Immigration Policy Essay ⋆ Political Science Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

Immigration policy refers to the laws adopted and implemented by nation-states to regulate the entry and permanent settlement of foreigners. Immigration policies encompass ways to control borders, integrate immigrants into society, and meet the labor needs of national economies. There is, however, significant variation in the theoretical and practical application of immigration policies around the world.

The immigration policies of individual countries are shaped by such things as political history, geographic location, party politics, and governmental institutions as well as by powerful, ever-changing, global economic push-and-pull forces that are beyond their control. Few countries have completely open or closed immigration policies, but some are more restrictive than others. In Argentina, Australia, Canada, and the United States, for example, immigration played an important role in the nation-building process, and immigration policies in those countries reflect this history. By contrast, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom have only more recently, and reluctantly, received large-scale immigration. Migration scholars make a further distinction between economically developed countries, which regularly attract large numbers of immigrants, and less economically developed countries, which commonly experience more emigration than immigration.

More than half of the world’s estimated two hundred million immigrants—that is, people residing permanently outside their countries of origin—live in Europe and North America. In countries such as the United States (a traditional country of immigration) and Germany (a reluctant country of immigration), where the foreign born constitute more than 12 percent of the total population, immigration is a particularly salient political issue. The fundamental areas of policy concern include immigrant integration, border control, refugees, family unification, and migrant labor.

Migrant Laborers, Families, And Refugees

Capitalist societies invariably need skilled as well as unskilled workers and, as a result, craft their immigration policies to meet the labor needs of their national economies. Highly educated immigrants with special training and talents, such as medical doctors and engineers, are usually seen as having a net positive impact on the economy. Accordingly, there is considerable global competition to attract the best and brightest immigrants. South African doctors and nurses who immigrate to Canada, for instance, are given preference in Canada’s points-based immigration system, and their permanent settlement is encouraged. At the same time, many wealthy countries need unskilled workers to fill low-wage jobs, such as harvesting agricultural produce, which native-born citizens are either unwilling or unable to do. These migrants are frequently recruited through guest worker programs (such as the bracero program that brought Mexican workers to the United States from 1942 to 1964), hired on a temporary basis, and expected to return eventually to their countries of origin.

The historical record indicates, however, that temporary migrants often choose to stay in their host countries rather than return home. Many Turks and Yugoslavians remained in Germany, for example, when its guest worker program ended in 1973. When migrants remain legally, they are classified as lawful permanent residents and may, after a set number of years (normally five in the United States and eight in Germany), acquire citizenship. Immigration policies in many liberal democracies allow the immediate relatives—spouses, children, and parents—of legal immigrants to join them through family unification provisions. In some cases, more distant relatives— adult children and siblings—may immigrate as well. Family unification perennially accounts for almost half of all immigration to France and two-thirds of those gaining lawful residence in the United States.

The admittance of refugees and asylum seekers constitutes a significant, yet relatively small, part of many immigration policies. At least 141 countries have signed the 1951 Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 protocol, which define a refugee as anyone who is unwilling or unable to return to his or her country of origin because of persecution or a “well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.” Despite the commendable work of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, relatively few of the millions of people fleeing wars, persecution, and famine will ever gain refugee status in Europe or North America. In 2007, for instance, the United States admitted 1,608 Iraqi refugees out of an estimated two million living outside Iraq. In global comparative perspective, humanitarian concern for refugees falls largely outside the perceived national interest of the world’s most powerful countries.

Border Control And Immigrant Integration

Border control, law enforcement, and the expulsion of undocumented immigrants are persistently elusive policy goals. Potential immigrants may be denied entry if it is thought they will be a drain on public coffers, a risk to public health, or a threat to national security. However, many people enter legally as tourists, students, or guest workers and then remain illegally after their visas expire. Illegal immigration, whether from Mexico to the United States, from Morocco to Spain, or from Zimbabwe to South Africa, poses enormous challenges to policy makers. The 2,000-mile (3,219-kilometer) border between the United States and Mexico is so vast, and the economic push forces in Africa and pull forces in Europe are so strong, that there is little that even the most sensible, efficient, or draconian public policies can do to stem the tide of human migration.

Once illegal immigrants reside in a country it is difficult for governments to apprehend and remove them. Any serious attempt to deport the estimated twelve million undocumented immigrants living in the United States would likely be expensive, disruptive to the economy, and psychologically traumatic to those involved. Similarly, forcibly returning the estimated three million Zimbabweans living in South Africa would be unfeasible as well as contrary to twenty-first-century human rights norms. The practical, politico-economic, and ethical complexities of such scenarios explain why governments tolerate illegal immigrants year after year and why reforms are made to many restrictive immigration laws. Common solutions include providing a path to legalization and government sponsored programs to help immigrants integrate into society.

Regulations determining who may enter, for what reasons, and how long they may stay not only vary from country to country and region to region, but also change and evolve over time. The fact that globalization allows ever more people to migrate at a time when it is increasingly difficult to control porous territorial borders suggests that immigration policies are likely to remain the focus of considerable attention for some time to come.

Bibliography:

Bernstein, Ann, and Myron Weiner. Migration and Refugee Policies: An Overview. London: Pinter, 1999.
Caldera, Selena, and Paige Piper-Bach. Immigration Policy in the United States. Washington, D.C.: Congress of the United States, Congressional Budget Office, 2006.
Cornelius,Wayne A. Controlling Immigration. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 2004.
Legomsky, Stephen H. Immigration and Refugee Law and Policy. New York: Foundation, 2005.
LeMay, Michael C. Anatomy of a Public Policy:The Reform of Contemporary American Immigration Law. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 1994.
Massey, Douglas S. Worlds in Motion. Oxford, UK: Clarendon, 2005.
Schain, Martin. The Politics of Immigration in France, Britain, and the United States: A Comparative Study. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008.
Convention and Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees. Geneva, Switzerland: United Nations High Commission for Refugees Media Relations and Public Information Service, 2007.
S. Department of Homeland Security. 2007
Yearbook of Immigration Statistics. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of Immigration Statistics, 2008.
Zolberg, Aristide R. A Nation by Design: Immigration Policy in the Fashioning of America. New York: Russell Sage, 2006.

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