Immigration trends in the last 20 years and its effects on population and diversity in communities’

Abstract

This paper discusses the key importance of immigration, specifically Mexican immigration trends in the last 20 years. The paper discusses how employment and everyday life is effected for immigrants and American citizens. The author also discusses implications and recommendations for this issue, and also has key importance of immigration from experts who are knowledgeable in this topic.

Introduction

Immigration trends in the last
20 years has effected the growth of population and the diversity of
communities’ in many ways. Mexican immigration has effected government laws and
the school environments which has led to laws being imposed to help those
immigrants live an American life. There have also been recent laws that have
paused the process for DACA. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, immigration
is “the action of immigrating; entrance into a country for the purpose of
settling there” (Oxford).  In the last 20
years, Mexican immigrant population legal and illegal has continuously risen
over time. In the year 2010, immigrant population reached the highest in the
nation’s history and doubled in numbers since 1990 (Camarota).

In 2002, there was an enhanced
mandate on visa entry-exit data system. In 2012, the Deferred Action for
Childhood Arrivals, allowed young adults from ages 15-30 who were brought to
the U.S. illegally as children to apply for temporary permits.  About three-fourths of the immigrants here in
this country are legal, which leaves the rest of the immigrants to be
undocumented (Camarota). Lastly, in 2014 the DACA program was expanded allowing
the immigrant parents who have lived in the US for 5 years and have children
who are US citizens to be allowed to apply for deportation relief and 3-year
work permits and any unauthorized immigrant who entered the US was granted
eligibility for this program as well (Cohn). In June 2012, President Obama
established the Deferred Action for Childhood
Arrivals (DACA)
policy by executive action, which thus allowed immigrants who are undocumented
to be permitted to obtain work permits, Social Security numbers, and a drivers
license(ACE). 

Immigration is an important
topic to study due to the effect it has on the American population. It effects
all aspects of everyday life, including the diversity in schools, employment,
economy, and politics. In order to study immigration, it takes a certain level
of intelligence revolving around the laws that were passed and laws that have
been abolished for and against immigration and the understanding of foreign
policy.  Although immigrating to the
United States has positive effects on the ones who migrate to America, it also
has negative effects on the American society and their daily life.

Literature Review

Bier is an expert on visa reform, border security, and from 2013 to 2015. Previously, he worked as the immigration policy analyst at the Competitive Enterprise Institute and most recently as the director of immigration policy at the Niskanen Center (CATO). Alex Nowrasteh is an immigration policy analyst at the Cato Institute’s Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity. His popular publications have appeared in popular newspapers and magazines as well (CATO).

In one of their articles, they
stated the benefits that immigration had on the American Society. They
mentioned five reasons as to how immigration has helped the United States and
the first reason is that the immigrant’s attributes such as being risk takers,
having motivation and good work ethics has benefited the nation. The second
reason is that coming into the United States has had a huge net contribution to
the Social Security programs. Immigration has also filled niches in the labor
market, where the demand is highest relative to supply, complementing the
American workers. Fourthly, their strong skill levels bring a high desire to
work in the United States. Lastly, children who have immigrated or whose
parents are immigrants tend to reach high levels of achievement in American
schools and in the society (CATO).

 These experts who support immigration have
shown evidence on how it has a positive effect on the American Society. Bier
and Nowrasteh have the knowledge and expertise to understand how immigration
helps the United States. Their articles and evidence has shown reasoning behind
supporting immigration and their idea of how immigration should not be banned
or laws should not be imposed against immigrants. Their research and studies
are for immigration and therefore, they may be biased on anti-immigration laws
but they do have the expertise to display their reasoning on supporting
immigration.

On the other hand, immigration also has its negative effects on the American Society. For example, Mark Krikorian is nationally recognized expert on immigration issues, has served as Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) since 1995 (Center for Immigration Studies). In one of Krikorian’s article, he is discussing about Donald Trump’s statement on immigration and how he supports Trump’s immigration ban. He states, “This isn’t the policy about how we’re going to screen people coming from countries where there are active jihad terror groups” (PRI). Krikorian supports this ban because he believes that this will not be a permanent ban and it is buying time in the meantime to further analyze if the screening is appropriate (PRI).

