Introduction
The focus of this paper is on immigration reform policy and how illegal immigration has affected the United Sates of America. Illegal immigration in this country has made a huge contribution towards various crimes which been costly to the American people. A large number of people come in to the United States of America, mostly looking for jobs and among these, there are those who come in illegally and are potential criminals.
This has called for having immigration policy reforms. Talking of immigration policy reform brings in a number of questions that need to be answered: What does the need to have immigration reforms all about?
How does it affect America as a nation? What are the moral implications of the immigration reform for the American people? These are some of the questions that are going to be answered in this paper. If the issue of illegal immigration is effectively dealt with, the level of crime in this country will be reduced to a remarkable level and the economic cost associated with illegal immigrants will be reduced significantly.
Problems Linked to Illegal Immigration
It is pointed out that, to actually revert to the core of reform and illegal immigration, there is need to revert to the year 1964, a time Lynden Johnson halted bringing in of temporary workers (Migrant Labor, 2008).There are various kinds of crimes the illegal immigrants commit ranging from small theft to killing other people.
It is reported that, 12 American citizens are killed by the illegal immigrant each day, and this figure is based on the 2006 statistics that were presented by Steve King (Salant, 2011). In case these figures are real, then this translates in to having four thousand Americans killed each year by illegal immigrants and this is more than the number of solders who are killed at war in Afghanistan and Iraq together.
This implies that more than thirty thousand Americans have been killed in the period that began in the year 2001. The other kind of crime that is committed is the “unfunded mandate” by the federal government which calls for the people to finance the illegal immigrants’ kids’ education which totals to about one thousand dollars per family.
Moreover, the “unfunded mandate” of the medical care for the illegal immigrants which amounts to about 700 dollars per each family has to be added (Salant, 2011). The consequence of all these is having a quite expensive problem which the federal government brought about and exasperates.
The Immigration Reform Debate
Several groups of people have been debating about immigration reform. There are those people who believe that the borders should be left open in order to allow any person willing to get in to the U.S to enter without restricting him.
According to Rosado (2011) this group of people who hold this belief seems to form a relatively large part of the population that just do not have knowledge about what goes on and what costs result from illegal immigration. If not so, they may be ones who want to make quick money at the expense of the rest of the American society when they employ the illegal immigrants in the jobs which are said can not be undertaken by the Americans.
Another group of people is pointed out by Rosado (2011) as those who hold the belief that “borders should be closed then reform how the legal way works for immigrants to become citizens, and reform how we give temporary visas to farm workers” (Rosado, 2011, p.1).
The third group is formed by those who hold a belief that all the illegal immigrants should be deported from the country at once. However, this last group is not a big one (Rosado, 2011).
According to Jeffrey & D’Vera (2010), with the passing of the REA, ID Act, congressional interest went back to CIR, the “three-pronged approach” of better immigration enforcement, “visa reforms to increase legal inflows, and legalization for some of the estimated 1.2 million unauthorized immigrants living in the United States at that point” (Jeffrey & D’Vera, p.21).
The focus of the enforcement proposals was on additional investments on border infrastructure, a variety of fresh rules controlling deportation and immigration-related criminal punishment, and moves to make worksite enforcement stronger, encompassing one having need of all employers to utilize an internet-based system for examining the laborers’ “employment eligibility against government databases” (Rosenblum, 2011, p.6).
The proposed reforms in regard to visas led to creation of new employment-based visa, with proposals varying on the way they are supposed to be structured and whether or not to enlarge family-based flows or to make them smaller (Doris M., Rosenblum, R. M. & Madeleine, 2009). The legalization proposals varied both in their scope and in their specific benefits and requirements.
However, all the proposals discarded amnesty, in favouring earned legalization, offering restricted legal status to illegal immigrants who came into the United Sates before a particular time and who meet other traditional requirements but calling for the need of them to meet additional requirements to acquire the right to go on staying in United Sates and to engage in the application for legal permanent residency and ultimately applying for United States citizenship (Rosenblum, 2011).
It is pointed out that, all through the 1900s and especially in the 20 years that came after the end of the “U.S-Mexican Bracero Program”, the United States immigration system put up with a high level of misdemeanour and tacitly allowed widespread unlawful employment in agriculture and other low-skilled sectors of the United States’ economy (Rosenblum, 2011, p.9).
In a notable manner, Congress rejected proposals openly in the 1950s requiring them to make it to be illegal for one to employ or hire the unauthorized immigrants, and in turn rejected other bills which involved employer sanctions at different points in the course of the 1960s and 1970s (Rosenblum, 2011, p.9).
