INR3005 Essay: Analysis of US Undocumented Immigration

This essay provides an in-depth analysis of undocumented immigration in the United States, exploring its historical context, current policies, and the various challenges it presents. The essay examines the evolution of immigration laws, from the early 20th century to the present, highlighting key legislative acts and their impact. It delves into the perspectives of different administrations, including the policies of President Trump, and their effects on border security, interior enforcement, and the status of immigrants. The essay also discusses the social and economic impacts of undocumented immigration, including debates around DACA, the role of local authorities, and the perspectives of immigrants themselves. It draws on a range of academic sources to provide a comprehensive overview of the complexities surrounding undocumented immigration in the US, offering insights into the ongoing debates and potential future developments. The paper also covers the effects of the policies on the immigrants and the actions taken by the government.

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Name of the Student
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Author Note

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Introduction
Illegal or undocumented immigration in the United States is based on the unlawful
entry of foreign residents within the country. The entry is based on the ways by which foreign
residents enter the country even after the expiry of their U.S. visas. The naturalization based
laws were followed in the organization within the year 1875 to 1882. An act which was
established in the year 1906 required the immigrants to learn English so that they are able to
become US citizens (Borjas 2017).
The borders of the US were almost open in the 20th century which had led to the huge
number of illegal entries within the country on a regular basis. The act which was further
established in the year 1924 had led to the requirement of visas and different quotas were also
enacted for the immigrants who were a part of the different countries. The attacks which had
taken place in the US in the September 11 had been based on the requirement of visas for the
entry of immigrants from different countries (Martinez et al. 2015).
The essay will be based on the analysis of the issues which had taken place within the
United States due to illegal entry of people within the country. The undocumented levels of
entry within the US borders and their effects on the country are an important part of the
analysis.
Analysis of the issues related to undocumented migration
As discussed by Figueroa-Caballero and Mastro (2018), immigration has always been
an important part of the political debate which has taken place in the US. The policymakers
thereby need to weigh different security, humanitarian and economic concerns. The
government has also not been able to reach to a decision based on the comprehensive
immigration based reforms for many years. The different policy based decisions which have

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been taken within the judicial and executive branches of the government have been able to
fuel debate in halls of municipal governments and state governments as well.
As argued by Ortega (2015), President Donald J. Trump had been elected in the US
based on the pledges related to extraordinary decisions which can be taken based on the
reduction of terrorism and illegal immigration based activities as well. The activities which
were expected to be implemented by Trump also included many controversial plans related to
the development of a border wall in order to deport the millions of migrants who had entered
the country in an illegal way. The temporary ban on the Muslims was also considered to be a
major step which was expected to be taken by Trump.
The immigrant population of the US comprises greater than forty-three million of
total population of the country. The immigrants in the country and their children who were
born in the US comprise more than 27 percent of the total population. The figure based on the
amount of population of immigrants in the country has been rising steadily from the year
1970. The number of immigrants in the country are however less than the number of people
who were present in the year 1890 (Popielarz and Cserpes 2018).
According to Torres and Waldinger (2015), the amount of undocumented population
in the country is considered to be about eleven million which has been levelled since the year
2008. Some of the immigrants had to however return to their home countries due to different
steps which had been taken by the government based on discouraging the immigrants from
entering the country. In the year 2017, Customs and Border Protection body had reported that
there had been a drop of 26 percent in number of immigrants who had been stopped from
entering the country from the southern border of the country.
As discussed by Schueths (2015), the increase in number of arrests of the illegal
immigrants in the country can also be considered to be an important factor that has increased

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by 40 percent in the last few years. The people who had entered in the US in an
undocumented manner have stayed in the country for more than 10 years. The Central
American residents have also lived in the country for many years. The immigrants who are
Mexican citizens have the legal rights to stay in the country. Different policies and laws
which have been developed by the government are based on the entry of undocumented
immigrants within the country from the border.
The reports which have been provided in the year 2014 by Centre for Migration
Studies, the individuals who have overstayed in the country have been able to outnumber the
people who have crossed the border in an illegal manner. The government has granted more
than 1 million permits to individuals in order to stay in the country. Different categories
under which the individuals who have been provided with a permit to stay in the country
mainly include, employment-based preferences, diversity, refugees, asylees. Huge number of
people work in the US under various non-immigrant visas. In the year 2017, 180,000 visas
have been granted to many high-skill based workers which are known as the H1B visas
(Nienhusser 2015).
As discussed by Fabi and Saloner (2016), different researches have been able to
depict that the Americans are quite positive about the immigration based activities within the
country. More than 80% of the total number of people had provided support to the various
undocumented immigrants if they are able to meet some requirements. The reforms which
had been made in the immigration based policies in the country are based on issues which
have occurred in country.
The issues which have thereby occurred in the industry mainly include, interior
enforcement based activities and border security. The legislators have made many reforms in
the year 2013 based on the bill which had been passed by the Democrat-led Senate. The bill

