Immigration policy in the USA Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Immigration policy in the USA - Term Paper Example Such tactics often result in increased competition for employment by the locals with their immigrant counterparts which will create dissatisfaction among the locals. Earlier, America welcomed all the people from the world irrespective of their ethnic or educational backgrounds. In 1980’s and 1990’s, America experienced enormous growth of small-scale industries, mainly because of the contributions of the immigrants. However, at present America implemented many restrictions upon immigration because of the increased threats of terrorism and violence from both legal and illegal immigrants. 9/11 incident resulted in the strengthening of the immigration policies in America. This paper discusses how immigration policy about whom and how many to let in has changed over time and what this change reveals about a society’s quest for national identity Changes in American immigration policies The immediate reasons for drastic changes in immigration policies are the threats fr om terrorists. 9/11 incident was a lesson for America’s immigration and naturalization department. Terrorists can enter America through legal and illegal channels. The war on terror and the disputes with the Islamic world made America vulnerable to terrorist attacks at any time. It should be noted that many of the Americans watching the Muslims in America with suspicious eyes after the 9/11 incident. It is difficult for the Muslim people to get American visa at present unless they have enough reasons to convince the authorities about their purpose of visit. Moreover, in many of the American airports, body screening is implemented especially for the Muslim people. All these policies reveal that America is not much interested in allowing Muslim immigration after the 9/11 incident. Another important issue which forced America to strengthen their immigration policies is the social problems associated with immigration. Uncontrolled Immigration can result in the identity crisis. Th e Middle East is facing such problems at present. In most of the Middle Eastern countries or the Gulf countries, the number of immigrants is more than the number of locals which created a lot of identity problems. No country would like to see more immigrants in its territory than the number of locals. The excessive number of immigrant people seen in the streets, workplaces and other public gathering places may create the sense of unhappiness among the locals. Moreover, Americans cannot keep a friendly attitude towards immigrants especially when they are struggling to get out of the recession problems. Many of the Americans lost their employment because of the recession problems and the subsequent collapse of big organizations. At the same time, they are witnessing the survival of the immigrant community in America. Immigrant community mostly has their own small-scale businesses and the recession has not affected their businesses very much. All ethnicities are not equal; all are not symbolic, costless and voluntary. When white Americans equate their own symbolic ethnicities with the socially enforced identities of non white Americans, they obscure the fact the experiences of the whites and non whites have been qualitatively different in the United States and that the current identities of individuals partly reflect that unequal history (Waters, n. d., p.201-202) Even though racism is prohibited by law in America, it can be observed in many other forms in American social life.