of permitted entry. Whether legal or illegal, immigration is normally a rising move from a lower to a higher living standard. The level of illegal immigration into the United States (which comprises about 11 million individuals) has not differed tremendously from around 2005 (Garcini et al. 245). Attributable to the expansion of different concepts, numerous concerns such as the ones associated with the environment, socio-economic aspects, poverty, and migration across the globe have been considered security matters or threats. This essay will center on the aspects of the security argument that seeks to establish whether illegal immigrants create a threat to a country. Investigation of the affirmation that illegal immigration constitutes a threat to the host nation while considering societal, internal, public safety, and financial factors shows that it is not only a construed or alleged threat but a detrimental phenomenon.

Main body

Irrespective of their perceived benefits, traditional immigrant-welcoming countries such as Canada might embrace a different perception of national uniqueness hence could be more lenient and accepting of different cultures, religions, and languages that back the strategy of multiculturalism. Canada has incorporated immigration as fundamental to its development while the rising population of immigrants in Germany is an unplanned impact of its account of guest employees immigration over and above a huge influx of refugees and asylum seekers (Hjarnø 35). Every countrys distinctive account influences its immigration strategies, in addition to whether illegal immigrants may be alleged to constitute a threat to the nation. Nonetheless, the general affirmation is that illegal immigration does not pose a threat to a country since immigrants play a vital role in the support of multiculturalism and cultural diversity. Moreover, illegal immigrants assist a nation to uphold the characteristics of its multinational groups. Instead of incriminating illegal immigrants, a country should create a way of assimilation of such a population.

Illegal immigrants help in the effective understanding of cultural and ethnic affinity; practices that a countrys citizens are themselves threatening, and which do not vary over time. Moreover, what could be considered to constitute a threat in one country might be supported in another thus demonstrating that the concept of illegal immigration acts as a subjective instead of an objective risk to a nations security. Securitization of illegal immigrants as a menace to the country is unfair and problematic because it results in the labeling of migrants as the other group, which eventually seeks to exclude both legal and illegal immigrants from society (Mohl 47). Affirmations that present illegal immigrants as a threat to a country replicate the political illusion that a homogeneous state, society, or western civilization was extant and may be regenerated presently with the exclusion of all immigrants, who are wrongly categorized as cultural aliens. The action of securitizing illegal immigrants constitutes more threats to a country than migrants themselves because it occurs as a means of strengthening xenophobia and racial discrimination, eventually resulting in social disintegration.

On the contrary, illegal immigrants benefit a country economically through such practices as the increment of tax revenue, development of a cheap pool of labor, and rise of the amount of money that is in circulation. Illegal immigrants generate good values in a country, have motivations in line with the nations vision, and undertake jobs that citizens would consider odd. Illegal immigration should not be outrightly criminalized since the opposition of such immigrants reinforces the notions of racism.

The notion of economic, societal, public security and internal aspects primarily deal with the concern of collective distinctiveness. Such occurrences encompass the capacity of a country to persist in its essential character under varying situations and likely or real threats. Critics of illegal immigration affirm that individuals who violate the law by crossing a countrys boundaries devoid of legal authorization or the ones who overstay their visas ought to be deported devoid of being rewarded with the possibility of acquiring citizenship or obtaining necessary social services. They assert that illegal immigrants are criminals who contribute to economic and social liabilities to law-abiding and tax-paying citizens.

In line with global migration, illegal immigrants weaken the capacity of host nations to safeguard against negative effects on their linguistic, religious, national, and cultural distinctiveness (Kar and Beladi 705). From such a point of view, the national principles of the host state are under threat from illegal immigrants. Therefore, illegal immigrants pose tremendous challenges to the identity of the host country attributable to their varying culture, economic status, religion, and language.

The concerns of the threat of illegal immigrants on different aspects of the host nation do not constitute an objective and universal risk, but a subjective risk, reliant on the approach in which such a country protects itself. For example, while different countries might perceive multiculturalism as an undesirable occurrence, other nations may identify it as a benefit and feel proud of their cultural diversity. In the post-war era, many countries particularly in Europe have gone through a period of transformation from relatively homogeneous nations, whose members have been highly bound by a common feeling of ethnic and cultural uniqueness, to a heterogenous situation that consists of individuals from different nationalities. In such an incidence, illegal immigrants could be perceived to constitute a threat to a nation because they challenge a countrys unique identity, in addition to its core values (Kakaulina 195). Moreover, the failure of illegal immigrants to assimilate could contribute to negative effects on the linguistic, religious, national, and cultural aspects of the host country, as well as the instability of the government.

Conclusion

Despite their alleged positive contributions, illegal immigrants should be controlled or eliminated because they constitute a threat to a country. Most illegal immigrants are either asylum seekers or refugees who lead to threats to the host countrys social security, in addition to its welfare network. From this point of view, the benefit of eradicating illegal immigration is that most unlawful migrants present problems instead of opportunities to the receiving nation (Kar and Beladi 703). Illegal immigrants are free-loaders or profiteers who unlawfully exploit a countrys welfare network hence rendering it incapable to sustain an inflow of migrants. If such a situation is not addressed effectively illegal immigrants will rise to a level of constituting a profound economic threat to the country, leading to housing shortages, and overstretching the education and sanitation services to mention a few. Additionally, the failure of a country to control the entry of illegal immigrants will lead not only to their taking away employment opportunities that could have been enjoyed by native citizens and legal migrants, but also their overexploitation of social benefits.

References

Garcini, Luz M., et al. A High Price Paid: Migration-Related Loss and Distress Among Undocumented Mexican Immigrants. Journal of Latinx Psychology, vol. 7, no. 3, 2019, pp. 245-249.

Hjarnø, Jan. Illegal Immigrants and Developments in Employment in the Labour Markets of the EU. Routledge, 2019.

Kakaulina, Maria. Budget Tax Revenues and Losses from External Labor Migration in Russia. Journal of Tax Reform, vol. 5, no. 3, 2019, pp. 190-203.

Kar, Saibal, and Hamid Beladi. A Model of Smuggling and Trafficking of Illegal Immigrants with a Host Country Policy. Review of Development Economics, vol. 21, no. 3, 2017, pp. 698-712.

Mohl, Raymond. The Politics of Expulsion: A Short History of Alabamas Anti-Immigrant Law, HB 56. Journal of American Ethnic History, vol. 35, no. 3, 2016, pp. 42-67.

Introduction

Involuntary immigration has become a major global concern, especially in developed nations. According to the 2018 World Economic Forums Global Risks Report, involuntary immigration caused by climate change has become common in numerous countries (World Economic Forum 2018). In short, people are emigrating from undeveloped nations worst affected by climate change to developed countries in search of job opportunities to escape famine and extreme poverty in their countries of birth. While migration from developing to developed nations continues unchecked, a report by Takei, Tan and Lin (2016) shows that nationalistic political views in developed countries are creating anti-immigrant sentiment.

Although West Africa along with parts of East, North and Central Africa are some of the regions worst affected by climate change, the problem has also been witnessed in the Middle East and parts of Asia. According to Blix (2017), one of the biggest concerns is that politicians are using these sensitive issues to achieve personal interests. The nationalistic views and anti-immigrant sentiment is affected by developed countries are contributing to social breakdown and crime-related concerns in their societies. In this paper, the researcher will focus on discussing the implications of involuntary immigration as they relate to the potential for social breakdown and increased criminal justice issues.

