The document discusses arguments for making US immigration laws less restrictive. It notes that hundreds of millions immigrate annually seeking better opportunities and safety. However, the process is challenging, with advantages for wealthy countries and a long, difficult process for less developed countries. Stricter laws have led to more illegal immigration and family separations. The document argues that easing restrictions could benefit impoverished immigrants and the US economy, which relies on immigrant workers in many industries. However, others believe current laws are adequately strict to ensure safe, legal immigration.
The document discusses arguments for making US immigration laws less restrictive. It notes that hundreds of millions immigrate annually seeking better opportunities and safety. However, the process is challenging, with advantages for wealthy countries and a long, difficult process for less developed countries. Stricter laws have led to more illegal immigration and family separations. The document argues that easing restrictions could benefit impoverished immigrants and the US economy, which relies on immigrant workers in many industries. However, others believe current laws are adequately strict to ensure safe, legal immigration.
The document discusses arguments for making US immigration laws less restrictive. It notes that hundreds of millions immigrate annually seeking better opportunities and safety. However, the process is challenging, with advantages for wealthy countries and a long, difficult process for less developed countries. Stricter laws have led to more illegal immigration and family separations. The document argues that easing restrictions could benefit impoverished immigrants and the US economy, which relies on immigrant workers in many industries. However, others believe current laws are adequately strict to ensure safe, legal immigration.
The document discusses arguments for making US immigration laws less restrictive. It notes that hundreds of millions immigrate annually seeking better opportunities and safety. However, the process is challenging, with advantages for wealthy countries and a long, difficult process for less developed countries. Stricter laws have led to more illegal immigration and family separations. The document argues that easing restrictions could benefit impoverished immigrants and the US economy, which relies on immigrant workers in many industries. However, others believe current laws are adequately strict to ensure safe, legal immigration.
Should immigration laws in the United States become less restrictive?
AP Capstone Seminar
Word count: 1978
Immigration has become one of the hot-button discussions worldwide; hundreds of
millions of immigrants daily come from well-developed and third-world countries. The United
States attracts most immigrants; they are promised "the American dream" to have better job
opportunities and a safe environment to grow and start a family. According to the Pew Research
Center, Anusha Natarajan, an Experienced Researcher with a demonstrated history of working in
the civic & social organization industry, states, "The number of international migrants grew to
281 million in 2020" (Natarajan, 2022). With more migrations each year, the immigration
process is becoming more challenging. People who live in well-resourced countries will have
advantages in their immigration process, while lesser developed countries will have a longer and
more tedious process; this is because people who come from wealthy backgrounds will have
resources that poor people will not. Since there is difficulty with the immigration process in the
United States, many illegal immigrants will enter the country, which can lead to severe
consequences. Most people immigrate because they live in horrible conditions and want a better
life. This process should be convenient and less restrictive than they are now for everyone
because these immigrants from third-world countries did not choose to live in the place where
they were born, and immigration laws started to become more complex day by day. These
immigration laws are only applied to the wealthy and not the people who have to work paycheck
by paycheck. Some people move out of their country out of convenience or wanting a change in
their life, while others live under corrupt governments, fearing for their lives every day. Many
people want a better life for themselves and their future children, and more accessible
immigration laws will help them. This could be particularly important to people from countries
with a high poverty rate or political instability. To successfully migrate to another country, one must be resilient and optimistic throughout the process; resilience will be the key to overcoming
obstacles headed your way. The stimulus source being connected is "Migrant Mother"; it
connects through resilience and migration in poverty. Most people might agree that these laws
are too restrictive. However, there is a large population that thinks otherwise, that the laws are
situated adequately. These laws have significantly become more strict and difficult to navigate;
having more specific laws will ensure that immigrants will immigrate safely and legally.
Therefore, immigration reform in the United States should become easier to access for the
well-being of the less fortunate.
The main reason immigrants flee their country is because they have an economic
instability that can be considered poverty. Wanting a better life motivates poverty-stricken people
to migrate; with hundreds of underdeveloped third-world countries, people are taking a stand in
their life and doing what's best for them. Poverty can limit access to basic needs such as food,
shelter, and healthcare. According to Julia Gelatt, a Senior Policy Analyst at the Migration Policy
Institute, working with the U.S. Immigration Policy Program, "Of the more than 44 million
immigrants in the United States as of 2019, one-third (14.8 million) were low income, meaning
that their family's income was below 200 percent of the federal poverty level" (Gelatt, 2022).
This shows the number of people forced to migrate yearly because of poverty and need better
resources to survive. Furthermore, having more accessible access to immigration laws will
benefit these people immensely. In addition, the increase of illegal immigrants is an effect of
corrupt or underdeveloped countries; this is because since it takes too long to legally migrate to
another country, they have to migrate illegally. According to Cynthia M Smith, a policy advisor
of the Office of migration policy and public affairs, "Moreover, according to two well-regarded
opinion surveys of unauthorized immigrants in the United States, the large majority of those unauthorized in the country today would have preferred to enter lawfully if they could have"
(Smith, 2023). This shows that most people that immigrate illegally only do it by necessity to
escape their current country; their people shouldn't get penalized for trying to escape the horrible
conditions they are living in.
