Since Donald trump was inaugurated as president in January 2017, he has been on a mission to fulfill his campaign promise of curbing illegal immigration into the United States. Within his first week in power, Trump began his quest by issuing an executive order that would restrict immigration from seven countries ( Collinson, 2018) . However, this soon failed after a court ruling that lifted the ban was issued. He also launched a proposal to build a border wall in the Mexican border to keep immigrants from Latin-America out. The administration has further moved to dismantle the Deferred Action for Children Arrivals (DACA) program which protects young adults who were brought into the U.S illegally as children from deportation ( Collinson, 2018) . The government also hopes to abolish the green card lottery which allows people and their families to legally move into the United States, and other forms of chain immigration based on family relations.
Although much effort has been placed in trying to meet Trump’s election promise, his policies have not succeeded. A great divide exists in the country between those who support these policies versus those who do not. Congress has continually failed to pass legislation that can solve the immigration crisis and instead, a blame game between the Democrats and Republicans has ensued ( Collinson, 2018) . By June 2018, a plot by the government to separate children from parents that were trying to cross over was uncovered. This plan was meant to deter immigrants from coming into the country for fear of losing their children. This incident has instead stirred public outcry with most people, both Republicans and Democrats terming it as cruel and unnecessary.
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People from Central and South America have been the main focus of Trump’s anti-immigration efforts. It is easier for them come to the U.S due to physical proximity, and political and socio-economic issues in their countries that encourage them to seek asylum and better living standards in the U.S. Immigrants accept low-paying manual jobs that no one else will take and although they don’t benefit from many social programs, they contribute the taxes that pay for them.
The U.S is traditionally an immigrant state and better solutions which safeguard American values and protect human rights need to be considered in immigration policy. First, the government needs to stop separating children from their parents for the simple reason that it is cruel. Currently, approximately 1500 children are missing as a result of this program. The government should also grant citizenship to the current DACA recipients. DACA rules already ensure that only those living a productive life with no criminal records are integrated into the program (Anderson, 2014). Furthermore, DACA recipients have spent most of their lives in the U.S and they know no other home
A border wall to keep immigrants from entering from the southern border can be an effective tool, and it has proven to be effective in places such in the border between Ceuta and Morocco. However, the government should be willing to pay for it and man it. This would make it easier for the government to intercept illegal immigrants before they enter the country (Anderson, 2014; Bui & Dickerson, 2018). As for the illegal immigrants that are already in the country, they can be integrated as citizens on an individual merit basis because expelling all eleven million at once would affect the economy (Anderson, 2014). Although the influx in undocumented people affects the society by stretching thin the available amenities and resources, it would also be ignorant to disregard the contribution of the migrant population to the economy.
There is little that the government can do about the existing immigrants without causing social and economic damage so efforts should be focused on keeping more people from entering the country. Some laws can be changed to regulate the activities of immigrants and encourage them to be model citizens such as allowing deportation for those that commit criminal offenses.
References
Anderson, D. (2014, December 1). Top 10 Solutions to Illegal Immigration in the USA. Retrieved from https://www.listland.com/top-10-solutions-to-illegal-immigration-in-the-usa/
Bui, Q., & Dickerson, C. (2018, February 16). What can the U.S. learn from how other countries handle immigration? The New York Times . Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/02/16/upshot/comparing-immigration-policies-across-countries.html?module=ArrowsNav&contentCollection=The%20Upshot&action=keypress®ion=FixedLeft&pgtype=Multimedia
Collinson, S. (2018, June 14). US reckons with Trump's war on immigration. Retrieved from https://edition.cnn.com/2018/06/14/politics/donald-trump-immigration-jeff-sessions/index.html
