Groza 1

Daniel Groza

Professor Connie Douglas

ENG 112_08

31 March 2017

Who Has The Right To Become An American?

America takes pride on being a nation made of immigrants who have transformed these

previously separated British colonies into one of the most strongest,innovated, and ambitious

country that mankind has ever witness. The country today known as the United States of

America, was founded as a place for all men and women to pursue their god given rights for life,

liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is a nation where people may find refuge from tyrannical

rule, chaotic crises, extreme measures of poverty, and propagandized persecution. One may

evaluate the benefits of living and being an American and consider it to be a fortunate life;

however, one may overlook the current situation in America where immigration reform is a

major controversy as the country enters the year 2017. The melting pot republic has come to a

crossroads as to where the direction of immigration reform in the United States is heading; thus,

determining what kind of life immigrants who wish to enter the country or who are already living

in it will endure.

Immigration has always been a topic to discuss, even in the early years of the United

States when President John Adams passed the Alien and Sedition Act of 1789; which allowed

President Adams to prevent certain people from entering the United States, making it more

difficult for non-citizens to become citizens, and even allowing the president to imprison or

deport non-citizens. The subject of immigration continues on out through American history, and
 Groza 2

as of today there are three main groups that lead the immigration reform that the country is

seeking to create. The Republican Party which is opposing increased entry for immigrants, the

Democratic Party which is in favor of increased entry for immigrants, and lastly immigrants

themselves who are currently residing in America or trying to gain citizenship. These three

groups are currently the main leading voices of this immigration controversy, and the future for

immigrants will be determined through their views and standpoints on the issue.

The Republican Party is considered to be anti-immigration or restrictionists. They are

opposed to the idea of allowing more immigrants from entering the country due to their belief

that the increase of immigrants takes away jobs from American citizens, increases criminal

activity or gun violence, and is far too expensive to support such an influx of people. As of now

they currently control all branches of government, and therefore have the upper hand with

political issues in general. The Republicans believe that an influx of immigration leads to higher

levels of criminal activity, increased debt due to undocumented immigrants, and loss of job

opportunities for the American people. Their goal is to limit the entry of immigrants, and deport

as many as possibly in order to create a stable enough environment for the country to be able to

accept more immigrants in due time, through a legal process. According to Chavez, Linda in her

scholarly journal The Realities of Immigration it states that 11.5 million undocumented

immigrants currently live in the United States, while each year the amount increases by 500,000.

Costs for public services are also estimated to be around 67- 87 billion dollars per year. Arizona,

a border state in the United States, suffers the most with the influx of immigrants in the country.

Ludwikowski, Anna in her journal "The Role of Congress, President and the Supreme Court in

Defining Immigration Policy in the United States" states that Arizona loses 2.7 billion dollars per

year by providing healthcare, education, transportation, and incarceration to illegal immigrants in

 Groza 3

the state. The state of Arizona did try to pass a law to create state government laws that would

enforce more strict guidelines to immigration; however, the Supreme Court denied SB-1070 due

to the possibility of increased racial profiling. The ultimate goal in the debate for the Republican

Party, is to create stability in the economy and for American citizens before accepting more

immigrants into this country. The direction in which the Republicans aim for on the issue of

immigration is stability first within the country; rather than permit and give entry to even more

immigrants how the Democratic Party desires.

The Democratic Party is in favor of increasing the amount of immigrants allowed in the

country due to their belief that increasing the amount of immigrants increases diversity in the

workforce, improves the economy with more hard workers, and promotes equality/equal

opportunity for all people living in the United States. One of the main reasons as to why

Democrats oppose Republicans is due to the increased chance of discrimination and racial

profiling that comes with conservative ideology. The Supreme Court decided to oppose Arizona

in the SB-1070 case because it gain officers the right to check documentation on any person, thus

leaving room to racial profiling. Cass R. Sunstein in her article, The reason many oppose

immigration states that racial comments from President Trump, and through the recent election

has created a racist environment that is anti-Latino and anti-Muslim. America has a history of

racial/religious discrimination, and Democrats believe that denying immigrants based off their

race and religious beliefs creates an atmosphere that rejects none whites, and promotes white

supremacy. Another thing that Democrats value about immigrants is hard work and diversity. In a

journal by Tyler Cowen and Daniel M. Rothschild, Assimilation of immigrants is not a problem

in the U.S. the core strengths that come from Latino immigrants is the English language, hard
 Groza 4

work, and family. According to the journal, Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates

that Hispanic men are more likely than white men to be in the labor force. While immigrant

Latinas initially lag behind native women, Francine Blau and Lawrence Kahn of the National

Bureau of Economic Research have shown that, despite initial inclinations to be stay-at-home

moms, immigrant women quickly assimilate into the American work force. Hispanics in this

study have shown to be hard workers and obtain the same mentality of working diligently like

Americans do. They assimilate quickly into the economy according to the journal, and even lose

some of their own Hispanic culture in the process. Everyone has the capability to strive and

achieve things in life, and the Democrats believe that by allowing more immigrants into society

that the economy can improve itself with the diversity of hard working people in the work force.

Both Democrats and Republicans search for ways that improve the country in the best possibly

way; how they view the controversy of immigration is completely polar opposites. However,

when it comes to the people who wish to become American citizens, both parties seem to be

largely neglectful of immigrants themselves, and more preoccupied with other personal agendas.

