Supervising Illegal Immigration Essay Example Essay Example

Supervising Illegal Immigration Essay Example Paper Supervising Illegal Immigration Essay Introduction Illegal immigration, in its simplest terms, refers to the violation of the immigration laws of one’s country of destination. In the political field, this may result to a much higher dimension of issues revolving on economics, slavery, prostitution, and crime (Birrell, 2002).Several studies have dealt with the causes, effects, and the probable measures that must be taken regarding the issue of illegal immigration. The work of Krikorian in 2001 and his later work in 2005 have proved that several actions can be undertaken to minimize the occurrence of illegal immigration and to supervise these illegal immigrants. In his most recent work, Krikorian supports critical analysts who believe that tough laws on illegal immigrants have to be enforced to scale back the illegal population of the United States.For the purpose of this work, the definition stated above will be used in the discussion of illegal immigration. This work will probe on the various ways and means of supervising ille gal immigrants. To further its contention, this study deals with the statistics of illegal immigrants which will provide a larger picture and inevitably a deeper understanding of the status of this issue in various societies.With this in hand, this study is aimed at bringing forth a critical understanding on the nature of this issue framed along the variety of present laws and proposals provided by the findings of several studies made on this phenomenon.The term illegal immigrant itself has taken different forms and names across various cultures. In Europe, they are known as the clandestine workers while in the United States they are called illegal alien, undocumented alien, or criminal alien. However George Lakoff, a linguist from the University of California, has criticized the use of the term alien. He believes that it is not only oppressive but it also connotes several other negative things. Hence, the use of alien should be avoided for political correctness (Blane, 2000; Lakoff Ferguson, 2006).Needless to say, the main reason why people resort to illegal immigration is because of economic concerns. Poverty is the main driving force of this phenomenon. Take the case of the United States. Known as the most powerful nation in the world, thus, one of the economic giants, United States has long been dealing with illegal immigrants mostly coming from Mexico. The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) estimated that in January 2000, there were 7 million illegal immigrants in the United States. And these numbers are fast rising as shown in their estimate in 2003 where at least 8 million illegal immigrants are present in the country. The Census Bureau, on the other hand, produces an estimate of their own. Results of the Census in 2000 showed that there were about 8 million illegal immigrants in the US (â€Å"Illegal Immigration†, n.d.). While in 2006, this number has risen to 12 million. In actuality, 5 percent of the American labor force is comprised of these illegal immigrants and being 20% of this, engaged in construction sector, 4% in the agriculture sector, while the remaining 76% is unreported (Kahn, 2006).Steps to Supervise Illegal ImmigrantsAccording to the Center for Immigration Studies Website (n.d.), the primary action against illegal immigration is nonetheless a stringent border. The borders set under the jurisdiction of the United States should be closely guarded.But why are there an increasing number of illegal immigrants? The above paragraph shelters the main cause of this problem. It clearly shows that border enforcement has been lax.Mark Krikorian (2005) in his work entitled A Strategy of Attrition Through Enforcement details his disagreement on the amnesty proposal of Senators John McCain and Edward Kerry. For him, this is a false choice. Instead of simply accepting that nothing can be done on the 10-12 million illegal immigrants as of 2005 but to legalize the whole thing, what can be done to reduce these illeg al immigrants is to enforce a strict and extensive immigration law. This can be done by increasing resources through fund allocations and by reforming the appeals process of illegal immigrants.Krikorian (2005) further proposes several ways such as dissuading the settlement of new illegal immigrants and more active deportation undertakings through increase efforts of persuading illegal aliens to give up and have themselves deported. This is his strategy of attrition. This strategy of attrition includes both the conventional process of arrests, prosecutions, deportations, and asset seizures plus a complex process of verification of one’s legal status to make it as arduous and difficult to get on with the experience of living in the United States illegally.Many would certainly think that mass deportation is the easiest way to get over this whole thing. Krikorian is well aware of this but he reminds the readers of his work that this is deemed impossible because the government doe s not have the capacity to search for these 10-12 million people, detain, and deport them in a relatively