Immigration in the United States of America

Response

The American migration crisis happened in the year 2014 where there was a surge in unaccompanied children and women coming from the Northern Triangle of Central America (NTCA) who were seeking entrance to the United States in 2014. The US describes an unaccompanied child as any child who is below the age of majority living on his own or her own. An unaccompanied child does not have a legal guardian to take care of him or her.  The first response to the crisis was the convention of the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. The civilians also responded by holding demonstration either for the children or against the children. They wanted the government to look for a way they can house the children and deal with the issue. The government of the United States of America also came up with an appropriation that would be used in the payment of the lawyers who represent the unaccompanied children in court (Navarro, 2008).

The United States of America receives thousands of immigrants each year as many people move from their countries in search for more opportunities. There are situations where immigration has become a crisis in the country since the number of illegal immigrants is increasing from time to time.  The government of the United States of America is dedicated to dealing with all the challenges that they face in the society that they deal with them accordingly to the benefit of the citizens in the country. The problem of illegal immigration made the president of the United States of America Donald come up with a suggestion of building a border wall that will prevent the illegal immigrants from accessing the country. However, the president has faced some hardship in his quest because the idea is being opposed by the House of Representatives that is dominated by the Democrats. Most of the illegal entry into the country happens through the southern border, which is the reason why Trump wants to have a wall that will prevent it from occurring. It is argued that illegal immigrants are responsible for the increase in crime within the country. The government of the United States of America has also dealt with the crisis of illegal immigration by coming up with policies that give directions on the migrants that are supposed to be welcomed into the country and the ones who should not. It also contains the directions on how the people are supposed to conduct themselves in the country and the kind of punishment that they face when they go against the policies that direct their stay in the country (Navarro, 2008).

The new Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) argues that the economy of the United States of America is likely to be weakened in the case where the country fails to formulate and implement a sustainable immigration policy. The US immigration policy agrees that the United States of America has reaped many benefits from immigrants such as skilled labour, international students etc. However, it warns that the failure of the United States of America to have a functional immigration policy is likely to undermine the achievements. The immigration crisis led to reform the immigration policy with the aim of achieving various goals in the society. The government of the United States of America has sometimes deported some foreigners who got into the country illegally or those who are found on the wrong side of the law. The migration crisis is not a preserve of the United States of America, but many countries in the world are finding it hard to deal with it. Some of the immigrants arrive in the country as refugees hence cannot be moved away from the country when their country is not safe. The government of the United States of America deals with the issues and sends the refugees back to the country when their countries are peaceful again. The United Nations advocated for a peaceful, orderly and regular migration that will not burden a given country or inconvenience the migrants (King, 2009).

Containment

The United States of America had to look for ways to deal with the immigration crisis in the country. The number of unaccompanied children increased continuously, a situation that forced the authorities to look for ways to protect the children since they were vulnerable. The government of the United States of America allocated money that could be used in taking care of the unaccompanied children including hiring a lawyer to represent them in court in the case where they have a legal issue that requires redress. The United States of America built detention centres to house the children and as a way of containing the crisis in the country. Most of the families were not detained due to lack of resources to support them. The migrants in the detention centres were denied bond as a way of discouraging the other immigrants from coming into the country. In February 2015 under the appeal forbade the denial of bond to the immigrants as a way of discouraging the others from getting into the country. The public also tried to contain the people. One way was through writing articles that addressed the plight of the migrants. An article written by Mother Jones in the year 2014 argued that some of the children were fleeing abusive relationships in the home countries. The border patrol statistics showed that the children were facing many inhumane acts hence it was a good reason why they should flee from their homes and seek a safe environment elsewhere. The civil rights groups have also come up with the intention of fighting for the rights of the immigrants and ensure that they have a good stay in the country. The Office of Refugee Resettlement, American Civil Liberties Union, Executive Office for Immigration Review, the United States Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the United States Department of Homeland Security have both specified and unspecified statutory responsibilities with respect to the unaccompanied children and the rest of the immigrants in the United States of America. The settlement that is stipulated in Flores v. Meese gave out a national policy with regards to the detention of minors in various detention centres in the United States of America. Most of the refugees coming from Central America settled California, followed by Texas and Florida. The government has tried its best to ensure that the immigrants are settled in the country. Immigration may be a crisis in the United States of America but it is not that bad since there is a number of them who are useful to the government of the United States of America due to their business ventures that pay taxes to the country and their labour force that is used by both the government and the private sector in the country. The measures are aimed at containing the situation and ensuring that it does not cripple the economy and the other sectors of the United States of America such as education, housing, land ownership etc. The state has been forced to improve the capacity in the learning institutions with the aim of accommodating the increase in population that has been brought about by the immigrants in the United States of America. Most of the neighbouring country and many others in the world are doing the same to ensure that they do not face a crisis as a country. The United States of America is also considering helping countries to have strong institutions as a way of improving the other countries, and in so doing, they reduce the extent to which immigration affects the country in the United States of America since the people will be happy with their local countries. Some of the systems that are being strengthened are the government, the education sector as well as the other sectors that make the people move from their country (Navarro, 2008).

