Sociology
Illegal Immigrants in the United States of America can are the classic victim of media stereotype emanating out of the classification of immigrants into various criminal categories on account of strict anti-immigration laws. The social perception social construction resulting from such perception concerning a particular group of people possessing homogenous features is the function of the prevailing economic, political and sociological conditions. As and by way of illustration, in a worsening economy, when jobs are few and far off, the government adopts protectionist policies and consequently makes the strong anti-immigration laws. This might not be the case in a thriving economy where jobs are plenty and the demand-supply ratio of labour force is not eschewed. In the latter scenario, it would not be “criminal” for an immigrant to work beyond the permissible visa limit on account of the accommodating visa and labour policies. On the contrary, even an innocent act of applying for a legal job might be illegal and would result in deportation. Thus the whole issue of “illegal immigrants” is a direct function of the time and the prevailing social and economic circumstances.
In the text of the paper cited by the National Catholic Society Justice Lobby it has been explained that the US history indicates a well-defined patter of immigration policy. To this end, the immigration policy is characterised and influenced by burgeoning economy mandating demand for cheap labour force and the fear of the citizens from the stranger’s vis-à-vis national security issues and job securities. The text of the paper by National Catholic Justice Lobby further elucidates that there are clear times in the history of United States when immigrants were welcomed wholeheartedly followed by the time when there was palpable phobias of immigrants leading to strict anti-immigration policies and large scale deportation of immigrants.
Let us now examine the context in which the issue of immigration was not a social problem. In this regard, the text of the paper cited by the National Society Justice lobby indicates that the first set of immigrants to arrive in the United States were those from Europe who arrived without any coercion and out of their own free will during the colonial era. These immigrants were people of European descent who were primarily merchants who intended to establish trade and new settlements. In fact, these immigrants were welcomed by the indigenous American. However, several immigrants arrived in the United States involuntary on account of slave trade and the practice of the English government of dumping convicts. In fact, slaves were in high demand on account of cheap labour. The text paper cited by the Historical Timeline, (2013) states that the British Parliament passed an Act in the year 1740 titled as the Plantation Act with a view to regularize and legalize the colonies through the process of naturalization. This clearly indicates that the Act was passed to encourage the process of immigration to the colonies that was settled in America. Even though there were very stringent penalties for the immigrants/aliens engaging in British trade and commerce, yet this law was very lax for the colonies and was enforced very sparingly so as to make it attractive and advantageous with the sole aim of encouraging immigrants into becoming citizens and consequently encouraging immigrations. (Historical Timeline 2013) The text cited by Foundation Inc explains that immigration was not yet a social problem in the era from 1820 to 1880. This is because as the slavery was nearing its end, there was an acute demand for cheap labour. Consequently, vast number of immigrants found jobs on the trans-continental rail and there were settlements of immigrants along the transcontinental rail. The text paper cited by Foundation Inc further indicates that a people emigrated from Ireland in large number so to save themselves from the widespread famine in Ireland in the year 1840 and 1850. The Irish population was also absorbed and assimilated into the United States. Aside to the Irish, many other people from varied European nationality immigrated to the US on account of variety of circumstances back home. As the economy during the period of 1850 was very strong, these immigrants were easily absorbed and welcomed. The text cited by Foundation Inc explains that these immigrants were heavily relied upon during the American Civil War. Further, although there were certain anti-immigration parties, the number of parties and people who supported immigration exceeded much more than those who opposed it during that phase. As pointed out by the text cited by Foundation Inc., on account of steam power advent, immigrants started coming into America from all corners of the world. As further pointed out by Foundation Inc., in the year 1880, a large percentage of the Norway population, constituting nearly 9% migrated to America. The text cited by the National Catholic Society Justice Lobby highlights that there was a large scale immigration of Europeans to United States of America during the 19th century. This was on account of the various hardships faced by them in their respective home countries. To this end, Irish and Germans immigrated in large number in the United States. However, instead of viewing them as criminal and/or illegal, they were easily absorbed on account of demand for cheap labour resulting from rapid industrialization.