Social Breakdown

Social breakdown is a significant concern directly related to involuntary immigration. The United States and the United Kingdom rank among the most highly diversified countries in the world, in large part due to continued immigration and integration. According to McKee, Greer and Stuckler (2017), diversity in a country and work environment should always be considered a strength as it allows members of society to identify and cherish differences in people committed to achieving the common goal of socio-economic and political progress of the country. In societies where people view gender, race, religion, sexual orientation and levels of education as factors making it possible to achieve various societal goals, the results will be peaceful and supportive. Alternatively, when one segment of society develops resentment towards another, social breakdown may be unavoidable.

Social breakdown theory holds that members of society who feel socially isolated are likely to support right-wing populist parties (Greenfield & Cocking 2014). These people yearn for some form of protection, feeling rejected by the majority of other members of society. They tend to focus on what they consider can assure them of the protection they feel they need in the socio-political arena. Thus, they lose a national focus regarding universal economic progress and start prioritising actions and ideas that promote only the welfare of the group they feel a part of. On a related note, Rodríguez (2013) states that the desire to be secure may push some of these people into acts that may promote crime in society. For example, individuals who constantly feel that they are targeted become paranoid, in which case a small provocation can make them act out violently, even when violence is unnecessary. An illustration of this point, Chacón (2017) notes that cases, where African Americans attack and sometimes even kill police officers, are increasing because this community feels targeted and its members are convinced that they must protect themselves. However, their actions only serve to worsen the situation; law enforcement officers are also responding to such incidences by opening fire on African Americans at the slightest provocation because they also fear for their lives. Instead of finding a lasting solution for the problem, the participants are only making it worse.

Increased Criminal Justice Issues

Involuntary immigration motivated by climate change has had a massive impact on the criminal justice system in various host countries. While the government has a responsibility to protect locals while at the same time offering security to immigrants, Glyn (2015) maintains that it is not easy to use police officers to promote security to residents. Instead, security comes through those who believe they have a responsibility to respect and refrain from any criminal acts that may affect other members of society. However, when people have strong sentiments towards a segment of their society, criminal justice issues arise. In fact, even law enforcement agents will take sides when called upon to address such problems, further complicating the situation. In this section, the researcher will look at xenophobic attacks, acts of terror and general criminal activities as major concerns related to involuntary immigration.

Xenophobic Attacks

The xenophobic attack has become a significant problem directly linked to involuntary immigration. Individuals who are forced out of their drought- and hunger-stricken countries will often consider moving to places where they will be assured of material support. Martin and Davis (2017) note that most do not expect to receive direct government benefits in the countries they adopt, but their primary aim is rather to have access to job opportunities and to obtain work as a way to earn a living. In fact, some of these immigrants are highly educated but cannot find employment in their home countries. Xenophobic attacks in some host countries are caused by a number of reasons such as the feeling that immigrants are taking jobs meant for the locals at a significantly lower wage rate. In other countries, locals are uncomfortable in the presence of an elevated number of people having different socio-cultural and religious beliefs and practices. The following represent some countries that are currently struggling with the problem of xenophobia.

South Africa

South Africa has been known for xenophobic attacks against immigrants from other parts of the continent. Although the country gained independence less than three decades ago, it enjoys one of the strongest economies in Africa. As such, it has remained an attractive destination for economic migrants coming from Nigeria, neighbouring Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Angola and many other African countries (Dettlaff & Fong 2016). A common goal of those coming to this country is to obtain employment or start small businesses that can enable them to earn a living and support their families back home. Xenophobic attacks began about a decade ago when a section of South African society started complaining that immigrants were taking over jobs meant for the locals. This narrative prompted locals to attack foreigners, especially those living or doing businesses in slums where security is compromised. Keithly (2018) notes that in most of these attacks, the victims are stoned to death or set on fire as a warning to others to leave and go back to their former country.

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom is a popular destination for both economic immigrants and asylum seekers. Most immigrants to this country come from parts of Africa and the Middle East. The nations strong economy and socio-cultural diversity are among the factors that attract people to emigrate there. Heavilin (2017) explains that, like in many other developed countries in Europe and North America, locals in the United Kingdom are starting to express displeasure towards immigrants. Attacks using crude weapons such as knives have become common in major cities around the country, especially in London. Crush and Ramachandran (2014) believe that the number of deaths due to extremism would be high if not for the nations tough gun laws. Unlike the United States where private citizens can own assault rifles, the United Kingdom permits only a few private citizens who meet specific qualifications to own guns, thus limiting the ability of some extremists to launch serious attacks on foreigners they feel are negatively affecting the economy of the country.

United States

The United States remains the preferred destination for economic migrants from all over the world. The strength of the countrys economy, low rate of unemployment and socio-cultural diversity are among the factors that attract individuals who have been forced out of their countries of origin because of problems related to climate change (Winslow & de Gruyter 2017). However, American society is growing increasingly uncomfortable with the issue of immigration. Over the past five decades, successive regimes have tried to tighten immigration laws as a way of responding to the concerns of the public. However, these laws have failed to restrict both legal and illegal immigrants from coming to the country. According to Orrenius and Zavodny (2016), the Ku Klux Klan and other far-right extremist organisations are becoming popular once again due to societal concerns that a large number of immigrants compromises the socio-economic stability of the country. Some extremist organisations are openly attacking some of the immigrants, associating them with terrorism, increased cases of crime and lowered wages.

Germany

According to Vargas, Sanchez and Valdez (2017), Germany has remained a relatively peaceful country since the end of the Second World War. The country has been receiving a moderate number of economic migrants from parts of Africa, Asia and the Middle East. However, the 2009 Arab Spring saw a sudden surge in the number of immigrants from countries such as Syria and Yemen (George & Kwansah-Aidoo 2017). Although these refugees were fleeing from the conflict in their countries of origin, many considered immigrating to Germany as an economic opportunity to re-establish their lives. In contrast, the local population considered a high number of mosques in a predominantly Christian country to be a major concern. Bishop (2016) explains that cases have been reported where locals attack these immigrants with crude weapons as a way of expressing their discomfort towards them. As a country known for genocide during the Second World War, the locals strong resentment towards immigrants is a major concern that the global society cannot ignore (Crush et al. 2017). These foreigners are facing serious threat if the problem is not managed effectively.

New Zealand

New Zealand is often considered one of the safest countries in the world in terms of welcoming immigrants to take part in the countrys socio-economic development (Crush, Chikanda & Skinner 2015). However, that impression changed on March 15, 2019, when a lone gunman attacked worshippers in two mosques in Christchurch, killing 50 people in the process (Regan & Sidhu 2019). The disgruntled gunman expressed his resentment towards immigrants to the country, especially those from the Muslim community that he believes is contaminating the socio-cultural practices of the part of New Zealand society defined by Christian principles. Although the government moved speedily to identify and arrest this criminal, his actions served as a clear demonstration that the country is increasingly becoming unsafe for economic migrants. People who cannot identify with the local population in New Zealand are no longer assured of safety, unlike in the past.

Acts of Terror

According to Zacharasiewicz and Kirsch (2014), hate breeds only hate. When a segment of society feels targeted and devalued by others, the most likely response will be a desire to strike back. This fact explains why some people would opt to target innocent people as a way to express anger and frustration. In the case of economic immigrants, some may turn against locals when they feel that systems and structures in the country have been designed to frustrate them. On March 11, 2004, a group of Islamist Jihadists planted bombs on a Madrid train during rush hour (Bishop 2016). The explosives detonated as planned, killing 193 people and injuring more than 2000 others. Although it was established that the terrorists had links to Al-Qaeda, they had immigrated to Spain as economic migrants who were fleeing their home country because of drought and famine. About a year later on July 7, 2005, another terror outfit planned and executed a coordinated bomb attack in London during rush hour (Suarez-Orozco 2018). This group targeted an underground train, using four suicide bombers to execute their evil plans. It is reported that 52 innocent civilians lost their lives during the attack.

