Illigal Imagration/ Reform

The current immigration law in the United States is an adaptation of laws developed in the 1920’s. These laws set limits on the number of immigrants coming in to the U.S. from specific countries. The current level of immigrants allowed in is 700,000 a year, but with illegal immigration almost doubling that number new, laws were required.

The first real attempt at curbing the flow of illegal immigration came in 1986 with the IRCA (Immigration Reform and Control Act). This law sought to eliminate the main reason for illegal immigration, employment. Under IRCA employers who knowingly hired illegal were fined. The employers were required to check potential employees status against an INS database, but this database was never created. The employer was now expected to verify the status themselves. This did not work either due to widespread document forgeries. Many critics of IRCA claim that the law was destined to fail. Under IRCA 2.7 million illegal were legalized and for every 1 worker granted amnesty 4 illegal to his place.

In 1996 illegal immigration laws were again revised with the IIRIRA (Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act). This law appeared to be tougher on illegal with a brief period of increased deportations. Minor offences such as shoplifting would you a candidate for deportation. Border patrol had 1000 new agents added to their ranks. After two years of INS raids and innovative new tactics for curbing illegal immigration many politicians and businessmen became very critical of enforcement. After enough pressure was applied the INS almost completely stopped their raids. Again this law only prevented a very small percentage of illegal from crossing our borders.

In light of September 11 it was recognized that tighter border security was necessary to prevent terrorists from crossing the southern border with ease. It was apparent that all previous laws were completely ineffective with 10 вЂ" 15 million illegal currently living inside the U.S. on October 26 2006 prsident Bush signed into effect the Secure Fence Act. The act allows for over 700 miles of double reinforced fence to be built in high trafficking zones along the Mexican border. It authorizes the installation of more lighting, vehicle barriers, and border checkpoints, while putting in place more advanced equipment like sensors, cameras, satellites, and unmanned arial vehicles to watch the border. The Secure Fence Act realizes it is impossible to watch the border with agents alone

The latest law proposed was the McCain / Kennedy Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007. Many called the bill an amnesty bill because it would have given 12 million illegal a path to citizenship. This bill failed due in large part to huge public outcry. In fact the four proposed bills that preceded this one all failed to pass. Many believe that reform is not necessary to stop the flow of illegal, just enforcing the current laws.

The majority of Americans are reedy for tough measures to be taken: mass deportations, An amendment to the 14th amendment repelling the “anchor baby “ provision which allows pregnant mothers to cross the border illegally, have the baby and then, since the baby was born on U.S. soil it is a citizen. An amendment declaring English the only national language. A bill with these measures would be effective and supported by a majority of the citizens. Politicians and businesses enjoy the flow of cheap labor across the border as it increases profits and stimulates the economy. While the U.S. economy enjoys some benefits from undocumented workers there is an overall negative effect in the amount of 10+billion dollars.

Illegal immigration refers to immigration across national borders in a way that violates the immigration laws of the destination country. Under this definition, an illegal immigrant is a foreigner who either has illegally crossed an international political border, be it by land, water, or air, or a foreigner who has entered a country legally but then overstays his/her visa. In politics, the term may imply a larger set of social issues and time constraints with disputed consequences in areas such as economy, social welfare, education, health care, slavery, prostitution, crime, legal protections, voting rights, public services, and human rights. Illegal emigration would be leaving a country in a manner that violates the laws of the country being exited.

Immigrants are classified as illegal for one of three reasons: entering without authorization or inspection, staying beyond the authorized period after legal entry, or violating the terms of legal entry.

Illegal immigration into the United States occurs mostly via land and sea. In 1993 a large group of undocumented Asian immigrants attempted entry into the United States via a sea vessel. Ten of them arrived dead. In March of 2006 the Pew Hispanic Center (PHC) estimated the undocumented population ranged from 11.5 to 12 million individuals [, a number supported by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO). Using data from March of 2004, PHC estimated that 57% of this population comes from Mexico; 24% from Central America and, to a lesser extent, South America; 9% from Asia; 6% from Europe, and the remaining 4% from elsewhere. Significant illegal immigration into the United States also takes place through its border with Canada, with most notorious recent case being that of a reportedly Algerian terrorist planning to bomb the Los Angeles International Airport.

A United States Permanent Resident Card, also green card, is an identification card attesting the permanent resident status of an alien in the United States of America. Green card also refers to an immigration process of becoming a permanent resident. The green card serves as a proof that its holder, a Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR), has been officially granted immigration benefits, which include permission to conditionally reside and take employment in the USA. The holder must maintain his permanent resident status, and can be removed if certain conditions of such status are not met

Immigrant Petition вЂ" in the first step, USCIS approves the immigrant petition by a qualifying relative, an employer, or in rare cases, such as with an investor visa, the applicant himself. If a sibling is applying, she or he must have the same parents as the applicant.

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Immigrant Visa Availability вЂ" in the second step, unless the applicant is an "immediate relative", an immigrant visa number through the National Visa Center (NVC) of the United States Department of State (DOS) must be available. A visa number might not be immediately available even if the USCIS approves the petition, because the amount of immigrant visa numbers is limited every year by quotas set in

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