However, the scenario changed considerably during both the first and the Second World War and the advent of the great depression of 1930. Thus, immigrants, who were largely welcomed for a variety of reasons historically, were being perceived as a burden and threat on account of growing nationalistic fever during the world wars and the changing economic scenario. The text cited by Foundation Inc., further explains that the scenario again changed considerably in the 1960 on account of the enactment of the Immigration and Naturalization Act, 1965 which led to a dramatic rise of the Asian population who were more than welcome during this phase. As further elucidated in the text cited by the Foundation Inc., after the cold war phase of 1960 and 1970 came to an end, immigrants were again welcome in the United States, especially on account of the US government’s policy of encouraging professionals like doctors, scientists, nurses etc., to settle in the United States. These immigrants eventually bought their family in the United States. They were never considered as a problem. On the contrary, they were held in high esteem and considered as an asset. This scenario changed again in the 1980 and 1990 and the illegal immigrants came to be despised especially during the recession of 1990. The text cited by the paper of Foundation Inc sets out that US government initiated a policy that granted amnesty to approximately 3 million immigrants, which was followed by the anti-immigration thought process during the year 1990. After the 9/11 attack in the year 2001 and the economic recession of the year 2008, anti-immigration feeling has been on the forefront, both, on account of fear psychosis and economic downturn.
The social construction of illegal immigrant as a problem is affected by a lot of external factors. Let us examine how change in technology impacts the social construction of illegal immigrants. As explained above, industrial revolution greatly impacted immigration during the 18th century. On account of the improved technological process, there was a dearth of cheap labours thereby increasing the demand for immigrant workers. Hipsman and Meissner (2013) explains that on account of the industrial revolution, the manufacturing economy got a big boost which also served as a catalyst in increasing the immigration into the United States. The industrial revolution gave rise to a manufacturing economy during the third peak period, propelling America's rise to become the leading power in the world. Hipsman and Meissner (2013) are of the view that the technological progress of the 21st century led to the advent of globalization. The advent of globalization led to large scale immigration. Globalization has transformed US from manufacturing economy into a knowledge based economy. Thus, it can be seen that technological progress and changes at regular interval of time fuels immigration that becomes the need of the hour. However, the changes in the technology do not happen in isolation. To this end, there are attendant geo-political and economic factors also greatly impacts the overall perception. Martin (1986), points out that there is a strong belief among the Economist that the fundamental factors for an economically stable society are (a) labour; (b) technical progress, and (c) capital. It is imperative to analyse which of the above three factor is the most critical factors that fuels the growth at any given point of time. Martin (1986) quotes Slow (1957) who argued that the most important source of the growth of the modern economy is without doubt technical progress. This is because technical progress is responsible for the growth of a major proportion of the modern economy that is nearly about 80% of the total economic growth. Martin (1986) further quotes Dennison who opined that the primary catalyst of technological progress advancement and progress in knowledge base. To this end, Dennison further held that any kind of improvement in the way the resources were allocated and the adherence to the principle of economies of scale that was further motivated by immigration of rural population to urban area had a negative impact on technological progress. Dennison further argues that the consequent failure in the realm of technical progress created imbalance in the American economy consequently leading to several debates over this issue. Dennison further explains that the primary reason for the lack of technical profess was account of policy decision relating to decreased investment in research and development and the tremendous increase in the fuel price hike in the 1970s., increased reliance on geo-political events and the negative impact of government welfare programmes. The foregoing factors, coupled with changing demographic conditions resulting from increase in the immigrants, woman and teenager in the work force leads to decrease in the overall productivity of the labour force. Dennison further explains that business usually expands by relying on cheap labour rather than technological innovations and skilled work force. Martin (1986) further argues that the economic growth in many pockets of United States is labour intensive that does not call for a very high degree of skills. This is certainly a mark of short-sightedness as there are short term gains. However, the prospect of long term growth and expansion becomes highly limited. Thus, the availability of illegal immigrants led to the choice being made by the policy makers towards making the investment labour intensive rather than capital intensive. This led to the economic slowdown consequentially leading to the very immigrants that earlier guided the labour intensive government policy from being perceived as a problem and the primary reason for economic slowdown.
