USA Immigration Reform

Introduction

Such prolific countries as the United States, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom will always remain attractive to immigrants that are in search of a better life. Among all the countries, the USA is considered one of the largest centres of migrations. “Just under a million immigrants arrive in the United States each year” (Scheuerer). So, what role does the immigration reform play in regulating the number of immigrants?

Initially, the people from different countries all over the world brought their religions, traditions and ethnic values to this prosperous country. No wonder that the USA is called a nation of immigrants. At present, as the statistics show, about 39.6 million people of this country were born outside its territory. The positive impact of legal immigration on the country’s economy and demography is obvious. It declares itself through a growth of the overall productivity in the economy, population increase, and an intellectual development of the nation. However, the problem of increasing number of the unauthorized individuals causes a controversy in an American society.

Body

Nowadays, the problem of an illegal entering the country is of high priority for governing bodies as well. The United States faces this problem since thousands of immigrants try to enter the country by crossing the border between the USA and Mexico illegally. According to the data provided by the Homeland Security Department, about 12 million of illegal foreigners reside in the United States presently (Batalova and Lee, Sec.9). To be more specific, the percentage of unauthorized immigrants from different parts of the planet can be seen in the table given below.

According to the data, the vast majority of immigrants come from Mexico and some Latin-American countries, hereby raising the number of criminals arriving in the USA. Having borders with Mexico, two large American states, California and Texas, remain the places of active illegal intrusions. For example, in 2010, the Department of Homeland Security published that “Texas had 1.77 million undocumented immigrants” and “California had 2.57 million” (Waller). As a result, an opinion poll conducted by the University of Texas in October 2012 showed that “76% of those surveyed believe that there should be stronger restrictions and controls over people coming to live in the U.S.” (Waller).

An everlasting debates on the matter of positive and negative effects of immigration divides an American society into two confronting groups. Those supporting the policy of the conservative party go against granting U.S. citizenship to illegal immigrants, while the adherents of democracy views on this issue stand for giving a status of an American citizen to both legal and illegal foreigners living and working within the USA boundaries.

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The Senate and the other governmental bodies should take all reasonable actions to solve the existing problem. In January of the current year, the senate group consisting of four republicans and four democrats proposed solution to the issue of illegal immigration, which was toughening boundary and visa regime control. However, the president Barack Obama, who received many votes from Hispanics in the election, proposes more radical steps relatively above mentioned issue. He suggests that the immigrants have the right to become citizens of the USA without any restrictions if they are dwelling on its territory. In his speech, Obama says about his policy regarding those undocumented folks: “We're going to make them pay a fine, they are going to have to learn English, they are going to have to go to the back of the line... but they will have a pathway to citizenship over the course of 10 years” (qtd. in USA Immigration Reform). Obama’s generous motives inspire respect in many people. And at the same time, some Americans are skeptical about his project, since it can share the same fate as the similar reform initiated by Ronald Reagan. The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 allowed 3 million illegal people to become citizens of the USA. In spite of the assurances to increase the protection of the borders and to impose penalties on employers hiring illegal employees, the Reagan’s reform had failed. Crowds of immigrants still have been crossing the borders and, as a result, remain the illegal entrants in the country.

In order to prevent mistakes that were made in the previous immigration reforms, Obama promises to introduce the newest technologies, such as biometric systems at all airports and seaports and cameras and radar towers at border lines. The directories of crime syndicates from different countries should be created, and the protection of the borders has to be increased according to the reform plan. In addition, the President offers to apply some worksite enforcements of the Immigration Reform: increasing fines for hiring illegal workers, using the Federal Electronic Employment Verification System to verify each employee, investigating the cases of illegal employment, and some others.

In his early presidential tactics, Obama had increased the expenses assigned for the border protection. Thus, an extra 600 miles of fencing along the U.S. border were added, many drones for oversight purpose were bought, and the size of the border patrol agents in the places neighbouring Mexico was duplicated. The cases of deportation happen more often nowadays if to compare the statistics on this issue during George Bush presidency. Therefore, the whole image of Obama’s presidential steps towards improvement of the immigration situation assures that the efficient combination of both liberal and strict methods can mend the matter. The glowing prospects invigorate people of the USA reasonably. Barack Obama has to endeavor in order not to disappoint the nation in his benevolent intentions presented in the Immigration Reform plan.

Conclusion

Summarizing all of the above, the main goal of Immigration Reform is the liquidation of a far-reaching shadow economy that exploits cheap labour force and decreases earnings of all citizens. Relaxation of visa requirements on highly- skilled workers, specialists, and businessmen that are ready to invest in the economy of the United States will make a positive impact on the state welfare. In addition, an intensive control over the illegal immigration will reduce the manifestations of crime in the society. A further advantage of the reform will declare itself through the wage adjustment due to the new status of a citizen employees will get.