Immigration
There are many projects developed by political leaders that are supposed to increase the quality of lives of common people living in the country and protect them. Nevertheless, some of them involve tightening control over a certain group of people who are also a part of the community. In their article, Dickerson and Medina (2017) discuss the opinions of farmers and small business owners on changes in immigration policy proposed by Donald Trump.
There is no doubt that Donald Trump is the major player involved with the development of the policy. He often claims that he wants to protect citizens of the United States from terrorists. It is necessary to say that he tends to see the threat in people from Muslim-majority countries who want to live and work in the United States. According to him, it is impossible to prevent the spread of ideas supported by Islamic terrorists without taking stricter measures aimed at decreasing the number of illegal immigrants.
There are many steps that the president is going to take to accomplish the promise given before the election. First, the administration is going to tighten control over those immigrants who work illegally. Thus, it is supposed to take additional measures to prevent people from crossing the American border without permission. Speaking about the final target of the proposal, the president would like to deport all the immigrants working in the United States illegally. Even though it is unrealizable, he is going to focus on deporting as many illegal workers as possible. In this situation, every illegal immigrant will be under threat of deportation. Speaking about the forces that are driving the policy, it is necessary to say that the necessity to protect the country from terrorism became a good excuse for quite aggressive measures proposed by Trump. Nevertheless, according to him, there is another reason connected to the need for creating more employment opportunities for Americans.
Nevertheless, there are a lot of issues surrounding the policy that is connected both to the reaction of the community and the possible negative outcomes of its implementation. To begin with, there are a lot of people who believe the new immigration policy to be unfair and unnecessary. For instance, a lot of farmers whose activity is very important for the welfare of the entire nation collaborate with migrant workers to provide their states with fruits and vegetables. Although many of them supported Trump because he promised to reduce taxes, it is clear now that his decisions related to immigration policy may harm everyone who hires illegal immigrants. Nowadays, farmers are worried about the question because illegal immigrants from different countries constitute the majority of their farmworkers. Speaking about those who are not happy about the discussed policy, it is necessary to remember other people who own small businesses in the areas where a lot of immigrants live.
It cannot be denied that immigrants can make a significant contribution to many fields of activity, and this is why there are a lot of people who disagree with Trump. What is more, many people claim that the majority of Americans just would not want to perform the work of illegal immigrants if all of them were deported. Farmers know that it is difficult to address the problem of labor shortage; thus, they believe that even higher wages and better conditions would not encourage Americans to start working in the farming sector. Therefore, it is obvious that there are a few groups affected by the policy. At first, it is going to become a problem for immigrants who just hope to earn some money to help their families. Another group that is going to face negative consequences of the policy is represented by people who are ready to hire migrant workers. In the end, the policy may have consequences on a nationwide scale as labor outflow is a serious challenge for any country.
As for the things that will be gained and lost if the policy is implemented, it is important to realize that its consequences will be primarily negative. It cannot be denied that these measures may help to provide more Americans with jobs. Nevertheless, it will be necessary to increase the salary for the positions that are usually filled by illegal immigrants. The most important disadvantages of the policy will be connected to financial loss for the country and increased conflicts between people of different nationalities living in the United States.
In my opinion, certain decisions seem to be quite reasonable and may address the threat of terrorism. They include testing those who would like to work in the United States to find out whether they will live in unity with other people. As for me, these measures may help to decrease the number of people who may be dangerous for the citizens of the country. At the same time, there are a lot of illegal immigrants who have no choice because of difficult situations in their native countries. I suppose that it is better to consider the cases of illegal immigrants one by one to deport those who are capable of carrying out real crimes and help those who just want to work and be helpful. The authors of the article show that there are different situations that illegal immigrants face, and it should become the reason to analyze the consequences of the policy more thoroughly.
Reference
Dickerson, C. & Medina, J. (2017). California farmers backed Trump, but now fear losing field workers.The New York Times. Web.