Further, change in the societies’ belief and value system also greatly influences the social construction of the illegal immigrants as a problem. As stated above, the strong belief about nationalism during World War I and World War II greatly fuelled anti-immigration sentiments. The belief about immigrants being a threat to the national security has fuelled sentiments against immigrants like never before. Hipsman and Meissner (2013) elucidates that the thought process and belief of American citizens have been greatly shaped by the terrorist attack in the year 2001. Even after the passage of 13 years after the 9/11 attacks, the US immigration laws and enforcement policies are only becoming more stringent and active. Hipsman and Meissner (2013) argue that the federal government underwent reorganization of a very large scale on account of the potential security threat posed by international terrorists. The national security threat posed by international terrorism led to the largest reorganization of the federal government. To this end, Hipsman and Meissner (2013) points out that this was the largest reorganization after the II World War. The large scale reorganization led to the creation of the department of Homeland Security, 2003 (DHS). To this end, Hipsman and Meissner (2013), states that, the DHS was created by merging 22 different agencies as the federal level. As explained by Hipsman and Messiner (2013), the immigration system of US was closely monitored, scrutinized and analysed after the 9/11 attacks on account of the fact that the hijackers managed to obtain valid travel and visa documents for the purpose of travelling to the United States. This was despite the fact that the US Intelligence Agencies had already obtained information about the possibility of such attacks. As explained by Hipsman and Meissner (2013), pursuant to the attack, there were systemic changes as it led to the dissolution of the Immigration and Naturalization Services. To this end, this agency was in existence since the year 1941. Hipsman and Meissner (2013) point out that the function of the INS was transferred to three different agencies that were newly created, namely:
- Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Hipsman (2013) explains that this agency is responsible for scrutinizing and overseeing the movement of goods and people at the port of entry and consequently managing immigration at the borders.
- Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE): Hipsman and Meissner (2013) explain that this agency is primarily liable for managing and regulating the immigration law enforcement within the United States. To this end, this agency is liable for checking compliance the immigration laws vis-à-vis compliance by the employers/detaining illegal immigrants and consequent deportation.
- U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS): Hipsman (2013) elucidates that this agency is responsible for adjudicating the applications concerning the immigrant benefits applications such as application relating to naturalization, visa petition, request relating to seeking refugee status, granting asylum etc.
The 9/11 terrorist attack has added new layers of complication to the social construction of the illegal immigrants. As can be seen from above, United States has taken a lot of steps to tighten its internal security and consequently passed a host of legislations that has onerous impact on the immigrants seeking to work and stay in the United States. Hipsman and Meissner (2013) further explains that vis-à-vis the issue of immigration, the extant immigration laws have empowered the authorities to adopt stringent measures, including strip search, detainment, monitoring, remove those who are suspected of terrorism, permissive detention of any foreign national who is presumed to be indulging in any terrorist activities for a period of seven days without any warrant and merely on the basis of suspicion. Hipsman and Meissner (2013) explains that illegal Immigrants are certainly being viewed from the prism of suspicion and fear as several laws were passed that effectively made it impossible for the illegal immigrants to enter the United States of America. As further explained by Hipsman and Meissner (2013), these steps include stricter border inspection norms, biometric finger prints record, fool proof tracking of foreign nationals, including, but not limited to foreign students through the utilization of the biometric norms. In June 2002, NSEER program, namely a program known as the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS), was started that mandated additional travel documents and screening requirements for citizens of nearly 25 countries that were presumed to be associated with Al Qaeda and also North Korea. Additionally, there were special registration requirements for those males who were above 16 years of age and who belonged to the NSEER for the purpose of completing interview with the immigration officer. Hipsman and Meissner (2013) further explains that by imposing additional screening requirements, the US government has been successful in foiling terrorist plot by keeping those illegal immigrants out of United States who pose a threat to national security.
