Essay: A nation divided – the United States needs immigration reform

A Nation Divided
“We are and always will be a nation of immigrants. What makes us Americans is our shared commitment to an ideal; that all of us are created equal and all of us have the chance to make of our lives what we will”. These are a few words from President Obama’s speech when he addressed the nation about immigration on November 20, 2014 (WhiteHouse). Immigration has always been a very big topic for debate in the United States for years. Every year hundreds of thousands of immigrants from around the world come to the United States legally or illegally. These immigrants come with hope of having a better life in our country. The large number of immigrants’ especially illegal immigrants entering the United States has prompted politicians to create a better immigration reform. The problem is that our broken immigration system has American citizens divided in half.
America has always been seen as a “melting pot” due to its large diversity. Our diversity is what sets us apart from any other country. The freedom, benefits and protection is what drives immigrants to risk their lives to come to the United States. If we briefly take a look back to the origins of this country we would see that “all the people living here with the exception of Native Americans descend from immigrants”(ebscohost). America was primarily built encouraging immigrants to travel to the “new land” since the 1700’s. Throughout our history, we have seen many waves of immigrants come to the United States slowly increasing the population. Recently there has been a rapid increase of the immigrant population which has caused a problem to American citizens. In 2013, the population of immigrants in the United States stood at more than 41.3 million people (migrationpolicy). Also according to migration policy this has been an all-time high in our history. Throughout the history of the United States, we have seen our government implement different policies such as the Naturalization Act in 1790 to the “quota system” in the 1900’s to help minimize the amount of immigrants entering the country (ebscohost). Some of these policies have not been very successful and have been considered too lenient. That is what has led to our current broken immigration system. The reason the system is broken is because our government has such opposing views on the topic and cannot come to an agreement on what needs to be done. The Republican Party opposes any form of amnesty. They want to prioritize in having more secure borders and agree with having mass deportation of illegal immigrants. The Republican Party also wants to make English the primary language of the nation. On the other hand, the Democratic Party seeks to provide a pathway to citizenship; they prioritize in family reunification, and want all illegal immigrants to get right with the law (AILA). The opposing views of the two political parties have led to the division of American citizens.
Americans who support the Republican Party argue that having so many immigrants in our country is causing a burden on taxpayers. They see immigrants as a threat because recently they have been categorized as rapist and criminals. Citizens believe that immigrants are just here to use up all of the federal benefits and state that they do not contribute to the economy. The misconception of all these things is what is dividing the country.  The truth is that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes. According to American progress “A study in 2007 showed that the rate for immigrant men incarcerated was 0.7 percent while the rate of native-born men incarcerated was 3.5 percent.” Immigrants contribute to the economy in many ways. In 2010, unauthorized immigrants paid $10.6 billion in state and local taxes. “They also paid $1.2 billion in personal income tax, $1.2 billion in property taxes and $8 billion in sales taxes” (americanprogress). The unfortunate part of this is that a majority of immigrants contribute to social services yet some cannot receive the services. In order to be granted any type of federal benefit, a person must be a US citizen or legal permanent resident. Americans have also feared that immigrants are coming in and “stealing” the jobs of many natives, but the reality is that the jobs performed by many immigrants are jobs not wanted by our citizens. There has been research done by many economists that states that American citizens are not harmed by immigration.
Supporters of the Democratic Party state that “providing a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants will increase earnings for all Americans by $618 billion over the next decade” (americanprogress). It has been stated that it would create jobs as well as increase tax revenues. Medicare and Social Security would also benefit by granting a pathway to citizenship to many immigrants. The reason American citizens feel that immigrants are a burden is because since we do not have a proper reform in place, “”It is costing tax payers about $20,000 to carry out the deportation of a single immigrant” (americanprogress). Democratic supporters have questioned if there is a humane way of deporting 11 million illegal immigrants out of the United States and the answer has been left unanswered by the Republican Party. There are many questions that greatly divide the population on what way is the best way to approach our immigration situation.
This division is being predominately seen today with our current presidential elections. As candidates from both parties discuss how they plan to “fix” our current immigration system more and more people are becoming vocal about which side they favor. Republican candidate Donald Trump has created big controversy with his strong anti-immigration remarks. His comments about immigrants have led his supporters to act inappropriately especially toward the Hispanic immigrants. Recently we heard about an incident that happened in Boston back in August, where two “Trump supporters attacked and urinated on a Hispanic homeless man” (theatlantic). This has caused another controversy that has led many to think that it is okay to commit hate crimes due to the strong political views on the immigration system.
Stated previously, there have been many attempts by the United States government to regulate and manage immigration. “Congress, the legislative branch and federal government are all responsible for creating policies and implementing them” (migrationpolicy). There are many agencies that have specific duties that deal with the immigration process. The Department of Homeland Security is one of these agencies involved. The DHS is broken down into three parts: U.S Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Each part is responsible for their own things yet they work together to ensure success. USCIS is responsible for providing immigration-related services like processing benefits, naturalizing petitions and granting or denying work authorizations. CBP is responsible for securing the United States borders and facilitating trade and travel. ICE is in charge of handling national security, financial and smuggling violations. “They conduct checks and deport arrested immigrants who have committed crimes” (migrationpolicy). The Department of State is another agency involved in the immigration process. This agency works with US Embassies and consulates around the world. Immigrants who want to enter the United States need to attend a personal interview at one of the embassies where they are either granted or denied entrance to the country. The National Visa Center (NVC) is the agency that handles all the green card applications. They take care of each case until it is forwarded to a US Consulate for personal interview. Unfortunately, because the federal government does not have set policies to minimize the amount of immigrants entering the United States we have seen an increase of state legislation taking action. States like Arizona “passed the SB 1070 and HB 2162 back in 2010” (ncsl.org). These new laws require that all immigrants carry their alien registration with them at all times. It also “allowed police officers to question people they suspected of being in the United States illegally” (CNN). States like South Carolina, Rhode Island, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Illinois have also implemented their own laws that resemble the one in Arizona. These laws have created fear in immigrants who occupy the states. They feel discriminated against and are forced to live in the shadows. The increase of state legislation has also prompted an increase in interest groups. “Groups like AFL-CIO Immigration, Justice for Immigration, National Council of La Raza and many others are working diligently in immigration related issues” (berkelyedu). They want to stop discrimination against immigrants and create equality. They want to prevent mass deportation and separation of families.
The number of immigrants entering the United States legally or illegally continues to be a big topic of debate. No matter what your stance may be on this topic we can all agree that; the United States is in dire need of a new immigration reform, one that considers both sides of the spectrum. It needs to look at what’s beneficial for the country as well as what is morally correct. After all, we are all humans and we are all created equally. We need to put any hatred aside and look at each individual to understand their motives of being in this country. Citizens need to stop stereotyping or generalizing immigrants as criminals or rapists.  The more congress waits to pass such reform the more division we will see among our citizens. Hate crimes will continue to rise, especially now with the current presidential elections. America is great because of its diversity and caring people. Our nation has been very successful because we have learned to accept and care for one another. Like President Ronald Reagan stated back on July 20, 1981 “Our nation is a nation of immigrants. More than any other country, our strength comes from our own immigrant heritage and our capacity to welcome those from other lands. No free and prosperous nation can by itself accommodate all those who seek a better life or flee persecution.” (WhiteHouse).