Circles, Is That of \'Immigration\'

¶ … circles, is that of 'immigration' and the 'Immigration Reform Bill' associated with it. The government of the United States of America has created an amnesty program wherein illegal immigrants are granted legal immigrant status if they had entered the U.S.A. illegally, within the past five years. (USA and Illegal Immigration Issue) In previous years, the U.S. government had made several concerted attempts to stem the tide of illegal immigration into the country, by tightening the border controls, as well as preventing illegal immigrants from acquiring jobs. However, at that time the reality of what to do with the several millions of illegal immigrants or undocumented persons already within the country have not sunk in, and when these people were jobless, the government had no other option than to conceive of a better plan for these people.

The House legislation billed as a 'Border Protection, Anti-Terrorism and Illegal Immigration Control Act', included drastic measures such as enlisting the help of the law to stop illegal immigrants form getting jobs, by making sure that employers would verify that the prospective employee enjoyed legal status. The guest worker program was being ignored by President Bush and in a statement he said: "Urge the Senate to take action on immigration reform so that I can sign a good bill into law." Republican leaders would not however allow for a proposal that stated that children born to illegal immigrants be denied citizenship. According to House Representative Jeff Flake, no one would advocate the deportation of the millions of unlawful immigrants, and this meant the need to institute a temporary guest worker program immediately. (House passes Bill to tighten Immigration Laws)

However, while the federal government is still struggling with the issues related to immigrants into the United States, states are dealing with it in their own way. For example, Alabama has started to train state troopers, and given them the power to arrest illegal immigrants, while Arkansas has pledged to send out its troops to the Mexican border. California had also sent out its troops to the Mexican borders, while Colorado has made the smuggling of people illegally into the country a felony punishable under the law. Florida has passed a law stating that applicants for a driver's license must have a legal immigrant status, while the state of Idaho has limited its unemployment benefits to legal citizens and immigrants only. (States take action on immigration issue)

It must be remembered that it was during these two decades: 1851 to 1860, and 1871 to 1880 that immigration into the United States had started in a major way, with an average of two and a half million entering the country. During the following decades, the numbers rose to almost five and a quarter million, and in the decade from 1900 to 1910, the figures rose to almost nine million, and between 1890 and 1920, the population of the United States of America had risen by about 42 million. (Cullingworth; Cullingworth; Caves, 67) All these immigrants had to find jobs in order to earn a living when they entered the country, and among such jobs, for example, was that of the nanny, or the domestic help. These were illegal immigrant women who worked for the upper class working mothers and their problems were never discussed in any state and government legislation. Immigration reform was for the unfortunate women who were denied basic privileges by the government. (Romero, 12) The general opinion in all circles is that the illegal immigration policy is quite irrational. (Moxon, 69)

Recent research has brought to light the fact that most of the recently admitted legal immigrants from Mexico are in truth, previously undocumented immigrants. A child, born to an illegal immigrant in the United States, may, when he attains twenty-one years of age, reserves the right to petition to have both his parents admitted as 'legal non-quota' immigrants, and he may also petition the government for having his undocumented brothers and sisters as 'legal immigrants'. Even otherwise, being the parent of an American born child of any age would mean that an immigrant would be able to apply for permanent legal residence, without labor certification. (Heer, 22)

What need to be understood is the fact that the immigration problem today is a part of the general environment in which it is found, and that the traditional immigration law enforcement strategies are actually encouraging an increase in the immigrant population, rather than discourage it. When a citizen of the U.S.A. thinks of an illegal alien, with images provided by the media, in previous years, it was that of a hardworking laborer. However, after the September 11 debacle, more people than ever before see an illegal alien as a prospective terrorist. The official policy of the INS now called the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement or the BICE is to target the employers of illegal aliens. This is in order to understand and act upon the reason as to why the illegal aliens come to the United States, because it is a well-known fact that many illegal immigrants congregate at one place, from where they are picked up for cheap labor by employers within the United States. However, in the present situation of more than eight million illegal aliens in the United States and 1,062,279 apprehensions in the year 2002, this policy too does not seem to be working; in fact, it seems to have exacerbated the problem. (The Illegal Alien Problem, enforcing the Immigration Laws)