Such major acts of terror are important to this study because they happened before the Arab Spring that forced people to leave their countries of origin primarily because of political instability. Investigations into these cases showed that most of the terrorists involved originally came to Europe because of socio-economic problems in their home countries with the understanding that countries such as the United Kingdom and Spain would offer new job opportunities. However, their reception upon arrival, especially in terms of racism and social rejection, made it easy for terror organisations to recruit them. Once these terror outfits promised to solve the immigrants economic problems, the latter had no reason to be law-abiding residents of their adopted countries. On the contrary, pursuing this course offered the perfect opportunity for them to exert revenge on people they believed despised them.

Other Forms of Crime

Economic migrants often engage in various other crimes in the societies that receive them. According to Creet and Kitzmann (2014), a significant number of drug dealers in the United States are illegal immigrants from Central and South America. The fact that their data has not been captured in the governments repositories makes it difficult for law enforcement to identify and arrest them. Some become goons for hire because even if their fingerprints are collected at the scene of a murder, it is almost impossible to trace them. Law enforcement agencies often struggle to address crimes committed by undocumented immigrants. Common criminal activities include armed robbery, burglary, murder for hire (hitmen), drug peddling and any other activity that can earn the perpetrator income. The United Kingdom is experiencing a similar problem as the number of that countrys undocumented immigrants continues to increase.

Key Risks and Potential Developments in Future

Involuntary immigration is likely to continue in the coming years as the problem of climate change worsens. Although developed nations such as the United Kingdom and the United States will continue to have a moral responsibility to assist those in need, should people in those countries maintain nationalistic views, attacks against foreigners may worsen. In the United States, the current President Donald Trump has been accused of making statements that create hatred towards economic immigrants. For example, during his campaign, he promised Americans that his administration would fight illegal Mexican immigrants  who he described as drug dealers, rapists and criminals.

Such strong words against a segment of society have the result of vilifying those who are under verbal attack, making it easy for members of society to assault immigrants who have been labelled criminals. In South Africa, citizens attacked immigrants a day after President Cyril Ramaphosa described them as illegal immigrants who were taking jobs meant for the locals (Kleist & Thorsen 2017). When the government encourages nationalistic statements of this sort, a peaceful society might not be possible to achieve. The security risks associated with the political instability that such an environment creates could all too well impede the future development of these countries.

Key Methodological Problems Faced by Foresight Studies

In this foresight study, the researcher relied on secondary data to inform the conclusion made at the end of the report. Secondary data was obtained mainly from books and online journal articles. Using keywords such as involuntary immigration, climate change, social breakdown, criminal justice issues and terrorism, the researcher was able to gather information from reliable online sources. Newspaper articles also proved helpful in providing current information on issues related to illegal immigration, xenophobic attacks and criminal activities attributed to increased immigration in some of the developed economies around the world. The main problem faced was the inability to collect primary data from respondents because of time limitations. It would have been advisable to collect data from individuals who have been directly affected by the issue. However, the study had to rely wholly on secondary information.

Despite these challenges, the researcher was interested in assessing the methodological adequacy of the literature that the study relied on. Before any secondary data source was used, it was important to determine its credibility. Most of the secondary sources included were books and peer-reviewed journals. News reports from leading media houses were also considered critical for providing reliable current information about societal problems associated with economic migrants. Appropriate steps were taken to ensure that the information provided in this report is credible and reliable. For this document to be useful to policymakers who are seeking to address the immigration problem, it was necessary to ensure that it relied on credible sources.

Conclusion

Involuntary immigration caused by climate change factors such as drought and famine is on the rise. In the past, developed nations would help affected individuals through direct donations to their governments. However, corruption and misappropriation of funds have continued to make it impossible for deserving families to obtain needed help. Such challenges have forced some of these people to travel from their home country to foreign nations in search of job opportunities. In light of this fact, the study shows that involuntary immigration has the potential to cause social breakdown and increased criminal justice issues. The problem can only be solved through policy formulations and close coordination between the immigrants host government and the country of origin.

Reference List

Bishop, SC 2016, U.S. media and migration: refugee oral histories, Routledge, New York, NY.

Blix, M 2017, Digitization, immigration and the welfare state, Edward Elgar Publishers, Northampton, MA.

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Approximately, after the Second World War, the United States has become one of the countries that attract the largest numbers of immigrants. Despite that fact, current immigration policies need to be renewed in order to manage the flow of the newcomers more effectively.

Even though the United States is considered to be a country of immigrants, its policies in regards to the issue are limited by regulations concerning the criteria and circumstances for admittance.

Since the beginning of this century the U.S. government has allocated a colossal sum to fight with illegal immigration, still as of 2010, the number of undocumented migrants reached approximately 11 million (Ewing, 2012).

In order to show more efficacy, the new immigration reform would need to adapt to contemporary immigration context that has changed over the past decades.

Integration as a critical vector in managing the flow of incomers should become a focal point in modern immigration policies. For instance, more than fifteen years ago, 58 per cent of Mexican immigrants did not graduate from high school, but 83 per cent of their children received high school diplomas (Jiménez, 2007).

Thus, a comprehensive immigration-integration policy would be beneficial for both the immigrants and the receiving communities, resulting in a more cohesive society.

Integration is a process that primarily takes place at the local level (Jiménez, 2007). Even though immigration policies reformation should be lead by the federal government, it is indispensable for local governments to have an opportunity to adopt these policies to their regional peculiarities.

Another component of effective integration policies are projects aimed to help immigrants acquire the official language of the receiving country. In this way, English-language learning programs remain crucial to ensure the success of integration, as full adaptation and participation in a particular society are hardly possible without mastering its means of communication.

Another essential characteristic of the new immigration system would be an incorporation of democratic and humanitarian values.

Current immigration system allows people to die at the borders, work for indecent wages, live in inhumane conditions, and families to be separated (Immigration Policy Center, 2009). In order to have a properly functioning immigrants community that can be fully integrated, these issues need to be fixed.

Broken families have become one of the most discrediting and disputed consequences of current immigration policies. Family-based immigration would permit these reunions to occur in civilized and sensible conditions and quicken the process of returning close and law-abiding relatives to their families (Immigration Policy Center, 2010). Hence, being a part of a family is advantageous for further social assimilation of new immigrants.

Additionally, newcomers immigrating with their families tend to start businesses more frequently  their contribution to the local economy is more significant than this of individual immigrants (Immigration Policy Center, 2001)

Immigration based on seeking protection within the U.S. borders is limiting by the rigorous rules that it applies to the seekers. A person who escapes persecution in their home country is supposed to go through a complex process making their case and proving that their life is under death threat to be able to qualify for the status. Facilitating the process for obtaining asylum for humanitarian immigrants is another priority for the new immigration reform.

Protecting immigrant workers by ensuring that their wages and labor conditions are proper should become prime concern in reforming immigration. It is not uncommon for employers to abuse undocumented immigrant workforce to economize (Immigration Policy Center, 2001). Discouraging these instances and creating impediments for unscrupulous employers is a task for both local and federal governments.

