Introduction
In the recent past, the number of people moving from one country to another to seek permanent residency has significantly increased. The movement is mostly motivated by a good life in the country immigrants seek citizenship. Also, some people move away from their home torn countries in search of peace and a better experience. Immigration from one country to another causes a lot of sharp contrasting views from the host nations. According to Wolf, the President of the United States said many of the immigrants from Mexico (2018). Such sentiments appear as racist ideologies that create a lot of polarization when addressing the issue of immigration. Perhaps the reason that motivates such views is the strain the immigrants put on the host country. Immigrants put stress on the host country’s resources like water and food because of being concentrated in one locality.
Additionally, immigrants negatively impact the host country since the social amenities like education and health get paid by the government. This paper is about immigration and reason the issue get considered a polarizing issue, taking the United States as the case study.
Develop and Explore the Issue and Why It Can Serve As a Polarizing and Divisive Issue
In the United States, the continued rise of the number of immigrants in the country causes a strain on various sectors of the country. These sectors include the job market, social amenities like schools, and the economy of the country. Another worry is that immigration erodes social cohesion leading to the rise in insecurity. The United States is popularly known for its slogan of “the American dream.” Such kind of sentiments makes the country most attractive to immigrants all over the world. Most people want to move to the United States to look for greener pastures. As a result, immigration causes a more significant strain on the American job markets (Kibria, O’Leary & Bowman, 2018). The native people usually end up competing for jobs with the aliens who have come to their country. It the end, the native Americans end up becoming hostile to the immigrants.
Furthermore, the United States government view that issue as a threat to its people. Thus, the government has attempted to stop the immigration of people from other nationalities in the recent past. The government has also drafted several policies that regulate migration, but most people term such policies as divisive. Research shows that most crimes in the United States are associated with Blacks as compared to whites. Therefore, most Blacks are stereotyped as criminals hence making the local enforcement officers place them under their radar. Such measures usually cause a lot of division between the Blacks and the White since it gets viewed as racism.
Furthermore, other immigrants have been publicly called rapists (Wolf, 2018). Such sentiments usually stirred emotions and anger among the target groups since they term them offensive. Also, immigrants from the Muslim religion are stereotyped as terrorists hence attracting sharp criticism from the victims. Another issue that serves as the polarizing issue of why immigration is not welcome in the United States is the strain placed on social amenities like hospitals and schools. The number of immigrants in emergency hospitals and public schools is surging significantly. That poses a threat to the Native Americans. The cost of these services gets paid by the government. It is hence placing a heavy burden on the taxpayers and the government. Therefore, the government is doing its best to stop immigration, a move that gets viewed as divisive.
The Radicalization of Populations and use of Violence to Elevate Their Position
The United States has viciously lashed out at immigrants calling some of them criminals, rapists, and other racists remarks (Van Klingeren et al., 2017). Such an issue leaves the target groups vulnerable and bitter towards the host nation. As a result, the victims end up getting radicalized or joining extremist groups as a way of finding their identity. The radical groups provide a platform for the immigrants to display their displeasure, anger, and their disappointments in the host community (Van Klingeren et al., 2017). In addition to that, most immigrants find a sharp culture change in host countries. In the end, life becomes tough for them to adapt hence becoming vulnerable to radicalization. Ultimately the radicalized groups use violence such as terrorism bombing to express their displeasure in the host countries like the United States.
Legislation
As a policymaker, I would propose legislation that would ensure that immigrants officially apply for asylum before coming to the United States. For instance, if we take the issue of Mexico, the policy shall ensure immigrants apply for asylum at the American embassy before coming to the United States (Stringer, 2018). Another strategy is to ensure stringent rules get used when determining the liability to become granted asylum to the immigrants. Then lastly, enforcing laws that shall ensure people who moved to the United States get deported back to their country.
Conclusion
The problem of immigration is one of the polarizing issues that cause divisions among the immigrants and the Natives of a particular nation. Migration is mostly motivated by the need to seek greener pastures, peace, and, at times, better social amenities. Thus, there is a need for the United States government to come up with stringent policies to mitigate the issue of immigration. The strategy ought not to cause division among other nationals but try and accommodate genuine cases. It is also crucial for the United Nations to come up with measures that try to solve immigration problems like war, poverty, social amenities, among others.
