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Top 10 Things to Know about Immigration
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1. Legislation before 1964: Immigration Act of May 26, 1924 was the first permanent limitation on immigration, established the “national origins quota system.” The quotas were set on specific countries which were dictated by the number of people in the US from the country in question. Preference quota status was established for: unmarried children under 21; parents; spouses of U.S. citizens aged 21 and over; and for quota immigrants aged 21 and over who are skilled in agriculture, together with their wives and dependent children under age 16. The 1924 Act in conjunction with the Immigration Act of 1917 governed American immigration policy until 1952 when the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) was enacted. It brought into one comprehensive statute the multiple laws which, before its enactment, governed immigration and naturalization in the United States. Among other things, the INA eliminated discrimination by race and gender in regard to immigration, introduced a system of selected immigration by giving a quota preference to skilled aliens whose services were urgently needed in the United States and to relatives of U.S. citizens and aliens, and established a central index of all aliens in the United States for use by security and enforcement agencies.
2. Legislation after 1964: The US experienced a great wave of immigrants peaking in the 1920s which consisted primarily of Europeans. Immigrants from outside Europe were allowed in greater numbers when the Hart-Cellar Act of 1965 set up a country-by-country quota system instead of primarily focusing on family reunification. The Hart-Cellar Act also allocated 170,000 visas to countries in the Eastern Hemisphere and 120,000 to countries in the Western Hemisphere increasing the annual ceiling on immigrants from 150,000 to 290,000. The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 under President Reagan made it illegal to knowingly hire or recruit immigrants who do not possess lawful work authorization, required employers to attest to their employees' immigration status, and granted amnesty to certain illegal immigrants who entered the United States before and continuously resided since January 1, 1982.
3. Recent legislation: Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act was a bipartisan bill introduced in the Senate on May 12, 2005 by John McCain and Ted Kennedy. It was the first in recent years to include legalization, border enforcement, and guest worker programs. It failed to pass as did the two successors along with another in the House which attempted to make compromises to attract greater appeal. Consequently, many feel the borders have yet to be properly secured, but the House and Senate have just passed a bill which allocates $40.42 billion to Homeland Security. Most of that money will go to tightening the security on the frontiers and borders http://www.votesmart.org/issue_keyvote_detail.php?cs_id=14537.
4. The country’s population is growing by nearly 3 million people a year. Immigration is adding well over about 1.5 million newcomers a year. After accounting for emigration, the amount of population increase from immigration nets out at still well above one million more permanent residents. When the children born in this country to immigrant parents are added to the equation, the total direct and indirect impact accounts for nearly 80 percent of our escalating population http://www.fairus.org/site/DocServer/final.pdf?docID=1181 (page 6).
5. Under any immigration scenario, the absolute and relative sizes of the Asian-ancestry and Hispanic ancestry populations will grow rapidly. Before 1976, Europeans made up the majority of naturalized citizens. Asia was the leading region of origin of new, naturalized citizens in every year from 1976 to 2006, except 1996-2000 when Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) legalized immigrants naturalized in large numbers, 90 percent of whom were from North American countries. In 2007, however, the number of naturalizations from North American countries slightly exceeded those of Asian immigrants.
6. Immigrants are important to the US because of the country's aging population which would shrink without a sufficient influx of people. The U.S. population is aging: the number of persons aged 65 years and older is expected to double between 1995 and 2050, no matter what immigration policies are adopted.
7. Likewise, there are holes in employment. The US relies on many immigrants to either fill jobs that citizens do not wish to do or to fill jobs citizens are less qualified to do. One of the main arguments against mass immigration is the threat they pose to the employment rate of native born citizens. This is often considered a common sense argument. However, evidence so far does not support that native born workers of any race are suffering from an influx of foreign-born workers in the market. Some studies show that native workers often have to work for lower wages or not take jobs due to immigrant influence on certain employment markets. The same studies show that these native workers are typically a very specific demographic, non-high school graduates of any race forced to work dangerous and demeaning work. Other studies have shown that illegal immigration has caused some discrimination of native born Hispanics because some employers do not want to appear to hire illegal immigrants or do not want to risk legal retribution if the Hispanic American is not actually legal.
8. According to panel chairman James P. Smith, a senior economist at California-based RAND corp., "Immigrants may be adding as much as $10 billion to the economy each year. The vast majority of Americans are enjoying a healthier economy as the result of the increased supply of labor and lower prices that result from immigration" http://www.visalaw.com/97jun/12jun97.html.
9. There is little consensus in the matter, but some environmentalists say mass immigration into the US is bad for the environment. They say America is already reaching its “carrying capacity,” and by allowing so many people in, other nations allow higher fertility rates and lower economies. They say that if the US closed its borders, it could better address its massive environmental footprint. Likewise, if the US helped developing countries more, the US would have a lower demand for immigration http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=immigrations-effect-on-evironment .
10. McCain still supports some, if not all, of the elements of the original bill he supported with Ted Kennedy, Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act. Obama has said that he supported the original bill (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNZjDNrUqEw&feature=related). The declared positions of both candidates on their official websites are very similar.
Stakeholders in the Immigration issue (individuals, organizations, interest groups)
Annual Flow Reports on immigration from the US Department of Homeland Security:
Illegal Immigrants:
Refugees and Asylees 2007:
Naturalizations 2007:
1. Legislation before 1964: Immigration Act of May 26, 1924 was the first permanent limitation on immigration, established the “national origins quota system.” The quotas were set on specific countries which were dictated by the number of people in the US from the country in question. Preference quota status was established for: unmarried children under 21; parents; spouses of U.S. citizens aged 21 and over; and for quota immigrants aged 21 and over who are skilled in agriculture, together with their wives and dependent children under age 16. The 1924 Act in conjunction with the Immigration Act of 1917 governed American immigration policy until 1952 when the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) was enacted. It brought into one comprehensive statute the multiple laws which, before its enactment, governed immigration and naturalization in the United States. Among other things, the INA eliminated discrimination by race and gender in regard to immigration, introduced a system of selected immigration by giving a quota preference to skilled aliens whose services were urgently needed in the United States and to relatives of U.S. citizens and aliens, and established a central index of all aliens in the United States for use by security and enforcement agencies.
