The Immigration System

BWPU Immigration System Analysis

By Jack Versace and Ashwin Prabu

An in-depth analysis of the immigration system in recent years and currently

Immigration has become a hot topic, especially in recent years with the election of the Trump administration. Along with immigration, there are two subcategories of legal immigrants and illegal immigrants. Legal immigrants go through the immigration process and obtain green cards, visas, and eventually citizenship. Illegal immigrants, on the other hand, bypass this process and get into the country through other means. There are currently 11-13 million illegal, or undocumented, immigrants living in the United States. About ⅔ of these millions have been in the United States for ten years or longer. This creates a burden on the everyday American. Taxpayers are paying around 120-145 billion dollars more a year to sustain the undocumented immigrants and provide them with benefits that citizens also enjoy.

The deportation of these undocumented immigrants reached its peak in 2013 under the Obama administration. Although numbers began to rise again in 2018, it is still far below the numbers in previous years. However, the number of immigrants being detained is currently at an all-time high. The decrease in deportation can be attributed to the rise of the Mexican economy. Mexican citizens are now able to find opportunities in their own country, creating less of an incentive to migrate when the risks can prove to be substantial. Groups of migrants often travel with coyotes, or cartel guides, making the travel highly dangerous. This also pertains to South and Central American migrants who may travel up to Mexico and stay there rather than making the treacherous journey into the United States.

Those who are in compromising and fatal conditions in their home countries are in a separate category. These immigrants are known as asylum seekers and are given different requirements in the immigration process, making it easier for them to escape their situations. These refugees are provided with short term housing arrangements which have lately been scrutinized due to a lack of funding.

Talks of basing the immigration system on a meritocracy have surfaced. This system prioritizes immigrants who are more qualified and would be more beneficial to the country, economically or otherwise. The components of meritocracy could include but are not limited to crime, education levels, and work experience. This is much like the point-based system already in place in Australia, along with a few other countries such as the United Kingdom, to determine the eligibility of immigrants.

Some citizens believe this should be incorporated due to the idea that immigrants should be contributing to the United States. Without doing so they are taking taxpayer money for their benefit without making a contribution in return. Approximately 12% of current immigrants are merit-based. The other 88%is family or relative based. One family member can claim asylum or be granted a visa and the rest of their family can also migrate in. This creates a chain migration that can have detrimental economic impacts.

Others believe that a meritocracy would counter the idea that the United States is a place of opportunity. People migrate into the United States seeking work that they would not otherwise gain in their home country. Those who pose the merit and are seen to be beneficial to the American economy may also be able to succeed in their home countries. This creates a cycle of exclusions where the richer and smarter can get ahead whereas those who do not have as much, in a financial and educational sense, fall behind. This argument, however, falls short when it comes to discrimination. Although the citizens of these countries may be educated and do not lack funds, they are discouraged from succeeding because they are highly discriminated against. Those opposing an immigration system based on meritocracy also raise concerns of a spiral into systematic racial bias and a lack of diversity. Some countries, such as India and South Korea, tend to have better education systems set in place, especially in the STEM fields. This causes them, in turn, to have an output of higher educated migrants than other countries. A merit-based system would favor those from countries like India and South Korea due to their elevated merit. A solution to this problem could be setting quotas for countries and regions of the world. This would allow for more diversity, but those who are more qualified may be turned down in order to reach the quotas of other countries.

Returning to the issue of illegal immigration, Trump has raised a plan to build a wall to increase border security and decrease the number of undocumented migrants making their way across the Mexican border. Although the Mexican economy is rising, hundreds of thousands of Central and South Americans manage to cross the border without being detected. Supporters of this plan emphasis the difficulty in tracking those who cross the border. The building of the wall would make this impossible task more manageable for border patrol. The wall would not only be built to curtail illegal immigration but also to slow down drug trade across the border. It would set a message to the world that the United States is divisive and will not tolerate illegal immigration. Some speculate that with Trump being a salesman, tourism based around the wall may be a possibility, posing as an opportunity to bring in more funds.

Those who oppose the plan often also see a need for higher border security with an emphasis on high tech alternatives. A wall would be more symbolic than anything. Alternatives like drones could be used instead as a cheaper and more innovative option whereas maintaining a wall may prove to be costly in the long term. Some opposers of the plan also believe that there should be a trade-off. If the wall is built, there should be loosened immigration restrictions because it is so difficult to gain citizenship in the United States, this would serve as a way of reaming sympathetic yet strong.

In order to push his plan and viewpoint, Trump shut down the government in late 2018 and early 2019 for 35 days in hopes to sway politicians in favor of the wall. This shutdown left around 80,000 federal workers without pay. Although he intended to further a plan that would protect the country, its effects and his action to take such a controversial step left citizens in poor financial situations and with a hint of bitterness towards the president. These citizens believed that a cool minded approach was needed to take the time to appeal to those across his party lines.

Another issue relating to the undocumented immigrants already living in the United States is the issue of a driver’s license. Illegal immigrants currently cannot obtain licenses and often drive without one. Some believe that they should not be given a driver’s license and should work to gain citizenship before getting one. Giving them a license would provide them with an id that could be used to vote in some states and give off a weak impression of the country that those who make it in can succeed. Others believe that an alternate id could be issued so that these immigrants can seek work yet still not enjoy the social benefits that are costing taxpayers money, showing their true economic impact. They would be put into a system, making it easier for them to be kept account of. This, however, would heighten fear among immigrants. Those who arrived illegally may face harsher restrictions from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Cities known as sanctuary cities bypass federal laws that require immigration status to be identified on a driver’s license form. These cities, often found in states like California and Colorado, create an incentive for illegal immigrants to migrate to those areas. This creates large communities of immigrants, places like Little India and Chinatown, inside of these cities, greatly influence elections from the local level to national.

Although immigration is a controversial issue, most believe that American citizens should be given priority first before giving opportunities to those from outside of the country. How can the country help others if it hasn’t taken care of its own people first?