Private, Security, and Freedom: US Immigration Policy Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of United States immigration policies, tracing their evolution from the nation's inception to the present day. It delves into the purpose of the research, which focuses on the historical significance of immigration and the factors shaping US immigration laws. The report examines the development of these policies, highlighting key legislations, reforms, and challenges, including those related to labor force, terrorism, and fairness. It utilizes a secondary research methodology, incorporating various sources to understand the impact of these policies on both the nation and its nationals. The report also includes an annotated bibliography and a detailed discussion of findings, covering the immigration policies’ impact, development of immigration policies, and provides recommendations based on the analysis. The conclusion summarizes the key points, emphasizing the ongoing changes and complexities of US immigration. The research aims to understand the development of various immigration policies in the USA; to determine the changes made in the policies over the years; and to understand the impact of the changes in the immigration policies in the USA.

Running head: PRIVATE, SECURITY AND FREEDOM
Private, Security and Freedom
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

1PRIVATE, SECURITY AND FREEDOM
Table of Contents
Research Proposal...................................................................................................................................... 2
Purpose of Research................................................................................................................................... 2
Opening statement...................................................................................................................................... 2
Expected Outcomes.................................................................................................................................... 3
Aims and Objectives of the research........................................................................................................... 3
Research question....................................................................................................................................... 3
Summary of Internet sources....................................................................................................................... 4
Cited Sources.............................................................................................................................................. 4
Annoted Bibliography................................................................................................................................... 5
Research Paper........................................................................................................................................... 8
Purpose of the study.................................................................................................................................... 8
Opening statement...................................................................................................................................... 8
Discussion of findings.................................................................................................................................. 9
Development of the immigration policies.................................................................................................. 9
Impact of the policies on the nation and its nationals.............................................................................11
Recommendations..................................................................................................................................... 13
Conclusion/summary................................................................................................................................. 14
Reference page......................................................................................................................................... 15

2PRIVATE, SECURITY AND FREEDOM
Research Proposal
In the Internet World, a look at the present through the Eyes of the Past: United States Immigration Policy
Past and Present
Purpose of Research
The research focuses on the significance of immigration in the American history and how the
United States maintains its reputation as the most open immigration policy in the world. Since the
beginning of the United States, immigration laws of the country have been enacted, reformed and
repealed. These laws have not only demonstrated the needs of the time but has also represented political
statements of the perception of people that have rotated back and forth from favorable to intimidating.
This research paper aims at glancing at the immigration policies and the relevant rules that have been
formed since its inception to the challenges that it face in the contemporary era. Since the founding of the
republic, the Americans and their legislators have always taken into consideration the benefits that are
related to ushering new citizens from all over the world against the benefits of restricting immigration,
subjecting the activities of the foreign born in the USA to monitoring and surveillance and narrowing the
path to citizenship.
Opening statement
The immigration policies of the United States of America persist to undergo changes over time
and the issues that are considered while developing such policies include the role of the immigrant in
labor force, rates of immigration to the US and the growing concerns relating to terrorisms. The primary
question to consider is the fairness of the policies so long it considers the immigrants and benefits of the
United States. The research method that will be used to obtain information about development in the
immigration policies would be secondary research method. This is because secondary sources include
various articles, journals, books, etc which ensures certainty and accuracy as the former researchers
have relied upon such books, articles to conduct their research. Hence, to conduct the research,
secondary research methodology shall be a reliable and valid source.

3PRIVATE, SECURITY AND FREEDOM
The research shall also include legislations that act as evidence for the development of the
immigration policies over the years, in the United States. It shall also include the impact of the policies on
the nation and the nationals over the years. Since the research shall include the quality of fairness I the
policies that have been developed over the years, it shall use a qualitative analysis of the immigration
policies in the USA.
Expected Outcomes
This research examines the various immigration policies that have been developed in the United
States and the changes the policies have undergone since past to this contemporary era. The country
commenced regulating immigration as soon as it gained independence from Great Britain and the laws
enacted since it independence have demonstrated migrant and politics flows of that time. The legislations
enacted earlier tends to impose constraints that proved to be favorable for the Europeans but legislations
enforced in the year 1965 unlocked the doors to immigrants from the other parts of the world. In the
contemporary era, presidential and legal actions have been formulated taking into account issues like
unauthorized immigration, refugees and terrorism.
Aims and Objectives of the research
The main aim and objectives of this research is as follows:
 To understand the development of various immigration policies in the USA;
 To determine the changes made in the policies over the years;
 To understand the impact of the changes in the immigration policies in the USA;
Research question
 How immigration policies have developed over the years in the USA?
 What are the changes made in the immigration policies over the years in the USA?
 What is the impact of the changes made in the immigration policies in the USA?

