U.S. immigration history, policies, and contemporary debates

¶ … history of immigration in the United States (U.S.) began back from17th century during the first entry of Spanish people through the south coast. According to Marshall (17, 18) since then, the United States has experienced constant inflow of newcomers every year which therefore continue to play a critical role towards economic development of the country. In the last two decades, America has received almost one million immigrants in every year from different countries across the globe. These immigrants are usually coming to the U.S. either to start a new life or to re-unit with their beloved ones (Marshall, 17, 18).

Marshall (8, 9) stated that a good number of these people normally come to seek freedom from political brutality and religion persecution from their countries. However, according to most analysis which has been done indicates that some of these immigrants come to the United States based on the professional qualification and skills to offer certain professional skills in the American employment market. A portion of immigrants who come to the United States are usually admitted through secret lottery which normally takes place every year. Solis (25) noted that besides all methods of admission to the United States, America receives almost 200 million visitors who come for short-term programs such as student exchange program, tourist, business elites and long-term visitors like students who usually come for their studies. Most of these people a number of times usually change their VISA status and end up becoming America citizen through legal process. Others who fail to secure legal documents sometimes don't return to their countries and end up being part of the illegal immigrants in the country.

Furthermore, every immigrant who receives a green card usually is being issued with the permit to live and work permanently in the United States. This however provides the best legal entry to the United States which a good number of people are currently using to obtain entry. This has made the lottery to be so much competitive than ever before. In additional, over one million immigrants continue to stay in the United States under fear of being deported because they are not documented or they have expired immigration papers. it's quite clear that America has a good number of people who are living outside the law.

Controversy surrounding Immigration

The sustainability and benefits of immigrants has been debated for many years in the United States. Due to the recession and harsh economic conditions which the country has undergone, many people still wonder whether it's appropriate to continue admitting immigrants into the United States. However, a lot of debates have ranged whether it's necessary to deport illegal immigrants from the country. Many questions still remain whether it's good to deport a child of an illegal immigrant as the best the way to curb the increase population of immigrants. The debate has brought in politicians and scholars who argued that the continue influx of immigrants can cause a lot of threat to the national security of the country; therefore it's prudent to take various steps which can reduce constant inflow of immigrant into the U.S.

The State of Arizona made history in 2010, when it passed a law which allows the authority to question every one who is suspected to be an immigrant about his/her immigration status (CBASSE, 1-6). This law is meant to assist the state of Arizona to curb the wide spread of illegal entry into the U.S. through its border with Mexico. This however has generated nationwide debate whether all states should emulate the same law and whether the congress should pass same law which will be implementable across all the states in the country.

Most recently, Obama immigration reform 2012 generated a lot of debates whether it's a political campaign tool to lure immigrant's votes or it's an overdue policy meant to shape the future of immigration law in the country. The reform policy paper gave a child of an illegal immigrant who was born in the United States and have attended college here in the United States to be issued with citizenship so that they can stop staying in fear of being deported. According to the Whitehouse press secretary Jay Corney (12), the reform is part of Obama "Dream ACT" which is meant to allow thousands of undocumented young and brilliant immigrants to participate in the economic development of the United States.

Immigrants and Entrepreneurship

History shows that immigrants have been the most contributors to the greatest innovation in the United States. Such innovations which have left a mark as the best immigrant's contribution in the economic development of the country are Albert Eistein, the innovation of Alexandria Graham Bell and ventures of Adrew Carnage. Most studies also indicates that many patents files from the United States in 2006 were based on the good work of foreign born who live in the United States. Many of these patent holders are students who obtained there bachelor degree from the U.S. colleges in technology, science, maths and engineering.

The same study indicates that there is a great value in sponsoring foreign students for studies in the United States and then keeping them here for economic growth. However, in order to keep ourselves relevant in the growing world. it's therefore necessary for the United States to go a head and continue to attract bright, skilled, hard working and intelligent students from the rest of the world to join the economic development of the country.

Immigrant and Low skilled Labor

For decades, the United States has been the most lucrative destination for most of the unskilled workers from other part of the world. These include even the educated immigrants but don't have enough skills to fit in the American job market. However, according to Huffington (13) a number of studies have shown that immigrants are very important in meeting the gap in labor market especially during the time when the economy is very strong.

Going by various analysts as noted by Huffington (15) these low skilled immigrant workers usually offset the age limit and increase of education requirement on the United States workforce. A good number of students of uneducated immigrants and nonimmigrant have changed the trend and now pursuing education up to collages. This trend has altered the education standard in the United States.

Again, when most Americans continue to complain about immigrants taking their jobs, the U.S. labor department indicates that there is big fall of unskilled workers which are required every year for the sustainability of the economy. In the last few years undocumented and registered immigrant's workers have helped in meeting the workforce.

Fixing the immigration system

Over the last decades, United States has been seen as the land of opportunity. Many people from other countries work day and night to come to the United States. However, the last years the United States has been a home of millions of immigrants both illegal and legal. This has made both negative and positive contribution to the development of the United States. Again, many Americans are still arguing whether it's fruitful to continue allowing the influx of immigrant in the country in spite of what has been highlighted. Many Americans therefore worry that immigrations are compromising quality of their life and increase the competition in the job market.

Besides, many people agreed that the immigration system of the United States is too weak and therefore needs a complete overhaul. There are so many people who cross our borders into the United States daily without being detected. The debate on the immigration should be stopped and sober legislation is needed to curb the influx. American must work together to achieve this objective as we reflect our values and aspiration which bond us as a nation. it's also necessary for the state to assist the illegal immigrants who are still under shadow to come out. This would the government tot document all the immigrants which would be benefit the country economically. Assist refugees both from within and outside to help them build themselves strong economically, socially and politically. Most importantly, the protection of our borders should be more vigilant to prevent more illegal immigrants from entering the country.

Conclusion

Many studies have shown that immigrants play a very important role for the economic, social and political development of the United States. Therefore the immigration issues which affect5 the country should be handled with a lot of sobriety to ensure all stakeholders involves are not discredited and left feeling like they are being discriminated. Economically, the immigrants has played important roles and therefore proper systems should be put in place regulate the influx which will result to proper documentation of all immigrants in the Country. Since the United States in superpower, it has to continue to bring in bright, skilled and hardworking young people from other countries to assist in the development of the economy.

Cited Work

Huffington Post, Immigration - a Vehicle for America's Economic Prosperity (October 2, 2012, 12-17).

Ray Marshall, Immigration for Shared Prosperity; Economic Policy Institute http://www.epi.org/publication/book_isp / (November, 2009, 14-25)

Hilda L. Solis, Immigrants and America's Future; the U.S. labor secretary offers a blueprint for immigration reform, http://www.americasquarterly.org/node/2419 (January, 2011, 20-30)

Jay Corney, Fixing the Immigration System for America's 21st Century Economy: http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/fixing-immigration-system-america-s-21st-century-economy (September, 2012, 1-5)