It is also pointed out that even the writing and implementation of the “1986 Immigration reform and Control Act” was carried out in a manner that generally did not succeed to prevent employers from employing the unauthorized labourers (Rosenblum, 2011).
This system was a “stable policy regime” for a long period of time because it gave assurance of a supply of the immigrant laborers that could be paid low wages without pressurizing the lawmakers to deal with hard questions regarding the number of immigrants (lawfully) to admit. However, while the actual and perceived costs of illegality went up, pressure mounted for the system to reform (Rosenblum, 2011, p.10).
Rosenblum (2011) further points out that; the lesson that was learned in the post 9/11 period is not that the U.S Immigration policymaking is not paralysed: Congress and President Bush came to an agreement “to a total of six immigration measures in 2001 to 2006” (Rosenblum, 2011, p.11).
Enforcement efforts like these ones, and particularly in the 2008 economic recession, have hard-pressed immigrant apprehensions to a 40-year low and immigrant removals to an all-time high, and illegal immigrant population in the U.S has gone down by 1 million persons (Rosenblum, 2011, p.11).
However, the activity of making policy has been single sided since there has been blocking of visa reform and legalization proposals in Congress in spite of support of two presidents, members of the two parties, and a number of influential interest groups (Rosenblum, 2011, p.11).
The question is then, what gives an explanation to the asymmetry in the United States immigration debate and the decision made by three consecutive congresses to fail to pass a CIR bill?. It is pointed out that, partially, the asymmetry is a function of the United States immigration policy evolution in the course of the last forty years.
In the short run, the decision made by the Congress not to pass the CIR bill in the period 2006 to 2010 as well gives a reflection of poor timing for the people who are in favour of CIR, “with generous immigration bills, to a certain extent, let down by electoral deliberations in the years 2006 and 2007 and the economic recession after 2008 (Rosenblum, 2011, p.11).
However, these short-term hindrances as well give a revelation of deeper political challenges in relation to the way coalitions and interest groups relate with immigration policy, challenges which bring about significant questions concerning the future of the immigration reform of the United States (Rosenblum, 2011).
According to Rodolfo (2011), the failure by the U.S government to deal with immigration in a realistic manner has led to creation of a political and policy crisis. Getting out this quagmire calls for having a change of how immigration is thought about. It must be started to be looked at as being an on-going socio-economic process instead of looking at it as being a national security issues to be put under attack and controlled.
This will help in having acknowledgement that extreme measures like ‘closing the border’ or allowing the status quo to go on, offer pyrrhic solutions, and it is achievable to influence immigration and mediate its effects through fresh policies which deal with all major aspects of the problem.
It is also vital to have recognition that immigration virtually affects all the key aspects of the society to a significant level, including the economy, culture, demography and politics of the nation; in a manner that creates “potentially unbridgeable political cleavages” (Rodolfo, 2011).
To further emphasize this point, Rodolfo (2011) states that, “add to this, the multi-dimensional impact of the nation’s current economic crisis, and it is easy to understand why the politics of immigration reform have become complicated that policy makers have essentially opted for inaction” (Rodolfo, 2011, p.65). The policy makers have resolved to either doing nothing or coming up with proposals involving solutions that will never be made formal.
Making immigration reform to be more difficult is the idea that, in order to manage immigration successfully, this will call for overcoming domestic conflicts. Immigration is an “intermestic issue”, meaning that it involves the United Sates and the nation that is sending the immigrant at the same time.
Therefore, in order to be able to manage it, this call for having international collaboration and in the absence of it, there will be no possibility to stem the immigrants’ flow – a main component of any immigration management policy and its attendant problems.
Measures To Create a New Policy
The United States has to set up its dual focus which involve social and economic well-being of the nation; and respect for the civil as well as human rights of the immigrants. The social and economic well-being will give the basis for meeting the employer demands for low and high skilled labor.
Respect for the civil and human rights will validate the overstated claim of America being a country which welcomes immigrants, which calls for making sure that anti-immigrant discrimination is reduced and immigrant-worker rights are respected. There can be no rejecting of these objectives by any reasonable interest group.
Another measure that needs to be taken is ensuring that there is enforcement of the existing national employment laws, confining jobs to the legal residents, citizens and authorized guest workers.
This brings in opposition on two fronts: one of them is that the construction and agricultural employers as well as hotel and restaurant employers among other depend very much on the large numbers of the undocumented immigrant workers, who are in most cases, the only potential employees that can accept low pay and low status jobs and it is also pointed out that there are the “pro-immigrant and human rights advocates who fear the potential human and civil rights violations that may result from the enforcement of the current law” (Rodolfo,2011, p.66).
