Immigration

Who Should We Welcome? What Should We Do?

Scott London, Mary Engal

• Editorial: NIFI/National Issues Forum Institute
• Año: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781946206589
• Categoría: Politics & International Relations
• Categoría: Immigration Policy

The immigration issue affects virtually every American, directly or indirectly, often in deeply personal ways. This guide is designed to help people deliberate together about how we should approach the issue. The three options presented here reflect different ways of understanding what is at stake and force us to think about what matters most to us when we face difficult problems that involve all of us and that do not have perfect solutions. The US government essentially shut down immigration, at least temporarily, during the coronavirus pandemic. But as our country begins to reopen, difficult questions remain:

• Should we strictly enforce the law and deport people who are here without permission, or would deporting millions of people outweigh their crime?
• Should we welcome more newcomers to build a more vibrant and diverse society, or does this pose too great a threat to national unity?
  
• Should we accept more of the millions of refugees and asylum seekers fleeing gang violence and war, or should we avoid the risk of taking in people whose backgrounds may not have been fully checked?
  
• Should our priority be to help immigrants assimilate into our distinctively American way of life and insist they learn English, or should we instead celebrate a growing mosaic of different peoples?

The concerns that underlie this issue are not confined to party affiliation, nor are they captured by labels such as "conservative" or "liberal." The research involved in developing the guide included interviews and conversations with Americans from all walks of life, as well as surveys of nonpartisan public-opinion research, subject-matter scans, and reviews of initial drafts by people with direct experience with the subject.

About National Issues Forum

The National Issues Forums (NIF) is a network of organizations that brings together citizens around the nation to talk about pressing social and political issues of the day. Thousands of community organizations, including schools, libraries, churches, civic groups, and others, have sponsored forums designed to give people a public voice in the affairs of their communities and their nation. For more information about NIF and for additional publications, see NIF's website at www.nifi.org.

Immigration

Who Should
We Welcome?
What Should
We Do?

FOR CENTURIES, people from other countries have come to the United States in search of a better life. The steady influx of newcomers helped build the US, creating a mix of cultures, religions, and ethnicities not found anywhere else in the world. Today, people born in another country make up almost 14 percent of the US population.

Before the pandemic overshadowed most other concerns, many people were asking questions about this country’s immigration policies, brought to their attention by the recent crises on our southern border and the sharpening debate over border wall construction. As we begin to think about what changes we may want to make, it’s helpful to consider where we are now:

Source: Pew Research Center, based on US Census Bureau, “Historical Census Statistics on the Foreign-Born Population of the United States: 1858-2000” and Pew Research Center tabulations of the 2010 and 2015 American Community Surveys (IPUMS)

How many immigrants are coming into the United States?

Over the last decade, the United States legally accepted about one million immigrants a year. That number was already projected to drop under new policies—put in place before the pandemic border closures—that ban travel from about a dozen countries, cap the number of refugees we will accept, and bar those who will need public benefits.

How do we choose who is admitted now?

Currently, roughly two-thirds are admitted because they have family members already here. Of the remaining third, about half are admitted based on their job skills and half are refugees from political or religious persecution. There is a backlog of 3.6 million people waiting to have their immigration applications evaluated and processed.

Has the share of population that is foreign born increased?

In 1970, slightly less than 5 percent of the US population was foreign born; today, it is about 13.6 percent.

How many undocumented immigrants live in the United States?

An estimated 10.5 million people now living in the United States entered without permission, typically crossing the border illegally or staying here after their visas have expired. Many have lived in the United States for decades and have spouses and children who are US citizens.

Who are the “DREAMers”?

About 690,000 young people, sometimes known as the “DREAMers,” were brought to the United States as children, many as infants or toddlers. A government program called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) granted them temporary legal status, but that program continues to be at issue.

How has the coronavirus pandemic affected immigration?

Shortly after the first US cases of COVID-19 were reported, the United States closed land borders to nonessential travel, suspended asylum programs, and “paused” processing for those seeking work visas, all but shutting immigration down. The pandemic also has affected immigrants already in the United States. An estimated six million immigrants worked on the front lines of the coronavirus response, in hospitals, in meat-processing plants, and on farms.

Behind all these numbers is a maze of complicated quotas, shifting criteria, and unknowable timelines. The average wait time for a “green card”—which allows permanent legal residence—is about six years. But a family member from the Philippines or Mexico, countries that have millions of applicants, could wait 20 years. In the employment category, someone from India who arrives in the United States on a temporary-worker visa today faces an astonishing 50-year wait for permanent status.

Note: All numbers are rounded independently and are not adjusted to sum to US total or other totals.

Source: Pew Research Center estimates for 2017 based on the augmented American Community Survey (IPUMS)

Source: US Customs and Border Protection

The immigration issue affects all Americans in one way or another. With US birthrates falling, American companies have long experienced a shortage of both high-skilled professionals and low-wage workers. And, while some communities are thriving with large immigrant populations, others question whether their communities will be able to assimilate a growing share of newcomers. These and other challenges raise pressing questions about the nation’s immigration policies:

■Should we reduce the number of immigrants legally admitted into the United States each year? If so, what should we do about worker shortages?

■How should we handle undocumented immigrants in a way that is humane but also fair to the millions who are waiting to enter legally?

■Does the current flow of newcomers compromise our sense of national unity or instead build on a rich history of diversity?

■Does the United States have a humanitarian responsibility to take in refugees whose lives are in danger? How many can we realistically accommodate?

This issue guide offers a framework for considering the priorities that should inform our nation’s immigration laws. It presents three options for moving forward, each based on a different way of looking at the issue and each with a different set of prescriptions about what should be done.

None of these options is more “correct” than the others, and each option has trade-offs, risks, or drawbacks that need to be considered if we are to build a fair immigration system that reflects what we hold most valuable.

Option 1:

Welcome
Immigrants;
Be a Beacon
of Freedom

THIS OPTION SAYS THAT IMMIGRATION HAS HELPED MAKE THE US WHAT IT IS TODAY—a dynamic and diverse culture, an engine of the global economy, and a beacon of freedom around the world. It says that part of what defines us as a nation is the opportunity for all to pursue the American dream. We should develop an immigration policy that builds on that tradition by welcoming newcomers, helping immigrant families stay together, and protecting those fleeing war and oppression.

Welcoming immigrants is the right thing to do, according to this option, and it benefits our culture and our economy. The immigration system should be one that reflects the decency and compassion of our nation. Families should stay t...