Domestic and Foreign Policy Essay: Immigration

Salt Lake Community College

POLS 1100: American Government and Politics

Sinta Vaha

August 4, 2022
 Domestic and Foreign Policy: Immigration

Immigration is a topic that has been a continuous debate but even more so recently. There

are many contrasting thoughts regarding Immigration. Some believe the government should push

harder for policies that prevent illegal immigration while other believe that there should be more

options/sympathy for illegal immigrants. The United States began controlling immigration

shortly after it won its freedom from Great Britain. With many laws and policies, immigration

policy changed according to politics and other factors. If we look back at the different acts that

have been passed in the beginning, many of them were geared toward immigrants who were not

a person of color. In the 1790 Naturalization Act, only those who were white were able to

naturalize after being in the United States for two years and having “good moral character.”

Throughout the years, the requirements changed, adjusting the years of residency back and forth.

After almost 80 years, people who had African origins got the option to gain citizenship.

As the years went on there were diverse levels of limitations that were placed on immigration.

Some of these included bans against the disabled and or certain ethnic groups and then some

more years went by where there were some victories such as the Immigration and Nationality

Act. More recently President Obama used his executive action to provide a way for young adults

who were born in the states illegally to apply for work permits without the threat of deportation

on their back. He created the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals also known as DACA and

this program even extended to immigrant parents who were illegal as well. Unfortunately, this

program has been put on hold as 26 states have filed a lawsuit to put an end to this. “Overall,

unauthorized immigrants potentially eligible for deportation relief make up about 1.6% of the

total U.S. population and 1.5% of the combined population in the 26 states that jointly filed suit”
(Lopez and Krogstad). After President Trump came into the presidency, he attempted to put a

stop to this and didn’t have much luck. Where, whereas President Biden wanted to protect this

program but was stopped by a District Judge who was able to put new applications on hold. For

now, there is still debate on whether or not this program will still exist. There are many sides to

this argument as some believe it encourages illegal immigration. Although, these are the types of

programs that need to be implemented in our immigration policy as there seem to be more pros

than cons.

The United States is often referred to as a melting pot as there are immigrants from

countries around the world who are living here and working for the “American Dream”. The

question is not whether Illegal Immigration should be allowed, it’s more so how can allow for

illegal immigration while still maintaining the goals of domestic policy. The United States has

reaped the benefits of immigration for as long as our doors have been. Immigration has allowed

for population growth which leads to higher productivity that the United States can pour out.

“According to 2019 figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, even though almost 14% of the

US population is foreign-born, 17.4% of the US labor force is foreign-born(Gest).” The impact

that immigration has on the labor force is too big to ignore. Having the influx of immigration

helps strengthen the United States’ competitiveness and remain the force that it is.

That being said we need to implement a better legal immigration system that can work

efficiently and timely. “The U.S. government must invest in creating a working immigration

system that alleviates long and counterproductive backlogs and delays and ensures that whatever

laws are enacted by Congress are enforced thoroughly and effectively (Bush et al.).” Giving

illegal immigrants a realistic opportunity to apply for citizenship that won’t cause delay but also
providing requirements that are realistic such as going to college. The DACA programs offers a

great example to what should be implemented.

Security is one of the main issues that many Americans worry for with immigration. The

idea of allowing people into our country where their intentions are unknown as well as the risks.

This can extend into national security as well. Many people want stricter borders while others

would like for Homeland Security to provide more protection for immigrants, especially

refugees. Immigration has proven to have effects on both countries, the U.S. and the country an

immigrant is coming from.

Overall, immigrants are good for the economy. “Immigration is integral to the nation’s

economic growth.” That is partially because the U.S. workforce is getting older, which makes the

arrival of tax-paying, job-creating, and business-starting newcomers “(Open Society

Foundations).” The growth of the economy has been in part due to immigration and in order for

this growth to continue, we must be able to provide policies that allow for immigration to remain

as well as give chances for illegal immigrants who already here to apply for citizenship.
 Works Cited

Bush, Jeb, et al. U.S. Immigration Policy. 2009.

Cohn, D’Vera. “How U.S. Immigration Laws and Rules Have Changed through History.”

Pew Research Center, Pew Research Center, 30 Sept. 2015, www.pewresearch.org/fact-

tank/2015/09/30/how-u-s-immigration-laws-and-rules-have-changed-through-history/.

DUNCAN, Howard. “Immigration Policy as Foreign Policy.” Uluslararası İlişkiler /

International Relations, vol. 17, no. 68, 2020, pp. 5–20,

www.jstor.org/stable/26980733#metadata_info_tab_contents. Accessed 5 Aug. 2022.

Gest, Opinion by Justin. “Opinion: What America Would Look like with Zero

Immigration.” CNN, 2021, www.cnn.com/2021/04/19/opinions/america-future-depends-

immigration-gest/index.html.

Lopez, Mark Hugo, and Jens Manuel Krogstad. “States Suing Obama over Immigration

Programs Are Home to 46% of Those Who May Qualify.” Pew Research Center, 2015,

www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/02/11/states-suing-obama-over-immigration-

programs-are-home-to-46-of-those-. Accessed 5 Aug. 2022.

Open Society Foundations. “Why Does the U.S. Need Immigration Reform?” Open

Society Foundations, 2013, www.opensocietyfoundations.org/explainers/why-does-us-

need-immigration-reform.