tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/immigration-reform-48771/articlesImmigration reform – The Conversation2024-02-13T13:21:23Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2230722024-02-13T13:21:23Z2024-02-13T13:21:23ZImmigration reform has always been tough, and rarely happens in election years - 4 things to know<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575094/original/file-20240212-24-rrmn75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Migrants cross the border from Mexico into Texas on Feb. 6, 2024. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/migrants-cross-the-border-to-usa-through-gate-36-and-to-be-news-photo/1983631787?adppopup=true">Christian Torres/Anadolu via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Immigration is already a major polarizing issue in the 2024 U.S. presidential election. Arrests for <a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-border-crossings-mexico-biden-18ac91ef502e0c5433f74de6cc629b32">illegal border crossings</a> from Mexico reached an all-time high in December 2023, and cities like New York and Chicago are struggling to provide housing and basic services for tens of thousands of <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2024/01/04/texas-migrants-new-york-bus-companies-lawsuit/#:%7E:text=As%20of%20Dec.,33%2C600%20migrants%20to%20New%20York.">migrants arriving from Texas</a>. </p>
<p>In early February 2024, a group of senators <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-senate-unveils-118-billion-bipartisan-bill-tighten-border-security-aid-2024-02-04/">proposed new immigration legislation</a> that would have slowed the migrant influx at the border. The bill would have made it harder for migrants to both apply for and receive asylum, which is the legal right to stay in the U.S. because of fear of persecution if they return back home. <a href="https://apnews.com/article/congress-border-deal-rejected-lankford-immigration-045fdf42d42b26270ee1f5f73e8bc1b0">But the bill</a>, like others proposed in recent years, quickly faltered after Republicans opposed it. </p>
<p>This is far from the first time that Democrats and Republicans have failed to pass legislation that was intended to improve the country’s immigration system. </p>
<p>I am a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Y1qVRfUAAAAJ&hl=en">scholar of immigration and refugee policy</a>. Here are four key reasons why meaningful immigration policy change has been so difficult to achieve – and why it remains a pipe dream:</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575096/original/file-20240212-20-e4zl2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="People wearing dark clothing and jackets reach for and hold bags of bread." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575096/original/file-20240212-20-e4zl2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575096/original/file-20240212-20-e4zl2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575096/original/file-20240212-20-e4zl2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575096/original/file-20240212-20-e4zl2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575096/original/file-20240212-20-e4zl2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575096/original/file-20240212-20-e4zl2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575096/original/file-20240212-20-e4zl2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Newly arrived migrants receive a meal from a church in Manhattan on Jan. 24, 2024. According to New York Mayor Eric Adams’ administration, 172,400 migrants have arrived in the city since the spring of 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/people-mostly-newly-arrived-migrants-receive-an-afternoon-news-photo/1958071905?adppopup=true">Spencer Platt/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>1. Immigration reform has always been hard</h2>
<p>The U.S. has faced major roadblocks every time it has tried to achieve immigration reform. </p>
<p>For decades after World War II, presidents, lawmakers and activists tried and failed to revamp the nation’s immigration system to remove <a href="https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/erika-lee/america-for-americans/9781541672598/?lens=basic-books">racist quotas based on national origin</a>, set in the 1920s, that restricted all but northern and western Europeans from immigrating to the U.S. </p>
<p>Change finally came in 1965, when Congress passed the <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/laws-and-policy/legislation/immigration-and-nationality-act">Immigration and Nationality Act</a>. This required extensive negotiations. The final bipartisan bargain <a href="https://www.npr.org/2015/10/03/445339838/the-unintended-consequences-of-the-1965-immigration-act">removed racist quotas but appeased those who wanted to restrict immigration</a> by prioritizing new immigrants’ connections to family already in the country – a preference that lawmakers thought would favor Europeans.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691088051/dividing-lines">last big immigration reform</a> happened in 1986, when Congress passed the <a href="https://guides.loc.gov/latinx-civil-rights/irca">Immigration Reform and Control Act</a>. Year after year, throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Congressional bills to address the porous border with Mexico and the undocumented immigrant population living in the country went nowhere. After many false starts, an uneasy Left-Right majority finally agreed in 1986 on a package that sanctioned employers who hired undocumented immigrants, provided legal status to roughly 3 million undocumented migrants, created a new farmworker program, and increased border security resources.</p>
<p>For almost four decades, Washington has been stuck in neutral on this issue.</p>
<h2>2. The US is more polarized on immigration than ever before</h2>
<p>Americans have been at odds over how to handle immigration since the nation’s founding. But partisan and ideological polarization over border control and immigrants’ rights <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/R/bo221112082.html">is greater today</a> than any other time.</p>
<p>Over the past 20 years, <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-politics-of-immigration-9780190235307?cc=us&lang=en&">Democratic and Republican voters</a> and politicians alike became more firmly <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/R/bo28424644.html">aligned with rival</a> pro- and anti-immigration rights movements.</p>
<p>In 2008, 46% of Republicans and 39% of Democrats said they thought immigration to the U.S. <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/395882/immigration-views-remain-mixed-highly-partisan.aspx">should be decreased</a>. In 2023, GOP support for decreased immigration soared to 73%, compared with just 18% of Democrats who said they wanted that. Today, Republicans are almost three times as likely as Democrats to see unauthorized immigration as a very big national problem – <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2023/06/21/inflation-health-costs-partisan-cooperation-among-the-nations-top-problems/">70% versus 25%</a>.</p>
<p>Despite growing polarization, leaders from both parties have tried a few times in recent decades to work together on bipartisan reform. </p>
<p>In 2006, former President George W. Bush, a Republican, joined Senators Edward Kennedy, a Democrat, John McCain, a member of the GOP, and other lawmakers in a coalition that pushed for comprehensive immigration reform. Like the 1986 reform, their proposal included stronger border security measures, a path to legalization for undocumented immigrants and a new, expansive program for employers to legally host foreign workers. </p>
<p>Right-wing pundits and anti-immigrant activists vigorously mobilized <a href="https://cis.org/Historical-Overview-Immigration-Policy">against the legislation,</a> and the GOP-controlled House of Representatives killed the bill.</p>
<p>In 2013, a <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/06/24/getting-to-maybe">bipartisan group of politicians called the “Gang of Eight”</a> spearheaded a new reform. Their bill reflected a familiar package: a new path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, more work visas for skilled foreign immigrants, and a guest worker program. The <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2013/06/immigration-bill-2013-senate-passes-093530">Senate passed the legislation</a>, but the <a href="https://www.salon.com/2007/06/26/immigration_22/">measure then died</a> in the House. The Republican majority there refused to vote on what they considered an amnesty bill.</p>
<p>Partisan warfare over immigration reached a fevered pitch during the Donald Trump presidency. Liberals, for example, rallied against Trump’s <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2017/01/a-weekend-of-protest-against-trumps-immigration-ban/514953/">ban on immigrants from some Muslim countries</a>, and conservatives fretted over <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/donald-trump-the-migrant-caravan-and-a-manufactured-crisis-at-the-us-border">caravans of migrants crossing into the country</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575364/original/file-20240213-30-wm3195.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Kyrsten Sinema wears a red dress and red framed glasses and gestures with her hands, while people stand around her and hold out phones and tape recorders." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575364/original/file-20240213-30-wm3195.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575364/original/file-20240213-30-wm3195.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575364/original/file-20240213-30-wm3195.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575364/original/file-20240213-30-wm3195.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575364/original/file-20240213-30-wm3195.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575364/original/file-20240213-30-wm3195.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575364/original/file-20240213-30-wm3195.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">US Senator Kyrsten Sinema, one of the co-sponsors of the Senate bi-partisan border and immigration bill, speaks to reporters in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 5, 2024.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/sen-kyrsten-sinema-speaks-to-reporters-at-the-u-s-capitol-news-photo/1988744214?adppopup=true">Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>3. There’s little bipartisan agreement over what the problem actually is</h2>
<p>Most Americans generally agree that the nation’s immigration system is broken. Yet different political groups cannot agree on what exactly is wrong and how to solve it.</p>
<p>For some Republicans, including former Trump, the problem is lax border control and permissive policies that allow dangerous migrants to enter and stay in the country. Right-wing politicians and commentators, like Tucker Carlson, have exploited these anxieties, warning that large-scale immigration will <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/15/us/replacement-theory-shooting-tucker-carlson.html">“replace” white Americans</a>. Their solution is to militarize the nation’s borders, deport undocumented immigrants living in the country, and make it harder for people to legally stay in the country. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.hoover.org/research/mobility-socialism-how-anti-immigration-politics-advances-socialism-and-impedes-capitalism">There are also conservatives</a> who think immigration is consistent with the principles of individual liberty, entrepreneurship and national economic growth. They support more visas for highly skilled newcomers, especially those with strong science and technology backgrounds.</p>
<p>Democrats <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/09/08/republicans-and-democrats-have-different-top-priorities-for-u-s-immigration-policy/">aligned with the immigrant rights</a> movement believe that the country is obliged to address the humanitarian needs of migrants seeking asylum at the southern border. They argue that millions of undocumented people <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520287266/lives-in-limbo">living in the shadows</a> of American life creates an undemocratic caste system, and they think this can be solved by creating pathways for most undocumented immigrants to get legal permanent residency. </p>
<p>Moderate Democrats <a href="https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/laurieroberts/2024/02/07/kyrsten-sinema-border-bill-impact-arizona-election/72509061007/">advocate tougher restrictions to address migrant surges</a> that overwhelm Border Patrol agents and other officials along the U.S.-Mexican border. Their solutions include hiring thousands of new immigration officers, strengthening physical and technological barriers along the border, and making the asylum program more efficient. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575097/original/file-20240212-16-pkh45o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Joe Biden wears dark sunglasses and a suit and walks, in front of men in green uniforms, along a large fence. The sun shines through it." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575097/original/file-20240212-16-pkh45o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575097/original/file-20240212-16-pkh45o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575097/original/file-20240212-16-pkh45o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575097/original/file-20240212-16-pkh45o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575097/original/file-20240212-16-pkh45o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575097/original/file-20240212-16-pkh45o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575097/original/file-20240212-16-pkh45o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">President Joe Biden walks along the U.S.-Mexico border fence in January 2023 in El Paso, Texas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/president-joe-biden-walks-along-the-us-mexico-border-fence-news-photo/1246095870?adppopup=true">Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>4. Immigration reform is especially messy in a presidential election year</h2>
<p>Presidential election years are fertile ground for politicking on immigrants and borders, but not lasting policy reform.</p>
