Immigration Issue

Abstract

Immigration is a critical and controversial issue that has attracted the attention of governments, political leaders, citizens and policymakers all around the world. Immigration, which started many centuries ago, can be attributed to factors such as globalization and gets associated with various positive impacts such economic growth. However, immigration also gets associated with different social, economic and political implications as described in this study. It is critical to understand the problems related to immigration since the global annual flow of immigrants has increased significantly and also assists in developing appropriate solutions.

CHAPTER ONE: INTRUDCTION TO THE STUDY

Introduction and Background of the problem

The definition recommended by the United Nations of a long-term international immigrant is an individual who moves from their residence nation to another country for at least a year so that the nation of destination effectively becomes their new country of residence. The global annual flow of immigrants is estimated to be 15 million that gets categorized into four groups namely economic (6 million), student (4 million), refugee or asylum (3 million) and family (2 million). 

The problem of illegal immigration is more severe in the US where it is estimated that over I million immigrants come to the US each year either legally or illegally and that the number of illegal immigrants in the country in 2015 was estimated to be approximately 11 million people (Bardes, Shelley & Schmidt, 2015). In Europe, the foreign-born population was estimated to be 48.9 million or 9.7 percent of the total population in 2011.

Immigration gets attributed to various reasons. One of the major factors that contribute to immigration is globalization that has led to all kinds of cross-border flows of trade and searches for better employment opportunities. The significant advances in communication and transportation technologies have enabled the fast and safe movement of people over long distances. Trade agreements between states also are the primary cause of the movement of people between states. The movement of individuals may also be as a result of economic hardships and poverty in the countries of residence; hence, move in search for better living standards in states that have more economic opportunities and also they can access services such as care services in hospitals (Castles, 2000). Immigration also gets attributed to movement of students seeking to pursue education and research in the developed nations. Refugees who move war-torn nations also form a great number of immigrants around the world. Some of the nations that have led to the great immigration of people who are fleeing armed conflicts and civil wars include Somalia, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Libya, and so on. People also move from state to state as a result of family movement or intermarriage between people of different nationalities.

Immigration around the globe has become a common issue in which its debate attracts conflicting arguments concerning its impact on nations. In some instances, immigration around the world is associated with positive implications that include been a boost in economic growth especially when the immigrants comprise of a high skilled workforce and also that it aids in the creation of a more dynamic society. However, immigration also has some severe adverse consequences. Immigration leads to deterioration of the infrastructure in the destination nation and also leads to a burden to the taxpayers as most immigrants do not pay taxes but have access to basic facilities and services such as medical services. This problem is severe in nations neighboring conflicting nations as they usually experience a refugee crisis and also suffer a financially as they require massive resources to host the refugees. The refugee crisis is currently being experienced in countries neighboring countries in conflicts that include Iraq, Syria, and Yemen. The countries were the refugee challenges been encountered Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and various European nations. The number of refugees estimated to have reached Europe since July 2014 is estimated to be above 1.7 million refugees, while the number putting pressure on Turkey is over 3 million refugees (Rother, et. al. 2016). The impact of illegal immigrants on taxpayers’ money is seen in the United States where undocumented immigrants can access services such as Obamacare, yet they do not pay taxes. Since the passing of the 1986 federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) that required medical institutions to treat all persons requiring emergency services, Medicaid refunds around 2 billion dollars to hospitals annually as they treat at least 100, 000 illegal immigrants. A large number of immigrants also gets associated with reduced job opportunities for citizens of the country of destination as most immigrants easily provide cheap unskilled labor.  Immigration around the globe also threatens indigenous culture in the country of destination. Illegal immigration and immigration into the United States has been viewed as a security threat factor, since, the occurrence of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in Washington DC (Segal, Elliott & Mayadas, 2010). The changes that were made by the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 in the US have led to unsustainable population increase in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The population increase in the US was estimated to be 32.7 million people between 1990 and 2000 and to be around 27.3 million between 2000 and 2010. In Australia, there has been around 40 percent of population growth in the post-World War 11 period as a result of immigration. This immigration has led to a social transformation consequence of the suburbs of Australian cities as most immigrants who went to Melbourne and Sydney settled in the Western and South Western suburbs. The suburbs are however not ethnic ghettos dominated by one ethnic group but are cosmopolitan areas with immigrants from diverse ethnic, national, religious and linguistic backgrounds.

Justification

The immigrant crisis around the globe is a thorny issue that has led to negative implications for the social, economic and political aspect of destination nations. With over 15 million individuals moving annually from one state to another either legally or illegally, it is essential that governments and policy makers develop, formulate as well as enact suitable policies and legislations to handle this challenge. It is important to understand the problems so as to formulate and develop appropriate solutions to the immigration problem, while at the same time considering some of the benefits that may be associated with immigration. Governments and immigration policies and legislations should aim to promote immigration that results in positive outcomes and at the same time deter immigration of people if it may cause a wide variety of challenges. In the US, immigration remains a contentious and significant challenge for the 21st century as the American government attempts to create a balance between national security, economic growth and civil liberties.