Donald Trump is the current
President of the United States and has knowledge of immigration because of the
interaction he has with the laws as well as the immigration authority. Some of
his plans on immigration include building a wall, ending birthright citizenship
and DACA, hiring native workers first and refugee programs for American
children (CATO). Trump is against immigration and he supports this claim with
how it is affecting Americans in their daily life. Immigrant who receive their
green cards are taking the jobs of native workers which puts them on food
stamps or on unemployment (CATO).

Krikorian and Trump both agree
on continuing with banning Muslims to enter the United States. Their claims to
support these statements makes sense because it is to help out the American
Society. Trump could also be biased because of his views on immigration and his
mindset that he carries with immigration. These experts both have knowledge on
immigration and how it has negatively affected the American society.
Immigration has stopped native workers from being employed because they have
taken their jobs or they have had an increase in the population with affects
the economy.

To begin with, immigration has
impacted the American Population and has been at its highest in the last few
decades. Research shows statistics that in 2010, about 40 million was the nation’s
immigrant population, including both legal and illegal, and it is the highest
in the nation’s history. It has been increasing since 1970 and the numbers has
doubled and quadrupled since. One of the main reasons for the high number of
immigrants is due to “the high levels of legal immigration” (Center of
Immigration Studies). 58% of those who are immigrating come from Latin America
and this could be due to the resources that can be found in the United States
for these people. Many of the Latin American countries are extremely poor and
therefore, people cannot live day to day in those conditions. Bigger states
carry more resources and therefore, immigrants have migrated to the larger or
popular states for the most part: California, Texas, Florida, New York, New
Jersey, Georgia, Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland, Washington, Illinois,
Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts (Center of Immigration Studies).

Immigration in the last twenty
years has influenced the government and the laws they have imposed. For example,
September 11, 2001, has had an effect on the entire nation and security laws
were strictly imposed to preventing another event like this to happen. The
“Homeland Security Act transfers all functions of the U.S. Immigration and
Naturalization Service to the new Department of Homeland Security which includes
U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
and US. Citizenship and Migration Services” (Pew Research Center). The Homeland
Security Act has helped the United States protect their citizens from being
attacked again or from having outside countries destroy the U.S. territory.

According to the Homeland
Security Act of 2002, “the Office of Immigration Statistics has a
responsibility to carry out two statutory requirements: 1) to collect and
disseminate to Congress and 2) to establish standards of reliability and
validity for immigration statistics collected by the Department’s operational
components” (Homeland Security Act of 2002). This office has the right to
present the information about how the American Society has been effected by
immigration. Although immigration has its negative effects, the Homeland
Security Act was imposed to protect its people and placing laws that are strict
on those who come into and out of the United States.

There was the Immigration Act
of 1990 which was “Public Law 101-649 (Act of November 29, 1990), increased the
limits on lawful immigration to the United States, revised all grounds for
exclusion and deportation, authorized temporary protected status to aliens of
designated countries, revised and established new nonimmigrant admission
categories, revised and extended the Visa Waiver Pilot Program, and revised
naturalization authority and requirements” (Homeland Security Act of 2002).
This Act was imposed in the 1990’s and immigration was still not as high modern
day. Due to the high increase of the immigrant population, there has been
recent debates on how to proceed with immigration today. Immigration has
affected the United States socially, economically, environmentally, and through
the policies in the government.

Due to Mexican immigration,
there have also been other laws imposed. For example, DACA and Dreamers has
been effective on the minority groups because it has given them a change to succeed
in different ways. DACA is the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals which is
the policy that former President Obama established. This Act was to allow
“undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States at a young age to
become eligible for a work permit, a Social Security card, a driver’s license,
and deferred deportation” (ACE). This Act has proven to help many immigrant
children and statistics support this statement. According to the American
Council on Education, 45% of the DACA recipients are enrolled in school or
college. This is evidence to show how effective DACA has been and the positive
results it has given to those Mexican immigrant children who have opportunities
to fulfill their education needs.