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was related to the path based on citizenship for the undocumented immigrants and security
provisions in the border which were quite tough (Nienhusser 2015).
According to Vargas Bustamante et al. (2014), the US Presidents have taken many
decisions based on the legal relief which can be provided to undocumented immigrants. In
the year 2012, the administration of Barrack Obama had developed a program which was
known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA. This program was based on the
renewable deportation based deferrals which were provided to the undocumented immigrants
who had arrived in the United States. This program was named as the stop-gap measure by
the President. The similar benefits have been provided by the President to the undocumented
immigrants.
However, the administration was further sued by the US citizens related to allegations
against the program. The enforcement based practices also drew huge levels of criticism from
different political bodies based on the decisions which were taken by him with respect to the
illegal immigrants. The immigrant advocacy based groups had also criticised the
administration for the purpose of overseeing removal greater than three million residents in
the eight-year tenure of the President (Cebula, Foley and Boylan 2014).
As discussed by Panchang et al. (2016), on the other hand, the new President of the
country Donald J Trump had developed new policies which have affected the immigration
based policies as well. The policies were mainly focussed on the border security based
activities within the country. The main aim of the policies was based on the instructions
related to development of operational control of US border. The expedited removal based
activities have been implemented effectively in order to include unauthorized the illegal
immigrants who are not able to provide effective proof based on their stay.

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The second order was based on the interior enforcement which further expanded
different categories of unauthorised immigrants that have been prioritized for the purpose of
removal. The federal funds have also been restricted from the jurisdictions and limited the
cooperation with the federal immigration based officials. The third order on the other hand is
focussed on the prevention of terrorism which had banned the nationals from Iraq, Iran,
Somalia, Libya, Sudan and Yemen. The different actions are thereby based on the ban which
had been made on the travellers from various Muslim-majority based countries which also
drew high levels of the protests and legal challenges from the cities, individuals and states
(Smith 2017).
As discussed by Cnn.com (2018), the travel ban had also faced many legal setbacks
and the administration had to revise the activities in order to implement them effectively. The
annual capacity of refugees had been reduced and this had led to the lack of number of
individuals who wished to enter the country. The administration under Trump had further
ended the policy of “temporary protected status” or TPS. The relief program which had been
arranged by the government for the Nepalis or Hondurans had been ended in the year 2018.
The President had also announced the plans named DACA to be illegal in nature. The
challenges which have been produced in the court had however prevented the government
from ending the program (Cebula, Foley and Boylan 2014).
According to Abc.net.au (2018), the administration under Trump had also developed
efforts in order to deter the border based crossings. The zero-tolerance policy had also been
implemented by the government in the year 2018. The child migrants were thereby detained
in a separate manner from the guardians or parents. The family separation based policy was
also followed in the country with the help of huge number of protests. The two powerful
Presidents of the country Bush and Obama had employed many deterrence based measures
which were not able to separate the families.

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The different states and local authorities are able to handle the unauthorized
immigrants in varied manners. The states like California have allowed the undocumented
immigrants in order to apply for drivers’ licenses and receiving tuition at different
universities. On the other hand, the states like Arizona have been passing laws which have
permitted police so that they are able to question the individuals based on the status of their
immigration. The federal government is highly responsible for the enforcement of
immigration based laws and their enforcement activities as well (Breuninger 2018). The
degree up to which the local officials are able to oblige in order to cooperate with the federal
authorities which is considered to be a subject of high levels of debate. The proponents based
on tough immigration based policies have been able to enforce the local jurisdictions and
labelled state in order to limit the federal authorities (Gonzales et al., 2017).
The immigrants who plan to enter the US from Mexico have continued their activities
in the border even after the steps which have been taken by the President and the government.
The immigrants have been quite optimistic about the ways by which changes have been made
within the policies based on immigrants. The Mexican people are quite hopeful that the
thought process of Trump regarding immigration based policies are expected to change. The
individuals thereby continue crossing the borders on a regular basis in spite of the policies
which have been implemented by the President (Heer 2018).
The United States has faced many different issues based on the immigration based
policies which have been implemented by Trump. The various issues which have taken place
in the country recently mainly include, immigrant children, Muslim migrants, immigration
ban, deporting the criminal immigrants, immigration healthcare, immigrant assimilation,
detainment of illegal immigrants and immigrant labourers (Waters 2015).

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As discussed by Duncan and Trejo (2015), immigration has been considered to be a
winning issue under the Trump government and the Republicans have provided huge levels
of importance to the issue as well. Many conflicting points have been raised based on the
immigration based activities which have started in the country recently. Different types of
polls which have been made based on the ways by which the issues have affected the entry of
migrants. The different research reports which have been organized based on the issues
related to immigration include, the pew research based reports which helped in developing a
notion that the Democrats were able to do a better job in dealing with different immigration
based policies.
Greater than half of the total number of Americans have disapproved the policies
which have been implemented by Trump in maintenance of immigrations. The Republican
voters on the other hand have different views based on the immigration based activities in the
country. The Republicans are thereby driven so that they are able to vote on the immigration
based polices as compared to the Democrats. The Democratic Party has been able to move in
a substantial manner to the left on different immigration based policies.
The immigration based policies have been implemented by Trump on a regular basis
(Duncan and Trejo 2015). Trump has been able to develop many different policies in order to
implement different policies based on immigration. The different expectations of the
individuals of the country have been fulfilled to some extent with the help of policies which
have been implemented by the current President.
The Presidential Election had been contested by Trump in the year 2016 and the
campaign managers have attributed the immigration based policies as major levels of issues.
The Muslim Ban related steps which had been taken by the organization were highly
criticised by the individual citizens and different political bodies as well. The conservative

