US Immigration

Immigration in the U.S.A

The United States of America; a wonderful country. It is full of potential and promise, hope and freedom. It is no wonder why every year many people from all over the world choose to come to this country. Immigration to and in the United States is part of what makes America great, but there are many misconceptions regarding the subject. Immigration has been much cause for debate, and many laws regarding it have been made, but thankfully it still remains an active and important matter in the United States.

Immigrants make up a lot of America’s population. In fact, in 2014 the immigration population made up 13.3% of the overall population in the United States of America(Jie Zong and Jeanne Batalova). This is a significant
However, people who move from other countries into the U.S. have the opportunity to become naturalized citizens. The process can be rather long, most likely involving a lot of paperwork. Becoming a naturalized citizen comes with the perks of being able to legally and permanently reside in the US without fear of deportation, but also comes with slightly less exciting things such as taxes. Perhaps this is why some immigrants live illegally. Thankfully, in 2014 at least 47% of immigrants were naturalized citizens( Jie Zong and Jeanne Batalova). This is a significant amount, but also not quite as large an amount as some would wish. This means that although there are some unauthorized foreign born people living in America, they only account for about 13.5% of the total foreign immigrant population ( Jie Zong and Jeanne Batalova). Based on this information, we can conclude that a fair amount of foreign born people in the U.S.A are legal
The Immigration Act of 1990 established the Diversity Visa Lottery still controls the amount of permanent residents allowed to enter the country per year, and even controls what countries get the most entries( Jie Zong and Jeanne Batalova). This law has been in place for quite some time and is still effective. However, new laws have been passed to even further control immigration, as it can sometimes have a negative effect on the rest of the American population, but only if those who immigrate do so without following the proper steps. A more recent law that has been passed is “Immigration Rule of Law Act of 2015” and it covers many things regarding immigration. This law takes actions on behalf of both sides of the immigration debate, meaning that it has laws set in place to help and protect immigrants but also laws that restrict immigrants. Some of the things that this law covers are “[the] Southern Border and Approaches Campaign”, and “Policies for the Apprehension, Detention and Removal of Undocumented Immigrants”( Immigration Rule of Law Act of 2015). These particular laws focus on restricting immigrants and are more concerned with citizens already within U.S. borders. However, this Act also has many laws in place to help immigrants, such as the organizing of welcoming communities and the focus of “fully integrating immigrants and refugees”(