4PRIVATE, SECURITY AND FREEDOM
Summary of Internet sources
1. Bodvarsson, Ö. B., & Van den Berg, H. (2013). Immigration Policy in the USA. In The
Economics of Immigration (pp. 375-405). Springer New York.
The author of this book has aimed at addressing the essential questions ‘who immigrates’ and
‘why people immigrate’.
2. Rachbauer, M. (2007). Immigration Policy in the USA.
It entails about the stringent measures that has been undertaken by America since the
year 1980 to prevent illegal immigration to the country.
3. Ewing, W. A., Martínez, D. E., & Rumbaut, R. G. (2015). The criminalization of
immigration in the United States.
The author talks about the relationship between crime and immigration and confirms that
there are fewer chances if immigrants committing less severe crimes or are imprisoned
compared to the native-born.
Cited Sources
Bender, S. W., & Arrocha, W. F. (2017). Introduction. In Compassionate Migration and Regional
Policy in the Americas(pp. 1-15). Palgrave Macmillan UK.
Brabeck, K. M., Lykes, M. B., & Hunter, C. (2014). The psychosocial impact of detention and
deportation on US migrant children and families. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 84(5),
496-505.
Homeland Security Act of 2002. PUBLIC LAW 107–56—OCT. 26, 2001
Carmon, N. (Ed.). (2016). Immigration and integration in post-industrial societies: Theoretical
analysis and policy-related research. Springer.

5PRIVATE, SECURITY AND FREEDOM
Annoted Bibliography
1. Bodvarsson, Ö. B., & Van den Berg, H. (2013). Immigration Policy in the USA. In The
Economics of Immigration (pp. 375-405). Springer New York.
The author of this book has aimed at addressing the essential questions ‘who
immigrates’ and ‘why people immigrate’. The author addresses the effects of immigration,
firstly, on the destination country and thereafter the source country. This book aims at
providing relevant information and theories on immigration and provides empirical evidence
to support such information and theories.
2. Rachbauer, M. (2007). Immigration Policy in the USA.
The author discussed about the immigration policy of the United States of America. It
entails about the stringent measures that has been undertaken by America since the year
1980 to prevent illegal immigration to the country. The author talks about the lack of reform
in respect of immigration policy which results in a conflict between the State and the Federal
level. The main purpose of the author was to demonstrate how immigration policy has been
influenced and its impact of such changes on the country in the past as well as its future
impact on the country.
3. Golash-Boza, T. M. (2015). Immigration nation: Raids, detentions, and deportations in
post-9/11 America. Routledge.
The author of the book talks about the measures undertaken by America in the wake of
9/11, where the country created the Department of Homeland Security to prevent any
further terrorist attack in the country in the future. This led to an increase in the immigration
law enforcement- raids, deportations and detentions and analyses the impact of such
stringent US immigration policies on human right. The author also talks about the

