Immigration in the United States

on 23rd Oct 2012

It is near impossible to tell how many illegal immigrants there currently are in the country

Immigration is an issue that consistently appears in the news and surfaces as a key issue in political debates. Furthermore, in the midst of the current, upcoming presidential election, immigration has undoubtedly been a major question in terms of the effects on society and economy, as well as the future of the nation’s policy.

In last week’s presidential debate, the issue of illegal immigration inevitably emerged as President Obama stated that Romney’s “main strategy” to curb illegal immigration would be to “encourage self-deportation.”

Photo Credit: The Guardian

Romney has yet to clarify exactly what he would do about the 20-30 million illegal immigrants in the United States, and during the Republican primaries he called for strict enforcement to pressure these illegal residents to leave the country. However, since June he has substantially altered this position, stating that he could support some exceptions that would allow a limited group to legally remain in the United States. Specifically, Romney claimed he would support giving permanent resident green cards to illegal immigrants who serve in the military, a group probably numbering in the tens of thousands, which is only a fraction of the current illegal population. Mr. Romney has said he will “put in place a permanent solution” for illegal immigration, but he has yet to describe what exactly it would look like or how he would get around the roadblocks in Congress that stalled Mr. Obama’s efforts to pass legislation.

The Dream Act… would open the door to citizenship as an achievable possibility for many of these immigrants.

The fact is that many of these illegal immigrants fill roles in lower-end service jobs, such as cleaners, nannies, or labourers, and do so without entitlement rights or the possibility of receiving citizenship. The Dream Act, which Obama supports, would open the door to citizenship as an achievable possibility for many of these immigrants. However, the issue is very controversial and deeply opposed by many in both the Republican and Democratic parties, especially in southern states that border Mexico, like Texas and Arizona.

It is near impossible to tell how many illegal immigrants there currently are in the country, and many more are coming in every day. In addition, children of first generation immigrants are now legal citizens of the United States. Would stricter policies implicate the separation of families as parents must be deported while their children are legal citizens? Despite all the regulations and reinforcements that may be put into place, there will always be loopholes and people who will use them to beat the system. Knowing this, how must a country go about managing immigration?

This series will attempt to look at the issue of immigration, mainly in the United States, from different perspectives to hopefully gain a constructive insight into the ways in which this issue is discussed and to what extent it affects both the immigrants and the communities they are entering.