Illegal Immigration and the Federalist System
The influx of illegal immigrants into the United States affects every level of government in a significant way. Although the actual effects of illegal immigration are hotly debated, it remains the government's difficult duty to balance the massive amounts of data and diversity of public opinion in order to best accommodate the overall will of its people. In recent times we have witnessed a vast disconnect between what constituents want for their state versus what the nation as a whole considers Constitutionally justifiable. And therefore the necessity of a federal system, wherein the national government is playing a virtual tug-of-war with its states, comes to light. Using the issue of Illegal Immigration as our model, we can see how the national government and state governments are forced to cooperate and sometimes facilitate the success of policies when solving relatively complex matters of law .
First through a system of checks and balances, the national government proposes and passes laws that are eventually implemented both at the federal and state level. The passage and implementation of these or any type of laws is arduous to say the least and requires the coordination of all three branches of government. The president's duties are relatively simple and straightforward: a proposal is passed by congress and he either signs the bill into law or vetoes it. As with the example of Illegal Immigration, President Barack Obama signed into law February 2009 The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act wherein "$400 million in funds [will be budgeted] to strengthen security and infrastructure for ports of entry on the Southwest border" (“Immigration ”). Previous to that particular bil...
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United States of America. Cong. 112th Legislature. 1st session. "A joint resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States relating to United States citizenship. S.J. Res. 2." Washington: GPO, 2011. Print.
United States of America. Cong. 112th Legislature. 1st session. "Clear Law Enforcement for Criminal Alien Removal Act of 2011." HR 100 IH. Washington: GPO, 2011. Print.
United States of America. National Conference of State Legislatures. "NCSL REAL ID Act of 2005 Driver's License Title Summary." Ed. Cheye Calvo. PDF File.
Wood, Daniel B. "After Arizona, Why Are 10 States considering Immigration Bills?" CSMonitor.com. 10 May 2010. Web. 12 Feb. 2011. .
Department of Homeland Security . "Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Process (Through Fiscal Year 2014, 1st Qtr)." 2014.
5Department of Homeland Security. 2012. Immigration Enforce- ment Actions: 2011. Washington, DC:. Available at: http://www. dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/immigration-statistics/ enforcement_ar_2011.pdf
The President of the United States holds ultimate authority over any piece of legislation. This right is given by the U.S. Constitution through the power of the Presidential veto. The Constitution states that after a bill is passed through both the House of Representatives and the Senate, it is to be given to the President for what is essentially the final OK. If the President approves of the bill and its contents, he is to sign the bill within ten days, thus passing it as a law. If he does not sign the bill within ten days it is considered approved and the bill is passed (the exception to this being the pocket veto which will be discussed below). Should the President disagree with the bill, he has the power to stop it by using either a veto or a pocket veto. If the President uses a veto, he is directly shutting down the bill, leaving it up to a two-thirds vote from both Houses to override this decision. Once vetoed the bill is sent back to the House it was born in with an explanation from The President on why it was vetoed and the voting begins. A pocket veto is only used when Congress is adjourned, the President simply does nothing, ten days go by and because Congress is not in session the bill is automatically vetoed without an override vote by the Houses.
Odegaard, Gregory A. "A Yes Or No Answer: A Plea To End The Oversimplification Of The Debate On Licensing Aliens." Journal Of Law & Politics 24.4 (2008): 435-473. America: History and Life with Full Text. Web. 15 Nov. 2013.
USCIS. United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.” Imigration Reform and Control Act of 1986(IRCA).” Web. 4 June, 2011 < http://www.uscis.gov>.
Voter ID laws in the United States have begun to create controversy since the beginning of its adaptations in the early 2000’s. Voter ID laws in the United States is a law that requires U.S. citizens to have a special form of identification in order to vote in an election. The idea with Voter ID laws is that the state must make sure that the laws do not pose any sort of burden on the voters. These laws have been proposed in order to stop voting fraud. However, the institution of Voter ID laws have made trouble in states, including Texas, regarding to the various amount of identification requirements needed.