Employment-based immigration is beneficial to the U.S. economy, and immigrants perform several crucial functions within it. Nevertheless, the current immigration system does not communicate present-day economic demands (Immigration Policy Center, 2001).

The process of human capital flight of the last century has helped to establish the United States as a leader in various scientific domains. Nevertheless, nowadays, new rivals for human capital has emerged, and the benefits proposed by the U. S. government need to be revised to stay competitive.

Study by Kauffman Foundation reports that a significant part of skilled immigrants tends to choose other countries to establish their business (Immigration Policy Center, 2001). Moreover, this trend is accelerating, and the damage caused by the loss of talented workers may be greater than the incentives that could help to warrant their stay.

Unskilled migrant-workers are beneficial for native workers more directly as their employment propels U.S.-born employees towards more high-end jobs since a large number of immigrant workers lack the education necessary to occupy them. Moreover, immigrant workers act as taxpayers and consumers, thus enhancing demand and potentially creating more jobs (Immigration Policy Center, 2001).

The current processes within the U.S. migration indicate lack of efficiency of the current system and thus the need for its reformation. Immigration is a crucial evolutionary force in North American societies, and history demonstrates that it always has been so. Rather than trying to demolish immigration altogether, which seems like a vain affair, acknowledging its importance and applying the stick and carrot method would profit both parties involved.

References

Ewing, W. A. (2012). Opportunity and exclusion: A brief history of U.S. immigration policy. American Immigration Council,1-7.

Immigration Policy Center. (2001). Rebooting the American dream: The role of immigration in a 21st century economy.

Immigration Policy Center. (2009). Breaking down the problems: Whats wrong with our immigration system? Web.

Immigration Policy Center. (2010). Focusing on the solution: Key principles of comprehensive immigration reform. Web.

Jiménez, T. R. (2007). From newcomers to Americans: An integration policy for a nation of immigrants. Immigration in Focus, 5(11), 1-12.

Illegal and legal migration has a great impact on economic system and social order in the developed countries including the USA and EU. The main reason for immigration is better standards of life, higher wages and stable political system. Thus, it is supposed that illegal immigration deprives many native citizens their jobs and an opportunity to earn for living. A common finding in studies of migration is that better educated individuals have a higher propensity to migrate. This finding may be due partly to more educated individuals being more likely to have better information concerning alternative areas. Moreover, persons with higher educational attainment may be better able to adapt to the requirements faced when entering a new occupational environment. Thus, if more educated individuals are better equipped to adjust to changing environments, then their transaction costs associated with international moves will be moderated.

In his article, Williams points out that there is a need for public debate concerning immigration policies and laws accepted by the state. The author states that the porous nature of current policies is not the best way to handle the problem of immigration and border protection policy. The period of the Revolutionary War demonstrates that citizens and real patriots are the main driven forces of change and policy development. These patriotic took the law into their own hands allegedly protecting Americans borders (Williams 2008). The incentive to migrate to the United States, for instance, should be enhanced for individuals whose occupational skills are similar to those used in U.S. labor markets. If the percentage of the labor force engaged in manufacturing serves as a crude index for the mix of occupational skills in a sending country, then a larger fraction of labor force in manufacturing may suggest a mix of occupational skills that is closer to that found in the United States.

Similar to Williams, Hanson states that political stability and high economic standards attract millions of immigrants to the USA. Other considerations, however, make the interpretation of the expected relationship between the labor force in manufacturing and immigration flows less clear. In order to qualify for admission to the United States, however, a prospective immigrant who intends to work (except a parent, spouse, or child of a citizen or lawful permanent resident of the United States) must obtain labor certification from the Department of Labor. The secretary of labor must certify that there is a need for the prospective immigrants type of occupational skills in the United States and that allocating the visa will not displace United States workers nor adversely affect the economy of the United States. In contrast to Williams, Hanson states that illegal immigrants take jobs from low class Americans: The lower middle classes complain most about massive immigration, but then they have to compete with aliens for jobs, often live among them and dont use their services (Hanson 2008). While international comparisons of wage and earnings levels present a number of problems, we have employed such a variable as a crude indicator of economic advantage. For a number of reasons, the more populous a country is, the more likely it is to experience a greater volume of immigration from any given origin country. Population serves as a reasonable proxy for size of the destination labor market and hence, other things being equal, for the expected number and variety of job opportunities.

The main difference between policy approached proposed by Williams and Hanson is that Hanson see status quo as the only possible measure of lethal framework while Williams supposes that the public debates and cooperation between all stakeholders is the most desirable approach. Because the United States is a major recipient country for emigrants from many nations included in our analysis and because the United States has both a relatively high wage rate and a binding immigration quota, the wage coefficients reported in table 2 may be biased in a downward direction. If this bias exists, then unbiased predicted emigration flows to the United States would be higher than the biased predicted flows reported here. This point may be particularly relevant for Western Hemisphere countries, since the United States is clearly the major high-wage destination for emigrants from these countries.

Personally, I suppose that strict laws against illegal immigration will protect the state from a flow of newcomers thus legal immigration has a positive impact on the USA economy and development. Differential earnings is only one factor that may influence the decision to emigrate. As discussed previously, the institutional framework is also important. U.S. laws have apparently limited the total number of immigrants and may also have altered the mix of those who ultimately gain immigrant status in the United States. Moreover, the ease with which a worker can transfer his occupational skills to the U.S. labor market is likely to be of some importance. The ease with which a prospective migrant can transfer his occupational skills to the U.S. labor market should influence his propensity to migrate. Knowledge and occupational skills are not perfectly transferable between countries; the lower the cost of this adjustment, the greater the incentive to migrate to the United States. Higher expected wage or earnings levels should be attractive to migrants. Through trade, financial arrangements, and past migration, larger nations are also likely to have established more ties with the rest of the world. Furthermore, to the extent that countries with larger populations set higher absolute limitations on immigration, presumably because of their ability to absorb more migrants without seriously jeopardizing existing economic and social relationships, larger countries should experience greater immigration. Largely because of differences in the number of destination countries reported for each origin country, the number of observations underlying each regression differs widely, from a minimum of fourteen for Finland to a maximum of forty-six for Japan. For each country of emigration, the United States was reported to be a recipient of out-migrants.

In sum, the articles suggest that the incremental value that the U.S. labor market assigns to a prospective immigrants education, which is acquired in his respective home country, may be less than the incremental value of the education if used in the native country. Another important consideration is that the effect of educational attainment may differ considerably across occupational categories. Occupational knowledge is not perfectly transferable from another country to the United States. It is therefore noteworthy that the rate of immigration to the United States is higher for persons from English-speaking countries. This evidence is compatible with the hypothesis that, if a prospective immigrant is from an English-speaking country, the costs of adjustment to the U.S. labor market are reduced. Hence, the incentive to migrate is greater. The percentage of the labor force engaged in manufacturing may reflect the state of economic development in a country. The laws and regulations based on public debates and careful considerations will help the USA to attract skillful labor and professionals who will enter the US workforce.

Works Cited

Hanson, D, The Global Immigration Problem by Victor David. 2007.

Williams, B. Immigration Frenzy Points Out Need for Policy Debate. 2008.

Introduction

Illegal immigration has been a social problem for many years across the globe. People migrate for various reasons like search for greener pastures in terms of peaceful environments, good jobs, or to areas that have socially developed to experience and enjoy the advantages of such developments. Most countries for instance the U.S are very keen on establishing policies that would eradicate illegal immigration. There is a unison ideology that illegal immigration is harmful to the economy and ought to be eradicated while legal immigration would be of importance to the economy and should thus be encouraged.