De-escalation

The US government is doing its best to deal with the problem of immigration in the country. The conclusion of the crisis is the dream of all the citizens in the United States of America. Trumps Administration is considering the use of bureaucratic strangulation to squeeze the life out of a program that has helped in the resettlement of the refugees in the country. It is argued that the immigrant resettlement program has had a huge role in encouraging the other immigrants to get into the country hence eliminating it is seen as a measure that will discourage them from getting into the country. Critics think that the approach is hostile which is slashing the resettlement capacity that left more people overburdened in the host countries that are located next to the war zones. The US was accused to be hobbling the tool that was used in dealing with the instability in those countries. The proponents of resettlement argue that the administration of the country needs to take on more sustainable political and operational footing as a way of managing the immigration crisis. The President rump came up with radical measures that are aimed at dealing with the immigration crisis including cutting the intake of refugees into the country by more than half. He is also hobbling the refugee resettlement program through a combination of politically motivated suspensions, malign neglect as well as expanding the requirements. Critics are convinced that the policy is not only wrong, but it is also wrongheaded and does more harm than good. The government together with the donors are doing their best to encourage self-reliance among the refugees that will enable them to live normal lives in the country as well as educate their children in the local schools within the country. Self-reliance among the immigrants helps in lifting the burden of supporting them from the government and also provide transformative assistance to the refugees and the other immigrants. It will also play an important role in in the resettling the refugees who have abandoned the hope of going back to their home and help them in the quest to start their lives elsewhere. The number of refugees who are being resettled each year is very small to the extent that the sceptics have questions of whether it serves the purpose intended. Sometimes resettlement is important in that it is the best way to deescalate the crisis in the case where they could spark violence or conflict in the country as it was the case when the United States of America airlifted thousands of refugees from Macedonia. It may be the best way to help the refugees who have been denied asylum in their neighbouring countries. The other way of deescalating immigration is by helping in the development of the countries so that people do not move out of their countries because they lack opportunities (Gonzales, 2011).

Remediation

Remediation involves the restoration of a situation in such a way that the crisis is averted. One of the important steps in remediation is found the cause of immigration in the country. In the case where there is war, the government of the United States of America has been supporting the countries and enabled them to resume the state of normalcy. One of the ways that the government has used is by encouraging the refugees whose countries are peaceful to go back to their countries to rebuild them. Some of the countries that had safety crises are peaceful hence it will be good for the people to go back to their country and try to rebuild up. The other way is through the deportation of the illegal immigrants back to their countries. Illegal immigrants are the ones who lack the necessary documentation that gives them express permission to live in the country. The government of the United States of America has also come up with policies that guide the stay of the immigrants in the country and has played an important role in remediation of the immigration crisis in the country. The policy gives directions with regards to the expatriation of the people back to their countries. Some of the citizens of the United States of America have also tried to block the immigrants from entering the country by blocking the buses carrying the immigrants from moving to their country. On July 18, 2014, the governor of Massachusetts Deval Patrick offered one of two locations to the federal government as temporary shelters for up to 1,000 children as a way of settling the immigration crisis and making sure that the children have safe homes that will protect them. Immigration has been blamed for some criminal activities in the country, and in that case, the government has protected the people by arresting and presenting them, and sometimes they get into a deal that involves extradition of the people back to their country (Coleman, 2007).

Prevention

Several measures have been put in place to prevent the immigration crisis in the United States of America.  One of the measures proposed by Donald Trump involved building a wall in the Mexican border that will deter the immigrants from Mexico and the other countries from using the Mexican border to get into the United States of America. The United States of America is also sending aid to the countries as a way of preventing the immigration crisis in the countries. The country is also avoiding the immigration crisis through the admitting more legal migrants that will help in building up the country. Giving out charities in the countries that will help the people to improve their lives plays an important role in preventing the crisis in the country (Coleman, 2007). Some of the immigrants cross the border often with the intention of visiting their families. Trump’s administration arrests and prosecutes anyone who crosses the border illegally as a way of preventing the immigration crisis in the country. The strategy has some repercussions since it leads to the breakup of the families which makes the children suffer. The Congress is required to pass legislation that will effect zero tolerance to the illegal immigrants. In conclusion, the immigration crisis is a serious issue that has to be dealt with, and that has to be done in the best way possible to ensure that human rights are considered in any action that is taken to deal with the refugee crisis (Système observation Permanente des migrations, 2007).

References

Coleman, M. (2007). Geopolitics of engagement: Neoliberalism, the war on terrorism, and the reconfiguration of US immigration enforcement. Geopolitics, 12(4), 607-634.

Gonzales, A. R. (2011). Immigration Crisis in a Nation of Immigrants: Why Amending the Fourteenth Amendment Won’t Solve our Problems, An. Minn. L. Rev., 96, 1859.

King, S. M. (2009). US Immigration Law and the Traditional Nuclear Conception of Family: Toward a Functional Definition of Family that Protects Children’s Fundamental Human Rights. Colum. Hum. Rts. L. Rev., 41, 509.

Navarro, A. (2008). The immigration crisis: Nativism, armed vigilantism, and the rise of a countervailing movement. Rowman Altamira.

Système observation Permanente des migrations (Organization). (2007). International Migration Outlook: Annual Report. OECD Publishing.