National security Impact of Immigration Policy

Of late, societal apprehension towards immigrants, criminal behavior, and terrorism have intensified, giving rise to concerns regarding the American migrant system’s efficacy in maintaining the safety of the nation’s people. Recent events revolving around crimes, weaponry crossing national boundaries and foreign- born people has triggered a series of reactions with the most intense ones demanding a sealing of borders, barring migration for individuals hailing from high- risk foreign territories, and putting a stop to refugee resettlement.

Migration represents mankind’s story from the outset to the current age. It has its roots in mankind’s adventure- seeking spirit and quest to follow one’s dreams. The growth in individuals undertaking perilous, cross- border journeys across the globe dates back to the world’s Stone Age. Statistical figures reveal several millions continually moving from their motherland in search of more superior living conditions and opportunities at performing services. Other reasons for migration include societal divide, fear of hunger, excess violence, war, joblessness, instability, or an attempt to avoid environmental, political, or economic crises. 

According to researchers, immigration is a societal phenomenon on account of the associated challenges impacting the places of origin and the destination. Though it impacts all nations worldwide, its increased significance within the European Union is owing to the region being among the world’s most developed ones. Global immigration may be segregated into the following 3 key periods: 1) pre-1945, a period that witnessed a never- before- seen scope and scale of the phenomenon; 2) 1945 - early 1970, comprising of labor immigration to the Western European region, colonial worker immigration, and permanent shifts to Australia, the US and Canada; and 3) The millennium 2000, whose migratory trends spurred immense global change. Europe’s political agenda ardently debates the matter of illegal immigration, which may be defined as a cross- border shift of individuals in violation of the destination’s migration regulation. Between the sixties and mid- seventies, illegal immigration positively influenced destination nations. However, in the two decades that followed, it began to be viewed as an unwelcome phenomenon having negative effects. After the terror attacks of 9/11, negative attitudes towards migration skyrocketed and currently, it is considered a grave security risk. Europe’s enlargement has caused its boundaries to expand farther and EU has started regarding migration as a threat to national and regional security owing to the multiple adverse effects on destination nations in several areas including political, social, cultural, economic, and security domains. Further, it remains a European Union policy agenda priority on account of related national security concerns, national identity threat, and economic issues. 

Currently, America may be considered the top immigration destination across the globe with its lengthy history of taking in waves of migrants, periodically. The nation’s population constitutes five percent of the current global population, but roughly one in five global immigrants (total figure estimated at 214 million) make their home in America.  Migrants and immigration enjoy an unquestionable place in the American national mythology pantheon. Nevertheless, there are some modern American political problems that prove to be equally politically explosive or controversial.

Migration contributes greatly to supporting the nation’s security priorities, with the extant systems screening several million tourists, refugees and migrants for ensuring the nation is free of threats. These measures include narcotics prohibition, preventing terrorists and felons from entering, and detaining illegal immigrants. American immigration organizations engage in intelligence sharing, collaborate with several security organizations and law enforcers on the local, national, and international levels, and undertake real- time analyses of countless details on travelers, vessels, and cargo. 

The nation requires reasonable workable immigration strategies for improving national security and simultaneously balancing its contribution to other major national interests. Migration systems and policies greatly impact promotion of a more comprehensive US security agenda; reforms in the future aimed at securing national boundaries and promoting safety ought to understand this balance.

Social security revolves around societal capacity to carry on in its basic character even in the face of evolution or real or potential risks. In the context of international migration, one may define social security as perceptions of a particular nation’s people on threats posed by migrants to their national, religious, cultural, or linguistic identities. This standpoint regards the destination’s national values as the referent entity facing threat. 5 On the whole, migration, both legal and illegal, forced and voluntary, makes up the above threat, so long as migrants give rise to identity challenges within the destination nation on account of their different religion, language, or culture.

Migration’s perceived threat to a society’s security is subjective, and not objective or ubiquitous, in nature; it is contingent on how destination countries define themselves.5 A few nations, for example, do not welcome the idea of multiculturalism whereas others might consider cultural diversity a great asset for the nation. Layton-Henry and Heisler (1993) explain that post- WWII, a majority of European countries underwent shifts from their original, relatively homogeneous nature (when the population was largely united under a collective national and cultural identity) to a more heterogeneous nature (constituting numerous national groups) (158). Here, migration might be perceived in a negative light owing to its challenging of nations’ traditional core values and identity. Additionally, migrant failure to adapt or blend in, arguably, adversely impacts governmental and societal stability.