Immigrants in the U.S form approximately 1/5 of the total population and parts of them are illegal immigrants. Immigrants can be beneficial to a country if they are welcomed and not when they are treated with hostility. Harsh treatment against immigrants intensified due to terrorism as they are treated as major suspects. After 911 strict measures were adopted as it was argued that immigrants could worsen the insecurity problem. However, the ineffective or inefficient government procedures that discourage legal migration contribute to increased illegal immigration. Criminalizing the assistance of immigrants on the basis of they are illegal is an unfair treatment of mankind.

Main body

The process by which the US awards visas to allow immigrants to work temporarily is itself a way of ensuring increased cases of illegal immigration. This is attributed to the fact that the demand for services offered by illegal immigrants exceeds the supply and people are force to make their way illegally into the U.S. Legal entry is not only time-consuming but also expensive leaving the immigrants with no choice but to make their way into the US illegally. There are also delays before visa acquisition, which makes some people, lack the visa until they are quite old and may extend their stay to cover-up up the time they would have spent had they acquired the visas on time. This further illustrates how the US is widening the illegal immigrant problem. Abrupt deportation can have adverse effects on the economy, especially because the number of immigrants is high. The federal government should therefore be very cautious on this issue if it is not to harm the economy.¹

Illegal immigrants ought to be viewed as unutilized talents or potential, which should be taped for the benefit of the whole society. Those that possess professional skills can be used to promote the said sector as they can be viewed as human capital resources. ² If the U.S wants to completely solve the issue of illegal immigration it should first be keen in ensuring that there is easy entry and thus discourage illegal immigrants. Immigrants are faced with many difficulties as they try to adapt.³ Those who are not well conversant with English experience a language barrier and they are unable to express themselves freely. A large percentage lack the technological know-how or the professional skills that can enable them to earn a decent salary.

Major government critics argue that the government has double standards on the issue in question. This is attributed to the fact that even after identifying it as a problem little is done to ensure that it is solved amicably. To some, the U.S government could be taking advantage of the immigrants it seems to be interested in cheap labor produced by them. Immigration whether legal or illegal creates or rather exerts force on social facilities like schools and health centers. Most immigrants in the U.S live in hostile conditions both at work and in their residential areas. They are located in places where there is poor sanitation and poor housing and are prone to disease outbreaks.

Supporters of fair treatment of immigrants argue that mistakes of the system should not have immigrants penalized. They are mostly poor people looking for new ways of earning their income and better ways of living and should not be treated with so much suspicion. Hostility towards them only works to increase fear and tension in the immigrants. There are Americans who oppose the fair treatment of illegal immigrants on the basis that they would act as a threat to the countrys job opportunities. They view them as competitors in the labor market. ⁴ This argument is however not very effective because most of them have semi-skilled qualifications due to their economic status and will therefore go for such positions. Instead of harassing immigrants on the allegation that they can pose a major security threat, the relevant authorities ought to work effectively in ensuring that there is protection and justice in the country.

If there was the proper and efficient legal system to curb illegal forgery the 11 million illegal immigrants should not be a bone of contention in the U.S. A mechanism should be adopted where illegal immigrants are registered. This move would ensure that they too contribute or pay taxes geared towards the overall economic performance of the country. Immigrants contribution to the economy is considerable. They account for over half of the growth of the nation in terms of the labor force. They work in factories, restaurants, construction firms, and other blue-collar jobs. ⁵

Illegal immigrants negatively affect government expenditure, as it has to spend on services that they use even though they do not pay tax. Available policies towards illegal immigrants include the complete denial of access to public assistance and operating indirectly by affecting the expected rewards towards attempted illegal immigration. Policies that affect them directly are enforced security at the borders and monitoring of the hiring practices in the U.S. The federal government has increased its expenditures in enforcement activities like border patrol operations, inspections at entry points, detaining and deporting apprehended aliens, and investigating people suspected to be hiring illegal immigrants or smuggling them. Challenges facing this policy are the lack of coordinated policies within the relevant authorities. Although the instruments are put in place there are still loopholes that cause inefficiencies and curbing illegal immigrants becomes difficult.

Admission policies that would ensure legal immigration work to favor illegal immigration. On the other hand, there is the demand for unskilled labor, which is not offered by U.S citizens. Most illegal immigrants are Mexicans who have average education or schooling. Application for a visa for them is an issue as very few of them qualify for employment-based green cards or most types of temporary work visas. Family-based visas also register long queues which discourage immigrants from using the legal and appropriate means to gain entry into the U.S. Again, the admission criteria are too arbitrary to serve most prospective migrants. Illegal immigration accomplishes what legal immigration fails to accomplish in the sense that it ensures that low-skilled workers shift from regions with low productivity to where it is higher. It provides the U.S with the supply of workers that are scarce. ⁶

Among the policies or measures taken to reduce the level of illegal immigration is the construction of a seven hundred-mile fence along the US-Mexico border, which proves to be an attractive entry to the US. President Bush suggested it and it would cost approximately 1.2 billion dollars. It is an important idea to ensure that a cost-benefit analysis is done before identifying the policy that is to be implemented. Incentives or rather factors that lead to increased movement of illegal immigrants into the US ought to be addressed first before condemning the immigrants. The employers in the US who are after the cheap and flexible source of labor are the reason behind the increased illegal movement of poor immigrants into the US. Policies identified should see to it that there is maximum attention to the economic incentives that attract immigrants. Easy and efficient legal immigration would be very important in addressing this.

The US should encourage the immigration of people who have skills that are in scarcity in the country so as to attain maximum utility from them. These would increase the countrys income. People with scarce skills are in great contrast in the sense that some are highly skilled while others are very lowly skilled. As computer programmers are scarce regardless of their skills so are workers to work in cleaning, hotels, and restaurants, and in construction industries.

Dangerous effects of illegal immigration include the ineffective application of the rule of law, as it can be easily undermined. Intensive illegal immigration can lead to the reduced upward mobility among the employees, as employers would be quite reluctant to show commitment to US labor market institutions.

Most immigrants tend to move into the US when there is a boom. Making illegal immigrants legal would be an effective measure, as it would provide labor when it is most needed in terms of timing, place, and form or type. To intensify the security levels police officers on border patrol ought to be increased.

Conclusion

The problem of illegal immigration and the implications to the economy programs were put in place to ensure that illegal immigrants were effectively assimilated or registered to become legal immigrants. They would be contributing to the economic growth through taxes and through their labor. Deportation would not be a sufficient method in solving the problem as such immigrants could be beneficial to the countrys economy. Those with communication problems can effectively be enrolled in programs that would enable them better understand English and consequently be in a better position for citizenship. Instead of investing in deportation and investigating employees, the government can increase its focus on proper and modern means or technologies to ensure security for its citizens. It can increase staff in the clearing systems to ensure that there is increased efficiency in the system.

Works Cited:

Arnaud de Borchgrave and Harlan Ullman. 2006. Illegal Immigrants Drain U.S. Economy. Web.

David J. Lynch and Chris Woodyard. 2006. Immigrants claim pivotal role in economy. Web.

Bill Hing: The immigrant as criminal: Punishing dreamers.9 Hasting womens law 1998 Journal 79. P 2.

