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Immigration Policy Issues

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Mitt Romney in his speech to the RNC just four years ago would be considered near traitorous to the republican party in the divisive politics of the present. In this presidential campaign season, as in many previous ones, one of the largest issues continues to be that of immigration. The fundamental disagreement is not whether an issue exists, but as to how the United States should react to the ones waking up at night hearing that voice telling them to come to America. This paper will examine the roles of federal, state, and local governments have regarding the question: should state and local governments have the authority to draft and execute immigration policies? First, it will delve deeper into this topic by studying the history of immigration …show more content…

With the creation of the constitution in 1789, came very little guidance from the founders on immigration. The only relevant clause regarding the issue can be found in Article 1 Section 8 Clause 4 that gave congress power to “To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;” Here we see that congress is given the authority to create laws regarding becoming a naturalized citizen. However, control over the citizenship process is hardly a mandate from the constitution for full authority over immigration policy itself. Immigration law professor at UC Irvine Jennifer Chacón writes that “But control over naturalization does not necessarily require full control over immigration. And indeed, for the first century of the United States’ existence, many states enacted laws regulating and controlling immigration into their own borders.” (Chacon 2014) Professor Vincent J. Cannato comes to a similar conclusion when he writes in National Affairs that “But on the question of who should determine just who can enter the country and under what conditions, the Constitution is silent. As a result, during America's first century, regulating entry into the country was a power left up to individual states. Apart from laws …show more content…

This legislation required that an individual reside in the country for 14 years prior to becoming a citizen, and, established one of the first deportation systems for the United States. (Englund & Svoboda 2007) Between 1790 and 1820 immigration begins to gradually increase, and between the 1830’s and 1860’s there is an influx in movement into America from Ireland and Western Europe. (Cannato 2012; Schultz 2010; Ewing 2012) Cannato writes that “This pattern began to change in the 1830s, which saw more than 500,000 immigrants arrive (again, almost entirely from Western Europe, especially Germany and Ireland).” (Cannato 2012) Ewing tells us that “ During the 1840s, 50s, and 60s, approximately 6.6 million immigrants arrived in the United States.” (Ewing

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