Modern Challenges in Immigration

Becoming a legal immigrant or citizen of the United States can be costly with the variety of filing fees required; add to that, the proliferation of documents required, and it is clear that the current immigration laws are not in favor of the poor or uneducated. To have government policy favor certain types of immigrants based on nationality, necessity, talent, oppression, or wealth is blatant discrimination. Without applying consideration to today's terrorist threats, the ability to open borders and accept one and all with open arms would be ideal, but it is simply not practical.

With this in mind, there is a need to offer legal immigration and citizenship on a discriminatory basis, but where does one, or the nation, draw the line on who is acceptable and who is not? Clearly, there needs to be some type of preference applied to immigration to (a) keep the population under control and (b) reduce the number of terrorist threats. If there has to be a limit on those immigrants legally accepted into the United States, then discriminating based on necessity or oppression is an acceptable practice.

However, to give certain countries priority over others or allowing only the most talented or wealthy to become legal immigrants sends the message that only those select few are acceptable in this country, and everyone else does not have anything worthwhile to contribute to society. Since the majority of citizens of the United States would not fall into any of the aforementioned categories, this practice would easily be considered unacceptable by most.

The real question to be asked is: How should the Nation combat illegal immigration in order to prevent the overgrowth of population that would adversely affect the quality of life for everyone in the United States?

References

United States Citizen and Immigration Services www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis