Immigration
By: Carissa Pitts
What is immigration?
Immigration is the action of permanently moving to a foreign country. Immigration has been steadily going on since the 1960's. In 2000, 10% of the US population was immigrants who came for work. Historically, nations have imposed restrictions on immigration based on xenophobia--the fear of alien or "other" cultures--or to protect political, economic or ethnic dominance.
Reasons For Migrating
There are many reasons on why Immigrants want to move to a different country. Immigration mostly occurs because men want better jobs and women want better lifestyles for themselves and their children. When they migrate to the United States, most immigrants want to obtain the American Dream.
Work and Education
The immigrants that are coming here illegally have low education and skill that most good jobs require. Hiring the low education workers may decrease wages of the native workers. Most immigrants have hard times finding jobs because they know little to no words of English.
Enforcement Agencies
The enforcement agency who protects the United States from illegal weapons and immigrants is called ICE. ICE stands for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. They began working for the United States in March of 2003. They also work for the Department of Homeland Security. Before ICE, the INS, which stands for the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service, was responsible for this job before they got dissolved in 2003. The INS was in action from 1891 to 2003.
Another enforcement agency is the USCIS which stands for United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. The USCIS was introduced in the Homeland Security Act in 2002. They help understand and are against immigration. When the INS dissolved in 2003, they were the popular group to go to.
Ways to stop immigration
The US has tried to keep out immigrants from the borders in many ways. They tried making a strong border to keep them out, which didn't work as well as they wanted to because immigrants kept climbing over the walls and fences. Until they can come up with a way to keep them out with a very strong border, the US will rely on armed forces until they come up with a solution.
Recent Immigration
In 2012, the US immigration population stood at almost 40.8 million, or 13% of the total US population of 313.9 million. Between 2011 and 2012, the foreign-born population increased by about 447,000, or by 1.1 percent.