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Illegal Immigration Policy

Emiliano Pizarro
University of Texas at El Paso

Abstract

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Illegal immigration is an issue that has affected the United States since its establishment. One of
the most important issues is whether or not having a clear path to citizenship will have positive
or negative effects on the country. The US spends millions of dollars detaining and prosecuting
illegal immigrants when holding them under custody. The government shares information to
track down illegal immigrants and in many cases deport them, deeply affecting their families.
Criminalizing illegal immigrants is the right way to address the issue in the minds of many
citizens, especially in the republican party. The fear of many citizens is that the jobs that could be
going to them are going to illegal immigrants. The event that dramatically changed immigration
policy is the attack on the world trade center. This event changed how Americans thought about
immigration and created fear and panic, through this panic immigration laws became stricter. The
primary research used in this paper comes in form of a survey which questions the stand on
immigration policy of the subject. It was taken by 23 students and the results are mostly in favor
of allowing illegal immigrants to have a path to citizenship.

Illegal immigration in the US

Illegal immigration is a subject with many layers of facts and opinions that must be
accounted for in order to treat the issue. Many people oppose it because it seems wrong since its

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illegal, however the people who are most affected by it are the immigrants themselves. These are
people who are risking everything on the hope that there can be a better life for them and their
children. The research described in this paper will be guided around the following questions.
1. Should 9/11 be a reason to change the policy of immigration to the
restricted one that is present today?
2. Will making a fair process to enter the United States and become a
citizen help the country or cause more problems?
3. Should there be a policy change in the United States regarding
immigration?
Immigration for many people is the only hope for a better life, it becomes an issue when people
shape their views on immigration by focusing on the few negatives rather than the millions of
people who are positively affected by it.
The Effects of 9/11 on immigration
The terrorist attack on September 11, 2001 changed peoples perspective on immigration
drastically. People who lived here all their lives and felt safe from harm that terrorises other
countries, were in a way woken up by this event. The biggest impact 9/11 had in the United
States is the terror it brought to the people. The people who committed this horrible act were
immigrants, who came to this country pretending to seek what millions of real immigrants seek;
an opportunity. Many Americans were quick to blame illegal immigration, separating themselves
from immigrants as two sets of people, and the immigrants were not to be trusted again. After
9/11, the immigration agencies were shifted around and put under a new department called
Homeland Security. Homeland Security became a topic of interest in the government and more
and more money went to keeping immigrants out and deportations.

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Homeland Security was a direct result from the attacks of 9/11, however the agencys
goal was not to fix or prevent more attacks. Homeland Security affected mostly Mexican
immigrants, not those who caused 9/11. Mexican immigrants at the time were coming over to the
United States at some of the historically highest rates, looking to work and step up to the work
opportunity that was appearing. As crossing the border became more difficult, and as economic
changes in the United States opened additional jobs to low-skilled foreign workers, immigrants
began to settle permanently, bringing their families to live in the United States. Between 1990
and 2010 more than 7.5 million Mexican immigrantsmany of whom were unauthorized
arrived. (Zong, 2014) President Bush turned the fear of the American people toward the fact
that the terrorists were immigrants, and began the struggle of many illegal immigrants. Most
who came chasing opportunities set by American employers while fearing Homeland Security
who suddenly had the money and the presidents pressure to go after them.
Should 9/11 be a reason to change the policy of immigration to the restricted one that is present
today?
The group of terrorist that is responsible for 9/11 has nothing to do with immigration
from Mexico the the United States. Yet it is the cause for much of the financial power that is
fighting illegal immigrants, and for the cultural negativity toward immigration. Illegally
immigrating is not an action that should be rewarded, but in the case of the current illegal
immigrants it is the only way they could start a life in the United States. If a fair path to
citizenship was available then illegal immigration would not be the problem it is today. The
reasons for 9/11 and the movement against Mexican immigrants are two separate topics that are
only united by the term immigrant. The changes after 9/11 try to fix the issue of illegal

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immigration by attacking the immigrants that live as American citizens without the rewards,
rather than trying to fix the broken immigration system.

