Should%20Illegal%20Aliens%20Currently%20Living%20in%20the%20United%20States%20be%20Granted%20Permanent%20Residency%20Status?

1
Should Illegal Aliens Currently Living in the
United States be Granted Permanent Residency
Status?

• Benson, Berry, Cooney, Stillwater

2
A Brief History of U.S. Immigration

• In 1790, an act was adopted establishing a
  uniform requirement of 2 years of residency for
  naturalization to the U.S.
• In 1875, a direct federal regulation of
  immigration was established by a law that
  prohibited the entry of prostitutes and convicts.
• In 1891, the Bureau of Immigration was
  established under the Treasury Department to
  federally administer all immigration laws.

3
A Brief History of U.S. Immigration

• The Immigration Act of 1924 focused on
  restricting immigration from Southern and Eastern
  Europeans. (2 Rule)
• The Nationals Origins Formula of 1929 made the
  quotas of the 1924 act permanent, excluding
  Asians.
• The Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1952
  (McCarran-Walter Act) combined the multiple laws
  which governed immigration and naturalization at
  that time into one comprehensive statute with
  four parts.

4
A Brief History of U.S. Immigration

• The Immigration Act of 1965 (Hart-Cellar Act)
  changed the criteria for admitting immigrants
  from concentrating on their nationality to
  focusing on their skills and profession.
• The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986
  granted amnesty to illegal aliens who had been in
  the U.S. before 1982 and made it a crime to hire
  an illegal alien.
• The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant
  Responsibility Act of 1996 adopted stronger
  penalties against illegal immigration and
  streamlined the deportation process.

5
Legal Immigration to the U.S.

• Family Immigration Program admits spouses,
  parents, and minor children of U.S. citizens
  without numerical limits and limited categories
  adult sons and daughters of citizens, siblings of
  citizens, and the spouses and children of
  non-citizens.
• Employment based- collection of preferences
  ranging from priority workers to unskilled, and
  religious workers, and investors.
• Humanitarian- refugees, asylees, and those
  receiving cancellation of removal
• Visa lottery for people from countries other than
  the primary sources of current immigration.

6
What Attracts Illegal Immigrants to the U.S.?

• Many are attracted by jobs. The typical Mexican
  worker earns 1/10th of what his American
  counterpart makes.
• Communities of recently arrived legal immigrants
  help create immigration networks used by illegal
  aliens and serve as incubators for illegal
  immigration, providing jobs, housing, and
  entrance to America for illegal-alien relatives
  and fellow countrymen.

7
Permanent Residency Status Green Card

• Green Card recipients may travel freely to and
  from the U.S. and are considered permanent
  residents. They are legally entitled to work as
  well as health, education, taxation, retirement,
  social security, and other benefits and may also
  serve as sponsors for their relatives seeking
  immigration Visas (Green Cards).
• A Green Card holder may later apply for U.S.
  Citizenship and still maintain citizenship in
  his/her country of origin.
• Green Cards are valid for a lifetime.

8
Current Immigration Figures

• 34.24 million immigrants (legal and illegal) are
  now living in the U.S. This is the highest
  number of immigrants ever recorded in American
  history.
• There are 10 million illegal immigrants currently
  living in the U.S.
• In the past 4 years there has been a 4.3 million
  increase in the number of immigrants in America,
  2 million comes from illegal immigration.
• The U.S. admits between 700,000 to 900,000 legal
  immigrants each year.
• Each year there is an increase of 500,000 illegal
  immigrants.

9
Pro Arguments National Security

• Granting current illegal immigrants permanent
  residency status will not harm national security.
• Terrorists already enter the U.S. illegally and
  they would not take this opportunity to become
  American citizens because of the background
  checks and screening that would be involved
  before being given permanent residency status.

10
Pro Arguments Criminality

• Having the strength and determination to create a
  better life for yourself and your family should
  not be considered a crime.
• Many illegal immigrants after coming to America
  become contributing members of our society.

11
Pro Arguments Economy

• Legalization equals taxation, granting illegal
  immigrants amnesty will remove the fear of
  deportation and encourage them to participate
  more fully in the economy.
• Illegal immigration fills the gaps in the low end
  of the labor market occupying jobs not desired by
  American workers.
• Low-wages for immigrants may enable threatened
  American businesses to survive competition from
  low-wage businesses abroad.
• Granting amnesty is more cost efficient than
  deportation.

12
Pro Arguments Integration

• The government is responsible for allowing
  illegal immigrants here in the first place due to
  their lack of funding and other oversights.
• Illegal immigrants have become integrated into
  the community and should be granted permanent
  residency status.

13
Con Arguments National Security

• Allowing amnesty to illegal immigrants only
  encourages more illegal immigration making it
  easier for terrorists to enter the U.S.

14
Con Arguments Criminality

• It is necessary to make distinctions between
  those who obey the law and those who violate it.
• Granting amnesty to illegal immigrants is
  rewarding lawbreakers and undermines our ability
  to regulate immigration. It also legitimizes
  illegal immigration by incorporating it into our
  immigration policy.

15
Con Arguments Economy

• It is a myth that immigration to the U.S. is
  largely connected to the availability of
  employment.
• Illegal immigrants deplete social services,
  education, and emergency medical care paid for by
  American citizens.
• Based on Census Bureau data, a study found that
  when all costs are considered, illegal households
  created a net fiscal deficit at the federal level
  of more than 10 billion dollars in 2002. This
  study also estimated that if amnesty for illegal
  aliens was granted the net fiscal deficit would
  grow to 29 billion dollars.

16
(No Transcript)
17
Consensus We should not grant illegal immigrants
permanent residency status because

• it would only encourage more illegal immigration
• the majority of illegal immigrants are
  uneducated/unskilled and if granted amnesty they
  would create a major drain on the economy
• we should not break the promise made to the
  American people in 1986 that granting permanent
  residency to illegal immigrants would only occur
  once

18
Sources

• http//uscis.gov/graphics/index.htm
• http//www.cis.org/index.cgi
• http//www.us-green-card-lottery.org
• http//uscis.gov/graphics/shared/aboutus/statistic
  s/2003Yearbook.pdf

• http//www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/10/pr
  int/20021016-18.html
• http//www.immigrationlinks.com/news/newshints08.h
  tm
• Immigration by Mary E. Williams
• The Immigration Debate Remaking America by John
  Isbister

19
Asylum

• A form of protection that allows individuals who
  are in the U.S. to remain here, provided that
  they meet the definition of a refugee and are not
  barred from either applying for or being granted
  asylum. Eventually asylees are able to adjust
  their status to lawful permanent resident.
• A refugee is a person outside of his or her
  country of nationality who is unable or unwilling
  to return because of persecution or a
  well-founded fear of persecution on account of
  race, religion, nationality, membership in a
  particular social group, or political opinion.

20
(No Transcript)