Immigration has always been a major issue in my life. Although I myself did not migrate from another country, several of my family members and relatives did. The two most important people that I know who migrated from another country are my parents. Both of my parents migrated from Mexico to the United States at around the age of 19. The reason why I want to research about immigration is to learn more about what can happen to people who have migrated here from another country. Something that has always been related to immigration is deportation. This is because once an immigrant is found guilty of having migrated into the United States they are deported back to where they are from. As of now, I know the bare minimum about immigration. Here is what I know, Immigration is when a person moves to a foreign country to live there permanently and immigrants have the opportunity to become United States citizens through the naturalization act. By foreign country, I mean a country that is not the country in which that person was born in.
Not knowing much about immigration, I always believed that once an immigrant is caught by law enforcements he/she is deported right away, but according to an article that I found online, that is not exactly what happens. From what I read in this article, there is more to deportation that just catching an immigrant and deporting him/her right away. First of all the police are not the ones who deport immigrants. The law enforcement that has the authority to deport immigrants is the law enforcement known as I.C.E., which stands for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The article mentions that an immigrant can be taken into custody in different ways, such as a “workplace raid” or at their house (Nolo.com). It says that most likely immigrants are not taken into custody by immigration officers but through law enforcement officers such as state or local police officers. Once taken into custody, either the police department can request I.C.E. to interview the immigrant or immigration officials themselves can request a chance to interview the immigrant to see whether or not he/she is undocumented but immigration officials only have 48 hours to interview the person after they have requested the interview. If I.C.E does not end up interviewing the person within 48 hours, he/she must be released. Something that surprised me while reading this article is that it can take years for someone to be deported. The article says,”Removal proceedings can be lengthy, sometimes taking years to complete. As long as you do not have a prior order of removal, nor sign agreement to your deportation or accept voluntary departure, you will not be immediately deported just because you are caught” (Nolo.com). This surprised me because of the fact that I have always believed that once an immigrant is caught, he/she is deported right away. Overall, what I took from this article is that there is more to immigration than just catching an immigrant and deporting him/her.
In California, there are more non-american residents than there are American residents. Because of immigration there is a very large population of non-americans that consists of Asians, Mexicans, Africans, etc. According to “California in the American System”, the largest group of non-american residents are Latinos and the second largest group are Asians. The book says, “Latinos are the largest ethnic group (14 million), and the California Department of Finance estimates that Hispanics will comprise a majority of the state’s population by 2042. Asians comprise the second largest non-white group (5 million), while some 2.5 million African Americans live in California” (Scarpelli 2). Just like on the Nolo.com website where it mentions that there can be workplace raids or people can be taken from their homes by immigration officers, I believe that immigration officers tend to go to areas where they know they can find immigrants. If they notice that there are many non-americans living in a certain area, they will want to go raid a workplace nearby or go looking for people in their homes. By doing so, they affect the person’s life because if the person has children and is taken into custody, the children are then separated from their families. According to an article that I found through the Ithaca website, there was a proposal that gives people who have been separated from their families an opportunity to return to them. The Ithaca article says, ”Crafted by a bipartisan group of eight senators, the voluminous Senate bill calls for giving immigration judges and other officials more discretion to consider the pain and suffering that a loved one’s separation causes U.S. citizens and legal immigrants. The provisions, if eventually adopted, would allow citizens like Bruemmer and legal residents a much greater chance to bring back spouses who have been deported or forced into exile” (Publicintegrity.org).
A journal that I read online talks about something called the “Deferred Action for Child Arrivals (DACA)” which was “created to stem the removal of undocumented individuals below a certain age brought here as children who effectively grew up in the United States” (vlex.com). With the DACA program, people who were brought into the United States as children do not become citizens but they do not risk getting deported. By not risking getting deported, they are somewhat protected against I.C.E because they would not be able to deport these people. According to another article that I found through the Meriam Library website, children who are born in mixed-status families are also protected from deportation. The article tells us that although the parents are undocumented, the children are considered United States citizens. The article says, “While, unauthorized parents live in the “shadows” of our society, the children do have standing as these children are U.S. citizens and are protected under the 14th Amendment. “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof,are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside…” (sciencedirect.com). This also relates to how people who are born of undocumented parents in the United States, are protected from being deported by I.C.E.
After reading through all of these sources, I still have a few questions about immigration. Some questions that I would like to be answered are:
- When did immigration first begin?
- Why did it ever begin?
- What group of people was the very first to migrate into the United States and why?
My main focus would want to deal with the history of immigration and how it has changed from back then to now. The reason why I want to learn about the history of it is because my parents have talked to me about how life was so much easier for non-americans back then to what it is now. They have told me that back then it was not as difficult for a non-american to get a job, their drivers license, etc. Ever since I was born, my mother stopped working but my father has worked at the same company since 4-5 years before I was born and he is still at the same company. Something that just came up is that they are asking for him to file the form that makes it possible for him to be a citizen. The reason for that is because the company is now required to ask their workers for their citizenship. Because of this, I want to learn more about how it has changed from back then to now.
At this point in my research, my only solution would be to make it possible for immigrants to become United States citizens but as of now it is already possible through the N-400 form. Although it is already possible, either not many people know about it or it is just too expensive. I was looking into how much it costs for a non-citizen to become a citizen and as of now the price is $680. Not many non-citizens have a job that pays them enough afford that price. Even if they do make a good amount of money, they still cannot afford it because of bills that they have to pay. Something that I would like to do, if anyway possible, is to lower the price on the application/form to become a citizen. I can probably contact someone from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and ask them if there is a way in which they can make the process cheaper. If this can happen, we can later make an advertisement letting non-americans know that the price for the process has been deducted.
Works Cited Page
Galvan, Christina. “What Happens When an Undocumented (Illegal) Immigrant Is Caught? Nolo.com.”Nolo.com. Nolo, Law for All, 29 Oct. 2014. Web. 19 Sept. 2016. <http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/what-happens-when-undocumented-immigrant-is-caught.html>.
Scarpelli, Craig. California in the American System. Third ed. N.p.: McGraw Hill, 2012. Print. Page 2.
Ferriss, Susan. “New Immigration Bill Provides Ray of Hope for Separated Families.” Center for Public Integrity. N.p., 19 May 2014. Web. 19 Sept. 2016. <https://www.publicintegrity.org/2013/04/19/12516/new-immigration-bill-provides-ray-hope-separated-families>.
Gladstone, Michael. “What’s New in Immigration? A Few Thoughts for 2016.” VLex. N.p., 1 July 2016. Web. 19 Sept. 2016. <http://law-journals-books.vlex.com/vid/what-s-new-in-647085257>.
Vargas, Edward D. “Immigration Enforcement and Mixed-status Families: The Effects of Risk of Deportation on Medicaid Use.” Login to Resources from Off Campus. Center for Women’s Health and Health Disparities Research, University of Wisconsin–Madison, 310 N. Midvale Blvd, Suite 201, Madison, WI 53705, USA, 26 July 2015. Web. 19 Sept. 2016. <http://www.sciencedirect.com.mantis.csuchico.edu/science/article/pii/S0190740915300177>.
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