6PRIVATE, SECURITY AND FREEDOM
consequences of the immigration policies on the families, communities as well as on the
citizens of the country.
4. Bhachu, P. (Ed.). (2017). Immigration and entrepreneurship: culture, capital, and ethnic
networks. Routledge.
The author critically analyzes the impact of social capital on immigrant entrepreneurship
and the high-value added immigrant entrepreneurship and he further discusses about the
implications of policymaking.
5. Joppke, C., & Morawska, E. (2014). Integrating immigrants in liberal nation-states:
policies and practices. In Toward assimilation and citizenship: Immigrants in liberal
nation-states(pp. 1-36). Palgrave Macmillan UK.
The author laid emphasis on the citizenship and assimilation as a new perspective that
is marked as a turn away from post-national and multicultural perspectives. On pages, 110-
129, the author talks about how the migrants in the contemporary era are concurrently
transnationalising and assimilating.
6. Hollifield, J., Martin, P., & Orrenius, P. (2014). Controlling immigration: A global
perspective. Stanford University Press.
The author of this book takes about the gap between the policy outcomes and goals that
exists in major destination countries such as US, Australia, Canada, etc. It talks about the
tension that was formed by post-colonial immigration and how the countries have initiated
measures to exercise control over the legal and illegal flows of low-skilled workers.
7. Hainmueller, J., & Hopkins, D. J. (2015). The hidden American immigration consensus:
A conjoint analysis of attitudes toward immigrants. American Journal of Political
Science, 59(3), 529-548.

7PRIVATE, SECURITY AND FREEDOM
This scholarly article examines the attitude of the Americans towards immigration. One
pages 1 and 2 of the article, it is stated that where Americans have a positive perspective
about educated immigrants and favors them in high status jobs while they do not favor
immigrants who lacks work plan, or do not have English proficiency or have entered into the
country without authorization.
8. Ngai, M. M. (2014). Impossible subjects: Illegal aliens and the making of modern
America. Princeton University Press.
This book reflects a deeply stimulating work of the author who attempted to explain how
and why illegal immigration became one of the significant concerns in the US immigration
policy process that developed ideas about practices and ideas about race, state authority
and citizenship in the contemporary era.
9. Bender, S. W., & Arrocha, W. F. (2017). Introduction. In Compassionate Migration and
Regional Policy in the Americas(pp. 1-15). Palgrave Macmillan UK.
This book talks about the significant role that compassionate migration can play in the
context of migration patterns prevalent in the United States. The author has explored the
compassion boundaries from various perspectives be it philosophical, political, legal and
inter-disciplinary perspectives. This demonstrates engagement of state and non-state actors
portraying humanity and compassion through informal and formal regimes.
10. Chen, A., & Gill, J. (2015). Unaccompanied children and the US immigration system:
challenges and reforms. Journal of International Affairs, 68(2), 115.
This journal article talks about the Titles IV and V of the Civil Rights Act 1964 stipulates
the rights of children to equitable and free public education irrespective of their race,
religion, national origin, color, sex or legal status.

8PRIVATE, SECURITY AND FREEDOM
Research Paper
Purpose of the study
The United States has been a land of immigration by tradition. This research paper purports to
explain the significance of immigration in the development of the national ideals and identity of the United
States of America. It also discusses about the impact of immigration on the country and its nationals as
well as narrates the experiences of the immigrants. The research lays emphasis on the various
immigration policies that have been implemented by the United States and how they have changed over
time. It discusses about the characteristics of the recent immigrants to the United States as well as the
various different types of US immigration policy immigrants may experience. Rachbauer (2017) states
that it highlights the impact of immigration on the nation and how the immigration policies of the country
shall have a positive impact while negative impact shall result from illegal immigration. However, there are
certain constraints that restrict the causation of illegal immigration. In the past decades, the United State
has observed a significant revival of mass immigration. The accelerated movement portrays mobility
globally to certain extent however; there is a difference in the diversity of its immigration and its
willingness of the United States from majority of countries to consider the immigrants to be a part of the
permanent population of the country.
Opening statement
The United states have been a destination of opportunities and freedom for millions all over the
world. Immigration is considered as fundamental element for the development of this nation both socially
and economically. Although the country has relied on the persisting flow of the immigrants as a medium to
give a boost to its economy and diversify the society, the immigration history has not always been a tale
of welcoming people with open arms. However, the changes made in the immigration law and policy and
the enactments of statutes signify changes from the past policy to the rising trend of global policy.