Thus, leaving the issue of immigration in the air, similarly to the Supreme Court case between

the state of Arizona and the federal government.

Immigration has been a controversial topic even in the beginning years of the country.

President John Adams passed the Sedition and Alien Act of 1789, which allowed non-citizens to

be arrested or deported at will. One can see similarities with President Trumps new travel ban

which would restrict Muslims from entering the country. As of now, the topic of immigration is

under the domain of the federal government due to the Arizona v. US Supreme Court case.

However, no official decision or act to prevent or support immigration has been taken into effect.

In the journal "Obama's Immigration Reform for Youth: A DREAM Deferred?" by Nevins,
 Groza 5

Joseph, it addresses President Obamas primary act to help immigrants stabilize themselves.

President Felipe Mendez of Mexico, congratulated President Obama with his new federal law

and called it a humanitarian act. However, the law federal itself was very limiting to the group of

people it applied to, and it also had certain requirements such as not having a felony, a $350

dollar charge, and also the law was only in effect for two years. Despite Obamas gesture which

took place a few months before the election of 2012, he is known as the Deporter in Chief due

to his administration deporting over five million immigrants out of the country. Even with the

Dream Act, one may speculate to say that the act was created only to give momentum to his

campaign since after his reelection, no major laws have been passed that improved immigration

policies for immigrants in the United States. Immigrants are so far the only true voices that

represent themselves while a majority of them suffer inequality in the workforce and educational

opportunities. According to a journal by Maggs, John, The Economics of being Hispanic it

states that According to the U.S. Department of Labor, median weekly earnings in 1998 for a

full-time worker 16 years of age or older were $572, or about $30,000 a year. Then it also states

that the median for a Hispanic worker, in contrast, was $398 dollars, or about $21,000 per year,

just 69.5 percent of the median for all workers. The lack of pay increase is then stated to be the

result of a lack of education with the Hispanic population. Due to the lack of pay increase,

immigrants represent 30 percent of all U.S. workers without a high school diploma in the journal.

From both Republicans and Democratic parties, the life of the immigrant has not improved

significantly, but is rather in a matryoshka doll that is shaken or opened only when elections are

coming. The true voice for immigrants comes from immigrants themselves; however, the impact

of their voice, one could argue, is less apparent than that of Republicans and Democratic.
 Groza 6

The history of immigration and racial discrimination can be correlated with one another

in America. Immigrants have never truly been favored or accepted into society the way any

normal citizen should be; especially when ones race is a factor included into it. Both the

Republican and Democratic Party have made no true apparent changes to the immigration crisis

that increases with more illegal immigrants entering into the country. Republicans view

immigrants as a financial burden, and a security risk to the establishment that they have created.

Thus, they are anti-immigration due to the uncertainty that comes with foreigners. Opposed to

Democrats, who are pro-immigration, and what to increase the equality and welfare of all people

wanting to live in the United States. The more acceptance of immigrants into the country, the

larger the voice of immigrants and their own party can grow. However, the Democratic Party

seems to avoid the issue until election season comes. Families, friends, and ordinary people are

separated from one another, suffer from poverty, are oppressed by tyrannical governments, and

persecuted for their own religious beliefs. The Republicans and Democrats both make claims to

create immigration reform, but fail to deliver any. While both parties debate and argue with one

another, immigrants who await a decisive decision suffer in silence, without their voices truly

mattering.
 Groza 7

Work Cited Page

Chavez, Linda. "The Realities of Immigration." Commentary, vol. 122, no. 1, Jul 2006, pp. 34-

40. ProQuest Central, http://ezproxy.cpcc.edu/login?

url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/195890785?accountid=10008.

Jones, Reece. "Walls can Prop Up a Politician but they can't Hold People Back." The Australian,

Sep 22 2015, pp. 10. ProQuest Central, http://ezproxy.cpcc.edu/login?

url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1713985718?accountid=10008.

Ludwikowski, Anna. "The Role of Congress, President and the Supreme Court in Defining

Immigration Policy in the United States." Ad Americam, vol. 14, 2013, pp. 99-111,164,

ProQuest Central,

http://ezproxy.cpcc.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1516048423?

accountid=10008.

Maggs, John. "The Economics of being Hispanic." National journal, vol. 31, no. 33, Aug 14

1999, pp. 2359-2361. ProQuest Central, http://ezproxy.cpcc.edu/login?

url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/200322656?accountid=10008.

Nevins, Joseph. "Obama's Immigration Reform for Youth: A DREAM Deferred?" NACLA

Report on the Americas, vol. 45, no. 3, 2012, pp. 4-5, ProQuest Central,

http://ezproxy.cpcc.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1270350198?

accountid=10008.
 Groza 8

"The Reason Many Oppose Immigration." The News Journal, Oct 02, 2016, ProQuest Central,

http://ezproxy.cpcc.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1825011883?

accountid=10008.

Tyler Cowen and, Daniel M. "Assimilation of Immigrants is Not a Problem in the U.S." Deseret

News, Jun 18, 2006, pp. G06, ProQuest Central, http://ezproxy.cpcc.edu/login?

url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/351482230?accountid=10008.