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levels of immigration based policies which have been implemented by Trump have been able
to develop an effective support for the President and his rule in the US as well (Cebula, Foley
and Boylan 2014). The main aim of US President is thereby to implement different types of
activities which are based on the ways by which the immigrants can be managed effectively.
Bhachu (2017), has commented that there are different researches which has helped in
showing that the illegal immigrants have increased the size of the economy of the United
States which has contributed towards the economic growth and this has enhanced the welfare
of the different natives. There is no such evidence that there is illegal immigration which has
increased the overall rate of the crime in United States. On the other hand, Hanson (2017),
has opined that the different illegal immigrants within the workforce in United States of
America are vulnerable in nature due to the overall status.
Furthermore, this has been by Bhachu (2017), that it is the Trump affect as within the
arrival of Trump in the White House in the month of January in the year 2017, the number of
the different individuals crossing the southern border of America illegally fell and this
affected the overall scenario of the United States of America in a negative manner as well.
Ngai (2014), has opined and hypothesized that there are different negative viewpoints on the
undocumented kind of immigration which spring from several kinds of sources.
Ngai (2014), has opined that there are more than 12.1 million immigrants who are
living in the country in an illegal manner from the January 2014 and this has increased to
more than 20.1 million in the year 2017. The DHS has estimated that the entire population
has tried in increasing by 500,000 from 2014-2018 and this has become twice of the other
countries in an ineffective manner as well. The policy of immigration is hot button issue in
the entire USA and there are different techniques which can be used in order to reduce the
respective issues in an efficient manner (Hanson 2017).

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On the other hand, this can be analysed that there are different individuals who are
overstaying in USA as they are overstaying their visas and this is affecting the overall
stability of USA. According to the different sources, this has been analysed that Migration
Studies have tried in reporting that there is a huge estimate wherein more than 44% of the
individuals who are living in the USA are illegally staying there from past four years and this
has increased to more than 44% in the year 2008 as well. As per the CMS report, this can be
analysed and seen that former director of USA immigration along with naturalization of the
different services, the statistics helps in showing that there is more than 65% of the new
arrivals in USA which have been done in an illegal manner.
Furthermore, this has been analysed by Heer (2018), that there are some serious issues
which have been analysed in the CMS report wherein this have been analysed and said that
more than 629000 people are on visas who were expected to leave USA in the year 2015,
however there are no such traces of their leaving USA and there have been more than 50.4
million arrivals in USA as well.
Conclusion
The essay can be concluded by stating that the ways by which undocumented
immigration had increased in the United States had been able to affect the citizens and the
different government based activities as well. The Presidents of the US have been taken
major steps based on the maintenance and proper management of the undocumented
immigrants. The steps which have been taken by the government in this case had been able to
facilitate the stay of the immigrants in some cases. On the other hand, the immigrants have
also been affected in a negative manner due to the ways by which policies have changed with
the changes in governments. President Obama had taken steps which had been helpful for the
stay of immigrants. On the other hand, President Trump had developed many policies which

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had affected the immigrants in a negative manner. The immigration based bills which have
been formed by the current President have been effective in some cases. The policies have
also been criticised in some cases. The undocumented immigration based policies which have
been developed by the government are expected to go through many different changes. The
changes will be based on the ways by which different types of immigrants are managed by
the government in an effective manner with the help of various policies.

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References
Abc.net.au 2018. US immigrants still waiting to be reunited with their children. [online] ABC
News. Available at: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-22/trump-tells-republicans-stop-
wasting-time-immigration/9900668 [Accessed 27 Oct. 2018].
Bhachu, P., 2017. Immigration and entrepreneurship: culture, capital, and ethnic networks.
Routledge.
Borjas, G.J., 2017. The labor supply of undocumented immigrants. Labour Economics, 46,
pp.1-13.
Breuninger, K. 2018. How experts would fix the broken US immigration system. [online]
CNBC. Available at: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/20/how-experts-would-fix-the-broken-
us-immigration-system.html [Accessed 27 Oct. 2018].
Cebula, R.J., Foley, M. and Boylan, R., 2014. The impact of unionization and other factors
on undocumented immigrant settlement patterns in the US. Applied Economics Letters, 21(4),
pp.272-275.
Cnn.com 2018. Immigration News - CNN. [online] CNN. Available at:
https://edition.cnn.com/specials/politics/immigration [Accessed 27 Oct. 2018].
Duncan, B. and Trejo, S.J., 2015. Assessing the socioeconomic mobility and integration of
US immigrants and their descendants. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political
and Social Science, 657(1), pp.108-135.
Fabi, R. and Saloner, B., 2016. Covering undocumented immigrants—state innovation in
California. New England Journal of Medicine, 375(20), pp.1913-1915.