Cultural factors also have very strong impact on the anti-immigration policy. The anti-immigration policy often stems out of the perception about the population of a particular nationality/race/ethnicity that share common culture. It has been observed that many anti-immigration policies have been culture and nationality specific. Pascoe (2006) explains that the American culture has changed at a regular interval on account of the inclusions and subsequent exclusions of immigrants from various nationalities like India, Japan, Philippines and other South East Asian region. It is further explained that the degree and extent of assimilation differs from one ethnic group to another on the basis of reliance on the economy and the relationship of the specific communities with their mother countries. Poscoe (2006) explains that United States shaped its policies with respect to immigration of Chinese at regular interval depending upon its requirement and need. In the United States, once the economy of the western parts of America prospered after the discovery of gold in the year 1848, the Chinese population were formally allowed to settle, even though for a shorter period of time. The cultural perception about the Chinese led to anti-immigrant stand against them and they were officially excluded though the enactment of necessary legislations. Thereafter, there was again a change in the perception in the 19th century and they were officially allowed to settle. Poscoe (2006) points out that only the Chinese exclusion laws were officially repealed only after the World War II came to an end. Poscoe (2006) explains that the Chinese Americans experience of inclusion and exclusion indicates a kind of racial profiling. People from other nationality sharing cultural homogeneity have received similar treatment. People from the middle eastern countries sharing the Islamic culture are the biggest target of anti-immigration policy on account of the fear psychosis developed pursuant to the 9/11 events. People from South America such as Latinos are typically labelled as drug peddlers and are under constant scanner by immigration authorities and consequently at the risk of deportation. Thus, culture and nationality also plays a very important role in shaping anti-immigration policies on account of the perceptions about various cultures.
Thus, it can be easily seen that those social construction of illegal immigrants is tremendously influenced by the beliefs that the citizens harbour depending upon the extant political and sociological circumstances. As analysed above, the changing political scenario also greatly influences the social construction of illegal immigrants. For example, the World War I and World War II fuelled anti-immigration feelings whereas the Civil War fought in the eighteen century created a positive perception about the immigrants. Cultural factors also greatly impact the social construction of illegal immigrants. This is because, people belonging to different culture are perceived differently. People belonging to certain religion and culture are viewed as a threat to national security consequently inviting the risk of deportation. People from certain nationality are presumed to be anti-social and a burden on the economy. They are also under constant scanner merely on account of belonging to a particular culture.
BIBLOGRAPHY
- National Catholic Society Justice Lobby “The History of Immigration Policies in the U.S.” Retrieved
- “The Statute of Liberty-Elsie Island Foundation Inc.” (n.d.) From: http://www.libertyellisfoundation.org/immigration-timeline
- “Historical Timeline (2013) “Illegal Immigration Status-Pros and Cons http://immigration.procon.org/view.timeline.php?timelineID=000023
- Hipsman, Fayed and Meissner, Dories 2013 “Immigration in the United States: New Economic, Social, Political Landscapes with Legislative Reform on the Horizon” http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/immigration-united-states-new-economic-social-political-landscapes-legislative-reform
- Martin, Phillips, 1986 “Illegal Immigration and the Colonization of the American Labor Market” “Centre for Immigration Studies” Retrieved from: http://cis.org/AmericanLaborMarket%2526Immigration
- Virgilio Pérez Pascoe (2006) “Immigration and American Culture: The Struggle for National Inclusion and Identity” Retrieved from: http://www.kennesaw.edu/chs/publications/Vol3.pdf