The second factor threatened by migration is national economy. Migration has, in the past, and continues, in the present day, to significantly affect the economies of the origin as well as destination nations. Displaying economic pros as well as cons, the extended definition of the term ‘security’ to incorporate economics has garnered more focus on migration’s economic challenges; consequently, the phenomenon is being deemed to be a security challenge. Economic migrants and asylum seekers/ refugees both potentially jeopardize a nation’s economic security.

Immigration of workers is believed to jeopardize origin as well as destination nations’ economic security. This claim supports the idea that emigration of well- educated, qualified and skilled individuals from the Southern unindustrialized nations to the Northern industrialized ones leads to “brain drain” within the former and unwelcome economic effects within the latter. Economic and social security are two directly interrelated aspects since perceptions of migrants as economic burdens to the destination country are typically the outcome of their being perceived as “others” on account of evident, outward differences.

Besides economic and social security, of late, internal security is also recognized as one security faced potentially jeopardized by the phenomenon of migration. After the 9/11 attacks, migration assumed a prominent position on the country’s counter- terrorism plan, with governments adopting more stringent migration policies and associating migration with terror activities. 

America instantly began perceiving migration to be a national security issue. The then- President George Bush was quick to propose a plan for battling terrorism via the nation’s migration policy, and the freshly instituted homeland security department incorporated an Immigration and Naturalization Service, thereby institutionalizing migration as an internal security threat. Numerous experts advocate for restrictions in migration policy for defending internal security within the destination country. Therefore, the ideal means to shut out undesirable persons from other countries would be: decreasing the nation’s yearly migrant intake.

Akin to migration’s link to terrorism, the cross- border movement and resettlement of people has been associated with growing crime rates as well, reinforcing the idea that migration jeopardizes public security. Whether migration does, indeed, increase crime rates or not may be regarded as a matter of reality against perception. Despite increasing public concerns with regard to elevated crime rates exacerbated by the migration phenomenon and migrants’ potential threats to societal order, the above concerns have no sound empirical basis. Against popular opinion, numerous researches on several states reveal no sound linkage between criminal behavior and migration.

One may not overlook the fact that a few nations have discovered a linkage between the growth in migrant inflows and growing crime rates. Indeed, one may find a trend depicting nations and cities with greater crime rates typically report a bigger migrant population. A Spain- based research carried out in the year 2001 revealed that the share of foreign- born incarcerated individuals was as much as 25 times greater than the share of migrants within the nation’s population. In Spain’s case, most migrants are individuals with highest criminality incidence: single males in the 18 – 35 years age group.

Immigration policies may be defined as all governmental policies which revolve around cross- border movement of individuals into a nation, particularly those individuals moving to the nation for the purpose of seeking employment and residence. Migration policies may span from totally disallowing migration to free immigration or allowing a majority of immigration forms. Typically, migration policies are subject to religious or ethnic/ racial preference (e.g., a nation might only open its borders to commonwealth citizens). 

In the contemporary world, migration policies are generally associated directly with other issues and policies:
* Regulation on tax, trade and tariff, govern the articles migrants are allowed to carry along, the services they are permitted to deliver when stationed for a short term within the nation, and individuals permitted to remain. EU, in particular, does not outline many migration limitations. Nearly all inhabitants or citizens of a signatory country (some of the freshly incorporated member nations might be an exception) can move across the EU, seeking employment wherever they desire, with little scope for member nations to attempt to prevent this without treaty renegotiation or having to leave the EU.
* Agricultural policy that potentially exempts immigrant agricultural laborers usually entering and dwelling within a nation during the harvest only and returning back to their native country (usually an unindustrialized one). Jamaica and Mexico, for example, frequently send their agricultural workers to Canada and America, respectively).
* Investment policy which allows rich migrants to make business investments in return for receiving favorable treatment, acquiring permanent visas or citizenship, and having their passports issued promptly.
* Overcrowding, responsible for housing price escalations and Tuberculosis spread.
* Birth rates, typically low among industrialized countries’ populations.
* One key migration policy facet is refugee treatment; a refugee is largely a country-less and stranded individual who is entirely dependent on the destination country’s mercy and seeks respite from the ill treatment suffered at the hands of their own countrymen or governments.

Homeland Security statistics for the year 2009 reveal that roughly 613,003 individuals identified as illegal migrants were deported from America in that year. Comparing this figure to the 23,123,329 current illegal migrants in the nation highlights the illegal immigration challenge encountered by America (DHS Immigration Stats). 10 This issue has long plagued the nation with foreigners trying to gain entry into America to seek better employment and a better quality of life. But numerous issues (e.g., economic, educational and healthcare) result from this shift.  As safety has become the top priority for Americans, of late, illegal immigration’s adverse impact on the nation’s security represents the most burning illegal immigration related subject at present.