Introduction
Immigration is the process through which individuals shift to a new country to permanently live there. People visiting or staying in a country for a brief period are not considered immigrants. A Tourist visiting for a vacation, a foreign student studying abroad are not immigrants. There are two groups of immigrants, the documented(legal) and undocumented immigrants. Legal immigrants are born outside but lawfully living in the United States. Undocumented immigrants are born outside the U.S who don’t own a valid visa or any valid documentation as they entered the country illegally. The United States since 1960 has the highest number of immigrants worldwide. According to the 2016 United Nations estimates the United States had 50 million overseas-born dwellers. This includes permanent dwellers, naturalized citizens, and undocumented immigrants. The immigration process is usually long with different experiences between individuals. It has resulted in the formation of different multicultural societies worldwide with a huge variety of different cultures and ethnicities. The increasing number of illegal immigrants in the United States has been considered as a big problem and strict preventive measures have been put into place to control the numbers.
Immigration History
The history of immigration to the United States is dated from around 1600 with the European settlements as the first. Later on, in 1619, Africans started getting imported mainly as slaves. In 1965 immigration rules became stricter and the numbers decreased. By the end of the Second World War, immigration was mostly from the refugee movement fleeing from the war. As more immigrants settled from different sets of countries worldwide many Americans voiced their opinions and concerns over the growing changes of demography. These concerns led to stricter immigration measures made including the levy of literacy requirements in the Immigration Act of 1917, the Emergency Quota Act of 1921 and the Immigration Act of 1924 (Mapp & Hornung, 2016). The paper will critically analyze laws immigration in the United States of America.
Mexicans make up the largest number of immigrants living in the United States at 25.4% of the total number. (Mapp & Hornung, 2016). This number included individuals holding temporary visas and foreign students. The immigrant record advises that this trend will go on with Mexicans decreasing while in china and India immigrant numbers increases. Half of the number of refugees who came to the United States in 2016 came from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar, and Syria. Violence and instability in these countries have increased the refugee population fleeing for their safety and freedom.
Laws Governing Immigration
Immigration law dictates and governs the movement of an individual residing in a particular country or region permanently or temporarily. The body of law in charge of the immigration policy is called The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). In the United States, immigration law is complex and is usually controlled by the president and the federal courts. The law is built upon a few principles namely marriage, family reunification, DV lottery program, refugee status and obtaining a working visa
Marriage
This is the fastest way laid out by the United States immigration laws of acquiring citizenship. One party either the bride or the groom must be a U.S citizen. One is offered a K1 visa for entry purposes after which one is required to register their marriage within three months from the date one arrived.
Family Reunification
This is one of the most time-draining methods. A list of the close relatives which includes either the parent, marriage partner, or children aged 21 years and below gets an invitation to the U.S. A citizen files an application form 1-130 and attaches documents confirming kingship to the Immigration services. For other extended family members (uncles, aunts, cousins) the process might take longer.
DV Lottery Program
The lottery is held annually and aims at inviting individuals from countries that are less represented to the U.S. Anyone can acquire a green card as long as they have a secondary education certificate or for the past five years working as a trained professional in a field requiring two years working experience. An application is submitted on the formal website www.dvlottery.state.gov.
Refugee Programs
One submits an official application to the American embassy in their country citing strong proof of being prosecuted in your country for causes like political ground, military and religious motives. An individual must give substantial life-threatening or extraordinary reasons for fleeing from their home country. Every year the president together with congress determine and agree on the number of refugees to be admitted. In Trump’s administration, the refugee numbers have fallen drastically from 110,000 in2017 to 45,000 in 2018 and 30,000 in 2019. (Awotoye & Signh, 2018)
Obtaining a Working Visa
Mostly applied by high-level professionals. The holder must have a diploma from a learning institution that is acknowledged by the U.S. The visa expires after 6 years during which the individual can apply for a green card or get deported to their home country.
Pros and Cons of Immigration
As with any other process touching on our life’s immigration has a positive and negative side. With globalization, individuals can move freely from one country to another to conduct business and this has an impact on everyone involved.
There is an improvement in the quality of life. People fleeing from calamities such as flood and hunger looks and find better living conditions in a favorable environment that opens up to better and improved life opportunities. Having left the old life, new opportunities come up and helps improve the quality of life. It also helps one take on new and better life commitments.
Contact with new cultures and environment leads to knowledge extension. Any traveling adventure opens up someone to learning new cultures, languages, traditions, and new ways of living. With immigration, it’s even better as one gets the opportunity to fully give in to a new environment and with time one perfectly blends in the peoples’ way of life in a particular setting. A new life opens up new knowledge doors for one to learn.
As for the host country that accepts immigrants, they are usually working to perform the low paying and unskilled jobs. Labor shortages in the workforce are filled as well as the skills gap in the job market. Economic growth is sustained as the immigrants work and pay their taxes. Innovation cultures and ideas are brought about by people from different cultures.
Immigration has several disadvantages both to the citizens and country at large. First, there will be overcrowding which will increase pressure on public utilities not forgetting disagreements between people. There are racial intolerance and cultural differences. Very few countries are friendly to foreigners and many will face discrimination and racism. Many immigrants are not educated and can only talk their native language creating a language barrier with the host country. Overpopulation leads to unemployment, low wages, and unfavorable working conditions.
Upon analysis, one can agree that immigration is a major problem affecting the U.S today. A large number of people are fleeing their countries to seek opportunities to make their lives better in the U. S. To them it’s the best place to settle, work and have access to quality education and healthcare. Although this thought might be true it might not be easy accommodating everyone. The number should be reduced to a more rational number. The resources allocated towards immigration should be utilized in eradicating problems facing American citizens like unemployment, cancer, and HIV/AIDS. Illegal immigrants are misusing Americans taxpayer’s money by gaining benefits such as welfare, healthcare, and public education without funding by paying their taxes.
Areas recording large numbers of immigrants have recorded high insecurity rates. Also, terrorism is rampant in these areas. Overcrowding of people in one area comes to an increase in crime rates and the formation of gang groups. Many illegal immigrants will be easily involved in criminal activities especially without a stable source of income to make ends meet.
Conclusion
After an exclusive analysis of both documented and undocumented immigration cases in the United States, it is clear there is a need for diversified immigration reform. As more immigrants check-in so does the economy grow. However, strict measures must be put into place for strengthening the borders to endorse the law. Measures should be put in place to give undocumented immigrants a chance of acquiring citizenship. This greatly reduces their chance of being underpaid or exploited. Those employing undocumented workers should be dealt with accordingly as it is a violation of the law.