Dreamers stands for Development,
relief, and education for alien minors. This legislation was first introduced
to congress in 2001 to grant a pathway to citizenship to young people who were
brought to the United States as a child without documentation. They are
American since they were raised here but they do not have the legal papers to
prove it (Americas Voice). Dick Durbin, who is the senator for Illinois has
been supporting the Dreamers because he has seen the positive effect it has had
on those children. Durbin states, “The DREAM Act, which I first introduced in 2001, would allow
a select group of immigrant students with great potential to contribute more
fully to America. These young people, known as Dreamers, were brought to the
U.S. as children and have overcome great obstacles to succeed. The DREAM Act
would give these students a chance to earn citizenship by attending college or
serving in the military” (Durbin).

Implications

Immigration is important to the public because
it affects the entire nation. According to the Census Bureau, the United States
had nearly 14 million new immigrants settle in the country from 2000 to 2010.
Americans who reside in the States have to realize that this has an impact on
various areas such as jobs. One of the reasons for why foreigners immigrate
into the United States is for the employment opportunities. From 1990 to 2000,
there was a job growth and those who immigrate, look for jobs to sustain
themselves and their family (Center for Immigration Studies). This is important
for American Citizens because this can potentially harm them in the future if
they are ever looking for jobs. There are some Americans who believe that
Mexican immigrants are taking over or crowding into the United States for their
selfish reasons but immigrants have had a positive impact on the economy. Although,
many Mexican immigrants find jobs where they get paid minimum wage and jobs
like these are not as wanted by American citizens (Friedberg).

Mexican immigrants have impacted employment in
the United States by applying their skills in construction, agriculture, fast
food services, and cleaning positions. By having Mexican immigrants apply their
skills to the real-world situations, being undocumented allows room for laws to
be created to protect undocumented immigrants. This can lead to a change in
America’s economy. Due to fewer Mexican employees working, this will increase a
higher cost for companies to come up with to get the job done. For example, a
company needs a certain number of workers to build their companies buildings.
Since, the majority of the time these workers are Mexican immigrants, if they
are thus deported back to their country, that leaves fewer employees working on
the site. By having fewer employees, this creates a shortage which then forces
the company to spend more money to get the site done. This scenario creates an
aspect of why Mexican immigrants are important to the American society
Immigrants provide company’s a pathway to spending less money to get a job done
for a lesser cost.

Recommendations

Imposing immigration laws that support and help
immigrants is important because it has shown positive effect on the United
States itself and their economy. In 2013, there was report research that showed
“that creating a path for undocumented immigrant to earn legal status and
citizenship, it will lead to substantial wage gains for these workers. In turn,
these wage gains will help spur the American economy and lead to significant
increases in gross domestic product, tax revenue, and jobs in coming years (Center
for American Progress).  Many of these
immigrants tend to have to stop attending school to seek employment to provide
for their families. A recommendation to this issue, would be creating schools,
or having schools to teach how this culture can survive in America as an
undocumented alien.  Another option,
would be to offer resources to these students and be willing to work with their
schedules, so in the long run these students or young people can receive better
jobs, which thus creates more job openings for American citizens. These
statements show that with the increase of immigrants in the workplace, it will
help increase the wages as well as the gross domestic products. There have been
some negative outcomes from legalizing immigration, but the positive outcomes
have helped American citizens as well.

Conclusion

Overall, Mexican immigration in the last 20
years has effected
the growth of population and the diversity of communities’ in many ways.
Immigration created safety laws due to a previous attack that took place on
September 11, 2001. This safety law has been imposed, the Homeland Security
Act, which has provided protection for the nation. Immigration has had an
effect on governmental policies that have created pathways for immigrants as
well as children from immigrant parents. These pathways have positively
impacted their educational careers, where they have been given the opportunity
to go to school or college. Immigration has also imposed laws such as DACA,
that have helped DREAMers gain citizenship. Due to the increase of immigrants,
it has increased the population which has had a positive effect on wages. The
increase of jobs has spurred the American economy. Although immigration has
shown to have negative consequences on the American society, the positive
outcomes overpower the negative.

Bibliography

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