brief period of time. And even if the government has the capacity to deport these people, the abrupt economic change that this could cause is costly as well. Remember that these millions of illegal immigrants are active participants of the American workforce.Krikorian clearly suggests that a gradual decrease of illegal immigrants through attrition is the more realistic means to this end. Furthermore, he believes that media play a vital role here as well because most of what it shown are heart-wrenching stories of the so-called oppressed people. The benefits of the stricter immigration law enforcements are not extensively presented in the media.Camarota (2005) supports Krikorian’s attrition strategy. He is well aware that there are two popular and debating proposed solutions to this problem: either by granting amnesty or legalization to be exact, or by mass deportation. Li ke Krikorian, he criticizes these two strategies and favors what these two writers call their third way, which is by attrition. Unlike Krikorian who battles the mass deportation issue by maintaining that these may cause economic bruises to the country, Camarota concentrates on debating the legalization issue. He believes that legalization will only result to a doubling number of illegal immigrants. Further, it also undermines the importance of the legalized process of crossing national borders. If the legalization option will be simply activated, for what does the rule of law stand for? Clearly, the law is being transcended in this manner.Camarota (2005) supports this belief by citing the 1980 incident where legalization was used to solve the problem of illegal immigration. During this time, about 2.7 million illegal immigrants were legalized and since then, the number has doubled, and even tripled to date. This goes to show that legalization is not the very viable option for this p roblem.Another problem arises which stems from the economic externalities of illegal immigration. Illegal aliens actually adds burden to the American taxpayers. Since most of them are unskilled workers because of their lack of secondary education and higher education, they pay relatively little taxes (Camarota, 2005). His research shows that if these illegal immigrants will be legalized, they will simply result to a net fiscal drain, which is three times as much.The strategy of attrition, on the other hand, creates lesser problems and is the most feasible of the three options. By making the United States unreceptive to illegal immigrants, they will simply decide to go back to their own country. How is this possible? Going back to the main driving force of illegal immigration, which is job availability, this, as well, will provide the central solution to this problem. This can be done by obstructing illegal immigrants from holding jobs in their country of destination. Strict enforcem ent in terms of the proper documentation of workers should be carried out. Fining employers who hire illegal immigrants is the best way to go about this whole thing (Camarota, 2005). Border enforcement is also important for Camarota as he points out the deficiency of the State in this dimension. Currently, only 4% of the southern border is enclosed by barriers, much work has to do in this case. More Border Patrol agents are as well needed.The Federation for American Immigration Reform Website (2003), on the other hand, presents more concrete ways of solving this issue. The presentation of the Ten Steps to Ending Illegal Immigration is beneficial in this matter. This includes the following: The loopholes in the Immigration law must be modified, eradication of any form that leads to the perpetration of illegal immigration, fines for the violation of immigration law must be multiplied, existing programs and proposals to stop illegal immigrants which are deemed successful must be enhanc ed, government agencies must organize their actions towards wide-ranging solutions, and greater fund allocation for immigration employees, technology, and overhead capital which will all better equip the state in its fight against illegal immigrants.Mass ActionThe problem with the lenient enforcement of immigration policies manifested by the deficiency of allocated funds resulting to inadequate national border fencing and limited Border Patrol Agents have already been presented. But what should be done about it?Kirkwood (2006) simply tells us that the power to supervise, control, and downsize the illegal immigrant population comes from the American people themselves. Kirkwood points that American leaders are afraid of these immigrants. While some leaders support these immigrants under their own justification, most Americans do not feel the same way. Most Americans feel that something has to be done. If the leaders cannot stand for themselves, then the people of America should. The p oor treatment of American leaders on this problem cannot be changed if the people do not command change. Policies will never be altered if the people do not demand such kind of action.In conclusion, how can we supervise illegal immigration? The answer simply all boils down to citizen action. Supervising Illegal Immigration Essay Thank you for reading this Sample!