"Population Bulletin Update: Immigration in America 2010." - Population Reference Bureau. Web. 28 Feb. 2012. .
Immigration has always been a hot topic in America. There are many pros and cons, which makes it a delicate issue when it comes to debates. In an attempt to reform immigration, President Obama has issued an executive order that will overhaul the nation’s immigration system as we know it. The president’s changes will affect nearly 11 million undocumented immigrants who are currently residing in America. Focusing on 4 main changes, Obamas’ plan focuses on many aspects from enhancing border security to developing new processes in which workers can enter the country.
Parish, N (2013 September 09) Border Protection Immigration or it is it for Security. Retrieved December 05, 2013)
Chairman Lamar Smith "Immigration in the National Interest Act of 1995" Register , 12, May, 1995
Gomez, Alan. “Illegal immigration levels off in ’10.” USA Today n.d. (02 February 2011): 02a. Academic Research Complete. Web. 25 March 2011.
Gomez, Alana and TODAY USA. "Illegal immigration may be rising." USA Today n.d.: Academic Search Complete. Web. 3 Apr. 2014.
Immigration is a top political issue in the United States. There are various differences of opinion that society has toward this issue. However, one factor in regards to immigration in which the majority of society can agree is the Nation’s system is currently outdated. Such an agreement is based upon the foundation that we actually “[h]ave more than 10 million undocumented workers in the country” (Gutierrez, 2013). General public concern is foremost driven by the focus on an extreme increase in immigration of undocumented immigrants in recent decades. There is also intereste in whether the impact of the rapid increase has a negative influence on the economy and contributes negatively to our fiscal situation. Pia M. Orrenius,Assistant Vice President and Senior Economist of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas states in The Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, “The undocumented population rose from a few hundred thousand, primarily in agricultural workers, in the late 1960s to two to four million, mainly living in urban areas in 1980. The undocumented population rose further to 8.4 million in 2000 and 11.2 million in 2010” (Orrenius,2012). With this rapid increase, the question often in conflict with members of society is;what is the best step for the United States to take towards such an increase? Since the federal government appeared to not be taking any steps towards finding a solution this issue, state legislatures have in some cases decided to take matters into their own hands. One example is when in “April 2010, the Arizona state legislature passed a law ‘to discourage and deter the unlawful entry and presence of aliens and economic activity by persons unlawfully present in the United States’” (Loftus, 2013). There is su...
With an estimated 11.7 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. today, immigration reform has been a volatile issue that hasn’t been adequately addressed throughout the 21st century. With the last major overhaul occurring in 1986, when over 3 million immigrants were granted U.S. citizenship, politicians are saying another major overhaul is needed to address the newer generation of illegal immigrants. Legislations including the Border Protection, Anti-terrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006, and the DREAM act of 2012 have all tried to address the depressing need for immigration reform but have failed due to lack of bipartisan support. Still, political leaders urge for immigration reform that is unlikely to pass with such divided political parties. Luckily, the solution was already passed in 1986 but hasn’t been sufficiently enforced for the past twenty years. In order to stop the flood of illegals crossing U.S. borders, the U.S. should enforce the law against hiring illegal immigrants.
The study also took a close look at how the courts deal with the issue, the administrative interpretation of the law, and the application of the reform to be very critical and increasingly impossible. The author discovered that immigration reform has chronic problems, citizens’ disinterest to participate in the political process, government inefficacy, and centralized decision making away from the very communities imparted. The lack of enforcement is mounting pressure on states’ budgets (appropriation and allocations) of resources as the number of beneficiaries for social services increased. On the other hand, Dorsey and Diaz-Barriza (2007) studied President Barack Obama stands on immigration when he was then senator and compared them to conservative and liberal position. In the research, the author lamented that then senator Obama called for a comprehensive immigration reform that would deal with the issues of border security, employers sanction for hiring illegal individuals and a path to earned citizenship. Both sides agreed in part, but disagreed with the issue of path to citizenship which created gray lack. Today, the debate continues between the both political parties and the states leading the president executive action on immigration in recent