Analysis of US Immigration Policy's Progress and Immigrant Rights

This essay provides a comprehensive analysis of US immigration policy and its impact on the rights of immigrants. It begins by outlining the historical context of immigration in the US and the factors that have contributed to the current immigration landscape, including economic crises and government policies. The essay then delves into the specific policies of the Trump administration and their consequences, such as the separation of immigrant children from their parents and the zero-tolerance approach, highlighting the ethical and moral considerations involved. Key points discussed include the government's stance on immigration, the rights of immigrants, and the social movements that have arisen in response to these policies. The essay examines the impact of these policies on immigrants and the government's claims regarding illegal immigration, concluding with an assessment of the US immigration policy's effectiveness and its implications for the future. The references used provide context and supporting evidence for the arguments presented throughout the essay.

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The progress in the US immigration policy and its impact on immigrant rights
Essay analysis
Immigration is considered to be one of major threat for the developed countries as the
population boom and the shrinkage in resources. In this context, the immigrant population in US
is about 14% of the total population. Therefore, it is highly important for the government to
make better policy to resolve the immigration issues steadfastly. In this regard, Alarcón (190)
opined that there are prolonged legacies and practices among the overseas migrants to come and
live a better lifestyle in America. As a result of that the country became a hub for immigrants to
come at a large number and became the citizens of America legally. The government
endorsement also pushed the immigrants to opt for United States as the best possible alternative.
However, the economic crisis in 2008 leveled off the rate of immigrants and the government
forced the migrants to return back to their home countries. It caused serious problem for the
immigrants in US and questioned their future as well. In this regard, the topic statement of the
essay is the progress in the US immigration policy and its impact on immigrant rights.
In the present case scenario, the Trump government tries to put a dent on the immigration
policy that caused severe problems and issues for the immigrant Americans. For an instance, the
government suppression through separation of the immigrant children from their parents and

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putting a zero-tolerance towards those people without having any trial or democratic procedure.
As a result of that it became a serious threat to the democratic cohesion and practice inside the
country where every people have the right to seek justice (Steil and Vasi, 1050). The moral
considerations are also identified as an important aspect that coincided with the practice of
making better policy for the immigrants. Therefore, the thesis statement of this research will be
“the progress in the US immigration policy and its impact on immigrant rights”. In this regard,
there are some important key points such as the tradition in the immigration framework of the
US government, immigration crisis in US and the immigrant rights and moral considerations.
The Bill of James Sensenbrenner had faced severe opposition from hundreds of
thousands immigrants in US condemning the punitive act of criminalizing undocumented
immigrants in United States (Zamora-Kapoor and Verea, 132). Moreover, it can be stated that
the immigrants had been taken part into the political movement where the Illegal Immigration
Relief Act overpowered the city landlords by prohibiting the immigrants from any other
language except the English (Peters, 834). In this regard, it can be stated that there are huge gulf
between the government policies and the rights of the immigrants. As a matter of fact, it is highly
important to state that the government did not want to endorse the immigrants further based on
the perception to ensure the homeland safety and security.
In this regard, the new policy of the Trump government creates more difficulties for the
government to maintain law and order as well as for the immigrants the process seems very
unrealistic and inhumane (Greenberg). The present case scenario is further heightened with the
discriminatory practices that the government is following on the basis of religious inequality. It
can be stated that this unequal practice of the US government paves the way for further agitation

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and chaos turned into political and social movement. From that above point of view, it can be
argued that the undemocratic and unconstitutional mechanism within the government. In this
context, Hollifield (1315) asserted that the after the terrorist attack on World Trade Centre, it
became so pertinent for the US government to ensure the homeland security more effective.. As
a result of that putting a ban or hostility towards the Islamic people became evident for US
populace. It was also seen in case of the immigration policy of the America.
The emotional sentiments are also circled around the implication of the country running
immigration order. Fox (1063) articulated that the government is targeting children at an age of
five to ten to separate children from their parents. As a result of that a pertinent question has
been emerged from this debate about the difference of refugee crisis and the perception regarding
immigrants. In this context, the government failed to provide any justification behind such
punitive and draconian action. As far as the government’s argument is concerned, it can be
argued that there are prevalence of illegal immigration and the enhancing the safety and security
in the US borders the government is willing to set some draconian measures. However, the
government data proved that most of those immigration were based on family reunification
rather than seeking asylum in US. Based on the above discussion it was pointed out by Felter and
Renwick that the US immigration policy was not effective enough to deal with the immigration
issues. In fact, it was a legacy of immigration that was previously endorsed by the US
government predominantly.
In this context, it can be stated that there are significant impact of the immigration policy
of the US government that affects the immigrants intensely. Moreover, the government tries to
show that the new policies are intended to resolve illegal immigration in US soil. As a matter of
fact, the claims of the government are very lucid and de facto does not help the administration to

