“Squalid conditions, overcrowding, cold temperatures, inadequate medical care, and even tragic deaths — the emergence of disturbing reports and images from migrant detention facilities added a troubling layer to the Trump administration’s hardline anti-immigration stance” (American Oversight 1). Currently, an estimated eleven million people are living in the United States without legal status. Immigration has been a long-disputed issue since the early 1600s when the Pilgrims came to America to discover religious liberation. Nonetheless, it remains a prevalent dilemma in modern-day societies around the world.
Immigrants arrived in the United States at the turn of the century for three primary reasons: political changes in their home country (rise of a dictator, authoritarian regime), religious persecution, and economic opportunities/escaping poverty. The first wave of immigration before the Civil War was from Northern and Western Europe. On the other hand, the second wave had come in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries from Eastern and Southern Europe. Succeeding this increase in population, the Immigration Act of 1924 was passed. This law created a quota (predetermined number) system to limit the total number of foreign citizens entering the United States.
In March 2003, the Homeland Security Act set into motion what would be the single-largest government reorganization since the creation of the Department of Defense. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, commonly referred to as ICE, attains a primary mission to promote homeland security and public safety through the enforcement of federal immigration laws. The agency has an annual budget of approximately eight billion dollars.
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is a program intended to protect children that were brought to the United States illegally from deportation. There are specific qualifications which one must attain to be a part of the program such as having lived continuously in the United States since 2007, having a GED (General Education Development) or completing high school, and never being convicted of a felony or serious misdemeanors, or three or more other misdemeanors. If an individual fails to meet these standards, they will not be eligible to qualify for DACA.
In the 1970s and early 1980s, the number of immigrants from Southeast Asia coming to America increased. Additionally, Central/South Americans migrating to the United States will increase correspondingly. As a result, travel bans were implemented to reduce a growing population. Some of the countries on the Travel Ban List include Libya, Somalia, and Iran.
With respect to immigration from Central America, the Migrant Caravan has migrants coming from Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador to the Mexico-United States border. The predominant reasons for their immigration include fleeing from poverty and crime and government corruption in their home countries. Without a doubt, international relations play a major role in American politics.
President Biden’s immigrant plan consists of a multitude of meticulous actions that affect millions of lives. His plan consists of providing grants for workplace development and learning the English language. Correspondingly, the Department of Justice recently rescinded the “zero tolerance” policy for migrants, which ultimately resulted in thousands of families being separated. Biden lifted former President Trump’s Travel Ban — a series of executive actions which suspended the whole refugee resettlement program for 120 consecutive days and refused refugees fleeing the war in Syria from entry to the United States indefinitely. Not only did this Travel Ban restrict migrants coming from Syria, but it also barred entry to refugees from Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Yemen, and Somalia for sixty days. Biden aimed to create an eight-year path to citizenship.
As time has progressed, immigration in the United States has steadily increased. Roughly fourteen percent of the American population is composed of immigrants. Immigration causes societal shifts; moreover, it affects the environmental justice movement and the scientific community as well. Both the widely disputed topics of environmental justice and immigration have political realms that will heavily interfere with their primary purpose. Historically speaking, immigrants have been blamed within America for being some of the largest contributors to global air pollution. This can rightfully be corresponding to the number of industrial sites in lower-income areas, which is one of the largest contributors to potent air pollutants such as carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons. When immigrants first come to the United States, it is more often than not extremely difficult to find a well-paying job. As a result, these immigrants find residency in geographic areas with lower socioeconomic status. These marginalized areas are typically located near these industrial sites. There is a tendency to equate immigration and environmental dilemmas together because of the demographic area to which they migrate to. A sociological perspective to this problem is redlining — discriminatory practices of avoiding providing funding and finances towards residents of a certain race or ethnicity.
Rather than thinking of this somewhat discouraging aspect of society and immigration, it is worth noting that there are results from the scientific community that are promising. According to a conducted study in 2017, “53.1 percent of doctoral-degree chemical engineers were naturalized or non-US citizens'' (NSF). Furthermore, approximately 34.5 percent of doctoral degree chemists studied were naturalized or non-US citizens. It is quite evident that revolutionary scientific progress in the United States can be attributed to those who are not born on American soil.