These concerns are well-founded. Even if the IRCA (Immigration Reform and Control Act) of 1986 requires fining and potential imprisonment of the employers who employ the undocumented immigrant, attempts to carry out the implementation of IRCA have put focus greatly on the unauthorized workers’ removal.
This contributed to carrying out raids in those sectors in which the safety of the workers was especially at risk like in the food production and manufacturing sectors. The completion of the raids was realized and undocumented workers arrested and deported, the spouses of those deported were not notified and their well-being was not taken care of.
On top of the fines imposed to them, the employers that were raided have encountered interruption in production and have incurred financial losses coming up from the problem of lack of employees. It is pointed out that the documented immigrants have also been affected by the raids “due to a number of identity-validation inadequacies” (Rodolfo, 2011, p.66).
President Obama’s administration has resolved to carry out what is referred to by the employers as “silent raids” (Rodolfo, 2011). This has involved employee file auditing, an undertaking which has been optimized by the advancement in technology (Julia, 2010).
According to Rodolfo (2011), instead of increasing the number of deportation, the objective of these “silent raids” seems to be a lesson since those who were employed previously and those freshly arriving that are undocumented immigrants, learn that they will not be able to get jobs in the U.S and this might prompt them to return to their respective homelands.
However, no evidence has been identified of having large-scale reverse migration” (Rodolfo, 2011).
The current employment law enforcement can not offer a solution to the problems that are brought about by the loss of employment that results from the “silent raids” or the country’s increased level of hostility towards the immigrants. Following this, the focus must be put on “reimaging the conditions that allow those who are already in the country to stay” (Rodolfo, 2011, p.67).
The employers who give jobs to the undocumented immigrants should go on to be fined in order to avoid rewarding those people who have not abided by the set up immigration law procedures. In addition, there must be better implementation and vigorous enforcement of the protections against fraudulent residential claims, in order for the number of fake claims to become as minimal as possible.
Rodolfo (2011) points out that the new immigrants have to offer a response to the demand in the labor market “insofar as they serve the market” (Rodolfo, 2011, p.67). At this point, there should be instituting of a ticket system for the undocumented immigrants that are at least eighteen years of age and are looking for jobs.
This would be comparable to, but far more “immigrant-friendly than, the employer-favored guest-worker program” (Rodolfo, 2011, p.67). Given the possibility that that the “silent raid” will go on, the employers should support a ticket system which will offer them with however many employee they want to have.
The employers would still have the obligation to certify employee by using documents which citizens as well as legal resident aliens already have; including the U.S birth certificate, a proof of legal resident alien status, and a valid passport among other relevant documents.
Conclusion
If the issue of illegal immigration is effectively dealt with, the level of crime in this country will be reduced to a remarkable level and the economic cost associated with illegal immigrants will be reduced significantly. Illegal immigration has contributed to high levels of crime in the United States of America ranging from stealing small things to murder.
There has been debate on the issue of immigration policy reforms in the U.S for quite sometime and it seems that a common agreement has not yet been reached by the involved parties. Lack of success by the U.S government to handle the issue of immigration in a more realistic way has contributed towards creation of a political and policy crisis.
Getting out this dilemma calls for having a change of how immigration is thought about. It must be considered as being an on-going socio-economic process instead of looking at it as being a national security issue to be put under attack and controlled. Appropriate measures need to be taken that every one staying and working in the U.S is there legally and has the necessary documents.
This nation has to set up its dual focus which involve social and economic well-being of the nation; and respect for the civil as well as human rights of the immigrants. Employers should play a role of ensuring that they hire the right people, those who are legally staying in the U.S and in case they go against this, heavy fines need to be imposed on them in order to discourage them from engaging in this.
References
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Jeffrey, P. & D’Vera, C. (2010). U.S. Unauthorized Immigration Flows are Down Sharply since Mid-Decade. Washington, DC: Pew Hispanic Center.
Julia, P. (2010) “Illegal Workers Swept from Jobs in ‘Silent Raids,’” New York Times.
Migrant Labor (2008). International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. Web.
Rodolfo, O. G. (2011). Neither Walls Nor Op en Borders: A New Approach to Immigration Reform. New Labor Forum, 20(1): 65-71.
Rosado, J. A. (2011). Immigration reform: the real problem. johnrosado.net. Web.
Rosenblum, M. R. (2011). U.S immigration policy since 9/11: understanding the stalemate over comprehensive immigration reform. Washington, D.C.: Migration Policy institute.
Salant, T. J. (2011).Undocumented Immigrants in U.S.-Mexico Border Counties: The costs of law enforcement and criminal justice services. Illegalimmigrationcosts.com. Web.