<p>In 2021, President Joe Biden and his supporters introduced an <a href="https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/laurieroberts/2024/02/07/kyrsten-sinema-border-bill-impact-arizona-election/72509061007/">immigration bill</a> that would offer a pathway to legal residency for nearly all undocumented immigrants. But the measure never gained the 60 votes necessary to win passage in the Senate. </p>
<p>Now, Biden finds himself <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/4394262-biden-approval-rating-on-handling-immigration-reaches-all-time-low-poll/">underwater with voters, including Democrats, on immigration</a> and the perceived chaos at the border. </p>
<p>Eager to protect themselves in the 2024 election and to alleviate the headaches that migrant surges at the border present, Biden and other top Democrats temporarily set aside past blueprints for legalizing undocumented people and <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-senate-unveils-118-billion-bipartisan-bill-tighten-border-security-aid-2024-02-04/">joined Republican negotiators</a> in advancing one of the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/border-deal-to-cut-illegal-immigration-is-released-after-months-of-talks-26a66211">toughest border security measures</a> in decades. This bill, which the Senate introduced on Feb. 5, 2024, would have dedicated US$20.2 billion to strengthen border security, and it would have made it much harder for immigrants to apply for or receive asylum. </p>
<p>Republican border hawks had long demanded more restrictive immigration rules. But they did not embrace this deal. When Trump eviscerated the legislation, intent on keeping problems at the border as a campaign issue, Republican members of Congress lined up to quickly kill the legislation.</p>
<p>The death of the bipartisan Senate border deal is a triumph of election-year grandstanding over governing. Yet its demise also reflects a much longer trend of ideological conflict and partisan warfare that has made congressional gridlock on immigration reform a defining feature of contemporary American politics.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223072/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Tichenor does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Immigration reform has always been hard to accomplish. As the U.S. enters an election year, bipartisan reform now appears out of reach.Daniel Tichenor, Professor of Political Science, University of OregonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2207412024-01-19T13:41:25Z2024-01-19T13:41:25ZThe US is struggling to handle an immigration surge – here’s how Europe is dealing with its own influx<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570216/original/file-20240118-29-pkmecl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Workers from the Spanish nonprofit Open Waters rescue 178 migrants from different countries, off the coast of Italy in September 2023. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/migrants-of-different-14-nationalities-are-rescued-by-the-news-photo/1698787922?adppopup=true">Jose Colon/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As record-high numbers of <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/1924-law-slammed-door-immigrants-and-politicians-who-pushed-it-back-open-180974910/">undocumented migrants</a> cross the United States-Mexico border illegally, one key question is how the U.S. got into this situation, and what lessons can be learned from how other countries respond to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/04/us/border-eagle-pass-ambulance-workers.html?action=click&pgtype=Article&state=default&module=styln-us-immigration&variant=show&region=MAIN_CONTENT_1&block=storyline_top_links_recirc">border security</a> and immigration problems. </p>
<p>Having worked <a href="https://fletcher.tufts.edu/people/faculty/tara-sonenshine">both inside the U.S. government</a> and in the private sector, I have observed the growing importance of welcoming foreign citizens to one’s country for <a href="https://www.cbpp.org/research/immigrants-contribute-greatly-to-us-economy-despite-administrations-public-charge-rule">improving economic growth</a>, scientific advancement, labor supply and cultural awareness. </p>
<p>But migrants entering and staying in the U.S. without visas or proper documentation can create problems – for the <a href="https://www.kff.org/racial-equity-and-health-policy/press-release/immigrants-overwhelmingly-say-they-and-their-children-are-better-off-in-the-us-but-many-also-report-substantial-discrimination-and-challenges-a-new-kff-los-angeles-times-survey-reveals/">migrants themselves</a>, and for overtaxed governments that lack the ability to quickly process asylum cases in <a href="https://www.gao.gov/blog/u.s.-immigration-courts-see-significant-and-growing-backlog#:%7E:text=This%20backlog%20has%20more%20than,immigration%20judges%20and%20court%20staff.">immigration courts</a>, for example, or to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/17/nyregion/migrants-shelter-snow-nyc.html">provide temporary shelter</a> and other basic services for large numbers of arriving migrants. These strains are happening now in many places in the U.S.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570214/original/file-20240118-27-na6vez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A black and white photo shows a large crowd of people, mostly men wearing hats, crowded on the second story of a small boat, which is coked." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570214/original/file-20240118-27-na6vez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570214/original/file-20240118-27-na6vez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570214/original/file-20240118-27-na6vez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570214/original/file-20240118-27-na6vez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570214/original/file-20240118-27-na6vez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570214/original/file-20240118-27-na6vez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570214/original/file-20240118-27-na6vez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Immigrants arrive at Ellis Island in 1923, one year before Congress reformed immigration laws in the U.S., making it harder to enter the country.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/immigrants-arriving-at-ellis-island-aboard-the-machigonne-news-photo/171811445?adppopup=true">Underwood & Underwood/Underwood Archives/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>U.S. immigration trends</h2>
<p>In 1924, after decades of the U.S. welcoming foreign-born citizens to its shores, Congress passed the Immigration Act, <a href="https://history.state.gov/milestones/1921-1936/immigration-act#:%7E:text=The%20Immigration%20Act%20of%201924%20limited%20the%20number%20of%20immigrants,of%20the%201890%20national%20census">restricting the numbers</a> and types of people who could legally enter and stay in the U.S. </p>
<p>That legislation ushered in even more xenophobia and division in the U.S. over the ethnic origins of immigrants – cutting <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/1924-law-slammed-door-immigrants-and-politicians-who-pushed-it-back-open-180974910">off large-scale immigration</a>, especially from <a href="https://history.state.gov/milestones/1921-1936/immigration-act">Europe and Asia</a>, until jobs needed to be filled – and there weren’t enough people in the U.S. to fill them. </p>
<p>In the 1960s, immigration laws were reformed again, ushering in waves of immigration from Asia because the U.S. needed people to work at unfilled jobs.</p>
<p>Today, once again, some U.S. politicians are pushing for new ways to <a href="https://theconversation.com/republicans-are-pushing-for-drastic-asylum-changes-an-immigration-law-scholar-breaks-down-the-proposal-219173">restrict immigration</a>. Much of their work focuses on making it harder for migrants to get asylum – meaning legal permission to remain in the U.S. if they have a legitimate fear of persecution in their home countries. </p>
<p>Overall, U.S. border officials encountered more than 1.1 million people <a href="https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/cbp-enforcement-statistics">illegally crossing</a> the U.S. border from April 2022 through March 2023 – a sharp rise from previous years, when the number of people illegally crossing each year hovered at less than 300,000. </p>
<p>U.S. authorities are now <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2023/12/29/immigrants-ice-border-deportations-2023/#">stepping up deportations</a>, quickly sending more undocumented people back to their home countries.</p>
<h2>A shifting response to immigration</h2>
<p>Globally, <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/e1cabc36-d050-4674-a16c-fff60c548174">international migration to rich countries</a> reached an all-time high in 2022. </p>
<p>So, how do other countries, including Canada and Germany, respond to migrants crossing their borders without a visa or proper documentation? </p>
<p>One answer has been to reform their <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-worlds-biggest-economies-cautiously-open-their-doors-to-more-foreign-workers-664c3549">immigration systems</a> to make deportation easier.</p>
<p>Germany, for example, has been wrestling with increases in <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/germany-illegal-immigration-set-to-exceed-record-high/a-67175099">undocumented immigration</a>. </p>
<p>Germany Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/german-immigration-policy-whats-changing-in-2024/a-67753472">at the end of 2023</a> that he supports <a href="https://www.bmi.bund.de/EN/topics/migration/illegal-entry/illegal-entry-node.html">large-scale deportations</a> for migrants who are rejected for asylum. </p>
<p>Germany deported close to 8,000 people, many of them fleeing the war in Ukraine, in the first part of 2023. In total, an estimated <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/germany-illegal-immigration-set-to-exceed-record-high/a-67175099#:%7E:text=Police%20data%20shows%20that%2092%2C119,that%20illegally%20entered%20in%202016.">92,119 immigrants entered</a> Germany illegally from January through September 2023. </p>
<p>New German <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/german-immigration-policy-whats-changing-in-2024/a-67753472#:%7E:text=A%20reform%2C%20dubbed%20the%20Repatriation,their%20property%2C%20such%20as%20phones">government reforms</a> will increase that figure and no longer require officials to announce deportations in advance. </p>
<p>Italy, which is also battling a huge influx of undocumented <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/what-lies-behind-italys-immigration-crisis-2023-09-13/">migrants from North Africa,</a> recently <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/italy-pass-tougher-measures-deter-migrant-arrivals-2023-09-18/">doubled the amount</a> of time that it can detain undocumented migrants, rising from three months to at least six months. This decision is seen as an <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20230918-italy-extends-detention-period-to-deter-migrant-crossings-after-lampedusa-surge">effort to deter more migrants</a> from illegally entering Italy. </p>
<p>In November 2023, Italy signed an agreement <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/07/europe/italy-albania-migrant-refugee-deal/index.html">to build two new immigration detention centers</a> across the Adriatic Sea in Albania. </p>
<p>This allows Italy to skirt a European Union policy that requires its member countries to consider and process all <a href="https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/policies/migration-and-asylum/common-european-asylum-system/country-responsible-asylum-application-dublin-regulation_en">asylum applicants’ requests</a> within a year of their arrival. Since Albania is not part of the European Union, it could quickly deport the migrants that Italy sends there. </p>
<p>In December 2023, the European Union’s 27 countries also <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/20/world/europe/eu-migration-asylum.html">voted on a major overhaul of asylum laws</a>. These changes will make it easier for countries to deport migrants who fail to get asylum. They also direct the European Union to give money to countries that allow more asylum seekers to stay in those countries. </p>
<h2>Other approaches</h2>
<p>Right now, Italy and Greece bear much of the brunt of migration in the EU.</p>
<p>More than <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/greece-wants-eu-to-slap-sanctions-on-countries-that-won-t-accept-return-of-illegal-migrants/7297844.html">31,000 undocumented migrants</a>, mainly from Syria, crossed into Greece in 2023, up from 18,000 undocumented people who entered the country in 2022.</p>
<p>The parliament in Greece is considering new laws that would enable the country to issue tens of thousands of undocumented migrants <a href="https://apnews.com/article/greece-migrants-residence-work-permits-0851a9592f1811487d1fde49a63be5ae">residence and work permits</a> to address labor shortages. </p>
<p>Greece is also pushing the European Union to slap economic sanctions on countries, like Pakistan, that refuse to take back the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/migration-greece-deportations-eu-f4964595a5d9554cea7999df9f882795">undocumented migrants that Greece</a> deports to their home countries.</p>
<p>Closer to home, Canada is also experiencing a surge of undocumented migration into Quebec and other places, prompting some Canadians to <a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-behind-the-dramatic-shift-in-canadian-public-opinion-about-immigration-levels-219193">feel growing anxiety</a>, in part because of perceptions that the sudden population growth is also raising the country’s already-high housing costs. Canada <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/deportations-surge-as-regularization-stalls-for-the-undocumented/article_05fb6e0a-9461-11ee-8601-b3de32d91e09.html">deported 7,232 undocumented people</a> in the first six months of 2023 – a rise compared to the 7,635 deportations Canada carried out in the entire year of 2021.</p>
