US Immigration Policy

There are many different classifications of immigrants in the United States; there is family based immigration, employment-based, and refugees and asylees. Immediate family of United States citizens have the easiest time getting granted citizenship and there is not a limit on how many can be permitted into the United States per year. Immediate relatives are spouses of US citizens, unmarried minor children of citizens of the US, and parents of citizens. Although there is not a limit on the number of immediate family members who can come to the United States, there are age and financial requirements that must be met. Immigrants who have special skills that will be beneficial to the country can be granted full or part-time residency. Visas for temporary nonimmigrant workers can be given for athletes, entertainers, performers, intracompany transfers, etc. These visas are usually sponsored by a company that wants to bring an individual into the United States.  Permanent employment-based immigration has a limit of 140,000 per year.  Immigrants who are in danger in their own country can apply for citizenship in the United States. Every year the president meets with congress to determine the number of refugees that are allowed from different regions. The refugee ceiling for 2013 was 70,000 immigrants.

I was interested in the number of immigrants in different parts of the country, so here just a few of my findings on the number of Asian and Latino immigrants:

·         North Dakota has 16,626 immigrants, 35.1% are naturalized citizens

·         Nebraska has 116,124 immigrants, 40.6% are naturalized citizens

·         Texas has 4,201,675 immigrants, 33.2% are naturalized citizens

I noticed that over all, states on the southern border of the US, especially those that contact Mexico, have an abundance of immigrants. I was not sure what a naturalized citizen was, but I found out that it is a person who has obtained US citizenship after fulfilling the requirements set by Congress in the Immigration and Nationality Act.

Stepping onto my soapbox for a minute, it bothers me when people are passionately against all immigration. I understand that many people who are citizens of the United States do not have jobs, and that they feel it is unfair for others to come in and take jobs from them. In reality though, the jobs that the immigrants take are open because they are the jobs that Americans do not want to have. Also, this country was built by immigrants. There are so many different nationalities in this country because the United States is a country of immigrants and we are just lucky to have born here. There are many people who live in terrible situations who risk their lives to come here and work so that they can support their families. Of course I think there needs to be some regulation, but I also think people need to think of immigrants as people who are just trying to survive before they call them names and think poorly of them.