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Immigration

Phil, Yara, JJ

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Immigration has recently become a large controversy in the United States. In 2006, it was announced that the United States population had been estimated to reach 300,000,000 (see right). Since the attack on September 11, 2001 and the War in Iraq, xenophobia has resurfaced as an issue in the United States. Some believe that illegal immigrants are responsible for economic difficulties. Some believe that the government should help immigrants because our nation depends on the ideal of immigration. The issue remains what rights should be given to immigrants when they are not yet citizens? Can we say that the civil rights movement is finished when this question remains?

Immigration policy has been drastically altered in the last century. Each new policy reflects and highlights events and conflicts that the nation faced with immigration at the time. In the 1920’s there was the Red Scare, where, in general, many Americans feared European immigrants because they believed them to be associated with communism. Then during the 1960’s there was the Civil Rights movement which tried to desegregate the United States, and one way in which it did so was to be less discriminatory in its immigration policy. Lastly, in the past 30 years or so, the United States has seen a mass increase in both legal and illegal immigrants, mainly Hispanics. The Immigration Act of 1996 created many laws to try to halt illegal immigration and increased its border security. (Immigration Policy Table)

While the rate of citizenship and naturalization of immigrants had steadily declined since the 1950s, the arrival of larger numbers of immigrants to the United States has also brought increased rates of citizenship and naturalization. From 1950-1990, the percentage of foreign born residents of the United States that reported citizenship status declined from about 73% to 41%, but that rate has been reversed with the arrival of large quantities of immigrants seen in recent years. The New York Times reports that the new surge of immigrants in the last seven years has been the highest in any seven year period in American history. Not only has the United States been receiving more immigrants in recent years, but more of these new immigrants are becoming citizens. From 1993-1997, the percent of naturalization for legal immigrants rose by 10%. The rise is due in part by less government bureaucracy, but also because of increased benefits of becoming a citizen. The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, for instance, made it illegal for an employer to knowingly hire undocumented immigrants, therefore making it easier for immigrants with citizenship status to be hired. There have also been many local laws passed which had motivated immigrants to become citizens, such as a Michigan driver’s license law that requires proof of legal presence in the United States to receive a driver’s license (see below). The United States is providing increasing incentive for immigrants to become citizens once they arrive here.

Immigration issues trouble the United States ethically because it has difficulty establishing a balance between its original founding involving the immigration of many Europeans and helping its current citizens in the struggles associated with some immigrants. Because the United States is comprised of a relatively small minority of Native Americans, it is difficult to restrict immigration - the process by which most Americans entered the United States. However the belief in nativism, a prejudice towards those 'native” to the United States, i.e. mainly white men, continues to affect decisions in the immigration issue. However nativism has slowly decreased, but with percentages of foreign born population on the increase since 1970 as opposed to native-born population, and as the United States had the most net increase in population between 2000 and 2005, the issue of how to treat immigrants has resurfaced. Illegal immigration has become a major issue in the United States because many blame economic issues on their presence. With all of these factors, the question becomes who needs more help or who deserves more help, those citizens already in the United States or new immigrants? The immigrant experience is a difficult one troubled with fear and poverty, but many argue that they take jobs from citizens and cause many problems for citizens (see below). For all of these reasons, many still argue over how to deal with immigrants because giving immigrants more rights takes away opportunities from citizens.

All three presidential candidates have had to face rigorous questioning about their proposed immigration policies. The two topics which seem to be the most important are border security and the issue of what to do with the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants who are living in the United States. Americans have expressed a concern for the impact the illegal immigrants have had on the economy. Many believe that illegal immigrants are not paying taxes, taking jobs away from Americans, and crowding schools.

It is very interesting to compare the presidential candidates of 2008's immigration policy proposals. All three presidential candidates feel that border security needs to be taken up a notch and thought of more seriously. They all also advocate that the United States improve their relationship with its bordering countries and think of a way to make the citizenship (giving them a right to vote) process smoother. Senator Barack Obama, from the democratic side, supports a guest worker program, the granting of driver's licenses to illegal immigrants and allowing illegal immigrants to get financial aid or scholarships for school. The other democratic candidate, Senator Hilary Clinton does not support a guest worker program, focuses her attention on helping legal immigrants get good health care and has been unsure of her stance on giving illegal immigrants drivers licenses. Lastly, Republican Senator John McCain does support a guest worker program and believes that illegal immigrants should be able to get scholarships for school. Besides immigration being an important topic that will be highly discussed, legal immigrants themselves will be very important in the voting process, “The Democrats clearly do not want to antagonize Hispanic voters […] They are very important in swing states” (qtd. in http://www.nytimes.com). Although Hispanics do not represent all immigrants, they do represent a majority.

It is clear that immigration remains a disputed topic in the United States. With such a dispute that is somewhat anchored to race, as immigrants tend to be of minorities, it is difficult to say that the Civil Rights Movement is finished. How can it be finished when many Hispanics do not have rights because they are too poor to go through the naturalization process? How can it be finished when giving these civil rights will compromise the lives (and arguably the civil rights) of current citizens? With these questions unanswered, it is our opinion that at least in terms of the immigration issue, the Civil Rights Movement is unfinished.

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