Introduction
The issue of immigration has become very controversial in the last two decades. This controversy has come in light of drastic changes and reforms to the nation’s immigration policies from the year 2001 when the 9/11 terrorist attacks happened. The controversy on the issue of immigration reforms has emanated from the fact that there are those in the society who are in favor of the enacted policy reforms while there are those who vehemently oppose the enacted reforms. However, this paper has committed itself not to analyzing this debate or controversy associated with the immigration reform circa 2001, but rather on the implications that these reforms have had. The major question that this paper seeks to answer is whether the immigration reforms that have taken place since 2001 have enhanced the ease of entrance into the country by immigrants or whether the reforms have it made more difficult for immigrants to make their way into the nation. The chosen hypothesis that the paper hopes to prove is that the immigration policy reforms in the nation since 2001 have made it harder for immigrants, both legal and illegal to enter the country.
The previous paper gave a summary of the bibliographies or sources that will be utilized in conducting this research. The research will involve a comprehensive analysis of each for these sources and key information related to the topic will be derived and used to either support of disapprove the hypothesis. Since some of these sources are books, the main focus of the research will only be on the sections that particularly relate to the topic at hand. Special focus and keenness will be on statistical information and data contained in the sources, for instance data on annual number of immigrants entering the nation, the number of immigrants who are processed successfully and who acquire the relevant immigration documents, the number of immigrants who are turned away, the estimated number of illegal immigrants in the nation amongst other types of information and data.
Since the sources are authored by different individuals, there is a probability that there could be a conflict of information or data on different aspects. The paper will be very careful to decipher any conflicting information and use other credible sources to establish the facts.
In any research, variables are extremely crucial. Hoover and Donovan (2011) state that in research, scientist usually measure three things: variables, the chances that data about variables are meaningful and relationships between variables. This is indeed the model that will be adopted in this research. The research will forward three distinctive variables on which appropriate measurements will be conducted and viable conclusions drawn from these measurements. The results emanating from the measurement will either support or disapprove the research hypothesis.
The three variables will comprise of one independent variable and two dependent variables. Before continuing, it would perhaps be wise first to establish the difference between a dependent variable and an independent variable in order to understand how they relate to the hypothesis. According to Hoover and Donovan (2011), an independent variable is the variable that influences another variable known as the dependent variable.
The independent variable in this research is immigration reform policy in the United States. The immigration policy reform will be evaluated from a couple of perspectives. As it was explained previously, immigration reforms refer to changes in the nation’s immigration policy. It translates to a process of improving the current immigration rules and amending or removing any faults that may be present in them. The ultimate result of immigration policy reform is either expanded or reduced immigration. Immigration reforms have picked up pace since the 9/11 attacks, but this does not mean that there was no immigration reforms in previous years. The nation has immigration policies have been evolving and changing over time. However, for purposes of this project, the restriction will be on the reforms that have taken place post -2001. The reason for this is because the reforms that have been enacted post 2001 are the ones that have had a major impact on the nation. As McLarty & Alden (2009), suggests, the September 11 attacks were credited with the stimulation of wide reforms in the nation’s policy as the vulnerability of the nation to terrorist attacks became conspicuous.
The measurement of this independent variable will involve several aspects. It is important to note that this is not a statistically measurable variable, and, therefore, the measurement will mainly be theoretical in nature. Using the sources, the paper will attempt to identify all the major policy reforms that have taken place since 2001. Although much of the focus will be on the federal policy reform, special mention will be given to those reforms that have been instituted at the grassroots level. According to Wells (2004), immigration policy reform has not only taken place at the federal level but there have also been a lot of policy reforms at the grass root levels. Grassroots level policy reforms are those that take place at the local, tribal, county and regional levels. They can also be the reforms that have been set up at other places like education institutions.
The research will not only look at the reforms from face value but will go a step farther and look at the processes of enacting the reforms. For instance, the paper will look at the reasons forwarded by proponents of immigration policy reforms. Using the sources, the authenticity and credibility of these reasons will be established. In addition, the paper will look at the reforms that have involved discussions at both the Congress and the Senate and perhaps pinpoint some of the representatives from the various states across the nation who either supported or voted against the reforms when they were still bills. Facchini & Steinhardt (2011) will be particularly very useful in analyzing this.
Each of the identified reforms will be subjected to key analysis in order to figure out their essential components. For example, what elements or stipulations does a particular reform lay out that essentially govern or guide the entry into the nation by immigrants? What qualities, for instance, must an immigrant hopeful successfully meet in order to be admitted into the nation? Other factors that may be explored in the paper and that may be related to illegal immigrants include; screening, punishments for illegal immigrants, the guidelines or process for acquiring full citizenship, among many other factors. Hopefully, this dissection of policy reform into its basics will help to shed light on it implications that will be depicted through the two major dependent variables utilized in this study.