<p>Canada also announced in December 2023 that it is planning to allow people who entered the country with valid, short-term visas, and who continue living in Canada after these visas expire, to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/canada-create-citizenship-path-undocumented-immigrants-globe-mail-2023-12-14/">apply for permanent residency</a>. This would mainly affect foreign students and temporary workers.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570218/original/file-20240118-23-1y6fq2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man in a grey uniform and a black police vest speaks to a small group of people who wear jackets and have suitcases as they approach him." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570218/original/file-20240118-23-1y6fq2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570218/original/file-20240118-23-1y6fq2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570218/original/file-20240118-23-1y6fq2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570218/original/file-20240118-23-1y6fq2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570218/original/file-20240118-23-1y6fq2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570218/original/file-20240118-23-1y6fq2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570218/original/file-20240118-23-1y6fq2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Canadian officer speaks to migrants as they arrive in Quebec in March 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/an-officer-speaks-to-migrants-as-they-arrive-at-the-roxham-news-photo/1247840460?adppopup=true">Sebastien St-Jean/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>An uncertain way ahead</h2>
<p>Back in the U.S., the fight over immigration continues, with Republicans eager to crack down and Democrats who generally want to avoid harsh new standards that could lead to more deportations and <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/democrats-seek-restrain-new-immigration-powers-fearing-abuse-trump-rcna13031">mass roundups</a> of undocumented immigrants. </p>
<p>Traditionally, Democrats have been supportive of immigration and the rights of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. </p>
<p>But the <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/joe-biden/biden-immigration-border-plan-voters-senate-negotiations-rcna12515">wave of migrants</a> who arrive in cities like New York and <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/chicago-leaders-demand-help-from-white-house-to-deal-with-surge-of-migrants-in-city">Chicago without any money</a>, jobs or places to live is severely straining city governments’ capacity and budgets. Local leaders like New York Mayor Eric Adams are pleading with the federal government to help with a crisis that, as Adams said in September 2023, has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/07/nyregion/adams-migrants-destroy-nyc.html">no clear end</a> in sight.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220741/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tara Sonenshine does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Germany and Italy are among the countries that are looking for ways to handle rises in undocumented migration and, in many cases, are making it harder for people to remain in their countries.Tara Sonenshine, Edward R. Murrow Professor of Practice in Public Diplomacy, Tufts UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2191732024-01-10T13:32:59Z2024-01-10T13:32:59ZRepublicans are pushing for drastic asylum changes – an immigration law scholar breaks down the proposal<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568299/original/file-20240108-23-1ap3d1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Migrants cross through a gap in the U.S.-Mexico border fence on Dec. 22, 2023, in Jacumba Hot Springs, Calif.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/migrants-cross-through-a-gap-in-the-us-mexico-border-fence-news-photo/1876398355?adppopup=true">Qian Weizhong/VCG via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>There is bipartisan agreement for the need for immigration reform and stark disagreement on what that reform should be. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/01/13/monthly-encounters-with-migrants-at-u-s-mexico-border-remain-near-record-highs/">rise in illegal</a> <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/what-republicans-democrats-want-do-us-mexico-border-security-2024-01-08/">border crossings since 2020</a> has applied significant pressure for changing under what conditions someone can apply for asylum. This government system is designed to provide life-saving relief for noncitizens afraid of returning to their home countries. </p>
<p>Undocumented migrants entering the United States have few plausible options to legally stay in the country. For many migrants fleeing their countries due to violence, war, government collapse, natural disasters or any personal threats that could harm them, the only legal pathway of immigrating to the U.S. is by receiving asylum. </p>
<p>Conservative Republicans in Congress are now <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/4387973-shutdown-risk-grows-with-gops-border-fury/">proposing legal changes</a> that would make it harder for most applicants to get asylum. </p>
<p>The Republicans’ plan is <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4390204-5-things-to-know-about-border-bill-hr2-gop-shutdown-threats/">similar to</a> both a similar rule that the Department of Homeland Security adopted in 2019 and a policy that President Joe Biden is trying to push through. </p>
<p>I am an <a href="https://gould.usc.edu/faculty/profile/jean-lantz-reisz/">immigration professor</a> and teach asylum law. I believe it’s important to understand what sets Republicans’ proposed law apart from previous iterations. </p>
<p>The president cannot change the law, but Congress can. If these lawmakers succeed in changing federal asylum law, the law would override the court decisions striking down previous versions. Because Congress has broad power over immigration, the new laws would likely be upheld if challenged in court.</p>
<p>Still, currently, <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/refugees-and-asylees-united-states">most people who seek asylum </a> do not receive permission to stay in the country, and they are deported. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568300/original/file-20240108-29-cd4px2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="People are seen standing in a desert on a grey day with a white SUV nearby." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568300/original/file-20240108-29-cd4px2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568300/original/file-20240108-29-cd4px2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568300/original/file-20240108-29-cd4px2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568300/original/file-20240108-29-cd4px2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568300/original/file-20240108-29-cd4px2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568300/original/file-20240108-29-cd4px2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568300/original/file-20240108-29-cd4px2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Migrants wait to be processed by U.S. Border Patrol agents near the U.S.-Mexico border in Jacumba Hot Springs, Calif.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/migrants-wait-to-be-processed-by-the-u-s-border-patrol-news-photo/1876398361?adppopup=true">Qian Weizhong/VCG via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Understanding asylum</h2>
<p>Currently, any noncitizen, including someone who already lives in the U.S. or who entered the country without a visa – <a href="https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title8-section1158&num=0&edition=prelim">can apply for asylum</a>. This is true regardless of the person’s legal immigration status. </p>
<p>A person can ask the U.S. government for asylum only once they are in the country or at the border – and they must ask for asylum within a year of arriving in the U.S. </p>
<p>Applying for asylum is a complicated process that could take several years. Undocumented migrants <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/supreme-court-says-detained-immigrants-not-entitled-to-bond-hearing">often apply for asylum</a> while they are detained in an immigration detention center. </p>
<p>Overall, asylum applicants <a href="https://www.usa.gov/asylum">will need to prove</a> that they face severe harm in their home country from their government or someone their government cannot control, like an armed militia group. This potential severe harm must trace back to their race, religion, political opinion, nationality or some characteristic they cannot, or should not have to, change.</p>
<p>Asylum seekers first make their case to a U.S. government asylum officer, who judges the veracity of their claim in an interview. </p>
<p>If migrants pass this <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/refugees-and-asylum/asylum/questions-and-answers-credible-fear-screening">first interview</a>, the migrant is allowed to seek asylum before an immigration judge. </p>
<p>At this stage, asylum seekers will need to show extensive evidence of events and other conditions that place them in severe danger if they are deported. Getting this proof is very difficult for asylum seekers, who typically require the help of an attorney to <a href="https://trac.syr.edu/immigration/reports/396/">complete this application process</a>. </p>
<p>Even if an applicant meets all of the requirements to get asylum, a judge still has the discretion to decide whether or not this person should receive it. </p>
<p>Judges then give some migrants asylum, allowing them to apply for U.S. green cards, which are the documents that give someone <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/brochures/USCIS_Welcomes_Refugees_and_Asylees.pdf">legal permission to remain</a> in the U.S. They can then lawfully work, receive certain government benefits and eventually apply for citizenship. </p>
<h2>A backlog</h2>
<p>As a result of the rising number of undocumented migrants crossing into the U.S. – increasingly from <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/2023-11/2023_0818_plcy_refugees_and_asylees_fy2022.pdf">places with widespread government instability</a> and violence, like Venezuela and Honduras – asylum requests are also on the rise.</p>
<p>Asylum cases in immigration court more than tripled <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/2023-11/2023_0818_plcy_refugees_and_asylees_fy2022.pdf">between 2021 and 2022</a>, rising from 63,074 to 238,841. And the <a href="https://trac.syr.edu/reports/705/">asylum case numbers continue to grow</a>. </p>
<p>This rise in asylum applications is then coupled with a growing backlog of asylum cases in immigration court. </p>
<p>There are <a href="https://trac.syr.edu/reports/734/">3 million cases</a> still waiting to go before a judge in immigration courts – 1 million of these are asylum cases. In comparison, the average number of backlogged <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/Refugees_Asylees_2016_0.pdf">asylum cases</a> from 2012 through 2016 consistently remained below 200,000. </p>
<p>Consequently, people seeking asylum typically <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/immigration-migrants-us-asylum-process-legal-limbo/">now wait an average of four years</a> before they have an asylum hearing in court – and, in many cases, may wait longer for a decision that they have appealed. </p>
<p>An asylum seeker may, in some cases, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/2023/09/01/new-york-businesses-give-immigrant-work-permits-to-asylum-seekers/?sh=58b60afb4219">apply for a work permit</a> if they must wait more than six months for a decision.</p>
<h2>Republican plan</h2>
<p>Conservative House Republicans are now <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/republicans-threaten-government-shutdown-immigration-deal-democrats-rcna132534">threatening a government shutdown</a> that could happen as early as Jan. 19, 2024. They also have blocked more foreign aid to Ukraine and Israel, and are using their power over this aid as leverage for changing asylum laws. </p>
<p>Biden, meanwhile, wants Congress to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/what-republicans-democrats-want-do-us-mexico-border-security-2024-01-08/">approve nearly US$14 billion</a> to pay for more border security agents, as well as asylum officers and immigration judges. </p>
<p>Republicans have rejected Biden’s proposal and instead <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/2?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%22hr2%22%7D&s=3&r=1">want new laws</a> that would deny asylum to any migrant who passed through a third country while traveling to the U.S., or who did not enter the U.S. at an official port of entry along a border. </p>
<p>These changes target the fact that most migrants who cross into the U.S. without documentation – and apply for asylum – come from countries other than Mexico. But these people, coming from countries like Venezuela, Haiti and Cuba, first pass through Mexico on their way to the U.S. Approximately 71% of the over <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/11/12/1212058889/migrants-u-s-southern-border-historic-numbers-why">2.4 million</a> people who were apprehended at the southern border in 2023 traveled through Mexico, but were not <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/news/border-numbers-fy2023">Mexican citizens</a>. </p>
<p>If this proposed law is passed, these migrants would no longer have a court consider their asylum applications. </p>
<p>Instead, they would not be allowed to apply for asylum. They would be immediately deported back to their own countries. </p>
