Essay Sample on Immigration Reforms

Introduction

Immigration has stirred debate in the U.S for over a decade due to the policymakers checking on its effect on the economy, security and humanitarian issues. Congress has not been able to have a conclusion on the immigration reforms for a long time. This has caused major policy decisions and debates into the executive and judiciary arms of government. One of the reasons President Donald J. Trump was elected was his pledge to stop illegal immigration to prevent terrorism. His other plans included physically constructing a wall to separate the US-Mexico border, deporting any illegally registered immigrants and temporarily restricting Muslims from coming into the U.S. Currently, he has worked on some despite the legal challenges and public protests.

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Immigrants take up to fourteen percent of the U.S population. This is more than forty-three million of the estimated three hundred and twenty-three million citizens. Together with their U.S born children, the immigrants make up to twenty-seven percent of the population. This figure is a representation of a steady rise since 1970. Out of this number, the unregistered population is almost eleven million but has since gone down due to the 2005 economic crisis, which made others go back to their homes and demoralized others from coming to the U.S. Customs and border protection managed to stop a number of illegal immigrants from entering into the country in 2017. The number of illegal immigrants dropped by 26% which some attributed to Trump's administrative policies. Forty percent increase in the arrested suspects was also reported.

Policies put in place mostly look into reducing unlawful immigration and not quite considering the number of people in the U.S who have overstayed their visas. In 2019, a report by the Center for Immigration Studies confirmed that the number of people who had overstayed their visit was more than those who illegally crossed the borders since 2007. However, in 2016 the U.S gave 1.2 million individuals legal permanent residency, two-thirds based on family reunification while others granted on employment basis, refugees and diversity. More than four million applications for permanent residency has been made awaiting approval since 2017. Congress has made many deliberations for immigration reforms for the last twenty years. In 2013 legislators passed a comprehensive reform bill to make it easier for undocumented immigrants to get citizenship but the bill was not voted for in the House of Representatives.

The executive has also played a crucial role in immigration reforms. President Obama took a lot of actions to give relief to the many undocumented immigrants. His administration came up with a program to help children with no criminal records a two-year deportation deferral and work permits. They formed the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) in 2012. By March 2015, more than eight hundred and fifty thousand took advantage of this facility. He also offered permanent residency to about five million undocumented parents who had children born in the U.S.

President Trump has also signed many executive orders influencing immigration laws. One of these policies focussed on constructing a wall on the border of the U.S and Mexico to improve security. To add on to this, he authorized for migrants caught on the borders to be released in the U.S. awaiting court hearings. Moreover, any unauthorized immigrant who could not give proof that they have been in the U.S for two years would be allowed to leave without a court hearing. The second order also prioritizes for the removal of unauthorized immigrants, restricting federal funds to reduce the cooperation between immigrants and federal immigration officials. The third order focussed on prevention of terrorism by banning nationals from Iran, Iraq, Somalia, and Sudan from getting from getting into the country for at least ninety days. The travel ban got a lot of setbacks and was reviewed twice by Trump's administration. Thereafter, the Supreme Court handled it where justices allowed it.

Why Immigrants Should Be Allowed in the US

The federal government of the United States main duty in immigration is to control immigrants. This responsibility is solely left for the government and not to individual states. This power is also absolutely left for the political branch, the other arms of the government are not involved. Nonetheless, some individual states have participated in the implementation of immigration laws because of the congressional legislation which allows the federal government and the states to work together in implementing laws.

Immigrants positively affect the U.S. economy. Their presence has increased the wages for U.S born workers and created job opportunities. A number of immigrants are also working on the invention of a number of products that will boost innovation in recent years. Most of these immigrants do not just come to the U.S for the fun of it but also start businesses and even employ the Americans. In 2010, some of these immigrants established businesses that boosted the economy to a tune of seven hundred and seventy-five million dollars. In the same year, the immigrants owned twenty-eight percent of newly established businesses even though there population was not as much. Immigrants started Forty percent of well-established five hundred companies (ibid).

