Illegal Immigration and Refugees (Am Civ)
Filed under: American Civilization by RedJohn — Leave a comment
November 11, 2012
Since the United States became teeming of immigrants coming from different parts of the world, several quota acts were established by the government in order to restrict the process of immigration. In the meantime, illegal immigration had begun to surface as a means for those immigrants who cannot make it in the United States.
As a response to the illegal immigration, in 1986 the government passed the immigration reform and control act. It granted a general amnesty for all those who could prove that they were living in America for at least four years. This act also granted amnesty to seasonal workers. However, it charged ten thousand dollars to the employees who were caught as illegal, or it sentenced them to imprisonment. Shortly after, during the presidency of Bill Clinton there was the operation gate keeper. Thus, the government built a forty miles wall in San Diego in order to halt immigration by controlling borders. In 2000 the president Bush setup a new program entitled “The Guest Worker Program”. Under this program the illegal immigrants must prove that they are handling a good social situation otherwise they would be sent out of the country.
The old stock Americans regarded these undocumented aliens as profiteers who wanted to take advantage of the American welfare system. But in return, these immigrants were always performing the hard works and taking the low wages in society.
The United States has also known a remarkable wave of refugees between 1986 and 1990, they were mainly coming from Cuba and Vietnam. These immigrants feared of being persecuted on the account of political and social reasons. As a result, many people took the advantage of being an asylum seeker as to make it in the United States, but the government took another step towards immigration by asking for an evidence of a well-founded fear of persecution....