<p>Democrats have opposed the changes when they were proposed as part of a bill in May 2023, but some <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/what-republicans-democrats-want-do-us-mexico-border-security-2024-01-08/">Democrats are more open</a> to asylum restrictions and may compromise to reach a deal. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568301/original/file-20240108-109125-esu3dh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="People walk along white walls that wrap in a circular manner. The people carry backpacks, children and wear jackets." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568301/original/file-20240108-109125-esu3dh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568301/original/file-20240108-109125-esu3dh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568301/original/file-20240108-109125-esu3dh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568301/original/file-20240108-109125-esu3dh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568301/original/file-20240108-109125-esu3dh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568301/original/file-20240108-109125-esu3dh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568301/original/file-20240108-109125-esu3dh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ukrainians who were seeking asylum arrive at the U.S. port of entry in Tijuana, Mexico, in April 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/ukrainians-who-are-seeking-asylum-walk-at-the-el-chaparral-news-photo/1390002303?adppopup=true">Mario Tama/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Not the first go-around</h2>
<p>The proposed change that would deny asylum to those who have traveled through a third country is identical to a Department of Homeland Security rule that the agency adopted under former president <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/asylum-ban-trump-administration-blocked-by-judge-today-2019-07-24/">Donald Trump’s administration in 2019</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/25/politics/biden-asylum-court-ruling/index.html">Biden has proposed a similar policy</a>, with exceptions for a migrant who obtained special permission to enter the U.S., or who was denied asylum in another country. The <a href="https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2020/03/05/19-56417.pdf">Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals</a> struck down Trump’s rule in 2020 because it violated current asylum law that permits anyone to seek asylum, regardless of how they enter the U.S. </p>
<p>The president cannot change the law. </p>
<p>A federal district court <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2023/07/25/texas-biden-asylum-rule-california-judge/">struck down Biden’s policy</a> in July 2023 on the same basis. Biden has appealed <a href="https://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/cases-of-interest/east-bay-sanctuary-covenant-v-joseph-biden/">that decision</a>. </p>
<p>Republicans are proposing other laws to make it harder to receive asylum. One change would require asylum seekers to present a large amount of evidence proving their fear of persecution during their first interview with a government asylum officer – not later, when they go before a judge. The law would also end programs that allow migrants to stay with sponsors in the U.S. while seeking asylum. </p>
<p>In summary, the proposed changes would make it almost impossible for a migrant entering through the U.S.-Mexico border to get asylum, even if that migrant has a legitimate fear of returning to his or her home country.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219173/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jean Lantz Reisz receives funding from Los Angeles City and County. </span></em></p>A GOP proposal would make it nearly impossible for most migrants now crossing the US border to gain asylum and the right to remain in the country.Jean Lantz Reisz, Clinical Associate Professor of Law, Co-Director, USC Immigration Clinic, University of Southern CaliforniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1908992022-09-20T20:36:20Z2022-09-20T20:36:20ZRon DeSantis dropping migrants off on Martha’s Vineyard may be illegal – an immigration lawyer explains why<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485680/original/file-20220920-12-cwav4z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C237%2C4996%2C3399&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An immigrant mother and child stand outside a church on Martha's Vineyard on Sept. 15, 2022. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/mother-and-child-spent-some-time-outside-the-st-andrews-parrish-house-picture-id1243258326">Jonathan Wiggs/The Boston Globe via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The unexpected arrival of approximately 50 Colombian and Venezuelan migrants on Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, on Sept. 14, 2022, has prompted <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/09/18/1123644692/desantis-migrants-texas-massachusetts-marthas-vineyard-legal-questions">legal questions</a> about how and why, exactly, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis chartered planes to drop them in this unlikely destination. </p>
<p>The move is part of <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/09/15/desantis-migrants-marthas-vineyard-immigration-florida-00056870">a broader campaign</a> by Republican politicians to transport large numbers of migrants to liberal states and cities. </p>
<p>Since then, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker has activated 125 National Guard members to help distribute food and other necessities to <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/national-guard-migrant-marthas-vineyard-desantis-b2168915.html">the migrants</a>, <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/09/17/desantis-migrants-marthas-vineyard-cape-cod/10410896002/">now living</a> at a Cape Cod military base. </p>
<p>And a Texas county sheriff <a href="https://www.wcvb.com/article/migrants-brought-to-massachusetts-investigation-texas/41285564#">announced</a> Sept. 20 that he was launching an investigation into allegations that a Venezuelan migrant was paid to recruit the other migrants for the trip. Lawyers for 30 of the migrants have been asking for a legal investigation into what <a href="https://www.axios.com/2022/09/18/ron-desantis-migrants-lawyers-criminal-investigation">they call a “political stunt</a>.” </p>
<p>Many of the migrants said <a href="https://ca.movies.yahoo.com/movies/simply-feel-misled-migrants-flown-151508329.html">they were falsely</a> promised housing, jobs and expedited <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/09/15/1123109768/migrants-sent-to-marthas-vineyard">work permits</a> if they boarded planes in Texas set for Massachusetts – a likely preferred alternative to the San Antonio <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/09/15/1123109768/migrants-sent-to-marthas-vineyard">shelter where</a> they were temporarily staying. </p>
<p>As an immigration <a href="https://gould.usc.edu/faculty/?id=72708">law professor</a>, I think it is important to understand that the answer to whether it is legal to move migrants potentially against their will and transport them across states is complicated and depends on several unknown factors. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485682/original/file-20220920-3514-wmbxz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Five young men who appear Latino stand next to one another outside of a red building." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485682/original/file-20220920-3514-wmbxz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485682/original/file-20220920-3514-wmbxz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485682/original/file-20220920-3514-wmbxz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485682/original/file-20220920-3514-wmbxz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485682/original/file-20220920-3514-wmbxz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485682/original/file-20220920-3514-wmbxz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485682/original/file-20220920-3514-wmbxz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many of the 50 Venezuelan and Colombian migrants who were left on Martha’s Vineyard are asylum seekers, lawyers say.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/handful-of-migrants-outside-of-st-andrews-episcopal-church-two-planes-picture-id1243258377">Jonathan Wiggs/The Boston Globe via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The intent behind the drop-off</h2>
<p>First, there is an open question of whether the migrants were illegally staying in the United States at the time they were transported to Martha’s Vineyard.</p>
<p>There is a federal law, called <a href="https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title8-section1324&num=0&edition=prelim">8 U.S.C. § 1324</a>, that criminalizes transporting an undocumented migrant anywhere within the U.S. if the migrant has entered the U.S. unlawfully or remains in the country without a visa or other documentation. This law also prohibits someone from even helping or planning to transport undocumented migrants.</p>
<p>But someone who is found guilty of this law must have also known – and disregarded the fact – that the migrants were in the U.S. without legal paperwork or other permission from immigration officials. </p>
<p>Transporting consenting migrants who have the paperwork to be in the U.S. is legal. But certain factors – like DeSantis’ intent and knowledge of the migrants’ immigration status – could create potential civil and criminal liability. </p>
<h2>The migrants might legally be in the U.S.</h2>
<p>One key issue, then, is whether the migrants are legally authorized to be in the U.S. – and if not, whether DeSantis, his team and the charter airplane company helped the migrants illegally stay in the U.S. by flying them to Martha’s Vineyard. </p>
<p>Some of the migrants are reportedly <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/sep/18/migrants-marthas-vineyard-republicans">asylum seekers</a> and not “illegal immigrants,” <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/immigration-marthas-vineyard-desantis-flights-illegal-immigrants-sanctuary-destinations/">as DeSantis’ office</a> has said. </p>
<p>Generally, a migrant who is seeking asylum in the U.S. is not violating immigration law. That is because <a href="https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid%3AUSC-prelim-title8-section1158&num=0&edition=prelim">immigration asylum law</a> authorizes migrants to enter the U.S. and apply for asylum – meaning that they ask for the legal right to stay in the U.S. because they have legitimate fears of returning to their own countries. </p>
<p>Asylum seekers are allowed to temporarily stay in the U.S. while they await an immigration judge’s decision on their asylum application. Migrants might also get temporary permission to stay in the U.S. for other humanitarian reasons. </p>
<p>It is unknown how many of the migrants flown to Martha’s Vineyard were authorized to remain in the country or have pending asylum applications. </p>
<h2>Moving migrants within the US</h2>
<p>Another major question is whether transporting migrants could somehow help or promote their potentially undocumented immigration status. </p>
<p>In 1999, for example, a <a href="https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-10th-circuit/1436445.html">U.S. federal court of appeals</a> determined that an individual transporting two undocumented migrants from New Mexico to Colorado in search of employment violated immigration law, since the move advanced the undocumented migrants’ unlawful presence in the U.S. </p>
<p>Perhaps there is evidence that DeSantis, or members of his team, helped or advanced the migrants’ unlawful entry or continued illegal presence in the U.S. by transporting them to a sanctuary location within Massachusetts. </p>
<p>Ultimately, DeSantis’ decision to fly migrants to Massachusetts likely frustrated the Biden administration’s immigration law enforcement. Randomly moving migrants across states makes it harder for the government to process asylum applications and to deport migrants who are not eligible for asylum. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485683/original/file-20220920-11051-p5neid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A blond curly-haired woman hugs a Latino young man wearing a baseball cap." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485683/original/file-20220920-11051-p5neid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485683/original/file-20220920-11051-p5neid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485683/original/file-20220920-11051-p5neid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485683/original/file-20220920-11051-p5neid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485683/original/file-20220920-11051-p5neid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485683/original/file-20220920-11051-p5neid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485683/original/file-20220920-11051-p5neid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A volunteer hugs a Venezuelan migrant outside of a church on Martha’s Vineyard on Sept. 16, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/lisa-belcastro-a-volunteer-embraces-rafael-a-venezuelan-migrant-of-picture-id1243368410">Carlin Stiehl for the Boston Globe via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The known unknowns</h2>
<p>Other factors could determine whether DeSantis potentially violated human trafficking laws, as some <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/sep/16/migrants-marthas-vineyard-desantis-biden-democrats-criticism">immigrant advocates have</a> said.</p>
<p>This includes what the migrants were told – and by whom. Deceiving people and then moving them from one place to another could <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/kidnapping">constitute kidnapping</a>. Falsely promising available work permits is <a href="https://legalaidatwork.org/factsheet/fraud-or-misrepresentation-in-the-workplace/">also illegal</a>.</p>
<p>Human trafficking, <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/blue-campaign/what-human-trafficking">according to U.S. law</a>, must include exploitation resulting in some kind of material gain. While there is nothing to indicate that DeSantis received compensation for flying the migrants to Massachusetts, the private airplane charter company did receive money to transport them. </p>
<p>The identities and knowledge of the government officials involved in the entire Martha’s Vineyard scheme have not been publicly released. </p>