Gibson M. Immigrant adaptation and patterns of acculturation. Human Development, 44(1), 2001 19-23.

Tito Boeri, Gordon Howard Hanson, Barry McCormick. 2002. Immigration Policy and the Welfare System: A Report for the Fondazione.

Oxford University Press. P 211.

Footnotes

1. Immigration Policy and the Welfare System: A Report for the Fondazione.
2. David J. Lynch and Chris Woodyard. 2006. Immigrants claim a pivotal role in the economy. Web.
3. Gibson M. Immigrant adaptation and patterns of acculturation. Human Development, 44(1), 2001 19-23.
4. Arnaud de Borchgrave and Harlan Ullman. 2006. Illegal Immigrants Drain U.S. Economy. Web.
5. David J. Lynch and Chris Woodyard. 2006. Immigrants claim a pivotal role in the economy. Web.
6. Bill Hing: The immigrant as criminal: Punishing dreamers.9 Hasting womens law 1998 Journal 79. P 2.

People have always looked for a place under the sun and the quest for a better life is never-ending. However, the world is not a free place anymore and most of the people cannot choose where to live. Those who do not want to put up with it choose a dangerous path  illegal immigration hoping that one day theyll be able to rip the benefits of their new homeland. Illegal immigration is a serious issue that cannot be neglected as it creates an array of problems for both, the host country and illegal immigrants themselves.

In order to better understand the term and the concept behind illegal immigration one needs to delve in history and trace the origin of the term. Migration used to be an unregulated process and people travelled freely. It was not until late 19^th century that Netherlands, Canada, USA and Australia all enacted laws to curb the influx of people willing to settle down in these countries. The bills were not intended against migration in general, rather to restrict morally-undesired individuals, such as communists or anarchists from entering the country (Duvell 21).

Illegal immigration started to be viewed as a problem in late 19^th century although it did not become so pressing and urgent until the mid-20^th century. With so many laws and restrictions in place, there is no country in the world that entirely controls migration process. Aliens, as illegal immigrants are often referred to in the US, always find a way to sneak into the country irrespective of border checks and wired fences.

If one is asked to speculate on the ramifications of illegal immigration, the most common response would probably relate to increase in crime as the main negative consequence however it is not representative of the overall problem at all. It is true that illegal immigrants do contribute to increased crime rates although there are other factors which also need to be considered. Firstly, unemployment level, high as it is, increases when illegal immigrants agree to work for lower wages. Cheap labor provided by illegal immigrants complicates the job search not only for countrys residents but also for migrants who entered the country legally.

Public sector also comes under severe pressure and health-care and education are at risk (Naik par. 4). While aliens do not pay taxes, countries spend billions of dollars to fight, detain, accommodate and deport illegal immigrants. US which suffers the most from illegal immigrants spend $90 a day for accommodating unlawful citizens in detention centers. According to Center for American progress, the US administration spends $41 billion for apprehension, accommodation and deportation of illegal immigrants (Naik par. 6).

Aside from the financial strain, the biggest issue with immigrants both legal and illegal is that they all come from various cultural backgrounds. In order for them to become full-fledged citizens they need to assimilate into the new community, learn the language, engage in culture and history. However, most newcomers, rather than trying to adapt, live in enclosed communities and prefer to communicate with a circle of friends consisting of former immigrants like themselves. Its even worse with illegal immigrants who live isolated and choose not to embrace the new culture.

Many people agree that restrictions and visa bans are not workable solutions to the problem. Many countries, including Canada, Australia, US, and New Zealand have immigration programs which allow everyone to legally obtain residence based on their skills and other merits. These programs have helped millions to find their new homeland and rather than spend billions of dollars on trying to stop illegal immigration, it is more viable to invest and enhance into legal ways to allow people to legally enter any country in the world. This, of course, would not entirely solve the problem of illegal immigration, but certainly make it much less severe.

Works Cited

Duvell, Franck. Irregular Migration: a Global, Historical and Economic Perspective. Illegal Immigration in Europe Beyond Control? Ed. Franck Duvell. New York, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. 14-34. Print.

Naik, Abhijt. Why Illegal Immigration is a Problem. 2011. Web.

Introduction

The United States government holds hundreds of thousands of immigrants in its more than 200 detention centers located in different states. The immigrants are detained in these places for entering the US unlawfully, and await processing for legal entry into the country (asylum seekers) or deportation. Detention is conducted by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs Border Protection (CBP). The centers also hold children under the supervision of the Office of Refugee Resettlement program. The high cost of operation prompted the government to privatize the centers by contracting them to private corporations. This paper will discuss the history of detention centers, their spread across America, alternatives, federal spending, privatization, and criticisms.

Brief History

The history of immigration detention dates back to the 1930s when Ellis Island was used as a holding facility for foreigners throughout the Second World War. Its operations lasted until the 1950s when it fell into disuse. At the end of the 1970s, the detention system had less than 3,000 immigrants and asylum seekers (Nethery & Silverman, 2015). In the 1980s, President Reagan developed a program to counter the mass entry of immigrants from Haiti (Ghosh, 2019). The facilities that were created were criticized for poor living condition and rampant cases of abuse. In the 1990s, the facilities increased significantly. However, by 2017, the number had decreased as private centers had taken control of some of the smaller centers (Ghosh, 2019). The Trump administration has called for more stringent immigration policies that have led to the detention of more immigrants.

Facilities across America

The immigrant detention system in the US has been expanding rapidly as the number of undocumented immigrants rises. There are approximately 200 detention facilities across the country (American Immigration Council, 2020). Government statistics reveal that 10% of immigrants are in detention centers run by ICE while 20% are in county and local governments facilities (Kassie, 2019). Approximately 70% are held in centers that are run by private corporations (American Immigration Council, 2020). According to government statistics, during the Fiscal Year 2018, the ICE was holding 396,448 people (Kassie, 2019). Unaccompanied children are held in facilities operated by health and human services. However, more than 500 children have been reported to be detained in private centers (American Immigration Council, 2020). ICE has contracted several groups. For instance, the Geo Group operates 64 immigration detention facilities and prisons.

Alternatives to Detention Centers

Advocacy groups like Detention Watch Network, the International Detention Coalition, and the Womens Refugee Commission have contended that the US could decrease the cost of immigrant detention by investing in alternatives. The centers have become difficult to operate because of the rapidly growing population. As a result, the ICE has developed alternatives as a mitigation measure. They include home visits, electronic monitoring, and phone check-ins (Kassie, 2019). These alternatives were developed after an increase in accusations of housing individuals in squalid living conditions, abuse of immigrants, poor hygiene, and lack of medical care. According to ICE, more than 98, 373 people are monitored through electronic devices (Kassie, 2019). The cost of monitoring an individual under the alternative programs is $4.43 a day while under the detention centers model it is more than a hundred dollars daily (Kassie, 2019). These programs have eased the organizations financial burden because they are inexpensive.

Federal Spending

Over the years, the amount of money spent by the federal government on detention has been on the rise. For example, the ICE spent $1.8 billion in 2010 and $3.1 billion in 2018 (Kassie, 2019). Advocacy groups have argued that the government could save up to $1.44 billion annually if it invested in alternative methods of detention (Conclon & Hiemstra, 2017). The high cost of operation has been one of the reasons for the privatization of the centers.

Table 1: federal spending on detention (Kassie, 2019).