9PRIVATE, SECURITY AND FREEDOM
Discussion of findings
Development of the immigration policies
Immigration has strongly affected the character of the United States several time in the history of
the country, in particular, the colonial period, mid-nineteenth century, early twentieth century and the last
twenty-five years. The most significant change in the contemporary era is although the largest but its
impact has not been equally significant. The first major immigration to the United States after the
independence of the country commenced in the late 1840s attracting mainly Europeans from the UK,
Germany, Scandinavia and Ireland. According to Golash-Boza (2015), the immigration rate witnessed a
significant incline in the 1880s when the immigrants that arrived in the US exceeded 5 million. The next
group immigrants came mainly from the southern and central Europe. In the 1900s, the immigrants
exceeded 9 million when Poles, Italians, eastern European Jews entered into the country in huge
numbers. With the enactment of the Immigration Act 1990, in the 1990s, this resulted in 10 million
immigrants, hailing mainly from Asia and Latin America marking its historical peak. The goals and
structure of US immigration policy, in the contemporary era, is often misconstrued and not perceived as
three essential set of rules. The first set of rules tends to govern legal immigration; the second set of rules
governs humanitarian admissions (asylums and refugees) and lastly, the rules govern illegal entry into the
country.
The enactment of Naturalization Act in 1790 marked the first uniform rule of naturalization in the
country that excluded non-white people from becoming eligible to naturalize. The statute required the
applicant to be a resident for two years with good moral character and a ‘free white person’. The
requirement provisions of this statute was extended to 14 years in 1798 after the enactment of the four
laws collectively known as the Alien and Sedition Acts which includes stringent immigration
enforcement provisions. The enactment of Immigration Act 1864 created the position of the
Commissioner of Immigration who has been assigned the role to report to the Secretary of State and
ensure that labor contracts made by immigrants outside the United States are enforceable in the US
courts.

10PRIVATE, SECURITY AND FREEDOM
The enactment of the Immigration Act 1882 levied a tax of 50 percent for every passenger
arriving by ship from foreign port and is not US citizens where the tax is to be paid by the ship owner.
The proceeds were to be deposited in ‘immigration fund’ to be used to pay off expenses incurred in
regulating immigration. As per the enactment of the Chinese Exclusion Act, the United States
attempted to regulate immigration along the racial lines where the law prohibited immigration of Chinese
laborers for ten years. On the other hand, the enactment of Scott Act in 1888, the Chinese immigration
was prohibited for lawfully residing Chinese that deported US from returning into the country as was
observed in Chae Chan Ping v USA [130 US 581].
The enactment of the Immigration Act in 1917 prohibited nationals belonging to Middle East and
Southeast Asia from immigrating. The act exempted the students and professionals along with their wives
and children from immigrating into the US. In 1942, the Magnuson Act repealed the Chinese Exclusion
Acts permitting the Chinese nationals to become citizens of the country. The Refugee Relief Act of 1953
and the Migration and Refugee Assistance Act of 1962 authorized admission of non-quota immigrants
and assisted foreign nationals who fled from western hemisphere due to fear of persecution. According to
Refugee Act of 1980, the country permitted admission and processing of refugees and asylum seekers
from overseas that are physically present in the country or at its borders. In 1996, the Illegal Immigration
Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act introduced new grounds of deportation and inadmissibility of
applicants into the country. In 2001, the USA Patriot Act was established that broadened the grounds for
terrorism in order to exclude foreign nationals from entering into USA and enhanced monitoring and
surveillance of foreign students (Joppke & Morawska, 2014).
The 9/11 attack led the country to implement several enforcement measures in order to
safeguard the security of the country and ensuring safety of its nationals (Ngai, 2014). The enactment of
the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Reform Act introduced new verification methods of documents
while people visited the country for travelling purpose and initiated stringent security measures. The
enactment of the Homeland Security Act in 2003 held that the functions of the Department of Justice
and that of the US Immigration and Naturalization Service, which includes border enforcement,
immigration services and border inspection to be divided into three categories. They are the US Customs