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deal with the immigration issues. In this context, it can be stated that the immigrants are dreamt
of a better life and therefore intend to settle in American soil where they can get proper
environment to fulfil their aspirations. Moreover, the government also endorsed people to come
and stay in the land and helped the country to enrich and develop its economy. Henceforth, it can
be stated that the immigrants are still expects better treatment from the government.
Nevertheless, the government does not feel any intension to perform any better treatment for the
immigrants. On the contrary, practicing unconstitutional attempts facilitates and instigates the
immigrants to evoke protests and agitation against the government.

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Reference
Alarcón, Rafael. "US Immigration policy and the mobility of Mexicans (1882-
2005)." Migraciones Internacionales 6.20 (2017): 185-218. He tries to identify the important
immigrant policy making of the US government and its impact on the Mexican immigrants.
Felter, Claire, and Danielle Renwick. "The U.S. Immigration Debate". Council On Foreign
Relations, 2018, https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/us-immigration-debate-0. Accessed 17
Feb 2019. The account of Felter and Renwick helped this research to understand the
immigration debate in US in the contemporary situation and the government measures to
resolve it.
Fox, Cybelle. "Unauthorized welfare: The origins of immigrant status restrictions in American
social policy." The Journal of American History 102.4 (2016): 1051-1074. The article of Fox
tried to portray a clear idea of the policy making of the government that left an adverse impact
on the immigrant youths intensely. As a result of that the report helps to depict a clear
understanding related to the immigrant policy of the government policy and its impact on the
immigrant children.
Greenberg, Jon. "Does America Face A Refugee Or An Immigration Problem?". Politifact, 2018,
https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2018/jun/29/does-america-face-refugee-or-
immigration-problem/. Accessed 17 Feb 2019. As a matter of fact, Greenberg was trying to
figure out the actual problem regarding the US immigration issue. Henceforth, he proceeded
with the vision of dividing the refugee crisis and the immigration problem in America to
understand the exact factors behind the immigration issue.

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Hollifield, James F. "Debunking American exceptionalism and rescuing liberalism." Ethnic and
Racial Studies 38.8 (2015): 1312-1318. In the process of discussion, Hollifield tries to
highlight the legacy of making America a place for better life and living with an American
dream. Moreover, the writing also confirmed the transition in course of the terrorist activities
that subsequently left an impact on the immigration policy as well
Peters, Margaret E. "Trade, foreign direct investment, and immigration policy making in the
United States." International Organization 68.4 (2014): 811-844. The objective of the
research of Peters can be seen in case of attaching the immigration crisis in America with the
economic and financial aspects that drove the government to take decisions accordingly.
Therefore, this research played a significant role in order to highlight the economic factors or
benefits influencing the immigration policy making.
Steil, Justin Peter, and Ion Bogdan Vasi. "The new immigration contestation: Social movements
and local immigration policy making in the United States, 2000–2011." American Journal of
Sociology 119.4 (2014): 1104-1155. The article of Steil and Vasi tried to create a link between
the social movements in US as an outcome of the mal-administrative policies of the
government. As a matter of fact, the account also kept tracking the social outbursts since 2000
to 2011.
Zamora-Kapoor, Anna, and Monica Verea. "Public attitudes toward immigration in turbulent
times." Migration studies 2.2 (2014): 131-134. In this regard, the article of Zamora-Kapoor
and Verea intended to point out the relationship between the immigration problem and the
popular responses to the problem. In fact, it can be stated that the article helped a lot in order

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to understand the social cohesion between the American citizens and the immigrant
population