Everyone has seen the problems that are going on at the border at present. Children are being taken from their families without any warning. In the morning their parents drop them off at school and by the time they go home, their parents are nowhere to be found. Illegal immigration is a major issue at the moment, but the bad parts of it are what is the saddest to even hear about. Immigrants come to this country so they can have a better life, although some people do come and cause problems, most people come to do good things. Immigration in the past didn’t seem to be as strict at the border as it is now with a wall being built. The border has had a dramatic change since President Donald Trump took office but the change between the present time and the past is significant.
Going back to 1965, the Immigration and Nationality Act granted immigrant visas to certain people so they could enter the United States legally. A lot has changed from 1965 to now, such as different presidents with different ideas of how border control should handle illegals from crossing. “It eliminates race and sex discrimination as a bar to immigration revises the national origins quota system, and introduces a system of selected immigration by giving preference to skilled aliens whose services are urgently needed and to relatives of U.S. citizens and aliens” (Timeline 1). Jumping years ahead, the DREAM Act was introduced, “The legislation proposes a path to citizenship for undocumented alien students who were brought to America as minors” (Timeline 1). This act allowed younger immigrants an opportunity to have a better life, they were illegal without a choice since they were brought by their parents and not alone. Times have changed but ways to live the American Dream are created also with the creation of DACA.
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“In 2005, a plan was proposed in the House of Representatives calling for the construction of a reinforced fence along the entire United States-Mexico border, which would also include a 100-yard border zone on the United States' side of the border” (Brandys, Roy R., et al 134). Along with the 2005 plan to construct a fence along the border, came the Secure Fence Act of 2006 signed by President Bush. He stated 'This bill will help protect the American people. This bill will make our borders more secure. It is an important step toward immigration reform” (Brandys, Roy R., et al 134). The fence came with stricter border control and security to better handle the amount of people crossing the border illegally. Current president Donald Trump also began plans to reinforce border control when he took office, following his promises from his presidential election to ‘Make America Great Again’. There is negative feedback to his plans to build the costly wall he has planned such as “California has already indicated that it plans to sue the Trump administration over the wall” (Brandys, Roy R., et al 163).
Along with the border patrol comes family separation and the negative impact it causes. Illegal border crossings are strongly prohibited therefore President Trump at present time does what he feels is right to keep the number of illegal immigrants in the United States low. “In June, the President issues an Executive Order halting some family separations. In July, the Administration begins reunifying families by an order by a Federal judge” (Timeline 1). The family separation policy has negative reactions due to the amount of people being deported who have children who are Americans. “For every two adult undocumented immigrants that are deported from the U.S., one citizen-child is affected. With roughly 1.3 million adults deported in the past decade, the number of citizen-children is staggering” (Zayas 1). There is a large number of children born to immigrants in the United States, and when those parents are deported it can have an impact on those children’s mental health. In the past 10 years, more than a million immigrants have been deported, following the statistics of every 2 adults and 1 child, about half a million children are affected.
Illegal immigration has made drastic changes over the years with each president who has taken office signing different acts. From DACA and the DREAM Act to the wall and deportation, it seems hard to follow whether the United States is against immigration. The DREAM Act and DACA help those who came to the United States when they were young and had no say in whether they chose to come or not. It allows those immigrants to continue a better education and be able to work. The building of the wall and deportation are the main points when thinking about illegal immigration. The fence along the border has been talked about for years, it was an idea in the past and continues to be planned. With the changes from past years to current years being unexpected, the future of illegal immigration seems uncertain.
Work Cited
- Zayas, Luis H., Ph.D. 'Protecting Citizen-Children Safeguards our Common Future.' Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, vol. 21, no. 3, 2010, pp. 809-14. ProQuest, https://ezp.tccd.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.ezp.tccd.edu/docview/746780249?accountid=7079. Web. October 15, 2019
- “Immigration Timeline: 1952 to Present.” Congressional Digest, vol. 97, no. 7, Sept. 2018, p. 3. EBSCOhost, ezp.tccd.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=131324387&site=ehost-live&scope=site. Web. October 1, 2019
- Brandys, Roy R., et al. “United States-Mexico Border Wall: The Past, the Present and What May Come.” Real Property, Trust & Estate Law Journal, vol. 53, no. 1, Spring 2018, pp. 131–162. EBSCOhost, ezp.tccd.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=132139936&site=ehost-live&scope=site. Web. October 1, 2019
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