11PRIVATE, SECURITY AND FREEDOM
and Border Protection (CBP), US Citizenship and Immigration Services and the US Immigration
and Customs Enforcements.
Impact of the policies on the nation and its nationals
The immigrations policies that were developed and the immigration laws enacted in 1996, 2002
and onwards had given more priority to deter crimes like unauthorized immigration and terrorism
(Hollifield, Martin & Orrenius, 2014). The immigration policies laid more emphasis on border control
and gave utmost importance to the enforcement of laws related to hiring or permitting immigrants entering
into the country by ensuring stringent grounds for admissibility of such immigrants into the country.
The development of the immigration policies and the legislations usually dealt with reformation in
both legal and illegal immigration. The main purpose of immigration policies of the United States has
always been to extend support to the individuals and groups who have fled from their countries in the fear
of persecution. The reformations made in the immigration policies have always aimed at deterring illegal
immigration. To sum up the credibility in the immigration policy, it can be said that those who are eligible
to enter into the country should be allowed to enter into the country. Similarly, those who are eligible to
remain in the country should be permitted to remain in the country. Further, those who are not eligible to
remain or enter into the country, shall not be allowed to enter into or remain in the country.
The provisions of the immigration policies were aimed at introducing stronger penalties against
the illegal immigration and including procedures that deport the immigrants. The deportation process
marks the change in the age-old legal appeal process that was time-consuming and enabled the
immigration lawyers to keep their clients in the US until a judge granted deportation. On the other hand,
the other provisions of the immigration policies aim at reducing the ability of terrorists to enter into the
country by accessing the immigration process and operate in the United States. The purpose behind the
introduction of such provisions is to restrain the terrorists as well as the new immigrants entering into the
country from using the public welfare benefits as against the intention of the immigration law of the
country.

12PRIVATE, SECURITY AND FREEDOM
The immigration policies have a significant impact on the country. Although the immigrants highly
affect certain workers in some industries but their impact cannot be said to be widespread in the job
market. However, the immigrants that arrive in the country mostly have one thing in common that is, their
incompetence in speaking English which reduce their ability to compete with the US born workers or
employees. The lack of language proficiency often holds the immigrants back and reduces their chances
to get jobs that require string communication skills. On the contrary, the adverse impact of the
immigrations is that immigrant workers who do not have a qualified college degree are immigrants who
are likely to be employed in the construction and agriculture sectors (Bhachu, 2017).
Consequently, such immigrants agree to work on low wage, which drives out the US born
nationals from such areas and compels them to take up jobs involving personal and sales services, which
requires high communication skills. Further, immigrants that highly skilled and possess advanced degrees
are pushed towards technical and scientific jobs that does not require high communication skills, thus,
reducing scopes for the native-born workers in such area. Nevertheless, the positive impact of
immigration is it is beneficial for the consumers of the country who receives services and goods at lower
price. Hainmueller and Hopkins (2015) states that they provide labor at cheap rates thus, allowing the
companies to reduce the prices of the consumer products and services. Moreover, immigrants are less
likely to commit crimes the country as compared to the native-borne of the country.
There have been instances where the country faced a decline in the ‘quality’ of immigrants during
the development of the immigration policies in terms of their legal status instead of their origin. In regards
to the experience of the immigrants, it is often found that majority of the immigrants are of the opinion that
it is imperative learn English to obtain a good job and earn a living I this country while some of the
immigrants perceive learning of English as an ethical obligation. The government of the country had given
importance to the attitude of the immigrants, which signified how the immigrants desired their children to
learn English. The Title IV and VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was introduced to ensure that all
children have a right t to a free and equitable public education irrespective of their color, race, religion,
sex, legal status or national origin (Chen & Gill, 2015).. This right was applicable for the
Unaccompanied Immigrant Children (UIC) who are below the age of 18 years and have entered the

13PRIVATE, SECURITY AND FREEDOM
country without any legal status or any primary caregiver. The UICs are placed with adult sponsors or
foster parents who takes care for the children in communities throughout the country (Bender &
Arrocha, 2017).
Recommendations
The history of the immigration policies of the United States reflects an obvious pattern of policy
decisions that were made only to fulfill the economic need of the country, which subsequently inculcated
fear of the strangers amongst its nationals. During the period, when the economy of the country was
experiencing rapid growth and development and there was a necessity of cheap labor to fill any particular
industry, the country welcomed immigrants whole-heartedly and with open arms. However, during the
downfall of the economy of the country, the flow of immigrants instilled fear in the minds of the politicians
and the Americans who decided to develop more stringent immigration policies and enclosed the borders,
thus, throwing the immigrants out of the country. This signifies that the immigration policies of the country
though were developed to ensure security of the country and its nationals, failed to endow with permanent
or long-term solutions to the issues pertaining immigration. Therefore, it is imperative to develop an