<p>A formal investigation into the migrants’ individual circumstances – and an examination of those involved with the flight to Martha’s Vineyard – could determine whether this incident resulted in legal violations of civil or criminal laws.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190899/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jean Lantz Reisz receives funding from California Department of Social Services for immigration legal services.</span></em></p>A formal legal investigation would be needed to determine whether the Florida governor and associates violated human trafficking or other laws.Jean Lantz Reisz, Supervising Attorney, USC Immigration Clinic and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Law, University of Southern CaliforniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1575492021-03-23T12:30:51Z2021-03-23T12:30:51ZCitizenship for the ‘Dreamers’? 6 essential reads on DACA and immigration reform<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390962/original/file-20210322-19-1lmbaxw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C41%2C5568%2C3659&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The American Dream and Promise Act, also known as House Resolution 6, would create a path to citizenship for immigrant 'Dreamers' – but it has to pass the Senate first. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/speaker-of-the-house-nancy-pelosi-and-senate-democratic-news-photo/1181972855?adppopup=true">Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The United States could eventually grant citizenship to roughly 2.5 million undocumented immigrants brought to the country as children. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/6">American Dream and Promise Act of 2021</a>, which passed in the Democrat-dominated House of Representatives on March 18, would give a group known as the “Dreamers” permanent resident status for 10 years. They could then apply to be naturalized as U.S. citizens.</p>
<p>Only nine House Republicans voted for the bill, so in its current form it is unlikely to pass the Senate, which is split evenly between Democrats and Republicans. For over a decade, all congressional efforts to protect Dreamers <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2010/12/dream-act-dies-in-senate-046573">have died in the Senate</a>.</p>
<p>In 2012, President Barack Obama bypassed Congress with an executive order to help this group of immigrants. The <a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2012/08/15/deferred-action-childhood-arrivals-who-can-be-considered">Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals</a>, or DACA, granted the temporary right to live, study and work to about 800,000 undocumented immigrants age 30 or younger who had come to the U.S. before age 16.</p>
<p>President Donald Trump <a href="https://www.npr.org/2017/09/05/546423550/trump-signals-end-to-daca-calls-on-congress-to-act">rescinded DACA in fall 2017</a>, asking Congress to resolve the Dreamers’ legal limbo by March 2018. Congress hasn’t passed any legislation to resolve Dreamers’ status; the American Dream and Promise Act is an effort to attempt that. </p>
<p>Here’s some key background and expert analysis on the “Dreamers” and DACA as the debate advances to the Senate.</p>
<h2>1. DACA’s results</h2>
<p>Researchers who evaluated DACA found the program benefited both Dreamers and the United States. </p>
<p>Wayne Cornelius, a professor emeritus of U.S.-Mexican relations at the University of California, San Diego, <a href="https://theconversation.com/post-daca-how-congress-can-replace-obamas-program-and-make-it-even-better-83547">led a research team that interviewed dozens of DACA recipients in 2014</a>. He found that work permits enabled them to get higher-paying jobs. </p>
<p>“This made college more affordable and increased their tax contributions. DACA [also encouraged] them to invest more in their education because they knew legal employment would be available when they completed their degree,” Cornelius wrote in 2017.</p>
<p>A survey conducted earlier that year of some 3,000 DACA recipients found that 97% were currently employed or enrolled in school, and many had started their own businesses. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390964/original/file-20210322-15-tp7djm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Line of several dozen young adults, some with young children, standing in the sun" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390964/original/file-20210322-15-tp7djm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390964/original/file-20210322-15-tp7djm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390964/original/file-20210322-15-tp7djm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390964/original/file-20210322-15-tp7djm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390964/original/file-20210322-15-tp7djm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=552&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390964/original/file-20210322-15-tp7djm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=552&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390964/original/file-20210322-15-tp7djm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=552&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Young immigrants line up to apply for DACA on Aug. 15, 2012, in Los Angeles.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/hundreds-of-people-line-up-to-receive-assitance-in-filing-news-photo/150318934?adppopup=true">Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But DACA had “significant limitations,” according to Cornelius. Because their work authorization had to be renewed every two years, for example, some employers were reluctant to hire Dreamers. </p>
<h2>2. Undocumented stress</h2>
<p>Still, research found, DACA enabled recipients “to further their education and obtain jobs and health insurance,” <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-daca-affected-the-mental-health-of-undocumented-young-adults-83341">wrote migration specialists Elizabeth Aranda and Elizabeth Vaquera</a> in September 2017.</p>
<p>The program gave the Dreamers “peace of mind – something that, until then, was unfamiliar to them.”</p>
<h2>3. DACA and the wall</h2>
<p>Nearly 80% of DACA recipients came from Mexico. So when the Trump administration in September 2017 set DACA protections to expire within six months, the decision affected Mexico, too.</p>
<p>“Ending DACA exposes 618,342 undocumented young Mexicans” to deportation, wrote <a href="https://theconversation.com/could-trump-be-holding-dreamers-hostage-to-make-mexico-pay-for-his-border-wall-82727">political scientist Luis Gómez Romero</a>. </p>
<p>Gómez Romero said the DACA decision could be read as “a power play in Trump’s ongoing battle with the government of Mexico” over its refusal to pay for a border wall.</p>
<h2>4. Congressional battles</h2>
<p>By early 2018, with DACA soon to expire, Congress was in <a href="https://theconversation.com/trumps-path-to-citizenship-for-1-8-million-will-leave-out-nearly-half-of-all-dreamers-90899">a “scramble for a solution,”</a> according to Kevin Johnson, a dean and professor of Chicana/o studies at the University of California, Davis. That month, a congressional showdown over the Dreamers closed the federal government for 69 hours.</p>
<p>While “some conservatives have balked at the idea of giving ‘amnesty’ to any lawbreakers,” he wrote, some progressives found DACA too narrow. </p>
<p>According to the Migration Policy Initiative, DACA excluded about 1 million unauthorized immigrants who met most criteria for DACA but had not completed their education, had committed a crime or feared applying to DACA because of worry their undocumented parents could be deported.</p>
<p>Trump reentered the fray in January 2018 with a proposed path to legalization for 1.8 million Dreamers. The trade-off for siding with Democrats: Congress had to fund his U.S.-Mexico border wall. </p>
<p>That proposal, too, failed.</p>
<h2>5. Supreme Court decisions</h2>
<p>The Dreamers’ plight has forced the Supreme Court to get involved on several occasions. </p>
<p>In 2017 the court issued an injunction on Trump’s termination of the program, allowing DACA recipients to renew their protected status for another two-year period while other lawsuits proceeded. In June 2020, the court ruled the Trump administration could not actually dismantle DACA because it had not provided adequate justification for doing so.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390963/original/file-20210322-15-1lhkn8k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Group of young people hold up signs rendering 'Home is Here' and 'Here to Stay' with Supreme Court in background" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390963/original/file-20210322-15-1lhkn8k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390963/original/file-20210322-15-1lhkn8k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390963/original/file-20210322-15-1lhkn8k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390963/original/file-20210322-15-1lhkn8k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390963/original/file-20210322-15-1lhkn8k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390963/original/file-20210322-15-1lhkn8k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390963/original/file-20210322-15-1lhkn8k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dreamers celebrate the Supreme Court’s DACA decision on June 18, 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/dreamers-and-daca-supporters-rally-outside-of-the-u-s-news-photo/1220896140?adppopup=true">Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>That gave the Dreamers another respite, but DACA remained in danger because the 2020 ruling “was not about whether the president of the United States has the authority to rescind DACA,” <a href="https://theconversation.com/supreme-court-ruling-on-dreamers-sends-a-clear-message-to-the-white-house-you-have-to-tell-the-truth-141099">wrote political scientist Morgan Marietta of the University of Massachusetts, Lowell</a>. “All of the parties involved agreed that he does.”</p>
<p>The case merely confirmed that a president cannot lie about the rationale underlying his executive orders. </p>
<p>The justices’ narrow decision left open the “possibility that the administration could try to rescind DACA at a later date,” wrote Marietta.</p>
<h2>6. Biden and immigration reform</h2>
<p>Joe Biden’s election forestalled that. His administration is pushing Congress to undertake comprehensive immigration reform that would create pathways to citizenship not only for the Dreamers but also for other undocumented immigrants, including farmworkers.</p>
<p>Any immigration overhaul must tackle a <a href="https://theconversation.com/severed-families-raided-workplaces-and-a-climate-of-fear-assessing-trumps-immigration-crackdown-147344">host of new challenges created over the past four years</a>, according to Miranda Cady Hallett, a Central America immigration expert at the University of Dayton.</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>Trump made over 400 changes to immigration policy, by Hallett’s tally, including barring immigrants from several Muslim-majority countries and separating families at the border. </p>
<p>While many presidents have deported large numbers of undocumented immigrants, Trump’s immigration enforcement was “more random and punitive,” writes Hallett. It “vastly increas[ed] criminal prosecutions for immigration-related offenses and remov[ed] people who have been in the U.S. longer.” </p>
<p>That includes the Dreamers. </p>
<p>After a decade of legal battles and political threats, the Dreamers aren’t so young anymore. Many in the original group of 800,000 are pushing 40.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157549/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
The House passed a bill creating a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who came to the US as children. Here’s what you need to know about the Dreamers and DACA.Catesby Holmes, International Editor | Politics Editor, The Conversation USLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1570422021-03-22T12:26:57Z2021-03-22T12:26:57ZBiden immigration overhaul would reunite families split up by deportation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390503/original/file-20210318-13-f8h1x0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=51%2C8%2C5699%2C3819&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A mother who was deported to Mexico reconnects with her daughters at a family reunification event put on at the U.S.-Mexico border, November 2017. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/cristal-brayan-ramirez-cervantes-hugs-lucia-cervantes-while-news-photo/875978220?adppopup=true">Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.immigrationresearch.org/system/files/Implications-of-Immigration-Enforcement-Activities-for-the-Well-Being-of-Children-in-Immigrant-Families.pdf">Hundreds of thousands of immigrant families have been separated by deportation</a> from the United States, in many cases with a parent on one side of the border and children on the other, according to estimates by the Urban Policy Institute and Migration Policy Institute. Reunification is a priority in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/18/us/politics/house-democrats-biden-immigration.html">President Joe Biden’s proposed immigration overhaul</a> and in bills that both the <a href="https://lindasanchez.house.gov/sites/lindasanchez.house.gov/files/2021.02.18%20US%20Citizenship%20Act%20Bill%20Text%20-%20SIGNED.pdf">House</a> and <a href="https://www.menendez.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/USCitizenshipAct2021BillText.pdf">Senate</a> will debate in coming weeks. </p>
<p>Both bills have provisions to preserve “family unity.” These include giving immigration judges increased discretion in deportation cases and allowing the secretary of homeland security or attorney general to waive deportation orders or allow deported parents of U.S. citizen children to return to the U.S.</p>
<p>Under U.S. immigration law, any noncitizen – including legal permanent residents – may be <a href="https://theconversation.com/deported-veterans-stranded-far-from-home-after-years-of-military-service-press-biden-to-bring-them-back-154320">deported for committing a serious crime</a>. Undocumented immigrants may be removed simply for being in the country without a valid visa and banned for 10 years or more.</p>
<p>Since 2016, I have coordinated a digital storytelling project called “<a href="http://humanizandoladeportacion.ucdavis.edu/en/">Humanizing Deportation</a>,” which has published personal narratives, in audiovisual form, from over 250 migrants. It is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199366439.013.855">the world’s largest qualitative database</a> on the human consequences of deportation and other harsh penalties of U.S. immigration law. </p>