Delimitations and Scope

The limitation of the research is that the research will only get limited to a specific region and will not be done in all regions and continents to determine the various immigration consequences in those particular areas. The reasons for immigration to third world countries or developing nations are different when compared to the grounds of immigration from third-world nations to developing nations thus also affects the impact.

CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Review of literature

Different scholars and researchers have conducted studies on the impact of immigration around the world. A majority of the early studies on the effect of immigration on the source economy established unambiguous negative impacts. For instance, some studies determined that the economy of origin suffers a great loss of income as well as skilled personnel when natives immigrate to other nations (Lewis, Bodvarsson & Van den Berg, 2010). Other studies on immigration have also concluded that immigration leads to small negative effects unless it involves a significant movement of people from one state to another. In Europe, studies have found a small adverse consequence related to immigration on employment opportunities for Europeans and also has a small effect on the native wage levels. Crowe & Lucas-Vergona (2007) who associated illegal immigration especially in the US-Mexican border with problems such as insecurity, human rights violations, crime as well as draining on social services, proposed six scenarios to solve the problem. They include status quo, deport all illegal immigrants and increase border security, grant citizenship to illegal immigrants and enhance border security, assist in creating economic growth in Mexico, have a guest worker program and institute open border between the two countries.

Various approaches, policies, and measures have been formulated and enacted to assist deal with immigration issues around the globe. One of the policies enacted is immigration detention around the world that requires detention of non-citizens entering a country’s territory without authorization or gets suspected to be intending to cross a state boundary without valid authorization and also requires detention of persons residing in a nation after the expiration of their stay period.  However, the policy is extremely expensive to nations seeking to detain immigrants. For example in the United Kingdom the detention cost is 120 dollars per person per day, and in the US the detention of an alien is about 103 dollars per day. The US have enacted several immigration legislations in which they create parameters in which they determine who may be allowed in a country and under what circumstances. The immigration policy in the US comprises of three distinct elements namely immigration, refugee policy, and illegal immigration. The three components pose different challenges to the nation and have generated a varied level of attention and legislation. The immigration legislations that have been formulated and enacted since the 16th century include The regulation period (1882-1920), The Immigration and Nationality Act (1965), The Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) (1986) and the USA Patriot Act enacted in response to the 2001 terror attacks in Washington DC and New York. The Immigration and Nationality Act (1965) abolished the use of national quotas in the determination of immigrant admissions in the US. The IRCA (1986) gave amnesty to undocumented immigrants continuously resident in the US except for the brief, casual and innocent absences from the beginning of 1982. The Patriot Act passed 45 days after the September 11 terror attacks in the US have had a significant impact on immigration in the US, as it expanded the search, monitoring as well as the detention rights of federal law enforcement agencies when dealing with immigrants. In Europe, the Schengen visa ideology is considered to be a solution to immigration as it led to its minimization when Europe gave many other nations within the continent the liberty to travel within the Schengen system.

When dealing with immigrations, various aspects significantly affect the immigration policies as well as the legislations. For instance, social rights are important when dealing with immigrants. Social rights include the rights to a minimum standard of living as well as to share in economic welfare and social security benefits, and also access to education and healthcare services. The case of draining resources in nations where immigrants go also does not apply to all states. For instance, in Europe, the immigrants who moved to the nations and obtained jobs have been paying a significant amount of taxes.

Synopsis of the literature review

Immigration around the globe is associated with numerous adverse social, economic and political implications. They consequences include the threat of national insecurity, draining of social services and infrastructure, reduced employment opportunities for natives, the loss of taxpayers’ money, provision of inexpensive labor and many others. Various governments and policy makers have developed policies and measures to curb the problem of immigration worldwide. The immigration solutions range from increased border patrol by law enforcement agencies to enactment of immigration legislations to regulating the entry of people such as the use of Visa. The immigration policies and solutions, however, have to consider various factors such as the positive impact of immigration as well as social rights of immigrants. Immigration study is critical to determine the critical issues associated with the problem as well as assist in developing solutions that will not only deter illegal immigration but promote positive outcomes.

References

Bardes, B. A., Shelley, M. C., & Schmidt, S. W. (2015). American Government and Politics Today: Essentials 2015-2016 Edition. Nelson Education.

Castles, S. (2000). International Migration at the Beginining of the Twenty‐First Century: Global Trends and Issues. International Social Science Journal, 52(165), 269-281.

Crowe, S., & Lucas-Vergona, J. (2007). What should be done about the illegal immigration from Mexico to the United States?. Mathematical and Computer Modelling, 46(7), 1115-1129.

Lewis, E. G., Bodvarsson, Ö. B., & Van den Berg, H. (2010). The Economics of Immigration: Theory and Policy.

Rother, M. B., Pierre, M. G., Lombardo, D., Herrala, R., Toffano, M. P., Roos, M. E., ... & Manasseh, M. K. (2016). The Economic Impact of Conflicts and the Refugee Crisis in the Middle East and North Africa. International Monetary Fund.

Segal, U. A., Elliott, D., & Mayadas, N. S. (2010). Immigration worldwide: policies, practices, and trends. Oxford University Press.

Sherry Roberts is the author of this paper. A senior editor at MeldaResearch.Com in nursing essay help USA if you need a similar paper you can place your order from custom college papers.