14PRIVATE, SECURITY AND FREEDOM
immigration system that is not only practical but also reasonable in terms of every aspect of immigration
in the country to address future flow of immigrants entering into the United States of America.
Conclusion/summary
From the above discussion, it can be inferred that currently, the United States is witnessing a
surge of immigration mainly from developing countries similar to other destination countries with much of
it being unrecorded. The politicians in the United States are attempting to ensure that the perceived
impact of immigration persists to be positive towards the country and its nationals but to remain prepared
to face and combat any adverse impact of immigration as well. However, there are several reasons to
consider that the consequences of immigration shall not have any adverse impact on the country and its
nationals in the future. Firstly, given the long history of welcoming immigrants from new areas, it ca be
said that though the accommodation of the immigrants have been subjected to difficulties but has
perpetually taken place. The US immigration policies have developed immigration policies that have not
only allowed the immigrants to adopt the US citizenship even through naturalization. It is evident from the
incline in the rate of naturalization that was significant for the immigrants coming from several countries
like Asian countries, in particular.
Despite the high level of immigration rate in the country and its social and economic impact, in
particular of the legal immigrants seems to be positive. However, the extent to which the immigration may
have an adverse impact, it may attribute to the pecuniary effects of illegal immigration and the local
economies to certain extent. Consequently, the incline in the immigration rate in the country implies
significant population with ethnic, and language ties to some of the economies that will make the country
most active and forceful over the next decades. These ties may be considered as fundamental for the
country to become a successful actor in the rapidly growing interconnected world economy.

15PRIVATE, SECURITY AND FREEDOM
Reference page
Alien and Sedition Acts
Bender, S. W., & Arrocha, W. F. (2017). Introduction. In Compassionate Migration and Regional Policy in
the Americas(pp. 1-15). Palgrave Macmillan UK.
Bhachu, P. (Ed.). (2017). Immigration and entrepreneurship: culture, capital, and ethnic networks.
Routledge.
Bodvarsson, Ö. B., & Van den Berg, H. (2013). Immigration Policy in the USA. In The Economics of
Immigration (pp. 375-405). Springer New York.
Chae Chan Ping v USA [130 US 581].
Chen, A., & Gill, J. (2015). Unaccompanied children and the US immigration system: challenges and
reforms. Journal of International Affairs, 68(2), 115.
Chinese Exclusion Act
Enhanced Border Security and Visa Reform Act
Golash-Boza, T. M. (2015). Immigration nation: Raids, detentions, and deportations in post-9/11 America.
Routledge.
Hainmueller, J., & Hopkins, D. J. (2015). The hidden American immigration consensus: A conjoint
analysis of attitudes toward immigrants. American Journal of Political Science, 59(3), 529-548.
Hollifield, J., Martin, P., & Orrenius, P. (2014). Controlling immigration: A global perspective. Stanford
University Press.
Homeland Security Act in 2003
Immigration Act 1864

16PRIVATE, SECURITY AND FREEDOM
Immigration Act 1882
Immigration Act 1990
Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act
Joppke, C., & Morawska, E. (2014). Integrating immigrants in liberal nation-states: policies and practices.
In Toward assimilation and citizenship: Immigrants in liberal nation-states(pp. 1-36). Palgrave Macmillan
UK.
Magnuson Act1942
Naturalization Act in 1790
Ngai, M. M. (2014). Impossible subjects: Illegal aliens and the making of modern America. Princeton
University Press.
Rachbauer, M. (2007). Immigration Policy in the USA
Refugee Act of 1980
Refugee Relief Act of 1953
Scott Act in 1888
USA Patriot Act 2001

17PRIVATE, SECURITY AND FREEDOM