2. Legislation after 1964: The US experienced a great wave of immigrants peaking in the 1920s which consisted primarily of Europeans. Immigrants from outside Europe were allowed in greater numbers when the Hart-Cellar Act of 1965 set up a country-by-country quota system instead of primarily focusing on family reunification. The Hart-Cellar Act also allocated 170,000 visas to countries in the Eastern Hemisphere and 120,000 to countries in the Western Hemisphere increasing the annual ceiling on immigrants from 150,000 to 290,000. The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 under President Reagan made it illegal to knowingly hire or recruit immigrants who do not possess lawful work authorization, required employers to attest to their employees' immigration status, and granted amnesty to certain illegal immigrants who entered the United States before and continuously resided since January 1, 1982.
3. Recent legislation: Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act was a bipartisan bill introduced in the Senate on May 12, 2005 by John McCain and Ted Kennedy. It was the first in recent years to include legalization, border enforcement, and guest worker programs. It failed to pass as did the two successors along with another in the House which attempted to make compromises to attract greater appeal. Consequently, many feel the borders have yet to be properly secured, but the House and Senate have just passed a bill which allocates $40.42 billion to Homeland Security. Most of that money will go to tightening the security on the frontiers and borders http://www.votesmart.org/issue_keyvote_detail.php?cs_id=14537.
4. The country’s population is growing by nearly 3 million people a year. Immigration is adding well over about 1.5 million newcomers a year. After accounting for emigration, the amount of population increase from immigration nets out at still well above one million more permanent residents. When the children born in this country to immigrant parents are added to the equation, the total direct and indirect impact accounts for nearly 80 percent of our escalating population http://www.fairus.org/site/DocServer/final.pdf?docID=1181 (page 6).
5. Under any immigration scenario, the absolute and relative sizes of the Asian-ancestry and Hispanic ancestry populations will grow rapidly. Before 1976, Europeans made up the majority of naturalized citizens. Asia was the leading region of origin of new, naturalized citizens in every year from 1976 to 2006, except 1996-2000 when Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) legalized immigrants naturalized in large numbers, 90 percent of whom were from North American countries. In 2007, however, the number of naturalizations from North American countries slightly exceeded those of Asian immigrants.
6. Immigrants are important to the US because of the country's aging population which would shrink without a sufficient influx of people. The U.S. population is aging: the number of persons aged 65 years and older is expected to double between 1995 and 2050, no matter what immigration policies are adopted.
7. Likewise, there are holes in employment. The US relies on many immigrants to either fill jobs that citizens do not wish to do or to fill jobs citizens are less qualified to do. One of the main arguments against mass immigration is the threat they pose to the employment rate of native born citizens. This is often considered a common sense argument. However, evidence so far does not support that native born workers of any race are suffering from an influx of foreign-born workers in the market. Some studies show that native workers often have to work for lower wages or not take jobs due to immigrant influence on certain employment markets. The same studies show that these native workers are typically a very specific demographic, non-high school graduates of any race forced to work dangerous and demeaning work. Other studies have shown that illegal immigration has caused some discrimination of native born Hispanics because some employers do not want to appear to hire illegal immigrants or do not want to risk legal retribution if the Hispanic American is not actually legal.
8. According to panel chairman James P. Smith, a senior economist at California-based RAND corp., "Immigrants may be adding as much as $10 billion to the economy each year. The vast majority of Americans are enjoying a healthier economy as the result of the increased supply of labor and lower prices that result from immigration" http://www.visalaw.com/97jun/12jun97.html.
9. There is little consensus in the matter, but some environmentalists say mass immigration into the US is bad for the environment. They say America is already reaching its “carrying capacity,” and by allowing so many people in, other nations allow higher fertility rates and lower economies. They say that if the US closed its borders, it could better address its massive environmental footprint. Likewise, if the US helped developing countries more, the US would have a lower demand for immigration http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=immigrations-effect-on-evironment .
10. McCain still supports some, if not all, of the elements of the original bill he supported with Ted Kennedy, Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act. Obama has said that he supported the original bill (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNZjDNrUqEw&feature=related). The declared positions of both candidates on their official websites are very similar.
- Secure the borders with greater funding and measures.
- Address the undocumented immigrants so that they can resolve their status and given a chance to become legal immigrants.
- Strongly enforce the laws which prohibit employers from hiring undocumented immigrants.
- Fix the lagging immigration system to keep families together and keep workers available to be hired.
Stakeholders in the Immigration issue (individuals, organizations, interest groups)
Farmers and Businesses seeking cheap labor
Business groups, chambers of commerce
States and local governments
Education boards and classrooms
Cultural enclaves like Little Italy and K(Korea)town
Immigrants and their families
Hispanic organizations – LULAC, La Raza, United Farmworkers
Immigration and Naturalization Service, Border Patrol
Minutemen and other citizen imposed border patrols
Countries of origin
Marketing and sales people searching for a new demographic
Annual Flow Reports on immigration from the US Department of Homeland Security:
Illegal Immigrants:
Legal Permanent Residents--green cards 2007:
Refugees and Asylees 2007:
Naturalizations 2007:
DennisDD |
Latest page update: made by DennisDD
, Oct 4 2008, 7:28 PM EDT
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