Background on Immigration
The United States of America has been reputed as a nation of immigrants. This is largely because the majorities derive their origin from Europe, North America, Asia and African continents. On that premise, the matter of immigration has been a policy issue that needs critical attention and analysis. Within that context, it should be appreciated that America as a nation is great and attracts immigrants from all over the world. In the pursuit of economic, social and political progress, people from all over the world have found their way into the United States of America. This has led to the blossoming in the numbers of immigrants with the population composed of illegal and legal immigrants. The United States Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, ICE, under the Department of Homeland Security is charged with the responsibility of dealing with among others, handling the illegal immigrants. The tasks include tracking of illegal immigrants, the places of employments and their employers, their dwellings and the institutions they attend, and any relevant activities related to illegal immigration. As an agency under the Homeland Security Department, the ICE is guided by the general immigration policy. Interestingly, as things stand, the United States of America is changing its immigration policy and the Senate is in the legislative process of coming up with a comprehensive immigration bill. This has attracted the attention of the incumbent president who shares the opinion that America is a nation of immigrants and, therefore, generally assumes a supportive approach to the illegal immigrants.
The priority of this agency, therefore, resonates around the effective, efficient and just treatment of immigrants. Foremost, it needs to be appreciated that illegal immigration is illegal at first instance and needs to be addressed and discouraged. For that reason, ICE adopts the policy of deportation as a remedy for the curing of the illegality. However, as a matter of policy, the ICE undertakes to act in consonance with human rights regulations as enshrined in the various human rights conventions such as the United Nations Conventions on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families, and the 1951 Refugee Convention, among others. To that extent, cases of illegal immigrations are not treated in lump sum but rather examined in isolation on a case by case basis. In the event the immigration is justified by reasons entertained by the conventions and the relevant laws of the United States of America, the immigrants are allowed and absorbed through the grants of citizenship. Some of the statutes of relevance for the ICE include the DREAM Act, The Immigration Bill which shall soon be enacted into law, the ratified Human Rights Conventions and other the substantive Constitution of the United States of America which equally extends the Bill of Rights to non-citizens. It is, therefore, the practice of the agency to handle matters with the objective of delivering justice with the efficiency and effectiveness necessary. In addition, it needs to be appreciated that the agency operates within the guiding principles of governance and the general government policy as derived from other relevant departments such as the substantive Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, and the Department of Foreign Affairs, among others.
Influence of Congress, Judicial System and Government Agencies
The ICE derives its mandate from the executive through the Department of Homeland Security. In addition, the overall immigration management is under the province of the Federal Government under the presidency. For that reason, most of the policy formulation and implementation is pursued with the sanction and supervision of the federal government. However, the ignominy of the immigration policy gives it’s a diverse and expansive character. For instance, Congress through the Senate is debating the immigration bill which shall soon be enacted into law as the Immigration Act. This indicates the expansive character of the policy. It is expected that the Immigration Act shall give ICE the mandate and the powers to handle illegal immigration matters and the ICE policy shall be consistent with the Act of Congress. This would enable the effective and efficient operationalization of the Act and the policy. In addition, while the Act gives a legislative framework, more work is left for the judiciary and the agencies. This is because the judiciary has the powers of interpretation of the law. The judiciary, therefore, reserves the powers and duties to interpret the Act and the policy and rule on matters of consistency, legality and address any legal conflicts presented within the formulation and implementation. It is, therefore, fundamental for the ICE to work within the judicial framework of the United States of America. Over and above that it ought to be appreciated that the actual implementation must be congruent with the government policy. In that context, ICE ought to liaise with other government agencies so as to harmonize the issues and objectives for the full realization of government policy. In that context, the related departments and agencies need to be fully involved in the formulation and implementation of the policy. The general working of government is often hedged on overlapping and interrelated nature of functions and duties. In the immigration context, the department of foreign affairs, the department of justice and homeland security and the department of home affairs would be vital in the overall execution and implementation of policy.
