Immigration Policy (BOOK) post 5

Book: Immigration Policy (Point/Counterpoint)
Author: Alan Allport
Chapter 1: Introduction
Pages: 10-28

-Any alien within American borders who does not have a visa, immigrants or nonimmigrants, is here illegally
-Immigrants enrich the country both materially and culturally
-Immigration is a drain on America's fragile resources and a strain on its social fabric.
-Because our population is reaching 300 million people, we can no longer afford to take in large numbers of foreign born people
-There are 2 ways that immigrants enter this country; people who enter the country legitimately as tourists and then don't leave when their paperwork expires and people who cross illicitly over the border.
-The 1882 Immigration Act was the nation's first major attempt to define who legally could and could not enter the US.
-There are 2 types of visas, nonimmigrant and immigrant. Nonimmigrant visas allow aliens to enter the US for a fixed period of time only. Immigrant visas are for people who would like to enter the US for good and establish a permanent home, but this doesn't mean these people are US citizens. These people do not have the right to vote, serve on juries, or run for public office.
-In 2002 over 1 million immigrant visas and 27 million nonimmigrant visas were approved in the US.


Summary:

In this chapter, Alan Allport explains the background of immigration and informs us about the different laws that have been passed against and for immigration. One example of this is when Alan talked about the Immigration Act of 1882. He informed me about the first concern that arose against slavery. Another example of that supports the main idea of this chapter is when Alan informed me about the two different types of visas non citizens can have. Him explaining these gives me a better understanding of how we control immigration. Finally, Alan Allport explains the ups and downs of immigration briefly in saying that immigration is good because they enrich our country by their hard work and expand our culture. The downs are that these immigrants are taking up our resources and if we don't control this, our resources may one day be very limited. (and the rising population). These ideas are similar to the idea of supply and demand. Since our demand for immigrants is low now because we don't need anymore people taking US citizens jobs, we don't need immigrants. That's is why the government is making all these new laws to lower the supply of these immigrants. If all of a sudden, US citizens started to die and factories needed people to work, then the supply of immigrants would be higher. That is why I believe immigration is connected to the idea of supply and demand.