<p>Our research shows that deportation doesn’t just hurt the migrants who get deported – it also does serious harm to <a href="https://globalmigration.ucdavis.edu/deported-mothers-mental-health-and-family-separation">their families, especially children</a>. </p>
<p>Here are two such stories, told by the separated families themselves. Our project does not verify migrants’ stories, and what you read here is based on their recollection of events.</p>
<h2>Tania’s story</h2>
<p>Tania Mendoza arrived in California in 1989 at age 3, brought by her parents from Mexico, undocumented, to escape poverty. </p>
<p>In 2010 Tania was arrested after <a href="http://humanizandoladeportacion.ucdavis.edu/en/2018/11/05/115a-dreaming-in-the-shadows/">a domestic dispute with a guy she was dating</a>. Though no charges were filed and Tania had no criminal record, she was turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and deported. She was 24 and a mother.</p>
<p>Just two years later, Tania would have qualified as an undocumented childhood arrival, or “Dreamer,” and been protected from deportation by the Obama-era <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/what-is-daca.html">Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals</a>. </p>
<p>Her toddler daughter remained with the child’s father in Los Angeles. </p>
<p>Tania recalls her daughter watching her get detained by the L.A. Police Department: “That was the last time I ever saw her,” <a href="http://humanizandoladeportacion.ucdavis.edu/en/2018/11/05/115b-feelings-are-feelings-and-family-is-family-part-ii/">she told us tearfully</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Black-and-white image of a woman standing on a beach with a large fence in the background" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390655/original/file-20210319-19-yyzehx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390655/original/file-20210319-19-yyzehx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390655/original/file-20210319-19-yyzehx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390655/original/file-20210319-19-yyzehx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390655/original/file-20210319-19-yyzehx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390655/original/file-20210319-19-yyzehx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390655/original/file-20210319-19-yyzehx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tania Mendoza on the Mexican side of the border wall with California. Mendoza was deported to Mexico, which she left at age 3, in 2010.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.leopoldopena.com/">Leopoldo Peña</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Tania says separation from her daughter was the hardest part of life after deportation. Since she shared custody with the father, she could not take her daughter with her to Mexico without his consent. </p>
<p>Mother and daughter stayed in touch by phone until 2016, when the father – to whom she was not married – cut off all contact. </p>
<p>“He took her phone away and just decided she was better off without me,” Tania said. “So my heart broke even more.” </p>
<p>After two years without contact, a family court judge awarded Tania phone visitation rights – the best proxy for enforcing the existing shared custody agreement due to Tania’s removal from the country. </p>
<p>Tania has communicated regularly with her daughter since but has not seen her, except on a screen, for over 10 years. </p>
<p>Nowadays, she says, getting a simple text like “Hi, Mom, how was your day?” fills Tania with feelings of hope. </p>
<h2>Losing mom or dad</h2>
<p>Family separation made headlines during the Trump administration, when Central American families seeking asylum were separated at the border. <a href="https://www.voanews.com/usa/immigration/obstacles-persist-reuniting-families-separated-us-mexico-border">About 500 families remain separated</a> today. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390504/original/file-20210318-17-oufmkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Group crosses the Brooklyn Bridge holding signs that promote 'Reunited Families' and an American flag" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390504/original/file-20210318-17-oufmkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390504/original/file-20210318-17-oufmkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390504/original/file-20210318-17-oufmkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390504/original/file-20210318-17-oufmkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390504/original/file-20210318-17-oufmkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390504/original/file-20210318-17-oufmkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390504/original/file-20210318-17-oufmkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People march in New York City against the Trump administration’s family separation policy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/thousands-of-people-march-in-support-of-families-separated-news-photo/988040988?adppopup=true">Spencer Platt/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But family separation <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/oct/15/immigration-boy-reform-obama-deportations-families-separated">occurred during the Obama administration</a>, too. Between 2009 and 2016, the U.S. expelled an <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/immigration-statistics/yearbook/2019/table39#">average of 383,000 immigrants per year</a>, according to Department of Homeland Security data. That surpasses Trump, whose government deported 325,000 annually over the first three years of his administration. George W. Bush’s administration averaged 252,000 deportations a year. </p>
<p>So many <a href="http://humanizandoladeportacion.ucdavis.edu/en/about-the-project/">deported immigrants who’ve shared their stories with us</a> tell of the deep and enduring damage inflicted when their removal meant that their children lost their mom or dad. </p>
<p>Parents are <a href="https://theconversation.com/deported-twice-man-struggles-to-help-his-family-survive-90734">rarely able to provide or care for their families from abroad</a>. And the trauma of losing a loved one for an extended, indefinite period can be significant, <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Ftra0000177">especially for children</a>. Psychologists have observed <a href="https://theconversation.com/living-on-the-edge-are-americas-deportation-laws-traumatising-immigrants-74663">anxiety, depression, hyperactivity and other symptoms commonly associated with post-traumatic stress disorder</a> in children who’ve lost a parent to deportation.</p>
<p>Why don’t deported parents just take the kids with them? As Tania’s story shows, this is not always practical, or even possible. </p>
<h2>Rosa and Zuri</h2>
<p>When Rosa Ortega’s husband was taken to an immigration detention center in San Bernardino, California, in 2017, and then deported to his native Peru, it was a devastating ordeal for the couple’s three young children. </p>
<p>In the <a href="http://humanizandoladeportacion.ucdavis.edu/en/2017/12/04/steppin-in/">story Rosa and her daughter Zuri recorded for us that same year</a>, Rosa says she didn’t know how to explain to the children why their father was taken from their house in handcuffs, nor answer their questions about how long he would be gone.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390506/original/file-20210318-19-30475v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Small girl in striped shirt hugs a man in a red jumpsuit, in an institutional setting" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390506/original/file-20210318-19-30475v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390506/original/file-20210318-19-30475v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390506/original/file-20210318-19-30475v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390506/original/file-20210318-19-30475v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390506/original/file-20210318-19-30475v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390506/original/file-20210318-19-30475v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390506/original/file-20210318-19-30475v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A family visit at the ICE-run Adelanto immigration detention center in San Bernardino County, Calif.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/an-immigrant-detainee-holds-his-children-during-a-family-news-photo/450371271?adppopup=true">John Moore/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Rosa’s eldest child, Zuri, a teenager, had to step in and assume responsibilities usually handled by her father. </p>
<p>“Instead of him being there on [my sister’s] first day of kindergarten, it was me,” Zuri told us.</p>
<p>She said losing her father had forced her to “mature and grow up” and that she deals with “more than what you are supposed to” because she is “filling in that role as a parent but still being a child at the same time.” </p>
<p>Zuri is among the thousands of children who just might get to see their dad again under Biden’s immigration reform plan. </p>
<p>But it has to pass the House and Senate first.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157042/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert McKee Irwin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>When a child loses mom or dad to deportation, the harm can be severe and lasting. New immigration bills in the House and Senate seek to avoid family separation and allow deported parents back home.Robert McKee Irwin, Deputy Director, Global Migration Center, University of California, DavisLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1456632020-10-21T08:18:48Z2020-10-21T08:18:48ZHow much of Barack Obama’s legacy has Donald Trump rolled back?<p>Throughout Donald Trump’s first term in office, the US president has harked back to the Obama years. From blasting the “<a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-us-canada-41587428">horrible</a>” Iran nuclear deal to blaming Barack Obama’s administration for the “<a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/4/20/21227903/trump-blames-obama-coronavirus">obsolete, broken system</a>” that Trump claims has hindered the US response to the COVID-19 crisis, he’s used his predecessor as a constant foil. </p>
<p>During his 2016 campaign for the White House, Trump committed himself to rolling back much of the Obama legacy. Now, his 2020 election opponent is Obama’s former vice president, Joe Biden. This ensures that the choice American voters make at the ballot box in November will either reinforce Obama’s legacy – or rebut it once again. </p>
<p>It’s not always easy to pinpoint the exact legacy a president leaves behind, particularly in the short term. Sometimes, political legacies that appear immediately important can diminish in significance over time. Or those that initially seemed flat – such as <a href="https://potus-geeks.livejournal.com/1134889.html">that of Harry Truman</a> – come to be seen in a much more positive light as the years pass.</p>
<p>For Obama, the successes he enjoyed and disappointments he endured after his election in 2008 were often a consequence of the political environment in which he operated. Once Republicans took control of the House of Representatives in January 2011, the scope for legislative action dramatically diminished and his administration had to find other ways to get things done. Such routes included executive actions as well as presidential memoranda. </p>
<p>During the 2016 campaign, candidate Trump <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/01/23/trump-pledged-to-reverse-obamas-executive-orders-heres-how-well-past-presidents-have-fulfilled-that-pledge/">declared</a> that he would “cancel every unconstitutional executive action, memorandum and order issued by President Obama.” Yet, while executive actions are simpler to reverse than legislative achievements, there are still <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/12/03/trump-says-hell-cancel-obamas-unconstitutional-executive-actions-its-not-that-easy/">procedural obstacles to overcome</a> if a predecessor’s actions are to be rolled back. And these obstacles were not always given due attention by the Trump administration.</p>
<p>Nor was America’s institutional fragmentation brushed away with a new broom once Trump entered the White House. Like Obama, he enjoyed two years when his party controlled both houses of Congress – until <a href="https://theconversation.com/us-midterm-results-six-key-issues-and-what-they-mean-for-the-countrys-uncertain-future-106467">the Republicans lost their majority</a> in the House of Representatives in the 2018 mid-term elections. This limited Trump’s capacity to continue unpicking his predecessor’s achievements. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-obama-v-trump.html">a new book</a>, we’ve looked at what kind of legacy Obama left as well as what success Trump has had in trying to roll it back. We’ve found that while some aspects of the Obama legacy were vulnerable to reversal, other areas proved more resilient. The stand-out legacies of the Obama years would become a direction of travel, if not always an end point. </p>
<p>Here we will look at four key areas: healthcare, immigration, climate policy and racial justice. </p>
<h2>Healthcare</h2>
<p>The standout domestic policy legacy of the Obama administration was the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare. Enacted in early spring 2010, ACA was the most significant policy reform of the US healthcare system since the 1960s. While the new law built on existing programmes such as Medicare and Medicaid, rather than replacing them, it significantly expanded the government’s role in funding healthcare and the regulation of the private health insurance market. </p>
<p>At the signing ceremony for the bill, Biden was caught on microphone describing the moment as a “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/richard-adams-blog/2010/mar/23/joe-biden-obama-big-fucking-deal-overheard">big fucking deal</a>”. Republicans agreed with this sentiment and spent much of the remainder of Obama’s presidency declaring their aim to repeal the law. After taking control of the House in January 2011, Republicans passed multiple bills to repeal all or parts of the ACA. But while Obama remained in office, with a power to veto these bills, this remained symbolic rather than <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2016/01/08/politics/obama-vetoes-obamacare-repeal-bill/index.html">substantive politics</a>. </p>
