Immigration Debate
US immigration has been and always will be a large, controversial topic in US politics. Many people come into the US as immigrants each year, some through legal means and some through illegal means.
Prosperous nations like the US will always attract immigrants that are in search for a better life. The problem is, some immigrants don’t follow the proper immigration channels. The unauthorised immigrant population is defined as all foreign-born non-citizens who are not legal residents. Many immigrants cross the border illegally from Mexico or they enter legally but overstay their visas.
There are many reasons why people leave their home country. These are called push and pull factors. Some push factors are poverty, overpopulation, war, and deprivation of freedom. Some pull factors are “The American Dream,” family reunification, more jobs, and freedom.
Immigrants comprise about 14 percent of the U.S. population: more than forty-three million out of a total of about 323 million people, according to Census Bureau data. Together, immigrants and their U.S.-born children make up about 27 percent of U.S. inhabitants. The United States granted nearly 1.2 million individuals legal permanent residency in 2016, more than two-thirds of whom were admitted based on family reunification. Other categories included: employment-based preferences (12 percent), refugees (10 percent), diversity (4 percent), and asylees (3 percent).
The undocumented population is about eleven million and has leveled off since the 2008 economic crisis, which led some to return to their home countries and discouraged others from coming to the United States. In 2017, Customs and Border Protection reported a 26 percent drop in the number of people stopped at the southern border from the year before, which some attribute to the Trump administration’s policies. At the same time, arrests of suspected undocumented immigrants jumped by 40 percent. Individuals who arrive to the United States legally and overstay their visas comprise a significant portion of the undocumented population. According to the Center for Migration Studies, individuals who overstayed their visas have outnumbered those who arrived by crossing the border illegally by six hundred thousand since 2007.
Immigrants also have an effect on the economy. Immigrants made up roughly 17 percent of the U.S. workforce in 2014, according to Pew Research Center; of those, around two-thirds were in the country legally. Most of these jobs include manufacturing (36 percent), agriculture (33), and accommodation (31).
Congress has been unable to reach an agreement on immigration reform for years. The government wants to address the following range of issues: demand for high-skilled and low-skilled labor, the legal status of the millions of undocumented immigrants living in the country, border security, and interior enforcement.
Many people have different opinions about immigration. A 2017 Gallup poll found that 71 percent of Americans considered immigration a “good thing” for the United States. A year earlier, as many as 84 percent supported a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants if they meet certain requirements.
Some presidents have taken action to meets the needs of the American people on immigration. President Obama took several actions to provide temporary legal relief to many undocumented immigrants. In 2012, his administration began a program, known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), that offers renewable, two-year deportation deferrals and work permits to undocumented immigrants who had arrived to the United States as children and had no criminal records. In 2014, Obama attempted to extend similar benefits to as many as five million undocumented parents of U.S. citizens and permanent residents.
However, more than two dozen U.S. states sued the administration, alleging that the program, known as Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA), violated federal immigration law and the U.S. Constitution. Shortly after taking office, President Donald J. Trump signed executive orders on border security, interior enforcement, and refugees. In mid-2017, Trump rescinded two programs created by President Obama to shield undocumented children and their parents from deportation (DACA and DAPA).
The debate about citizenship and undocumented citizens will remain a controversial issue for some time, given the US political climate in recent years.