Regarding immigration in South America, multiple countries are currently facing population shifts. For example, in Venezuela, many life-altering factors are contributing to natives leaving their home country: food shortage, lack of employment, and looking for a better quality of life. Sources have stated that about five million Venezuelan people have migrated to other South American countries. Nearly two million of these migrants have gone to Colombia, and about half of these new citizens lack legal documentation. On the other hand, the number of people from Peru coming to Venezuela has increased over the years. The ongoing oil crisis in Venezuela took a toll on their economy in which the country was in dire need of workers. This opened the opportunity for immigration from various countries in South America as well.
Recently in Europe, new legislation was passed by the European Commission. The New Pact on Migration and Asylum in September 2020 closed borders, pushbacks, and put undocumented migrants and asylum seekers at higher risk amidst the pandemic (World Report 2021). Despite their efforts to prevent the spread of the virus, opponents claim that they “failed to present innovative proposals for rights-respecting migration management.” Over the past year to reduce the number of migrants, Greece used forceful tactics alongside Turkey in March 2020 and legally suspended its asylum procedure for one month. A relatively recent case was implemented in retaliation to Hungary’s 2017 asylum law (“Stop Soros” law), which ultimately permits automatic detention of asylum seekers in transit zones and criminalizes lawful activities in support of migrants. This case is pending before the court.
Moving southward, it was demeaned that in 2019, Africa was the youngest continent for international migrants with a median age of approximately forty years. It was reported by the African Union that intra-African mobility numbers have reached their peak, with the international migration in Africa increasing from 13.3 million to 25.4 million migrants between 2008 and 2017 (African Migrant Report).
14.1 million immigrants from Asian countries are living in the United States as of 2019. On average, immigrants from Asia attain higher educational levels compared to all foreign and United States-born citizens. To further elaborate, only 14 percent of immigrant adults from Asia had not completed high school. A little more than half (54 percent) of Asian adults ages 25 and over received a bachelor’s degree or higher in 2019. In contrast, roughly one-third (33 percent) of both total immigrants and U.S.-born adults attain a bachelor’s degree or higher (Migration Policy).
Overall, both international and domestic immigration reflect societal, environmental, and political quandaries within humanity. The way in which we interact with others having prior knowledge of immigration and racial afflictions affects the world at large. The environmental justice movement correlates with the prejudices set against marginalized groups due to the geographic areas where immigrants typically are residing. In the United States specifically, political candidates utilize immigration as one of the most significant topics they will address in their term. It is necessary to recall the history of immigration and the interconnectedness it has with the rest of various factors around the globe.
References and Further Reading
“Africa Migration Report: Challenging the Narrative - World.” ReliefWeb, reliefweb.int/report/world/africa-migration-report-challenging-narrative#:~:text=In%202019%2C%20Africa%20was%20the,migrants%20between%202008%20and%202017.
C&EN, cen.acs.org/careers/diversity/Science-US-built-immigrants-keep/97/i9.
“Conditions in Migrant Detention Centers.” American Oversight, 20 Jan. 2021, www.americanoversight.org/investigation/conditions-in-migrant-detention-centers.
Jeanne Batalova Mary Hanna and Jeanne Batalova. “Immigrants from Asia in the United States.” Migrationpolicy.org, 10 Mar. 2021, www.migrationpolicy.org/article/immigrants-asia-united-states-2020.
Reid, Kathryn. “Venezuela Crisis: Facts, FAQs, and How to Help.” World Vision, 23 June 2020, www.worldvision.org/disaster-relief-news-stories/venezuela-crisis-facts.
“What Is the Travel Ban? What Does It Mean for Refugees?” International Rescue Committee (IRC), 6 Nov. 2017, www.rescue.org/article/what-travel-ban-what-does-it-mean-refugees.
“World Report 2021: Rights Trends in European Union.” Human Rights Watch, 13 Jan. 2021, www.hrw.org/world-report/2021/country-chapters/european-union#.