The laws and regulations of the United States are very complicated, and there is confusion about how they work. The Immigration and Naturalization Act (INA), enacted in 1952, is a body that governs immigration policies. It also gives the annual worldwide limits for permanent immigrants, stipulating exceptions. Lawful Permanent Residents (LPRs) are foreigners who are allowed to apply for jobs under some restrictions in the U.S. Every year, the U.S. allows noncitizens to stay in the country on a temporary basis. Each year, Congress and the President admit a specific number of refugees. Immigration to the U.S. is determined by certain principles (Cohn, 2018). However, there are some issues that seem contradictory, more so when it comes to fraudulent immigrants. The term paper here reviews the article ‘How U.S. immigration laws and rules have changed through history.’ The article discusses how the laws and regulations have been shaped to handle refugees and immigrants throughout history.
Historical Development of US Immigration Policy
According to the article, the US embarked on regulating immigration soon after independence, which has been reflected in politics and the flows of the times. Earlier legislation imposed limits to favour Europeans, while the actions by President Obama shaped the concerns of refugees and immigrants. For instance, the changes of 1965 created a system to favour family reunification and skilled immigrants instead of country quotas. The law enacted the first limitations on immigration from the Western Hemisphere. Before then, immigration had been allowed with no restrictions. Changes in the law in 1990 provided a ‘temporary protective status’ to shield immigrants from being deported to nations facing natural calamities, conflicts, and other extraordinary circumstances.
Family Based Immigration
According to this research, one of the principles governing immigration policies is family unification. The family-based immigration categories allow U.S. citizens and LPRs to bring certain family members into the country (Cohn, 2018). These immigrants can be admitted as immediate relatives or through family preference systems. These immigrants should meet certain standards of eligibility, age, and financial requirements. The immediate relatives include spouses, unmarried minors (below 21 years), and parents of U.S. citizens. Under the preference system, there is a limited number of visas available in a year. To balance the number of immigrants on a family tree, Congress has put in place a system to calculate the number of family-preference visas in a particular year. Worldwide, the family preference system allocates 480,000 minus the permits issued to immediate families and parolees in a year (Cohn, 2018). To be admitted through the family-based immigration system, a U.S. citizen or LPR should petition for their relatives, provide proof of their legitimate relationship, meet the minimum financial requirements, and sign affidavits accepting responsibility.
Naturalization Enforcement and Deferred Action
The Naturalization Act excludes non-white people on the grounds of the length of residence in the country. The requirements include a two-year residency, ‘good moral character,’ and the applicant being a ‘free white person.’ In 2006, Congress enacted a law to impose sanctions on employers who recruited illegal immigrants due to the increase in terrorism and unauthorized immigration. The measures were meant to control the U.S. borders, prioritize the enforcement of the laws on recruiting immigrants, and tighten admission eligibility (Rhodes et al., 2015). In 2012, then-President Obama allowed young adults who were illegally in the country to apply for deportation relief and work permits through executive action. In 2014, he extended the program to provide similar benefits to unauthorized immigrants who were parents of United States-born children.
Birthright Citizenship Debate
There has been a heated debate on whether the children of illegal immigrants should be given legal citizenship in the United States. The 14th Amendment of the state’s constitution stipulates that “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the U.S. and the State wherein they reside.” However, opponents of birthright citizenship contend that the section is not transparent since it does not specify whether babies born to parents who are in the U.S. unlawfully are automatic citizens. The proponents hold that overturning the 14th Amendment will raise the number of illegal immigrants with each child born in the U.S.
Refugees Asylum and Humanitarian Protection
The immigration laws include provisions for the protection of refugees, asylees, and vulnerable populations. Legal admission is available for people who flee persecution or are not in a position to return to their home country due to threats to their lives (Cohn, 2018). They are allowed to apply for admission from outside the US, generally from a ‘transition country’ that is not their home state. The admission of these refugees depends on numerous factors, such as the extent of the risks they may encounter, membership in a group, and whether or not they have relatives in the U.S. The President of the U.S. and Congress determine the numerical ceiling each year. These numbers are broken down by region globally.
Detention Integration and Border Enforcement
Congress mandated in 2014 that ICE maintain about 34,000 immigration detention beds each day (Bhachu, 2017). Obama’s government started providing health care to unauthorized children. In recent years, immigrants have been issued driving licenses, identification cards, and consular IDs. They started being integrated into economic and local development through the Welcoming America program.
President Donald Trump has in the past advocated for a ‘total and complete shutdown’ of Muslims from entering the country, a statement that outraged many people. His arguments were based on the fact that the government does not have adequate information about who enters the US through the immigration system. The discussion was sparked by the attack carried out in California. He advocated for full screening of immigrants to stop potential terrorists (Hollifield, Martin, & Orrenius, 2014). He has also put the border patrol in place to monitor the number of people entering the US. The disputed wall at the US-Mexico border is also another measure to control the crossing of the boundaries.
Diversity Visas and Restrictive Policies
The Diversity Visa (DV) Program for fiscal year 2017 made 50,000 diversity visas available at no cost (American Immigration Council, 2018). The selected applicants should meet the simple but stringent eligibility requirements to succeed in obtaining the DVs. These DVs are distributed among six regions, with each nation getting at most seven percent of the available DVs in a year. The Trump administration is tightening the standards for refugees and asylum. It advocates for narrow and legalistic application of refugee, asylum, and parole rules, which jeopardizes those seeking asylum.
Conclusion
The Immigration and Naturalization Act (INA) limits the number of immigrants to the United States. It places quotas restricting seven per cent of the total number of immigrants in the US in a year. Former presidents of the United States had made it easier for immigrants to access the United States than it is under Trump’s government. Certain individuals will not be allowed in the US even though they meet the minimum requirements. They will not be eligible to migrate through any legitimate channels. In the future, many unaccompanied children may be subjected to expedited removal and detention instead of being offered shelter or reunited with family members in the US.
References
American Immigration Council. (2018). How the United States Immigration System Works. [online] Available at: https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/how-united-states-immigration-system-works [Accessed 10 Apr. 2018].
Bhachu, P. (Ed.). (2017). Immigration and entrepreneurship: culture, capital, and ethnic networks. Routledge.
Cohn, D. (2018). How U.S. immigration laws and rules have changed through history. [online] Pew Research Center. Available at: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/09/30/how-u-s-immigration-laws-and-rules-have-changed-through-history/ [Accessed 10 Apr. 2018].
Hollifield, J., Martin, P. L., & Orrenius, P. (Eds.). (2014). Controlling immigration: A global perspective. Stanford University Press.
Rhodes, S. D., Mann, L., Simán, F. M., Song, E., Alonzo, J., Downs, M., … & Reboussin, B. A. (2015). The impact of local immigration enforcement policies on the health of immigrant Hispanics/Latinos in the United States. American Journal of Public Health, 105(2), 329-337.
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