The U.S. Immigration System Today Walter A. Ewing Senior Researcher American Immigration Council Washington, DC
A Convoluted System Immigration law is a mystery and a mastery of obfuscation, and the lawyers who can figure it out are worth their weight in gold. Karen Kraushaar, INS Spokesperson, Washington Post, April 2001. In other words, the U.S. immigration system is not governed by logic.
Defining Immigrants In social sciences, immigrant generally means foreign born and encompasses: Naturalized U.S. citizens. Lawful Permanent Residents ( green card holders). Temporary workers. Refugees and asylees. Beneficiaries of Temporary Protected Status (TPS). Undocumented immigrants.
Demographic Context Retirement of Baby Boomers is slowing labor force growth significantly. Unmet demand for new workers and the taxes they pay is growing. Healthcare needs of burgeoning older population demand growing numbers of healthcare workers in both high-skilled and less-skilled occupations. Financial strains on Medicare and Social Security are increasing.
Watershed Moments in Immigration Law 1965: End of immigration quotas based on national origin. 1986: Legalization of undocumented plus increased enforcement. 1996: Criminalization of immigrants and denial of benefits. 2001: Ethnic and religious profiling in the name of national security.
1965 Hart Cellar Act scrapped quotas favoring immigrants from northwestern Europe. Old racist stereotypes had been undermined by: Discrediting of eugenics. Successful assimilation of southeastern Europeans. Growing power of Civil Right Movement.
Ignoring the Impact of Globalization The limits on immigration imposed in 1965 were not very flexible. Globalization was fostering increased economic interdependence (and increased migration) which was not accommodated by the caps. For example, a cap of 20,000 was placed on immigration from Mexico in 1976, at the same time U.S.-Mexico economic integration was accelerating. The result: growing undocumented immigration.
1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) tried to gain control of undocumented immigration by: Legalizing most undocumented immigrants already in the U.S. Ramping up border and workplace enforcement to keep out new migrants. Flexible limits on future immigration were not created, so undocumented immigration continued.
1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA), Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA), and the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA). These bills made it easier to deport or deny federal welfare benefits even to lawfully present immigrants.
2001 Post-9/11 policies have emphasized religious profiling in the name of national security. Undocumented immigrants are frequently conflated with criminals and terrorists in order to justify heavy-handed immigration enforcement. Failure of federal government to overhaul U.S. immigration laws has led many states and localities to pursue their own immigration policies.
The Epidemiological Paradox Immigrants tend to have lower rates of adult and infant mortality and give birth to fewer underweight babies than natives despite higher poverty rates and greater barriers to health care. However, their health status and that of their children worsens the longer they live in the United States. As they adopt an American diet high in fats, sugars, and processed foods, they experience sharp increases in obesity, diabetes, and high blood pressure.
Life Under the Radar Undocumented immigrants tend to avoid contact with medical professionals for fear of disclosing their legal status. As a result, many die of treatable conditions, or go to emergency rooms as a last resort a cost borne by the state which often provokes the anger of U.S. taxpayers.
Immigrants and Epidemics Predictably, nativists have long blamed immigrants for spreading diseases that originate in foreign lands. HIV, H1N1, Ebola, Zika, etc. But viruses don t respect borders or care about nationality. International travelers to a country are just as capable of spreading a disease as the indigenous population. For that reason, border controls are not particularly effective at stemming the spread of epidemics.