Immigration Case

As this country fights the "War on Terrorism", the issue of Immigration heats up. People all over this country have their opinions as to whether or not Immigration reform is needed to tighten our borders and help secure our country. Among the discussion, is an idea the Immigration Reform is needed to help build our economy. Since there are an estimated 10 million immigrants (at least 5 million illegal) in this country, since the number of illegals can only be estimated, the number of illegals could be much higher. How could Immigration reform not help? The strain the illegal population has put on the US Economy is staggering - the American people must help provide health care, schooling, public assistance and many other services to the people that are here illegally. How does making them legal change the problem? Simply put, making them legal will help strengthen social security, increase federal and state tax revenues, and ease the strain on public assistance and healthcare.

Every year there is an estimated one million new immigrants that come to this country, either as a permanent resident or illegal immigrant. Every year the states spend between $11 billion and $22 billion dollars to provide public assistance to immigrants. Every year the states spend at least $250 million to incarcerate immigrants who have broken the law, and Congress enacted a bill that would allow for $250 million to be allocated to the states to help offset the cost of illegal immigrants receiving emergency medical treatment. With a valid and fair Immigration Reform put into place, some of these amounts could be offset by immigrants and permanent residents paying federal and state taxes. This country has had many forms of Immigration Reforms such as the Naturalization Act of 1790 which stated that "naturalization was limited to aliens who were "free white persons". The act of 1790 made no provisions for servants, slaves or women. Another form of Immigration Reform was the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 which restricted immigration. The act defined immigrants into three types of immigrants: relatives of US citizens , immigrants whose numbers were not supposed to exceed 270,000 per year, and refugees. The Act allowed for deportation of immigrants and naturalized citizens who engaged in illegal activity and also barred suspected criminals from entry into the US. President Truman vetoed the act as "un-American" and discriminatory. The veto was overridden and parts of the Act still remain in place today. The act that has most drastically changed how the US looks and acts upon immigration is the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA). The act outlined how the US was to handle crimes committed by illegal immigrants, the act also allowed the Attorney General to hire new border agents and support staff. There are major drawbacks to the IIRIRA and those are that the act stipulates that minor offenses can be deportable and applies to residents that have married American citizens and have had American born children. When the act was passed, it was made retroactive to apply to all who were convicted on deportable offenses. After some debates in the US Supreme Court, it was ruled that it would not apply to non deportable offenses at the time they were convicted. Although, this country has adopted new reforms for immigration, none have effectively thwarted the mass exodus of immigration that have drained our economy and the pockets of the American people. The reforms that are up for debate now seem to group all immigrants into one category-Immigrant.