Immigration
Immigration is a complex issue.
Immigration Q & A
How does the US immigration system work?
U.S. immigration law is based on the following principles:
- the reunification of families,
- admitting immigrants with skills that are valuable to the U.S. economy,
- humanitarian protections, and
- promoting diversity.
The law governing U.S. immigration policy is called the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).
The INA allows the United States to grant
- up to 675,000 permanent immigrant visas each year across various visa categories.
- no limit on the annual admission of U.S. citizens’ spouses, parents, and children under the age of 21.
- each year the president is required to consult with Congress and set an annual number of refugees to be admitted to the United States through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program.
- humanitarian protections such as asylum, Temporary Protected Status, and other programs which may permit someone to reside in the United States legally do not have numerical caps, but do have other restrictions.
- the United States also admits a variety of noncitizens on a temporary basis. Such “non-immigrant” visas are granted to everyone from tourists to foreign students to temporary workers permitted to remain in the country for varying lengths of time.
Once a person is granted an immigrant visa or receives certain other eligible protections, such as asylum or refugee status, they can apply to become a lawful permanent resident (LPR). Individuals arriving on immigrant visas become LPRs when they arrive in the United States.
After residing in the United States for five years (or three years in some circumstances), LPRs are eligible to apply for U.S. citizenship. There is no requirement that an LPR apply for citizenship. LPRs are eligible to apply for nearly all jobs (i.e., jobs not legitimately restricted to U.S. citizens) and are permitted to remain in the country permanently, while still remaining subject to immigration laws.
SOURCE: https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/how-united-states-immigration-system-works
USA FActs https://usafacts.org/just-the-facts/immigration/
Based on the information from USAFacts, here’s a summary of key points regarding US immigration:
Immigration Categories:
- Authorized Immigrants (No Path to Citizenship):
- Temporary Residents: In 2022, over 2 million non-immigrant visas were issued for temporary stays, including:
- Work Visas: Various categories, such as H-1B for specialized occupations.
- Student Visas: Approximately 700,000 issued.
- Family Visits: Around 330,000 visas granted.
- Temporary Residents: In 2022, over 2 million non-immigrant visas were issued for temporary stays, including:
- Authorized Immigrants (Path to Citizenship):
- Immigrant Visas: About 500,000 issued in 2022, primarily to individuals with family ties in the US.
- Green Cards: An additional 500,000 individuals already in the US adjusted their status to become lawful permanent residents.
- Refugees and Asylees: Approximately 26,000 refugees were admitted, and 37,000 individuals were granted asylum in 2022.
- Unauthorized Immigrants:
- Definition: This category includes individuals in violation of immigration laws, asylum seekers, and migrants approved for entry due to humanitarian crises.
Key Statistics:
- Foreign-Born Population: In 2022, there were about 46.2 million foreign-born individuals in the US, up from 44.7 million in 2018.
- Unauthorized Immigrants: The federal government estimated 11.4 million unauthorized immigrants in the country in 2018.
- Removals: In FY 2022, immigration officials removed nearly 109,000 people from the US, the fewest since 1996, except for 2021.
For a more detailed breakdown and visual representations, you can visit the full article on USAFacts.
What is Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, (DACA) ?
DACA temporarily delays the deportation of people without documentation who came to the U.S. as children. Renewal is not automatic. 545,000 people are living here in the United States.
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program was created to protect eligible young adults who were brought to the U.S. as children from deportation and to provide them with work authorization for temporary, renewable periods. As of December 31, 2022, there were roughly 580,000 active DACA recipients from close to 200 different countries of birth residing all over the U.S. While individuals with DACA status can be authorized to work, they remain ineligible for many federal programs, including health coverage through Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) health insurance Marketplaces.
https://immigrationforum.org/article/fact-sheet-on-deferred-action-for-childhood-arrivals-daca/
What about illegal border crossings?
Does the USA have Open Borders?
The short answer – Nope (assuming that this question means can anyone move to the US without going through a legal process)
Like all countries, the USA has a well-defined border policy with limitations on legal immigration. However, US immigration services are significantly underfunded, and the immigration courts are understaffed.
By international law the US, like other countries has an option for those seeking asylum. Unfortunately, the US immigration court system has significant backloads causing multiple year-long delays between those seeking asylum and their hearings. More than 2 million cases are pending in U.S. immigration courts. This backlog has more than tripled since the start of fiscal year 2017.
In 2024 a bipartisan bill was introduced to address many of these deficiencies but Donald Trump killed it in an effort to keep immigration an election-year issue.
The details of the bill are here – https://immigrationimpact.com/2024/11/01/what-is-the-bipartisan-border-bill/
ACTION: Contact Congress to show support or opposition for immigration reform specifically S.4361 – Border Act of 2024
Is there a migrant crime wave in the US?
Research also shows that overall, immigrants have a similar or even lower likelihood of incarceration compared to native-born Americans, a trend that holds for immigrants from various source countries. For example, one study found that undocumented immigrants are 33 percent less likely to be incarcerated than people born in the United States. Indications of a negative relationship between immigration and crime also emerge when looking at conviction rates.
This makes sense when one considers that a migrant is trying to keep a low profile and avoid detection and interaction with law enforcement.
SOURCE: https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/debunking-myth-migrant-crime-wave
Are migrants “eating the cats and dogs”?
Even though Trump made this claim in a Presidential debate it is flatly false.
“They’re eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats,” Trump said during an answer to a question about immigration. “They’re eating the pets of the people that live there, and this is what’s happening in our country, and it’s a shame.”
There is a background to this claim.
A homeowner in Springfield, Ohio, could not find her pet cat and accused her neighbor, a Haitian immigrant, of eating it. Three days later, the lady found her cat hiding in her basement and called her neighbor to apologize.
Conservative media picked up on the story and it was amplified by J.D.Vance.
Here is a bit of background on immigration.
Overview on Immigration from the Pew Center.
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/09/27/key-findings-about-us-immigrants/