Immigration is the movement of people from one country to another with the aim of acquiring permanent residence in the regions they settle in (Jonas and Suzanne 3). The immigration act has become a big issue in the world with over two hundred million people migrating to new countries in the whole world.
Europe is the most affected continent as far as immigration is concerned. More than a third of the world’s immigrants are in Europe. Most of these immigrants come from Asia.
Some immigrants are legally in their host countries, while others find illegal ways to get into a country, and end up facing deportation. Deportation is the removal of a foreign national from the host country on the grounds of criminal activities or anything that may seem dangerous to the country (Kanstroom 21).
There are various reasons that cause people to move to new countries. The need for quality or cheaper education has seen many people move to different parts of the world. After getting their internationally acceptable certificates, they move to different countries in search of well-paying jobs (Perl 81). Similarly, international organizations normally transfer their employees from one country to another.
After retirement, some people may want to move to new countries with a good climate to spend the rest of their lives enjoying themselves. When people move to new countries, their family members may want to follow them in search of family unification. Family members may visit them and even stay for a while.
Marriage between people from different countries necessitates the movement of one of the couples to the home country of the other. Most of the people who move to new countries for the above reasons do it legally, and thus they do not face deportation unless they commit serious offences that demand it (Kanstroom 203).
Poverty and hard economic times in a given country can lead to the exodus of people to new countries in search of a better life. Frequent natural disasters like earthquakes and hurricanes make people flee their countries for their safety. Political instability, clashes, and war are some of the major causes of immigration. Just like in the case of natural disasters, people ran to other countries looking for safety.
Most of these people get into the new countries using illegal means, and some manage to acquire permanent residence. The governments of destination countries, however, deport a good number of these immigrants to their mother countries (Kanstroom 205). In addition to this, people with bad intentions like terrorism, are in most cases illegal immigrants.
Once people move to a new country, they are faced with new situations that are mostly difficult for them. Everything is unfamiliar starting with the culture, and they may endure problems in finding jobs, and places to settle down. The most degrading of all is racism, which may lead to depression due to ill treatments. The citizens of the destination countries of these immigrants may also abuse the immigrants.
Freedom of movement is a civil right guaranteed by constitutions worldwide, but it is only limited to the citizens of a particular country (Perl 98). This also applies to human rights entrenched in constitutions.
Some countries have put forward immigration policies that grant total freedom of movement to certain people, who will bring economic benefits for the country. The targeted people are normally the most educated, and thus their migration to new countries causes brain drain in their home countries. Most first-world countries source skilled labor from the third world countries, which means a net economic loss in the latter.
North America comes second after Europe in terms of the number of immigrants in the continent. The United States of America has a huge number of immigrants especially from the neighboring Mexico. This has led to a great border conflict between the two countries. As a result, the U.S. government has deported most of the illegal immigrants back to Mexico.
Companies from some developed countries like the U.S.A import cheap labor from other nations because they want to maximize on their profits. This is because sourcing labor from their own citizens would be expensive (Jonas and Suzanne 128). This has in turn encouraged immigration of people from other countries where there are problems with employment.
In case of an outbreak of war, and need for a better life, which leads to mass migration, huge population surges are created. As a result, there will be strain on the countries resources. Many countries have politicized the issue of immigration because it affects national security. This has made governments result in strict measures related to illegal immigration, and thus cases of deportation are on the rise.
The presence of immigrants in a given country can be of great benefit, and at the same time, it can be of great disadvantage to the host country. When there are huge numbers of immigrants in a given country, they compete for jobs with citizens of the country. In addition to that, they can engage in crime, and increase the rate of insecurity. This will make deportation of the culprits necessary (Kanstroom 233).
The positive effects include, raising the economic status of the host country. Take for example the United States of America, where the number of immigrants is very high. The inventor of ‘Hotmail’ was an immigrant from India. Apart from this, immigrants from China constructed the railway line that connects the East to the West that has been of a greater benefit to the country more than the home countries of the immigrants.
For that reason, states should consider many factors before deporting immigrants, as one never knows what could happen in future. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, and the Immigration Acts of 1891, 1903, 1907, and 1917, restricted the immigration of people from China and many Asian countries (Jonas and Suzanne 119).
Countries have the right to deport foreigners even if they are longtime residents. It is the executive arm of the government that decides on deportation cases although it requires a process that can be validated by a court. Most countries deport foreign nationals after they commit serious crimes like terrorism, and other crimes like murder.
Someone may not have committed any crime in the host state, but the state may consider him/her a threat to it, leading to deportation. Getting into a country illegally could also earn a person a deportation at the end of it, if someone reveals the secret. Some people get into a country through legal means, but they end up overstaying beyond the requirements of their visas (Kanstroom 240).
When the government finally finds out, it deports them back to their home countries. Some aliens in a given country may be facing trial by another country, and for that reason, their host country will send them back to their home country.
The United States of America deports over one million nonresident aliens every year. Most of the victims are normally of Mexican origin. The country’s border patrol is doing a lot to secure the border that the United States shares with Mexico. This is one of the most crossed borders of the world (Jonas and Suzanne 125).
Most of the Mexicans enter America through illegal means or through the assistance of their friends and relatives who are already in America. They get into the country in search of employment in the firms, which offer a good pay than those back in their home country. Though it has not yet been fully effective, the government is doing a lot to make sure that it deports all illegal immigrants back to their countries.
Any person found guilty of encouraging or assisting an alien to get into the country illegally deserves to be deported to discourage the act. Similarly, a person who engages in a marriage fraud in order to get in the country is also subject to deportation (Jonas and Suzanne 125).
Other main reasons for deportation in the USA include conviction of criminal offences, using fake documents to enter the country, and engaging in any activity that puts the lives of the citizens of the country in possible danger.
For example, when it seemed possible that the country would go on war with France, the United States of America passed an Act that granted the president the authority to order the deportation of aliens viewed as dangerous to the security of the country (Perl 111). That means that the president has the right to deport any alien from a country when it is in war with.
Similarly, after the September-11 terrorist attacks the United States deported quite a good number of aliens especially of Arab origin. This is because it feared that some of the terrorists who carried out that bombing could still be among the people living in the country. Additionally, when an alien takes part in unlawful voting, the government can deport him/her.
There is a law that requires all aliens to resubmit their address to the immigration department after every three months, regardless of whether they have moved to a new location or not (Jonas and Suzanne 141). If an alien does not comply with that order, the government may consider deporting him or her.
The country is in great fear of the increasing growth of foreign-born population. When aliens get to the country in couples, they really want to give birth in the country so that their children become legal citizen of that nation by birth (Perl 90). When this happens, it is very difficult to deport the parents for it is inhuman to leave their children alone at a tender age. As a result, the population of the aliens continues to go higher and higher.
To avoid that, the Congress passed the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 in order to control immigration by penalizing firms that hired undocumented workers (Jonas and Suzanne 120). That way, illegal immigrants do not get employment with much ease. It also leaves less room for growth of the population of foreign nationals in the United States.
Works Cited
Jonas, Susanne, and Suzanne D. Thomas. Immigration: A Civil Rights Issue for the Americas. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1999. Print.
Kanstroom, Daniel. Deportation Nation: Outsiders in American History. Cambridge, Mass. [u.a.: Harvard Univ. Press, 2007. Print.
Perl, Lila. Immigration: This Land Is Whose Land? New York: Marshall Cavendish Benchmark, 2010. Print.