Privatization of Detention Centers

The implementation of more stringent immigration policies and the criminalization of immigration breaches have piled pressure on Americas detention capabilities since the 1990s. This prompted the Bureau of Prison and the immigration authorities to contract private facilities to reduce the cost of operation (Nethery & Silverman, 2015). The majority of the detention centers have undergone privatization and are operated by private entities that have been contracted by ICE. This model of detention has been widely criticized because of the lack of government monitoring (Conclon & Hiemstra, 2017). Opponents of the system have argued that human rights violations can increase because the corporations main objective is profit maximization (Nethery & Silverman, 2015). In addition, these abuses can be easily concealed, and thus become difficult to uncover.

The desire for higher profits means that the more detainees a center holds, the more profits it generates. Therefore, it is easy to subject immigrants to poor living conditions and deny them access to medical care (Ghosh, 2019). Critics have argued that the model should be discarded because alternatives like electronic monitoring are cheaper. They contend that supervision is more cost-effective than detention. In 2017, President Trump announced the development of more detention centers in America, thus promoting privatization (Kassie, 2019). In the past years, some politicians have made attempts to eradicate the system. However, their efforts proved futile as the bills were rejected by Congress.

Conditions in Detention Centers

Immigrants in detention centers are not guaranteed the right to legal advice. Therefore, they are required to hire a lawyer, even though the majority cannot afford one. Pro-bono lawyers offered by immigration courts usually offer representation to asylum seekers only or individuals who have not been detained (Conclon & Hiemstra, 2017). ICE detention standards require centers to offer detained access to law libraries, legal representation, and a handbook covering immigration detention (Kassie, 2019). However, these standards are not practiced in detention centers. ICE has been criticized for allowing detainees to be held in short term facilities awaiting processing (Nethery & Silverman, 2015). These facilities lack basic needs that are needed for proper hygiene and are usually overcrowded.

International advocacy organizations have criticized the US government for the rising cases of human rights violations in detention centers. The majority of immigrants arrested by ICE or CBP are detained in county and local jails that are operated on a correctional model that clashes with the civil nature of immigration detention (Kassie, 2019). Abuse in detention centers arises from the lack of proper oversight by ICE and the absence of penalties for facilities that fail to meet the minimal detention standards (Nethery & Silverman, 2015). Moreover, the agency has failed to invest in the development of more humane and cheaper community-based alternatives that could reduce the number of detainees by about 80% (Kassie, 2019). A 2010 report released by New York Times revealed that many deaths in detention centers are unreported as they have embraced a culture of secrecy (Nethery & Silverman, 2015). Government reports have shown that poor medical care is the major cause of death.

Criticisms

Immigration detention centers have been criticized for engaging in unethical practices in order to maximize profits. Violation of human rights have been reported in many facilities across America (Nethery & Silverman, 2015). For instance, the Geo Group has been accused of lowering employee wages, offering limited access to healthcare, and subjecting detainees to unhealthy living conditions. The Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) has been criticized for poor living conditions, inadequate staffing, high employee turnover, and unethical business practices (Nethery & Silverman, 2015). The solitary confinement used in certain centers has been cited as a potential cause of prison psychosis and severe psychological problems. The system has also been disapproved because even though ICE acknowledges that it needs an overhaul, cheaper alternatives remains underutilized.

Conclusion

The United States immigrant detention system is the largest in the world. It has evolved immensely over the years. Currently, the majority of governments detention facilities have been privatized as the costs of operation have soared. Immigrants who enter the US are held in these centers to await processing in the case of asylum seekers or deportation. Opponents of the system have argued that they mistreat immigrants and that cheaper alternatives like electronic monitoring should be used. Cases of human rights violations have been reported in many facilities. Poor living conditions, abuse, and limited access to healthcare have been cited as some of the causes of deaths reported in detention facilities. Advocacy groups have called for their abolishment because private corporations main priority is the maximization of profit without regard for the rights of detainees.

References

American Immigration Council. (2020). Immigration detention in the United States by agency. American Immigration Council. 

Conclon, D., & Hiemstra, N. (Eds.). (2017). Intimate economies of immigration detention: Critical perspectives. Routledge.

Ghosh, S. (2019). How migrant detention became American policy and why comparisons to concentration camps failed to shut them down. The Washington Post. 

Kassie, E. (2019). Detained: How the US built the largest immigrant detention system. The Guardian. 

Nethery, A., & Silverman, S. J. (Eds.). (2015). Immigration detention: The migration of a policy and its human impact. Routledge.

Introduction

The experience of the immigrants in the USA may be regarded as one of the central aspects that formed the American nation. Originally, these are the immigrants from Europe (Ireland, Germany, Austria), South America (Mexico, Argentina, Puerto Rico), Asia (China, Japan, Korea), and Africa. It should be emphasized, that various reasons have made these people move to the USA, and extremely different customs, traditions, and cultural backgrounds were contributed to the development of the American. This paper aims to represent the concepts of immigration tendencies, represented in various researches. Originally, these are the papers, dedicated to outlining the reasons for immigration, and defining the key trends of the immigration process as well as the influence of new ethnic groups on the creation of the American nation. Thus, the concept, which suits the real situation of immigration the most will be defined, and the other two concepts, represented in the researches, will be discussed in the paper.

Race and ethnicity in the USA. Handlins Concept of Uprooted Americans

The ethnic background of the USA is represented with numerous nationalities, the representatives of which moved to the USA because of particular reasons, and with the definite aim. Oscar Handlins concept of uprootedness, John Bodnars views of transplantation, and Kathleen Conzens ideas on dual construction of ethnicity are regarded as the key concepts of immigration, and all the further considerations are generally based on one of these three concepts.

Oscar Handlin bases his considerations on the fact, that people, who immigrated to the USA faced agricultural challenges, and were requiring new free lands for the extended agricultural activity. These were mainly peasants and, emigration, from this point of view, is regarded as the end of the peasant era in old Europe. Surely, not only peasants were searching for a better life, nevertheless, they became the origin of a new nation, and formed the basis of the economic system of future America. (Olson, 2008)

The emigrants felt uprooted by the circumstances, and the situation for them looked like the choice between immigrating or dying. Originally, these circumstances may be explained by the lack of free lands in Europe, as owners of the lands did not wish to work on it themselves, while the peasants were forced to pay high taxes. As Handlin emphasizes, these peasants were standing at the crossroads, and the fact, that they are leaving their motherlands forever did not stop them. It should be stated that the immigrants were aiming to preserve their customs, values, ideology, and traditions, as they felt themselves comfortable in their native cultural surrounding. They considered that these customs would not apply to America, nevertheless, later these traditions formed the cultural background of the USA. As Handlin states in his book (1973, p. 319):

Not that they derived much joy or comfort from the conviction. In any case, they suffered. The separation itself had been hard. The peasants had been cut off from homes and villages, homes and villages which were not simply places, but communities in which was deeply enmeshed a whole pattern of life. They had left the familiar fields and hills, the cemetery in which their fathers rested, the church, me people, the animals, the trees they had known as the intimate context of their being.

In the light of this fact, there is a strong necessity to emphasize that the original concept of uprootedness should be regarded as the basic theory, explaining the immigration origins, nevertheless, this explanation may be relevant only to European emigration, as Asians and Latin Americans had quite different reasons for immigration to the USA.

Olson (2008), in his turn, emphasizes the notion that the immigration of most European nations was caused by political issues in Ireland, Germany, Spain, Denmark, etc. They were searching for a job, free lands, for they could work on them, and, surely, the possibility to earn their living.