Immigrants are twice as likely to venture into a new business compared to the someone born in the U.S. Seven of the ten best brands were discovered by immigrants or their children. It has been theorized that immigrants are inspired to take risks abroad by starting a business. Their stories are very inspiring for example, John W. Nordstrom came to the US in 1887 from Sweden with only five dollars in his pocket he made thirteen thousand dollars and opened a store for the first time. Today, his business has a turnover of over fourteen billion dollars with over seventy thousand employees globally.

Most immigrants own shares in some patented businesses including electronics, computer equipment, medical devices, and pharmaceuticals. Awards given to top ten patent-producing colleges was made up of seventy-five percent of immigrants' inventions. So many immigrants have come into the U.S and shown that America can really thrive economically. These immigrants have ensured steady growth in the country and helped to improve the economy. Jon Volie suggests that there is need to improve on how to handle immigration in the U.S. Immigrants benefit the country by creating jobs, innovations and promoting entrepreneurship and restricting them may result into loss of innovative companies and cause a lot of competition abroad.

Trump's administration ordered that two hundred thousand Salvadorans residing in the United States were to be banned from the country by 2019. The immigrants would not be given any protection and will not be allowed to legally work and stay in the U.S by September 2019 as they have been for the last twenty years. Therefore, this leaves the immigrants without a choice but either return to their countries or leave in constant fear of facing arrest or deportation. Compared to the discretion given by Congress by other former Presidents, Trump's execution of his presidential powers has been astonishing in the extent it has covered. The officials of Homeland Security reported that about fifty-nine thousand Haitians and about two thousand five hundred Nicaraguans would also be denied Temporary Protection Status (TPS). Similarly, this will be applied to about seven hundred thousand immigrants enjoying Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program also set to end. In this case, scenario, if the Congress does not intervene about one million U.S residents, will be stripped their legal status by 2019.

Why Immigrants Should Be Banned in the US

While campaigning, Trump assured the citizens that he would ensure that two million immigrants would be deported. He also supports Kate's Law that increases the penalties for immigrants who sneak into the country once they have been deported. After a few days in office, he ensured that the immigration law was enforced and appointed more Homeland security agents. The Attorney General Jeff Sessions In later announced the new guidelines for ending the catch and release practice April 2017. The president also saw the Mexican immigrants as a threat to the country and its citizens. He also sees the Muslims as very evil people who pose a security threat to his country. Looking at Trump's fight against the undocumented immigrants during his first year in office, his techniques have succeeded in strategically changing immigration policies and the public opinion regarding immigrants.

It is also important to note that national security and immigration should be about how the U.S government check on the immigration policies they have. These include procedures of doing background checks, visas, verification of identities, searches at the border and the enforcement of the immigration policies. This can help to reduce the risks of individuals who could be a threat to the country. After the September 11 terrorist attacks, more measures have been put to enhance security and especially to identify and remove undocumented immigrants, which have made it even harder for the entry of more immigrants. In past decades, the major point of discussion about immigration was regarding economic issues such as debates on how many immigrants the state should take in and how to demoralize them to come into the country. After the attack, this changed because the attack was reported to have had issues of neglect, immigration, and visa policy mistakes.

Five of the attackers were in violation of the immigration laws either had overstayed in the U.S or abused the visa policies. It is argued that this attack could have been prevented because if the information of the terrorists had been available to the police the attackers would have been detained and deported.

For the sake of national security, the U.S immigration policies have really driven away more people after the attack. The New York mayor termed the immigration policies as "national suicide" because of the delays in visas, limited opportunities for getting permanent residency among other restrictions. Because of this attack, the United States government also damaged its moral leadership. For a long time, its immigrants knew the country for its respect fairness and dignity. Unfortunately, the aftermath of the attack brought to an end so many policies such as the "catch and release" by the Department of Homeland Security United States. The policy allowed immigrants who were arrested to be released and come for hearings on certain dates to get their verdict on deportation. Unfortunately, most of those who were arrested would never appear for their hearings. An example is Ghazi Ibrahim Abu Maizar who came into the U.S from Canada illegally and was apprehended and released only to later turn out to be a terrorist who tried to bomb the Brooklyn Subway in 1997. The U.S has therefore also built enough jail cells to keep immigrant criminals in custody.