Another reason why immigration laws should be easier to access is that hundreds of
families across the country are getting significantly impacted. Many children get taken away
from their parents due to the complicated immigration process. According to the American
Immigration Council, David Shirk, the chair of the Department of Political Science and
International Relations at the University of San Diego, states, "In the United States today, more
than 16.7 million people share a home with at least one family member, often a parent, who is
undocumented" (Shirk, 2021). This causes trauma for families and contributes to many mental
health issues. Children whose parents get taken away must endure a long process of child
custody which can be tedious at times. Having a child in another country is not a favorable
position if the child has no relatives there. For example, hundreds of children are being taken
away from their families on the Mexican border with the United States to deter parents from the
right to asylum if needed. According to Erica Bryant, a senior writer who writes for change in
legal criminal and immigration systems states, "In the fiscal year 2021, a record 122,000 children
were taken into U.S. custody without their parents" (Bryant, 2022). This demonstrates the
number of children that have to suffer at the hands of these immigration laws. These laws deny
asylum to refugees in desperate need of a safe country to reside in. "Trump administration
exploited a little-known clause in public health law as a pretext to deny asylum seekers entry to
the United States" (Bryant, 2022). This shows how complex these laws can be and how
dangerous it can be to rely on immigration laws. Furthermore, children who have been taken away from their families or have arrived in the United States, for example, must endure horrible
mistreatment in CBP custody, jail-like conditions, and facilities. This experience is terrifying,
unnecessary, and very harmful for these children. Children who seek safety should not have to
endure additional trauma at the hands of the U.S. government and immigration laws.
From an economic perspective, strict immigration laws also have negative economic
consequences. Many industries across the United States rely on immigrant workers for the
industry to thrive. Many argue that immigrants boost the economy by increasing the labor supply
and promoting innovation. If the immigration laws become too restrictive, these immigrants will
be forced to reside in their birth country and not contribute to the United States economy. Daniel
Thomas Mollenkamp, an American journalist specializing in legislative issues, states, "A 2017
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report found that immigration has
an overall positive effect on the economy" (Mollenkamp, 2021). This demonstrates how
immigration can positively affect the economy of the United States, but if the laws are getting
strict, these people will not be able to work, and the industries will fail. Most of the immigrants
that migrate to the United States are looking for stable jobs, and the U.S. has many that could be
occupied; however, the U.S. government thinks that they can keep a stable economy, but they
cannot if these immigrants take up most of the jobs are not able to migrate legally. In addition,
these immigrants work at high rates and make up more than one-third of the workforce in some
industries, and immigration also helps support the aging native-born population. In the United
States, immigrants made up 32% of the population growth between 2000 and 2018, according to
an economic analyst published by the International Monetary Fund. Thus the United States is
made up mostly of immigrants helping their economy, and in return, they should get more
accessible laws for their family members in their home country. In addition, Giovanni Peri, a professor of economics at the University of California, Davis, has argued that "It would reduce
population decline, keep the size of the labor force from shrinking, improve age dependency
ratios, and produce positive fiscal gains. From a policy standpoint, this means increasing the
number of immigrants allowed, reducing other constraints on immigration, and planning for
future inflows" (Peri, 2021). This demonstrates that the U.S. government should allow these
immigrant workers to enter the workforce and country because they positively affect the
economy. During the Trump administration, the U.S. took aggressive steps to restrict the flow of
immigrants; this was when the economy was not at its peak.
How can these laws become easier to access? One could argue that all the United States
needs is to maximize its immigration security but having more accessible laws to access will
ensure the safety of these immigrants. For instance, "enforcement should reduce the number of
violations by directing immigrants who have not committed serious towards viable, legal
pathways for entry, residence and employment" (Bier, 2020), stated David J Bier, the associate
director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute. This demonstrates that the United States is
holding accountable people who are not committing any crimes, and he states that the United
States should let these innocent people enter the United States without a problem. The United
States government should correct them, not penalize them, ensuring a reasonable process and
immigrants would be incentivized to uphold legal requirements. In addition, if these immigrants
get apprehended in some way because of their legal status, they should get acquainted with the
right resources to help them, "Immigration court is one of the few parts of the U.S. legal system
in which a person's freedom is at stake, but the person has never had the right to
government-provided counsel at any proceeding" (Bier,2020). This demonstrates that if by any
way an immigrant can get apprehended, they get the justice they deserve. Every human should have the right to defend themselves in court, but not everyone has the resources to do so.
Therefore, the United States immigration laws are too restrictive and should be more lenient.
As stated above, there are several reasons why the immigration process in the United States
should be easier to access for the lesser fortunate. These people are suffering in their current
countries and are seeking a better and safer place to reside. By having more accessible access to
these laws or a more manageable process, there would not be as many illegal immigrants in the
United States present day. The government is irritated by these people, but if they had easier
access, there would not be as many illegal immigrants. These human beings are being treated as
objects, being mistreated, putting them in horrible conditions and situations. For example, when
a family is illegally immigrating, the children get taken away from their parents, which is against
fundamental human rights, these children will have trauma for the rest of their lives, and the U.S.
government does not seem to care about these people. Even if these people are helping their
economy, the United States government should be considerate of their jobs and let these
immigrants to their country in an easier way. These immigration laws are challenging to
navigate, and how they are unfair. Some limitations would be for the government to deny the
petition for more specific accessible laws entirely and not to fund the untrustworthy immigration
services that the United States provides. To lawfully immigrate to the United States, one must
endure a long process of legal measures, which are highly selective, to ensure the person is fit for
the position in the country. These immigrants cannot wait around while they get legally
documented; they could be in a dangerous position in their country and must get out for
protective reasons. This is why the American government should make these laws more easily
accessible to protect these humans from harm.
References
Bier, D. J. (2020, November 11). Reforming the Immigration System: A Brief Outline. Retrieved
