Immigration Policy Is in Need of Reformation

The effects of the immigration population have been debated since immigrants began to enter the United States over a century ago. The positive and negative effects of their presence has become a controversial topic among political leaders, lobbyists, and citizens, resulting in the implementation of immigration policy that mirrors the opinions of these Americans. It is you, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), that enforce and in some ways implement these immigration laws. What I mean by implement is that you seem to have the upper hand when it comes to the reformation of immigration policy; that is, you have great influence at the White House through your extensive lobbying, resulting in the implementation of immigration policy in your favor. As you may not realize, many of your opinions towards such policy are in need of reform and updating; current immigration policy is too liberal in some aspects and too intolerant in others.

Primarily, the quotas established as a result of your influential petitioning are too strict. After doing some research, I have concluded that the reason for such high numbers of illegal immigrants in the United States is your opinion of tighter quotas (Ting). Immigrants are not able to enter the U.S. legally because when they apply for visas, they are denied because the quota is already or close to being full (Ting). They then have to resort to entering the U.S. the only other way they know: illegally. Most illegal immigrants don’t bother applying for a visa because they already have the notion that they will be denied, after waiting months for a response. If the immigration quotas were increased, future immigrants would have more incentive to apply for a visa with greater hopes of being granted admittance to the U.S., thereby decreasing the illegal immigration population (Ting).

Similarly, your process with which visas are granted is too stringent for modern society. When immigrants from other countries apply for a visa, they do not except to wait for months, sometimes more than a year, for a response, often a rejection. This process is too long and not very efficient for our current society. No longer do families have great lengths of time to plan their futures; they need responses quickly so they can move forward with their lives (Palakow). For example, a family in poverty in their home country may have to wait close to a year to hear if they can come to the U.S. or not, only to be rejected. Their lives are often paused for great lengths of time waiting for such a decision.

Your opinion of limiting the number of immigrants in the United States creates a negative atmosphere surrounding immigration. Often, people are against increased immigration as a result of the influence of your opinion in government and society, creating an “anti-immigrant feeling” that has spread throughout the world and created “patterns of discrimination and criminalization” (Anderson). This has caused much of the blame for a poor economy or society to be put upon immigrants, whether it is their fault or not (Anderson). John Isbister, professor at Princeton University, is an excellent example of the portion of American citizens that carry such a mindset. He states that having too many immigrants lowers the standard of living because the increase in population creates an inverse relationship to the output per person. In addition, he states that some immigrants create a fiscal burden on local governments by using more city resources than they contribute to in revenue. Although this is true, most immigrants contribute very well to the economy by starting businesses, therefore creating more jobs and expanding the business sector of the economy. This in turn creates a larger middle class population, with the addition of many new working class immigrants. The image found at the end of this paper titled “Illegal Immigration” is also an example of the mindset mentioned previously. The cartoon depicts two men, possibly political leaders, lobbyists, or employees of the government, standing outside of the U.S. Capitol. Based on what the first man states, the reader can imply that the cartoonist believes illegal immigrants create fiscal burdens on American citizens. After reading the second statement, the reader can conclude that the cartoonist believes illegal immigrants are being falsely accused of creating such a large burden on the American taxpayers and the economy when it is really the Senate that is doing so.

Another concern of mine is your treatment of illegal immigrants already living in the United States. They are often treated harshly because of their