The deportation of illegal immigrants

The government spent millions of dollars trying to stop illegal immigrants coming from
Mexico and deporting those who crossed over. The government now removes people that have
lived in the United States most of their lives, have U.S. citizen family members, but lack a way
to become legal residents or citizens of the United States. (Quevedo, 2015) This quote describes
how even those immigrants who spent their whole lives trying to make a life here are deported if
found. With 11 million illegal immigrants and laws that allow United States officials to detain
them, there is a record breaking number of illegal immigrants being detained. An immigration
law, known as the mandatory detention statute, is partially to blame for this record breaking
immigration detention population. Under this law, facilities may hold noncitizens without
providing them an opportunity to ask for release. (Torrey, 2015) .
Illegal immigrants statistically don't commit crimes any more than any citizen, then why
are there so many being detained? Most of illegals being detained have only committed the crime
of being in the United States without papers. These people are tracked down by officials in
attempts to deport them, or detain them. United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement
(ICE) removes about 400 thousand noncitizens per year, or about 1,000 per day. (Quevedo,
2015). There are many ways in which illegal immigrants are found, but one of the most feared by
them is being stopped while driving. That stop, which can be for something totally unrelated to
immigration, can in the end lead to deportation. So that's a real fear. Somebody is driving to
work but without a licence or without insurance because they can't get a licence and can't get
insurance because of their status, can wind up encountering the police and being removed from

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the US. (Phillips 2014) This quote describes the event that has separated many innocent people
from their families, to be stopped because of a simple traffic violation and then be detained when
they realize you are an illegal immigrant. S-COM empowers police to arrests individuals for
the very purpose of booking them and having their immigration status screened-without regard to
whether that arrest leads to any criminal prosecution. (Quevedo, 2015).
When debating whether the overall effect of immigrants in America is positive or
negative it is valuable to look at the opinions of current citizens. In the video titled The High
Cost of Illegal Immigration, the views on illegal immigration of many United States citizens is
expressed. The video describes what they claim are the effects on illegal immigration in the
nation, as well as having graphical representation of the points. The first point made is that
illegal immigration is too expensive on the United States budget, and that having that extra
expense could make our economy crash. This is shown and told as he says Illegal immigration
is not only a burden on the environment, but also our wallets. Especially in economically
difficult times, an additional financial burden is difficult to handle. During this portion of the
video the image is of a gauge that is in red, and as he mentions illegal immigrations effect on the
wallets of citizens then the gauge passes the red zone and cracks.
The next point made is that illegal immigrants are taking jobs that could be going to
citizens. This is described as being due to the fact that illegal immigrants can be paid less than
citizens because there is no paperwork when an illegal immigrant begins to work somewhere.
Now the next graph in a way contradicts this.

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This graph shows that illegal immigrants have jobs that are low paying and require very
little education. The jobs that are higher paying and more comfortable are taken by citizens, since

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most grew up with education here and had more opportunities to go to college. Immigrants come
and take any job that they can get. The citizens that are working in the same jobs that illegal
immigrants have are most likely teenagers or students that need money as they study. Another
point against the ideas in the video is that all jobs are still available for citizens, and if an
immigrant fits the job better than a citizen then it is fair they get it.
Should there be a policy change in the United States regarding immigration?
The policy in the US regarding immigration is broken for many reasons such as the ones
discussed in this paper. To change the policy is something that everyone agrees should be done,
what is disagreed is what it should change to. Some think that having a path to citizenship for
current illegal immigrants is the fair thing to do, to give those that gave their lives to the US a
chance to live it fully. There are also those who believe that the current immigrants should be
deported, and if they want to come to the US they should do it the current legal way. With the
information in this paper it seems that the best choice would be to have a path to citizenship,
since the other choice is to deport 11 million people. This still brings up a problem though, since
a path to citizenship would encourage a lot of people to come over and become citizens, which
could lead to overcrowding. Though this is too theoretical to be used as fact when making the
decision. To solve this complex issue takes careful analysis, and compassion for all the people
affected.
References
Torrey, P. L. (2015). Rethinking Immigrations Mandatory Detention Regime: Politics,
Profit, and the Meaning of"Custody". University Of Michigan Journal Of Law Reform,
48(4), 879-913.
Fandl, K. J. (2015). Putting States Out of the Immigration Law Enforcement Business.
Harvard Law & Policy Review, 9(2), 529-552.

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Quevedo, J. C. (2015). THE TROUBLING CASE(S) OF NONCITIZENS: IMMIGRATION

ENFORCEMENT THROUGH THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM AND THE EFFECT
ON FAMILIES. Tennessee Journal Of Law & Policy, 10(2), 386-421.
http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/mexican-immigrants-united-states
http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/rearvision/the-history-of-illegalimmigration-in-the-united-states/5678670
http://www.cbp.gov/border-security/along-us-borders/history
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8lLU7XjcWc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHtsBY146Ds