<p>Yet that symbolism mattered. It meant that the <a href="https://politicalquarterly.blog/2018/09/03/is-obamacare-really-doomed/">law remained contested</a> and that Republican controlled state-level governments, such as <a href="https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-usa-health-texas/texas-rejects-key-provisions-of-obamas-health-law-idUSBRE8680O220120709">Texas</a> with its large uninsured population, did not cooperate with implementing key aspects of Obamacare. When Republicans took control of the White House and both chambers of Congress in January 2017, the outlook for the preservation of Obamacare looked bleak.</p>
<p>But despite <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/video/2016/08/08/trump-i-will-repeal-and-replace-obamacare.html">Trump’s promises</a> to “repeal and replace” the ACA, it is still the law of the land as his first term draws to a close. In 2017, the Republican-led House <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/04/us/politics/health-care-bill-vote.html">passed the American Health Care Act</a>, which would have repealed large parts of the ACA. Although the Republican leadership bent all the Senate’s norms to breaking point, <a href="https://www.psa.ac.uk/psa/news/walking-dead-republican-effort-repeal-obamacare">no equivalent legislation passed in the upper house</a> and Obamacare remained. </p>
<p>In fact, the Republican efforts to undo the law seem to have been central to a growth in popularity for the ACA. Throughout Obama’s time in office, a plurality of Americans said that they viewed the law unfavourably, but that <a href="https://www.kff.org/interactive/kff-health-tracking-poll-the-publics-views-on-the-aca/#?response=Favorable--Unfavorable&aRange=all">shifted once</a> it came under sustained threat and reports emerged of how many people <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/26/us/politics/senate-health-care-bill-republican.html?mcubz=3">would lose insurance</a> should it be repealed. </p>
<p>It also became clear that the sheer complexity of the law made it difficult to unravel if Republicans were to keep in place its popular aspects, notably protections for people with pre-existing medical conditions. In addition, the new president’s <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2017/02/27/politics/trump-health-care-complicated/index.html">manifest frustration</a> at the complex details of health policy made him an ineffective broker in negotiations. </p>
<p>Efforts have continued throughout the Trump presidency to undermine the application of Obamacare. The administration is backing a <a href="https://www.kff.org/health-reform/issue-brief/explaining-california-v-texas-a-guide-to-the-case-challenging-the-aca/">court case that will be heard by the Supreme Court</a> a few days after the November election that could bring the ACA crashing down. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/if-the-supreme-court-strikes-down-the-affordable-care-act-trumps-health-care-order-is-not-enough-to-replace-it-147159">If the Supreme Court strikes down the Affordable Care Act, Trump's health care order is not enough to replace it</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Meanwhile, healthcare remains a key battleground in the 2020 election, particularly in the midst of a pandemic. Confounding logic, Trump claims that Biden would threaten protections for Americans with pre-existing health conditions and that these protections will only be preserved if he is re-elected. But these protections exist <a href="https://www.cbpp.org/research/health/suit-challenging-aca-legally-suspect-but-threatens-loss-of-coverage-for-tens-of">as a result of the ACA</a>, which the Justice Department is trying to bring down.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1313073591974592512"}"></div></p>
<p>A Biden victory along with Democratic control of both houses of Congress would likely see moves to build on the ACA. <a href="https://www.vox.com/2019/4/10/18304448/bernie-sanders-medicare-for-all">Medicare for All</a>, a single-payer government funded healthcare plan championed by the senator Bernie Sanders, is not on the Biden agenda. However, it’s possible his administration could introduce measures such as a <a href="https://www.kff.org/health-reform/issue-brief/10-key-questions-on-public-option-proposals/">public insurance option</a> to compete with private insurers in the individual insurance market. In this context, conservatives are probably right to see the public option as a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/13/health/policy/13plan.html">Trojan horse</a> that could open the door to greater government involvement in the provision of American healthcare. </p>
<p>All this means the ACA is an Obama legacy that has proved more resilient than expected when Trump took office in 2016. </p>
<h2>Immigration</h2>
<p>Obama’s legacy in other areas was more mixed and relied less on legislative action than efforts to use the executive power of the presidency. A good example was immigration. The Obama administration’s promise of comprehensive reform didn’t really come <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/24/obama-congress-immigration-reform-gop-opposition">close to making it</a> through Congress, even when the Democrats controlled both chambers. </p>
<p>Obama did use his executive power to introduce the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy in mid-2012. This provided temporary legal status to so-called “Dreamers”, people who had been brought into the US without documentation as children and who were deemed illegal despite many having <a href="https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/02/13/who-daca-dreamers-and-how-many-here/333045002/">lived their lives as Americans</a>. A subsequent <a href="https://www.nilc.org/issues/immigration-reform-and-executive-actions/dapa-and-expanded-daca-programs/">executive action</a>, which would have granted legal status to a much wider group, never came into force as it was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/24/us/supreme-court-immigration-obama-dapa.html">thwarted by the courts</a> in 2016. This left DACA as Obama’s major legacy in terms of immigration policy. </p>
<p>As an executive order it should have been relatively straightforward for the Trump administration to reverse. This seemed especially likely given how Trump had so remorselessly used his <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-us-2016-37225020">antagonism to “illegal immigration” as a campaign tool</a> in 2016. </p>
<p>Trump did in fact express some ambiguous sentiments about the plight of the Dreamers, but in September 2017 he labelled DACA an “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/05/us/politics/trump-daca-dreamers-immigration.html">amnesty first approach</a>” and declared that the protections the programme offered would start to be rolled back in six months. Yet in the summer of 2020, the Supreme Court ruled that the administration’s effort to reverse DACA was so fumbled as to fail to meet the <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/18/politics/daca-supreme-court-explainer/index.html">relatively straightforward</a> administrative procedure required to do. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/supreme-court-ruling-on-dreamers-sends-a-clear-message-to-the-white-house-you-have-to-tell-the-truth-141099">Supreme Court ruling on Dreamers sends a clear message to the White House: You have to tell the truth</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>This makes the 2020 election even more critical – especially for those people living in America who don’t have a vote. The Trump administration would surely try again to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/19/us/politics/trump-daca.html">rollback DACA</a> if re-elected and given a second chance to do so. Meanwhile, a Biden administration would likely try to codify the protection for Dreamers through legislation, and <a href="https://joebiden.com/immigration/#">pursue further reform</a> to offer a path to legal status for others living in the US without documentation. </p>
<h2>Climate crisis</h2>
<p>When it comes to action on climate change, Obama’s legacy was less tangible, and certainly more complex. The myriad layers involved in creating, executing and defending an agenda to combat the climate crisis made for inevitable problems to implement reform. This, combined with the heft of opposition, fake news and political baggage that accompanied the issue, made for a series of challenges, some victories and many disappointments for the Obama administration and those eager to embed a green government agenda during his two terms in office. </p>
<p>Trump’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/trumps-decision-to-quit-the-paris-agreement-may-be-his-worst-business-deal-yet-78780">decision to withdraw</a> the US from the Paris Climate Agreement, which Obama’s administration signed in 2015, is often held up as an example of how he rolled back Obama’s legacy. But other reforms showed with clarity the push-pull nature of policy from the Obama to Trump administrations. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jP55meWlLt4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>The <a href="https://archive.epa.gov/epa/cleanpowerplan/fact-sheet-overview-clean-power-plan.html">Clean Power Plan</a> (CPP), which set out to curb US greenhouse gas emissions, is one such story. Unveiled by Obama in 2015, the CPP was groundbreaking in a range of ways. It demonstrated that the world’s leading superpower acknowledged the existence of human-made climate change, and offered an initiative to reduce carbon emissions back to 2005 levels by 2030. A significant step forward in itself, the CPP looked to set a bar for other nations and give a warning to big polluters. So far, so environmentally good.</p>
<p>But the CPP quickly caused consternation with governors in dozens of states, who lost no time in taking legal action against a plan they viewed as a serious threat to the economy. By early 2016, <a href="https://www.climatecentral.org/news/the-suit-against-the-clean-power-plan-explained-20234">24 states were challenging</a> the CPP in court, resulting in a Supreme Court decision to issue a <a href="https://energypost.eu/obamas-clean-power-plan-wounded-dead-yet/">judicial stay</a> on Obama’s plan.</p>
<p>When Trump arrived in the White House, the path to undermining the plan was already paved. In March 2017, he signed an <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/presidential-executive-order-promoting-energy-independence-economic-growth/">executive order</a> requesting that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) carry out a review of the CPP. By this time, the agency was headed by former Oklahoma attorney general Scott Pruitt, known for his <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/mar/09/epa-scott-pruitt-carbon-dioxide-global-warming-climate-change">rejection of the climate crisis</a> as a man-made phenomenon. </p>
<p>In June 2017, the US formally withdrew from the Paris Climate Agreement, and four months later, the EPA announced that the CPP would be repealed. These two developments were directly connected, as the CPP was a route via which the US would have met its modest Paris emissions targets. </p>
<p>With both Obama-era legacies unpicked, the Trump administration moved towards implementing its own, far more polluter-friendly option, the <a href="https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-finalizes-affordable-clean-energy-rule-ensuring-reliable-diversified-energy">Affordable Clean Energy</a> plan. In keeping with his repeal and replace approach to Obama policy, Trump’s plan did not place limits on greenhouse gases, an aim that was central to the CPP. Instead it opted for an “inside the fenceline” approach, imposing less than stringent restrictions on individual power plants. </p>
<p>By chance, the earliest possible date that the US can legally withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement is November 4, 2020, one day after the presidential election. As part of his <a href="https://joebiden.com/climate-plan/">US$2 trillion plan</a> for Climate Change and Environmental Justice, Biden has vowed that the US will re-engage with the Paris deal. This is significant for environmental reasons but also as a demonstration to external observers that a post-Trump America will take its international obligations seriously. </p>
<p>In direct contrast to the Trump environmental agenda, Biden has pledged that his presidency would move America, the world’s largest polluting country, <a href="https://news.bloomberglaw.com/environment-and-energy/biden-promises-100-clean-energy-net-zero-emissions-by-2050-1">towards 100% green energy use by 2050</a>. Trump’s plan offers an America First-focused alternative, prioritising US energy independence <a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/trump-epa-calls-for-dirty-power-climate-crisis-accelerates-clean-power-plan-affordable-clean-energy-rule">via further use of fossil fuels</a>. On the environment, as with many other policy areas, the polarised options on offer reflect the state of the nation.</p>
<h2>Racial justice</h2>
<p>There is one aspect of the Obama legacy that cannot be undone, and that is the moment he sealed victory in 2008. Obama ran, however unrealistically, on a post-racial election ticket in 2008, and the world watched as America elected a young, highly educated, politically progressive black man for the first time as leader. </p>
<p>In the early years of his administration, issues not overtly related to race remained at the forefront of the political agenda. Nonetheless, the 2008 economic collapse and the nation’s ongoing healthcare crisis further laid bare the disproportionate systemic challenges that Americans of colour continued to face. Throughout his time in office, Obama was criticised by those on the left of “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/gdpr-consent/?next_url=https%3a%2f%2fwww.washingtonpost.com%2fnews%2fbook-party%2fwp%2f2016%2f02%2f18%2fthe-racial-procrastination-of-barack-obama%2f">racial procrastination</a>”.</p>
