by Joost Steffensen

Created on: February 10, 2008

How to solve the immigration problem

Question? What is the immigration problem?

In short the immigration problem is the inability to effectively control who enters, stays in, leaves and works in the US. For example people might cross the borders illegally, work illegally, overstay tourist visas, come over on fake documentation, come as refugees and asylum seekers, come as economical refugees.

Question? Why is all of this a problem?

The problems caused by immigration are to some extent felt by the native population. It is often feared that illegal immigration might lead to dilution of culture, harm to the economy, loss of jobs, lower wages, strain on health care, higher prices of housing, lower standards of education, increased competition between religions.

However this leads to a backlash the brunt of which is taken by the immigrants, but which to some extent effects the native population as well. Examples of possible backlash are racism, cultural insensitivity, creation of a two tiered society, violence against immigrants, harsher checks at the border, raids on companies, deportation and imprisonment.

Question? How are these problems currently handled?

At present there are a number of measures in place to deal with immigration. Basically there are two kinds of immigration.

Legal immigration of skilled workers the US needs. This kind of immigration is not only allowed but encouraged with job-offers and University scholarships. Skilled workers are not seen as a threat but a boon, however their loss is hard felt in their home-countries. Legal immigration is difficult for non-skilled workers or those from countries thought undesirable or already overrepresented. The application process has purposely been made long, frustrating ,nontransparent and humiliating. In the end this leads to one group of people abandoning hope and the second to immigrate illegally.

Illegal immigration. This can be either directly by entering the US without the appropriate paperwork or simply by overstaying your welcome. There are a number of measures in place to discourage this kind of immigration. I'll list the main ones here.

1) Harsh checks at the border.
2) Border patrols to round up people trying to cross the border illegally
3) The absence of a path to immigration
4) Limited access to government programs
5) Limited access to skilled work
6) Limited legal protection
7) Raids on companies suspected of employing illegal immigrant
8) Construction of a border fence

In essence illegal immigration creates

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• Next Page >>