The US Immigration Puzzle Research Assignment Paper (Essay Sample)

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TIME \@ "MMMM d, yyyy" August 4, 2017
The US Immigration Puzzle
The current paper presents a highly puzzling issue in the United States - the question of why former president Barack Obama’s Democratic administration was so generally accepting of immigrants, while current president Donald Trump’s Republican government sees immigration as a threat to national security. The world has witnessed drastic changes in the immigration policies between the two consecutive administrations, transforming from a highly accepting society that considers immigration as an opportunity for community development, to one which sees immigration as something dangerous for the country. This paper will attempt to crack the mystery of the contrast between the two administrations in terms of immigration policies. It will do so by evaluating the values their respective parties give importance to, as well as the implications their policies have on other matters in their parties’ agenda.
In order to effectively establish the discussion in this paper, it is important to have a fundamental understanding of the history of immigration in the United States. Tagged as a country which had always been “a land of immigration,” the first indigenous people came to the US around 12,000 years ago via the ice bridge that connected Asia to America. However, it was not until the 15th century that Europeans made the colossal decision to migrate to the US. The first wave was composed of the French and the Spanish - also the first two nationalities to establish settlements in America. Following them were the English and Dutch, who also permanently settled in the country (Sutori). It is not surprising, therefore, that by time of the American Revolution, America was basically made up of diverse ethnicities.
Since America’s founding, there had been numerous immigration laws that had gone by. The immigration laws at a certain time cater the need of the nation during the said time. In addition to this, policies, as a whole, are also representative of the time’s prominent political statement. This paper firstly takes into consideration the immigration policies during the Obama administration. From the beginning of his administration in 2009, Obama was transparent about his support for the changes in the U.S. statutory immigration laws, such as the legalization and possible acquired citizenship by illegal settlers in the US. Such changes were included in Obama’s “comprehensive immigration reform.” In 2012, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which Obama was able to implement by circumventing the Congress, formalized the status of more than 700,000 formerly illegal aliens in the US. Furthermore, only shortly before Republicans took control of the US Senate, Obama also announced Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Legal Permanent Residents (DAPA), which was supposed to issue work authorization to around five million illegal aliens (Ting 68).  While a federal district court injunction stopped the implementation of DAPA, it still cannot be denied that Obama was highly accepting of immigrants. At this point, it is not surprising to know that the Obama administration had welcomed 23,248 refugees to the US on the first 11 weeks of fiscal year 2017 alone - which is almost double of last year’s statistic given the same period. In addition to this, an article by Haverluck for One News Now tells us that Obama was actually transparent about his goal to bring in as many refugees to the US shortly before Trump’s presidency.
Current President Donald Trump’s administration firmly believes in opposing principles than that of Obama’s. On his first week in office alone, Trump passed three executive orders: “Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States,” “Border Security and Immigration Enforcement,” and “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States.” According to an article published by the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program by Harvard Law School, such issuances were based on assumptions about the immigrants’ criminality and extremist tendency. Simply put, Trump had dramatically restricted asylum-access and immigrant-protection, making the US unsafe for asylum for those fleeing their home countries because of persecution.
Such massive differences in immigration policies between the two administrations are indeed puzzling. However, the author of this paper believes that this must be related to the beliefs and agenda of the parties the two presidents came from. The Democratic Party is renowned for being more accepting of immigrants as it reflects the values of being an American and it aids in the achievement of economic goals. Obama revealed policy amendments that gave immigrants an opportunity to legitimize their citizenship. Such revelation led to the controversy of Obama’s alleged abuse of power and his intended regime change. The decision has been rationalized by highlighting the potential contribution of immigrants to national development, and citing cases where the children unaware of the legalities of such policies are involved. To reiterate, the immigration policy changes are products of empathy towards young illegal aliens, the potential input to national development, and the shift to a new regime.
On the other hand, Don...