The crux of the matter is predicated on the fact that immigration is an overlapping issue with consequences that cut across a number of departments. The political connotation needs to be examined in the context of a highly bipartisan approach assumed by the Senate in matters immigration. However, as it stands, the incumbency seems to be getting his way with Democrats in the house keen to see that the Democratic Immigration policy sails through. However, the ICE needs to appreciate the fact that immigration affects the entire nation and that an enduring solution needs to be developed and implemented. On that premise, despite the partisan interests and the capacity of Congress and the Judiciary to arm-twist the agency, it is incumbent on the latter to settle for a policy that would be beneficial for the entire nation for prosperity.
Influence of Interest Groups, Political Parties and the Media
Immigration has assumed an overlapping character. In addition, immigration in the United States of America is an emotive topic given the roots and origins of the people of the United States of America. For that reason, various interests groups benefiting or suffering overtly and or covertly from the immigrants issue would be interested in ICE’s scope and policies. For instance, the economic consequence of immigrants is twofold. One, immigrants form the source of labor and market for some industries. For that reason, some interests groups would keen to support and have the ICE pursue policies embracive of immigrants. On the other hand, immigrants have the effect of crowding the employment industry and often have the attitude of accepting lower rates. In that way, employers prefer them over the natives in the nation. For that reason, interests groups may want policies that discourage the absorption of immigrants into the system. Another element of interest resonates around the taxpayer mentality. Citizens often tend to believe that immigrants pose a burden to the taxpayers as they enjoy some government services offered to the public without necessarily being subjected to taxation. Political parties derive their interests because of the constituencies found in immigrants. Generally, the absorbed immigrants assimilated into the system have tended to support Democratic candidates over Republican candidates. For that reason, the Democrats have often expressed sympathy with immigrants while the Republicans have tended to oppose immigrant naturalization processes. The long and short of it has been that parties do have political interests in the immigrants’ debate. Over and above that the controversy and state of uncertainty occasioned by the immigrants has often created fodder for the media to talk about. The high stakes and the position of the citizenry makes the media have an interest in the policies so as to generate news for its audience. In that context, it should thus be appreciated that the immigration policy issue would be of concern to several groups.
Options
With the high stakes and given the interests that span a number of institutions and groups, it is the paper’s considered opinion that the following options be pursued. Foremost, ICE can elect to approach the policy formulation from a rigid perspective. In this approach, ICE would seek to implement its own internal decisions without curving into the demands and dictates of other stakeholders. The benefit in this approach is that ICE would be able to implement its objectives without compromise and, therefore, will not in any way dilute their mandate and roles. The disadvantage in this approach is the lack of political goodwill from other agencies and interest groups which could end up crippling the implementation program.
Alternatively, ICE could opt to adopt an inclusive approach that takes cognizance of the other stakeholders’ views and presentation. In this approach, ICE should adopt a compromised approach that takes into consideration all the stakeholder interests. The advantage with this approach is the inclusive approach that comes with political goodwill. On the other hand, this approach is bureaucratic and long ending up consuming time. This should be considered alongside the fact that it ends up diluting the original objectives of the ICE.
Recommended Strategy
The paper recommends a strategy for winning support for the White House. The best approach should involve combat and compromise. In this strategy, the agency boss must outline the fundamental policy guidelines and issues that need to be addressed and in the same vein stress on the importance. In addition, the strategy must outline the advantages and disadvantages of the policy. In the second part, the strategy must outline the elements that can be compromised. In completing the strategy it is important for the agency boss to explain the details of the policy and give the spirit of the policies.
Bibliography
Anderson, Staurt . Immigration. New York: ABC-CLIO, 2010.
Landler , Mark, and Ashley Parker. "Obama Backs Bill to Overhaul Immigration as Debate Is Set." The New York Times, June 12, 2013.
Nakamura, David. "Obama reenters immigration-reform arena as Senate begins debate on bipartisan bill." The Washington Post, June 11, 2013.