The first dependent variable that will be used in this research is the number of illegal migrants into the nation since the year 2001. It is clear to see why this is classed as a dependent variable. Immigrants who enter into the nation illegally are usually able to do this because of the existence of loopholes within the nation’s immigration reforms (Coleman, 2008). For example, the immigration reforms might not be clear on the issue of border control such as the security measures that should be taken to prevent the entry of illegal immigrants. This can, for example, be in regard to US-Mexican border where thousands of illegal immigrants attempt to enter the nation (Massey & Pren, 2012). Therefore, the number of illegal or undocumented immigrants is a direct reflection of the nation’s immigration policy. To get an exact picture of the influence that immigration policy since 2001 has had on the number of immigrants into the nation, an analysis of immigrant trends before 2001 will be conducted. The research will, for instance, try to establish the annual flow of illegal immigrants into the nation from the 1980’s to the 2000’s. This will then be followed by an analysis of the trends of illegal immigration into the nation since the year 2001 to present. The two trends will then be compared. It will be established whether the number of illegal immigrants has increased or whether it had decreased. It is however important to emphasize that the trend of illegal immigration may not be solely attributed to the immigration policy. There are a lot of factors that can be attributed to changes in the number of annual illegal immigrants. Therefore, in terms of analyzing the number of illegal immigrants, the research will look at the rate of either the increase or the decrease of illegal immigrants over a number of years and try to establish how much of this decrease or increase is attributable to immigration policy changes. This will therefore help to establish the relationship between the independent and the dependent variable as well as the relationship of the variable to the paper’s main hypothesis that was that the immigration policy reforms in the nation since 2001 have made it harder for immigrants, both legal and illegal to enter the country.
The second dependent variable that will be used in this paper is the number of legal immigrants into the nation. As it was mentioned earlier, the number of immigrants in the nation is significantly influenced by a nation’s immigration policies. However, most of the focus is given to the impact on illegal immigration or illegal immigrants. However, it is important to note that a nation’s immigrations policies not only has an impact to its illegal immigration patterns but also has an effect on legal migrations patterns (Duleep and Regets, 2014). This is, for instance, because policy reforms may institute strict guidelines regarding the process of legally entering into a nation. Policy reforms that introduce stricter measures for the acquirement of documents such as visas and work permits may discourage some people from pursuing these documents leading to a decrease in the amount of legal immigrants. In regard to this research, the number of legal immigrants who have successfully entered the nation will be analyzed. This will be done using an annual approach that is, assessing the annual number of successful legal migrations into the nation. Similar to the other dependent variable described above, the trends of legal immigrants before the year 2001 will also be analyzed and assessed. This will be followed by an investigation of the same patterns from the year 2001 to the present. A comprehensive comparison between these two distinct trends will then be done. Once again, observed patterns may not solely attributed to immigration policy reforms; therefore, the extra step of trying to establish how much of any observable changes are attributable to immigration policy reforms will be taken. Doing this will enable this dependent variable to be tied to the paper’s hypothesis, either in a supporting manner or a disapproving manner.
Conclusion
The measurement and subsequent analysis of the independent and the two dependent variables will enable a fairly accurate conclusion to be established in regard to the topic. The trends and measurements will help to prove whether the hypothesis that the immigration policy reforms in the nation since 2001 have made it harder for both legal and illegal immigrants to enter the country due stricter policies and laws is true or not. The importance of this research cannot be underrated. As it has been emphasized throughout the course of this paper, immigration policy reform is a contemporary issue that has garnered a lot of controversy in recent decades especially after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the nation. By embarking on the exploration of the issue, this research hopes to play its part by contributing to the discussion that does not seem destined to end in near foreseeable future.
References
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Coleman, M. (2008). Between public policy and foreign policy: US immigration law reform and the undocumented migrant. Urban Geography, 29(1), 4-28.
Duleep, H., & Regets, M. (2014). US Immigration Policy at a Crossroads: Should the US Continue Its Family‐Friendly Policy? International Migration Review, 48(3), 823-845.
Facchini, G., & Steinhardt, M. F. (2011). What drives US immigration policy? Evidence from congressional roll call votes. Journal of Public Economics, 95(7), 734-743.
Hoover, K. &Donovan, T. (2011). The elements of social scientific thinking (10th ed.). Boston, MA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
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Massey, D. S., & Pren, K. A. (2012). Unintended consequences of US immigration policy: explaining the post‐1965 surge from Latin America. Population and development review, 38(1), 1-29.
McLarty, T. F., & Alden, E. H. (2009). US immigration policy (No. 63). Council on Foreign Relations.
Wells, M. J. (2004). The grassroots reconfiguration of US immigration policy. International Migration Review, 38(4), 1308-1347.
