About three decades ago, the U.S reformed its immigration regulations, which was accomplished through the formulation of several acts related to immigration. Concerns regarding terrorism, illegal immigration and refugees shaped the immigration regulations and presidential actions related to immigration since the 1990s.
The present paper examines the changes in the U.S immigration policy with a focus on policy shifts from the 1990s onwards.
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How the US Immigration Policy has changed since the 1990s
The 1990 Immigration Act expanded the number of legal employment and family based immigrants into the U.S. The act allowed educated and highly-skilled immigrants to move into the U.S. The act changed the provisional nonimmigrant visa system, increased the number of legal immigrants, and reviewed the basis for exclusion and expatriation. It established the Temporary Protected Status, which authorized immigrants from nations considered to be dangerous for return due to natural disasters or armed conflicts to reside and work in the U.S. The act, however, was ineffective in restricting illegal immigration as illegal immigrants increased substantially across the U.S.
Strict laws were then passed in 1996 to enhance legal immigration, for instance, the Welfare Reform Act, the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, and The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act. Congress reinforced legal immigration regulations in 2000 by passing the American Competitiveness Act with the objective of addressing the demand for skilled immigrants who were needed in the technology field. The September 11 terrorist attacks greatly influenced numerous aspects of the immigration policy in the U.S. The main aspects of the immigration policy after these attacks were to enhance border security and offer a comprehensive basis for inadmissibility of immigrants based on terrorism (Hipsman & Meissner, 2013). The immigration laws passed included the 2006 Secure Fence Act, the REAL ID Act of 2005, the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act and the USA Patriot Act (Hipsman & Meissner, 2013). There were, however, exceptions to the previous immigration policy patterns. For example, the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals granted visas to unlawful immigrants who entered as children while the 2014 Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents was intended to offer relief for illegal parents of United States citizens and permanent residents (CFR, n.d.).
The Current Immigration Policy
The current administration formulated immigration restriction policies to control the entry of immigrants into the United States. The current policies include the zero tolerance and family separation policy. The zero-tolerance policy entails criminally prosecuting illegal immigrants crossing the border for illegal entry or re-entry. The family separation entails separating families arrested between entry ports by taking the children from their parents, housing children on military bases, and changing the definition of children who qualify as unaccompanied minors (Domonoske & Gonzales, 2018).
Benefits of Greater Immigration
Proponents of increased immigration argue that more migrants lead to more migrant workers, who help in maintaining a sufficient supply of labor to drive economic growth. Allowing more flexible immigration policies can lead to increased job creation and increased participation in the labor market (ViewCaps, 2013). The entry of immigrants into the United States leads to reduced labor deficiencies both in high- and low-skilled areas since the immigrant’s educational background fill gaps in the U.S labor market. Expanded immigration widens the U.S workforce, and facilitates the establishment of new businesses. Every kind of business, ranging from big corporations to small enterprises, will be able to hire the workers they require within the U.S without the need to relocate their production abroad.
Immigrants also contribute new ideas and new approaches to companies because a majority of immigrants possess different skills from the citizens, which supplement the skills of the native labor force (ViewCaps, 2013).
The downside of Greater Immigration
Opponents of expanded immigration, however, argue that immigrant workers harm job opportunities for citizens. They state that expanding immigration allows large numbers of immigrants to move into the U.S., which displaces native-born workers and drive them out of jobs (ViewCaps, 2013).
Another issue is that immigrants decrease wages (ViewCaps, 2013). Allowing more immigrants leads to the oversupply of cheap labor, which leads to low wages since it makes it easier for businesses to find workers.
More immigrants also lead to an increase in the population of the host country, which puts pressure on public services such as healthcare and shelter. An unrestricted number of immigrants may also lead to an increase in the rate of unemployment (ViewCaps, 2013).
High numbers of immigrants can lead to difficulties in integration and conflicts with the citizens since immigrants have low rates of identifying themselves as citizens will take time to integrate into the society (ViewCaps, 2013).
Arguments to Oppose the Current Immigration Policy
The current zero tolerance policy aims to reduce the number of immigrants moving into the U.S. The resources required to prosecute illegal immigrants are, however, limited given the large number of apprehensions and arrests of illegal immigrants (Gramlich & Bialik, 2017). Detention facilities would also require adequate funds as immigration prosecutions increase. The policy of arresting and prosecuting immigrants who use illegal crossings may lead to diversion among immigrants to authorized ports of entry, which will not reduce the number of immigrants in the long term. The policy of separating parents and children is also unlawful because it lacks the legal requirements that children can only be separated from their parents if the parents are unfit or present a danger to their children.
Suggestion on what the Immigration Policy should be
Instead of restricting immigration, it would be sufficient to reform the current immigration policy by retaining the existing immigration system and allowing employment-based immigration, both to unskillful and skillful workers. In turn, this would allow the country to control the number of immigrants based on the existing economic state. For example, during low economic periods, the number of visas would be reduced and during high economic periods, the number of visas would be increased. Employment-based immigration would handle illegal entry issues by restricting family reunifications to children and spouses since immigrants would be required to obtain their individual permits. Immigrants would be allowed to work for five years and they would be free to change jobs. Immigrants would also be allowed to acquire another permit once the existing one expires, and they would be given a chance to apply for a green card and citizenship later.
References
CFR. (n.d.). Timeline: U.S. Postwar Immigration Policy. Retrieved June 19, 2018, from https://www.cfr.org/timeline/timeline-us-postwar-immigration-policy
Domonoske, C., & Gonzales, R. (2018, June 19). What We Know: Family Separation And 'Zero Tolerance' At The Border. Retrieved June 19, 2018, from https://www.npr.org/2018/06/19/621065383/what-we-know-family-separation-and-zero- tolerance-at-the-border
Gramlich, J., & Bialik, K. (2017, April 10). Immigration offenses make up a growing share of federal arrests. Retrieved June 19, 2018, from http://www.pewresearch.org/fact- tank/2017/04/10/immigration-offenses-make-up-a-growing-share-of-federal-arrests/
Hipsman, F., & Meissner, D. (2013, April 16). Immigration in the United States: New Economic, Social, Political Landscapes with Legislative Reform on the Horizon. Retrieved June 19, 2018, from https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/immigration-united-states-new- economic-social-political-landscapes-legislative-reform
ViewCaps. (2013). Immigration: The Pros and Cons of the Issue . BookCaps Study Guides.