As for the matters of the practical application of this concept, it should be stated that it may be applied to Europeans and Asians only, as African and Latin American peoples were transported to the territory of the USA against their will. As for the Spanish-speaking nationalities, the European part assimilated, and is considered the part of the European general immigration. As for the Mexicans and immigrants from Latin America, they were considered the people of the second sort due to racial prejudices, and could not influence the immigration process and ethnic development of the USA essentially.

Transplantation by John Bodnar

While Handlin places a particular emphasis on the matters of the peasantry and the issues, which are closely linked with the better agricultural circumstances, the other researchers aim to put the main emphasis on the broader reasons. Thus, Bodnar emphasizes the matters of transplantation in the context of developing capitalism and developing economies. The main premise of this concept is covered in the fact, that the traditional economic systems of Europe and Asia were reluctant for transforming, consequently, the entrepreneurs, who were able to create the market relations in their native countries transplanted their marketing abilities and talents to the USA. Thus, the country became the Eldorado for market economic relations and the development of capitalism. Bodnar himself (1987, p. 529) emphasizes in his research:

The thrust of contemporary American social history has probed beyond the realm of group dynamics, however, and has exposed the private and personal dimension of individuals facing the historical currents of capitalism, industrialization, and urbanization alone. This direction, however, has rightfully disturbed some scholars who have lamented the abandonment of coherent theories, which can somehow hold all of this disparate information together.

Originally, Bodnar aims to clarify the issues of capitalism and sometimes exploitation of the working class and peasantry without resorting to the terminology by Marx. The fact is that he mainly focuses on the matters of private history and aims to achieve consensus with other historians on the issues of class division, power relations, and progress.

John J. Bukowczyk, in his research (1988) emphasizes that the research by John Bodnar is conservative enough for shaping the frames of the conceptual reasoning of the immigration process, nevertheless, this conservatism does not allow the paper to be regarded as the original and unique concept, as it is essentially limited geographically and in time. Taking into consideration the notion, that not every ethnic group moved to the USA voluntarily, the issues of capitalism and labor division may be attributed to Europeans mainly, and slightly touch upon the reasons, which made Asians move to the USA. Nevertheless, these reasons are unacceptable for Africans and Latin Americans, as the reasons for their immigration are related to the matters of capitalism only indirectly.

Takaki emphasizes the following statement: After the wake, the migrants traveled to Dublin and then to Liverpool, where they boarded crowded ships bound for America THE crossing was traumatic. The emigrant is shown a berth, a shelf of coarse pinewood, situated in a noisome dungeon, airless and lightless, in which several hundred persons of both sexes and all ages are stowed away on shelves two feet one inch above the other, three feet wide and six feet long, still reeking from the ineradicable stench left by the emigrants of the last voyage. (Takaki, 1998 p.113)

The matters of transplantation are generally regarded in the context of forced movements, while people were forced to move by the surrounding economic and social environment, nevertheless, any single word is not stated on the matters of forced transportation of the labor force from Africa and Latin America. Originally, these matters are not concealed, nevertheless, most researchers try not to touch them in the studies, while African and South American cultural traditions appeared to be not less important than European and Asian origins. Consequently, the research by John Bodnar may be regarded as a more extended concept, nevertheless, it does not cover all the possible issues of immigration. While the traditional representations of immigration are regarded to be the matters of the search for a better life, few concepts pay attention to the forced movement of people as the working force on plants and plantations.

Nevertheless, when the Civil Rights Act was accepted, it claimed that: All persons born in the United States and not subject to any foreign power are declared to be citizens of the United States. It does not purport to give these classes of persons any status as citizens of States, except that which may result from their status as citizens of the United States. The power to confer the right of State citizenship is just as exclusively with the several States as the power to confer the right of Federal citizenship is with Congress. (Kawaguchi, p.233)

Kathleen Conzen. Dual Construction of Ethnicity

This is another research, dedicated to the issues of social adaptation as the key reason for immigration. Originally, this concept may be attributed to Mexican Americans and other Latin American immigrants, who wished to preserve their cultural traditions by isolating them from the allover American community. Instead of uniting with the other people, and participating in the forming of a homogenous nation, Mexicans created their ethnic groups. It should be emphasized that concerned about the fate of Spanish-speaking Catholics in a white Protestant society, Mexican officials had inserted several guarantees into the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Mexican residents had a year to decide their loyalties; if at the end of the year they had not declared their intentions, they would automatically receive United States citizenship. Only two thousand crossed the border; the others became Mexican Americans. As Conzen et al. (in Gjerde, 1998, p. 22) emphasize, the Mexicans aimed to preserve the heterogeneous nature of their ethnic group, but did not contribute to the general development of American culture. The following statement should be emphasized:

Despite the heterogeneous nature of their origins, backgrounds, and traditions, Mexican-Americans started developing a strong sense of ethnic group identity, based in part on their shared experiences as non-White immigrants. Working within the narrow framework of acceptable behavior constructed by the external community, Mexican-Americans were able to assert a common sense of ethnicity and foster community solidarity through the annual Mexican Independence celebrations. (Gjerde, 1998, p. 22)

In the light of this consideration, there is a strong necessity to emphasize that the issues of ethnicity have become central for analyzing the process of immigrant adaptation. Nevertheless, it is impossible to explain this process without resorting to classical social theories, which are generally applied to the explanation and study of the immigration processes, and touch upon the issues of modernization. Still, as Conzen et al (in Gjerde, 1998, p. 27) stated in their research:

From the 1960s on, the rise of ethnic movements in the United States and throughout the world have demonstrated an unexpected persistence and vitality of ethnicity as a source of group identity and solidarity. These phenomena stimulated an enormous amount of research and writing on the nature of ethnicity as a form of human collectivity.

Originally, the concept of social adaptation may be applied to every ethnic group, represented in the ethnic diversity of the USA, nevertheless, the researchers pay particular attention to Mexicans and Latin Americans, as they are of particular interest for the research of social adaptation issues.

Conclusion

Finally, there is a strong necessity to emphasize that the concepts, which are used by different authors for explaining the immigration tendencies and reasons may be regarded as righteous and correct in the context of historical circumstances and particular geographic locations. Nevertheless, all three concepts focus on the restricted issues of immigration and do not pay any attention to other reasons, which made people from other geographic regions move to the USA.

As for the matters of concept, which can be applied the best, the Transplantation concept is regarded to be the widest and explains the maximum range of possible reasons covering the widest geographic range. Nevertheless, it does not cover the matters of forced transportation of Africans to the USA.

Originally, not every nation played a strong role in the formation of the cultural and ethnic background of the USA, and the main concepts have been regarded in the paper. While Europeans have formed a homogenous mass of immigrants, the representatives of the other continents appeared to be less active in this process due to particular reasons and factors.

Bibliography

Bodnar, J. The Transplanted: A History of Immigrants in Urban America. Indiana University Press, 1987.

Bukowczyk J. J. The Transplanted: Immigrants and Ethnics. Social Science History, Vol. 12, No. 3, 1988, pp. 233-241. Duke University Press.

Gjerde J. Major Problems in American Immigration and Ethnic history. University of California, Berkeley. New York. 1998

Handlin, O. The Uprooted. The Epic Story of the Great Migrations That Made the American People. Little, Brown and Company Publishing, 1973

Kawaguchi. History 10 Reader.

Olson, J. The Ethnic Dimension in American History. Sam Houston State University. Blackwell Publishing 2008.

Takaki, R. A Larger Memory. Little, Brown and Company Publishing, 1998.