Illegal Immigration Policy: Federal and State Responses
This paper examines the multifaceted problem of illegal immigration in the United States, analyzing both the scope of the issue and the range of policy responses at the federal and state levels. Topics covered include border enforcement gaps, the federal "catch and release" approach, President Bush's guest-worker proposal, the Real ID Act, and state-level initiatives such as Arizona's Proposition 200 and debates over driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants. The paper also explores competing public opinions, economic arguments, and national security concerns, ultimately suggesting that evidence-based, economist-driven policymaking — rather than emotionally charged political debate — offers the most promising path forward.
- Introduction: A Multifaceted National Problem: Overview of why illegal immigration concerns governments
- Scope of the Problem: Scale of illegal border crossings and enforcement gaps
- Current Public Policy: Federal catch-and-release and fugitive tracking failures
- Possible Solutions: Federal and State Approaches: Guest-worker proposal, Real ID Act, and state laws
- Proposed Changes and Homeland Security Implications: Driver's license debates, fraud risks, and security tradeoffs
- What the Public Wants: Divided public opinion on economic and security concerns
- What Should Be Done: Policy recommendations grounded in economics and security
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What makes this paper effective
- Presents multiple competing perspectives — conservative, liberal, economic, and security-focused — without collapsing into a one-sided argument, giving the paper analytical balance.
- Moves logically from problem definition to policy analysis to proposed solutions, maintaining a clear argumentative throughline throughout.
- Grounds abstract policy debates in concrete examples, such as the forced-down plane in Texas and the withdrawn Homeland Security nominee, making claims tangible and memorable.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates effective use of policy analysis through a federalism lens — systematically distinguishing between federal-level responses and state-level experimentation. By comparing approaches across multiple states (Arizona, California, Illinois, Florida, etc.), the paper illustrates how the absence of clear federal direction produces fragmented and sometimes contradictory local policies, a classic argument in American public administration literature.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with context and scope, then surveys existing federal and state policy before evaluating proposed changes and their critics. A dedicated section on Homeland Security implications deepens the national security thread. The paper closes with sections on public opinion and normative recommendations, following a problem–policy–prescription structure common in applied policy writing.
Introduction: A Multifaceted National Problem
Both the United States federal government and individual state governments are deeply concerned about the high rate of illegal immigration into the country. There are several reasons for this. Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the country has recognized a great need to know exactly who is present in the United States. In addition, many worry that illegal immigrants take jobs that would otherwise go to people who are legally in the country. School districts struggle to educate the children of undocumented adults, and some at the federal, state, and local levels of government believe that illegal immigrants place a strain on welfare programs — and that such services should be reserved for those who are here legally. The problem is multifaceted, and different government entities have differing concerns, making agreement about what should be done extremely difficult.
Scope of the Problem
Most people are law-abiding residents of the United States and believe that others should obey the law as well. Although the United States has relatively open borders, both Immigration and Customs officers attempt to ensure that people who travel or move here do so legally. In 2003, for instance, these officials arrested over 7,000 illegal immigrants between March and September — 112% more than in the same period the previous year. However, many more slipped through their nets, and the problem of illegal immigration continued to grow (Johnson, 2005).
Despite recent increases in staffing, the United States does not have enough personnel to prevent most illegal immigration (Johnson, 2005). Illegal immigrants move easily across U.S. borders with both Mexico and Canada, especially in more sparsely populated areas.
Those who smuggle illegal immigrants continue to devise new methods for moving people across the border. Recently, federal officials forced a small plane down in Texas and found four Chinese nationals aboard without proper documentation to enter the United States (Badger, 2005).
Although the laws regarding who may and may not legally enter the United States are clear, many illegal immigrants not only enter the country but find themselves welcome in certain industries. They are frequently hired in agriculture, construction, and the service industries. Willing to work cheaply, they help keep costs down for a variety of goods and services, including restaurant meals and new homes. However, because these workers earn marginal incomes, they often place a strain on public services and public schools. Critically, because our borders are porous and there is no reliable way to block illegal entry, this creates vulnerability for national security (Radelat, 2004a).
The country sends mixed messages to both illegal immigrants and those who hire them. One of President Bush's nominees for head of the Department of Homeland Security had to withdraw after it emerged that he had employed an undocumented immigrant as a housekeeper. Breaking the law tends to lead to further law-breaking; it is not possible to pay employment taxes on behalf of someone who is living and working illegally. The nominee's situation was particularly embarrassing because, as head of Homeland Security, he would have been expected to enforce immigration laws and to help develop more effective enforcement strategies (Sanchez, 2004).
Current Public Policy
At the federal level, the government is poorly prepared to deal with illegal immigrants. The federal government has space to house only about 19,500 illegal immigrants, with every space already occupied. Congress passed a law intended to help prevent future terrorist attacks that should expand this capacity, but it is not clear how quickly or completely this can be achieved (Johnson, 2005). Furthermore, much of the information the U.S. government holds on illegal immigrants is out of date. While immigration officials estimate there are approximately 400,000 undocumented individuals in the country, they cannot verify whether that figure is accurate (Johnson, 2005).
Because the government lacks the capacity to detain all illegal immigrants it apprehends, it has adopted a "catch and release" approach — similar in some ways to releasing an arrested individual on their own recognizance. The key difference is that people released on recognizance in the criminal justice system typically have roots in the community, a fairly permanent address, and a job; if they fail to appear in court, authorities generally know where to find them. Illegal immigrants, by contrast, often have no such stable ties. The government, however, has little choice given the shortage of detention space.
Many illegal immigrants are aware of this situation. Upon crossing the border, some present themselves to Border Patrol, knowing they will be released if they agree to appear in court. However, five out of six skip their court dates and become fugitives — in a system that has little capacity to locate them (Johnson, 2005).
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