User:Cocobutter295

Rafiat Koiki

Immigration reform in the United States has undergone multiple changes in different administrations cc. Just like the way criminal reform advocates aim to change some of the criminal laws to reduce mass incarcerations, immigration reform advocates believe that the system is broken and should be changed as well cc. The Obama administration began to have conversations surrounding Immigration reform and established the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) in 2012 cc. DACA helps immigrants who are in the United States unlawfully gain legal presence in order to avoid deportation. DACA, however is not an opportunity for these residents to acquire a United States citizenship. The immigration reforms set by the Obama administration encountered some critiques; some of which certain groups believe that the reforms should be more scrutinized to limit the number of people living in the United States illegally.

Between 1986 and 2009, the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 was passed to stop employers from hiring illegal immigrants and providing consequences to employers who do so cc.  As a result of this, many immigrants migrated into the United States illegally and research shows that about 70% of them were from Mexico cc. This caused President George W. Bush and Vincent Fox, the president of Mexico at the time to discuss on how to change the illegality of the situation cc. They passed the  Border Protection, Anti -Terrorism, and illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005 and the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006 but neither bills passed into law cc.

Another aspect of immigration where we see changes is through the media and the economy cc. Each time the media covers immigration topics, it heightens people’s fears and people begin to have more conversations about it cc. Politicians and people against immigration and its reform are those specifically in this category cc. There are also studies that show that legalization of undocumented immigrants actually helps the economy grow cc. This is because people can now have access to higher wages which in returns helps the growth of Gross Domestic Product cc. Many undocumented workers were not able to earn decent wages because of their immigration status  but after being legalized, that is no longer the case.

On the issue of reforms, the state of Arizona passed the Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act which gives police officers and other law enforcement officials the opportunity to ask a person for their legal status cc. This was not something that used to be possible unless such individual is caught participating in a crime, but this bill gives law enforcement officials the right to question one’s legal status only based on suspicion. This bill was set to cost the state of Arizona anywhere from $7million- $52 million dollars cc.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is responsible for removing people who pose a threat to the society, have been previously deported, or have overstayed their visas in the United Sates cc. From the time Barrack Obama was president in 2008, over two million unauthorized immigrants were deported where majority of them did not have  a criminal conviction cc.