Immigration is the movement of people to a destination that they are not a resident of to seek citizenship or employment. In the most recent decade, the government hesitate to pass laws such as LIFE Act and the DREAM act which are set in place to help immigrants and minorities in America. These hesitations inevitably go against immigration. To talk about this topic, you must take into consideration that there are different types of immigration, which include international-based immigration, employment-based immigration, family-based immigration, humanitarian-based immigration and the list goes on.
Immigration, especially international student immigration should be looked at more as a benefit by the American government rather than just shedding negative light on the situation. According to the Financial Times article, “cutting immigration will hobble economic growth.” (Goldin. 2018.) Migrant workers and students have both played vital roles in the US economy, therefore, they should not be treated as illegal or undeserving individuals. Majority of legal migrants pay taxes to support the American economy so those people shouldn’t be treated as if they’re not fulfilling a purposeful duty.
Being an immigrant myself, I directly relate to what is going on concerning the topic of immigration. My reason for migration is to be the first member of my family to get a college degree. This falls under international immigration because I was born outside of the United States of America. According to the US Department of Education (Feb, 2018.), at least one-third of students enrolled in college are first generation students which, inexplicably, comes with many challenges of its own. Of that statistic, at least 20% of these students are international. According to news article, The Atlantic, this number declines every year. In year 2016-17, international student enrollment declined by 3% and another 7% in 2017-18. (Wong. 2019) Many people tend to leave third-world countries where education, as compared to America’s education system, isn’t as up to par. Countries where certain career paths can’t be pursued, whether it’s economic reasons or political reasons, can be pursued in America. Another reason why international migration topic stays afloat is that the degrees offered in third-world countries aren’t usually credible/recognizable by large corporations or businesses, which inevitably affects job employment for third-world Non-Americans in the future. Many international students are often affected by immigration laws especially when it’s pertaining to college life. For example, in 2017, President Donald Trump enforced heightened screening of visa applications as well as new updated requirements for visa-holders. This made it unnecessarily difficult for recent graduates to continue working and living in the United States. As an international student, you’re allowed to work up to twenty hours a week on campus. This puts a definite limit on the amount of money they’re allowed to make and, with the cost of college being so daunting, increasing year by year and paying out of pocket is becoming more of a norm – you guessed it – it’s very expensive.
Between the year 2009 and 2019, the average yearly student expenses rose by approximately 9000USD. As shown in the graph above, these funds have been on a steady incline for at least ten years and it doesn’t seem as if it’ll have any turnaround. The United States should therefore put systems in place to help international students financially and help them avoid any financial crisis.
According to salaryexplorer.com, the average household income in Trinidad and Tobago is 87,200TTD which converts to approximately 12,906USD. (n.d.) The average cost of a semester for international students is 7000USD. Think about it, the cost of tuition in America is about half of the average household income- taking into account that there would be other living expenses or unexpected expenses. The only other way around this is to apply for scholarships, but, yet again, we’re at another hurdle because the scholarships that we are actually eligible for doesn’t provide much towards tuition. The scholarships that we are eligible for are usually just enough to cover books or basic expenses which helps, but it can only do so much.
From my experience, the standard of living in America compared to where a lot of international migrants originate from is another major reason why people choose to migrate to America. The jobs offered, benefits provided and government assistance entice immigrants migrate to the United States. In countries such as Trinidad & Tobago, Venezuela or even Jamaica, securing a job can take months, even years and most of them are on a contract basis. This employment situation regularly causes the victims of it to flee to America to seek a better job opportunity so that they can take care of themselves and their respective families. The American legal system should take heed to the victims of poverty and lower-class members and allow them to work in the United States once they are credible. All the laws prohibiting that or implementing a strict time limit on how long a person can legally work in the United States should be barred because as humans, dealing with real-life situations can get tough and to put a deadline on something so sensitive to people will do nothing but add fuel to a fire. Moving from one country to another to seek betterment is not something that can be done overnight. People think about this for years before they finally come up with a decision that will best benefit the well-being of their families, but, even when they migrate, people still run in to problems. In the book, Traumatology, a total of 12 people, refugees and asylum-seekers took part in a discussion about their experiences in their situations. According to one lady who chose to remain anonymous, “- think about the difference, the time I was in, how I was doing my things, my business, living with my family. I think right now I feel lonely and down.” (n.d.) She spoke on behalf of a vast number of refugees and asylum-seekers who feel as if they have no voice in America just because of where they came from and therefore deserve no help.
Immigrants should have an equal chance at a job that they’re credible for just like Americans. If you think about it morally, two people qualified for the same job should be treated equally and shouldn’t be discredited just because of where they come from. Having a stronger workforce by adding foreign workers to the American rosters can benefit the economy as well. For instance, working foreigners are required to pay taxes just like local Americans. These taxes support pensioners and retirees. It is logically much better to have a diverse economy rather than a tapered-off economy because, with a diverse economy, it allows the general public to venture off into new business ideas and ideology which can boost the per capita GDP. In an interview conducted by The US House of Representatives (Nov. 2005.), Hon. Douglas Holtz-Eakin (Congressional Budget Office, director) proved how immigration can actually benefit the US Economy. He went on by presenting a graph showing the growth of the labor force between 1994 and 2004 was well north of 16 million workers. Of these 16 million members, 8.5 million were foreign born – just above 50%. This proved how the immigration can boost the labor force of America. A larger labor force would be a better economy as well.
Immigration also aids the tourism industry by having people from all over the world visit America to invest in their economy. People move to the United States to be closer to their families. For example, people who were born in another country due to incarceration of the mother or was born in another country beyond the control of the mother should be allowed into the United States legally upon proving where the family originated from. It is unfortunate that some people in this world haven’t met their families because they were born into refuge. This is another instance where we have to think on a moral level to this fragile topic. It is not a baby’s decision where he/she wants to be born, but, it is fair that somebody seeking refuge should be taken into consideration because they’re already dealing with the heavy problem of not having a home or a supporting family around them.
The US President should have a different strategy to approach the refugee situation. According to The New York Times, one of President Trump’s strategies to combat refugees was to lower the admission ceiling for refugee entree into the United States from 110,000 (set under Obama’s ruling) to 18,000 (Shear & Kanno-Youngs, 2019) specifically, indefinitely suspending the entry of Middle-eastern refugees such as Syrians and Libyans into the country. All of this was done too abruptly and he didn’t take into consideration the reasons why people leave their home countries to seek betterment in other countries.
Instead of pushing refugees away, disregarding the multiple reasons why they enter the country, especially when they are moving for humanitarian reasons, give them special attention regardless of what race they are, what gender they are or what country they come from. Immigration should be looked at less as a political problem and more like a social or a moral problem. People searching for a better life shouldn’t be swept under the bus like if they’re prisoners.
Finally, education should be accessible to everyone equally and although I think employment should be accessible to everyone as well, the regulations to the law against immigrant employment shouldn’t be as harsh as it is for international college students. If students are willing to work in order to fund their education purposes, then it should be granted and not just looked over because it’s a political issue and not a moral issue. Immigration in America has a lot of repair to do and the only way we can start seeing changes is by changing the perspective that we are currently viewing it and look at it from the immigrant’s perspective. Majority of the time, immigrants have no choice but to look for a better life and I think that if they’re looking towards America, it should be treated as a compliment and they should be welcomed. It is certainly fair to implement laws that would ensure the legality of migration but, these laws shouldn’t put one human being at a disadvantage of another.