<p>Inevitably, a moment would come when Obama would have to confront the race issue. It arrived via the 2013 <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/gdpr-consent/?next_url=https%3a%2f%2fwww.washingtonpost.com%2fnational%2fanger-flows-at-acquittal-of-george-zimmerman-in-death-of-trayvon-martin%2f2013%2f07%2f14%2fe1a1216a-ec98-11e2-bed3-b9b6fe264871_story.html">acquittal of charges against George Zimmerman</a>, a neighbourhood watch volunteer, for the fatal shooting of unarmed black high-school student, Trayvon Martin. After Zimmerman’s acquittal, Obama offered unusually personal reflections, stating that Martin <a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2013/07/19/remarks-president-trayvon-martin">“could have been my son</a>”. He was lauded for his empathy and simultaneously criticised for stoking racial tensions. </p>
<p>The moment, combined with the lengthy list of other Americans of colour on the receiving end of police violence, often fatally, ignited the Black Lives Matter movement. This presented Obama with an ever-narrowing tightrope to walk as the calls for racial justice grew louder in a nation where not everyone had come to terms with a president whose heritage included Kenya as well as Kansas. </p>
<p>As it turned out, America opted in 2016 to turn its back on the progress embodied by the first black man in the White House. Instead, as the writer Ta-Nehisi Coates put it, the US elected the nation’s “<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/10/the-first-white-president-ta-nehisi-coates/537909/">first white president</a>”. Coates argued that Trump’s victory was in no small part predicated on negating the racial legacy of his predecessor. Obama may have broken the glass ceiling, an achievement that no-one could undo, but a determined successor could substantially paper over those cracks – and Trump made every effort to do so. </p>
<p>Once in office, Trump did not pretend to prioritise issues around racial justice – and his administration took repeated steps to reverse the proactive measures started during the Obama administration to call out institutional racism. Notably, in the context of the demands of the Black Lives Matters protests, Trump’s attorney-general, Jeff Sessions, stopped <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/04/jeff-sessions-blind-eye/521946/">investigations into local police forces</a> that had begun in 2015 in the wake of protests in Ferguson, Missouri, after the police shooting of Michael Brown in the city the previous year. </p>
<p>As protests grew in response to the police killing of George Floyd, in May 2020, Trump <a href="https://www.vox.com/identities/2020/5/30/21275588/trump-policing-policies-doj-george-floyd-protests">drew widespread criticism</a> for adding to already boiling tensions via divisive words.</p>
<p>November 2020 will present voters with very different visions of how to manage race relations in this divided era. A president Biden would be unlikely to pursue the more radical demands of Black Lives Matters activists such as defunding the police, but there would probably be a change in tone from Trump’s <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/09/30/politics/proud-boys-trump-debate-trnd/index.html">confrontational language</a> and a reintroduction of Justice Department investigations into local police forces.</p>
<p>The issues we’ve focused on here are a way to illustrate the strands of Obama’s legacy that Trump was so eager to dismantle. There are numerous further examples which show how Trump was determined to pursue a process of “de-Obamafication”. With the assistance of Republicans in Congress, and the agency heads he appointed, Trump succeeded in some, although far from all, of his rollback plans. </p>
<p>As voters head to the polls in November, they are faced with starkly different candidate choices. The US will have the opportunity to add another coat of whitewash over eight years of progressive efforts by its first black president, or reward the Biden half of the 2008 ticket – thereby reinforcing much of the Obama legacy. The stakes are high and the consequences of the choice facing voters is profound.</p>
<p><em>This article was updated to correct the point that George Zimmerman was a neighbourhood watch volunteer, not a police officer.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/145663/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>From healthcare, to the environment, immigration and racial justice, which areas of Barack Obama’s legacy were the most vulnerable – and most resilient – during Donald Trump’s first term?Clodagh Harrington, Associate Professor of American Politics, De Montfort UniversityAlex Waddan, Associate Professor in American Politics and American Foreign Policy, University of LeicesterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/963992018-06-18T10:38:33Z2018-06-18T10:38:33ZUS communities can suffer long-term consequences after immigration raids<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223490/original/file-20180617-85840-a4btwd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Immigration sting at Corso's Flower and Garden Center in Castalia, Ohio, June 5, 2018.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/John Minchillo, File</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>U.S. immigration <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/06/06/utter-chaos-ice-arrests-114-workers-in-immigration-raid-at-ohio-gardening-company/">agents raided</a> an Ohio gardening company on June 5, arresting 114 suspected undocumented workers.</p>
<p>This followed other large <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/immigration/ice-raids-meatpacking-plant-in-rural-tennessee-more-than-95-immigrants-arrested/2018/04/06/4955a79a-39a6-11e8-8fd2-49fe3c675a89_story.html">workplace raids</a>, including a raid on a rural Tennessee <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/immigration/ice-raids-meatpacking-plant-in-rural-tennessee-more-than-95-immigrants-arrested/2018/04/06/4955a79a-39a6-11e8-8fd2-49fe3c675a89_story.html">meat-processing plant</a> in April. The raids suggest the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is returning to sweeping immigration enforcement tactics not seen since the George W. Bush administration. </p>
<p>While the immediate shock and trauma of these raids is visible, there are also longer-term impacts on communities. Research I conducted in Massachusetts, Iowa and South Carolina from 2007 to 2013 shows that large-scale raids are experienced locally as disasters, even by those not directly affected. The raids can also be galvanizing, as when humanitarian responses turn into new political alliances that reshape the meaning of community and create ways to stand up for immigrant rights. </p>
<h2>Raids as disasters</h2>
<p>Bush-era raids occurred in diverse places, but people describe them in similar ways.</p>
<p>In 2007, Immigration and Customs Enforcement <a href="http://go.galegroup.com/ps/anonymous?id=GALE%7CA308294191&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkaccess=abs&issn=02768313&p=AONE&sw=w">agents raided</a> the Michael Bianco factory in New Bedford, a working-class Massachusetts port. The plant made backpacks for the Pentagon. Six hundred ICE agents arrested 361 people, mainly young Mayan seamstresses from Guatemala.</p>
<p>Postville is an Iowa town of 2,000. In 2008, 800 ICE agents <a href="http://abusedthepostvilleraid.com/">raided</a> Agriprocessors, one of the nation’s largest meatpacking plants and the town’s biggest employer, arresting 389 undocumented workers, mainly Guatemalans.</p>
<p>In 2008, ICE also <a href="http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/article9015173.html">raided</a> the House of Raeford poultry plant on the outskirts of Greenville, South Carolina, arresting more than 300 workers, mainly Guatemalans.</p>
<p>These raids were spectacles, with helicopters and hundreds of ICE agents. </p>
<p>“It was like a military operation,” described Marc Fallon, a Catholic social worker in New Bedford. </p>
<p>In Massachusetts, ICE flew people immediately to detention centers in Texas. In Postville, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/13/opinion/13sun2.html">ICE threatened</a> to prosecute people for <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3935959-Erik-Camayd-Freixas-Personal-Account-of.html">aggravated identity theft</a> unless they took a plea bargain.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223491/original/file-20180617-85834-1wzacgt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223491/original/file-20180617-85834-1wzacgt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223491/original/file-20180617-85834-1wzacgt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223491/original/file-20180617-85834-1wzacgt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223491/original/file-20180617-85834-1wzacgt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223491/original/file-20180617-85834-1wzacgt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=546&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223491/original/file-20180617-85834-1wzacgt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=546&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223491/original/file-20180617-85834-1wzacgt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=546&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A lawyer speask to family members and relatives of 300 immigrants arrested in a federal immigration raid at the Michael Bianco, Inc. factory at St. James Church in New Bedford, Mass. Thursday, March 8, 2007.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Stew Milne</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The raids led to panic in each community: Relatives of detainees ran to nearby churches to seek sanctuary and information, terrified to go home. Landlords showed up with children who had been dropped off at empty apartments. </p>
<p>The raids created havoc for families and “first responders,” which in these cases included churches, immigration attorneys and other community advocates who scrambled to provide legal aid, track down children and missing detainees, and stock food pantries. Local organizations put into place their disaster readiness plans, and churches became de facto relief centers.</p>
<p>“It was like a war zone,” <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1743-4580.2011.00333.x">recalls</a> Corinn Williams, director of the Community Economic Development Center in New Bedford. “Family members were walking around in a daze looking for their loved ones.”</p>
<p>David Vásquez-Levy, who was a minister near Postville at the time of the raid, described how hard it was to find people in 28 different ICE jails. </p>
<p>“We started a list on paper, then a spreadsheet, then a complicated database,” he said. “It was like a list of the disappeared in Guatemala.” </p>
<p>Many of those who were arrested remained in detention for up to a year. Some were released on bond, or humanitarian parole if they were mothers with young children, with ankle monitors and periodic court dates to decide if they would be deported. </p>
<p>As the months dragged on, it created an immense strain on local organizations that mobilized to provide transportation to court, and money for food, rent and utilities for the families whose main source of income had been disrupted. </p>
<p>“I was so exhausted, I couldn’t move,” Patricia Ravenhorst, a lawyer in Greenville, told me. “I left my job and did this full-time.” </p>
<p>Postville lost one-third of its population after the raid, as undocumented Guatemalans and Mexicans fled. High school students made a photo banner to remember friends whose desks suddenly were vacant.</p>
<p>Schools hired counselors to help children deal with post-raid depression and anxiety. Some humanitarian responders suffered serious stress-related health effects. </p>
<p>According to a May 2018 <a href="http://www.scra27.org/what-we-do/policy/policy-position-statements/effects-deportation-families/#_ftn2">policy statement</a> from the Society for Community Research and Action of the American Psychological Association, the psychosocial consequences of deportation can be profound and can affect the broader community. </p>
<p>Postville suffered the most after the raid. Agriprocessors nearly collapsed after losing its workforce, devastating the small town’s economy. The plant stopped paying property taxes, real estate values plummeted, and local restaurants and other businesses closed. </p>
<p>To stay in business, Agriprocessors hired a revolving door of temporary legal workers, mostly young, single men, including Somali refugees, guest workers from Palau, early release prisoners and homeless people. This created a sense of instability and unease in the small town, to the point that many people told me that they wished to have the Guatemalan families back. </p>
<h2>Raids and the politics of belonging</h2>
<p>Raids reinforce the idea of undocumented immigrants as “deportable.” But they also highlight the many ways immigrants are part of a community’s social fabric.</p>
<p>Volunteers from all walks of life stepped up to provide assistance. Immigrant populations also played a key role in taking care of children whose parents were detained. </p>
<p>The shock produced sympathy toward immigrants. In all three cases, public interest in the local immigrant population arose after the raids. This was expressed in the local press, school programs, art exhibits and theater. </p>
<p>But the raids also hardened local attitudes toward immigration. In the years before the raid, Postville had worked to accommodate and celebrate the town’s new <a href="https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-934848-64-7">multicultural reality</a>. The raid turned that upside down, leaving people exhausted and bitter, and immigrants fearful. </p>
<h2>New alliances</h2>
<p>As <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/301070/a-paradise-built-in-hell-by-rebecca-solnit/9780143118077/">Rebecca Solnit’s work</a> on the meaning of disasters argues, humanitarian responses can transform into political alliances through grassroots action. In Greenville, South Carolina, a small community alliance for Latino immigrants, with only five members before the raid, expanded to over 200 members after the raid. </p>
<p>Immigrant mutual aid groups, which had existed prior to the raids, found new allies and an impetus to grow. In Massachusetts, Guatemalan workers won a <a href="http://www.southcoasttoday.com/article/20081119/NEWS/811190357">class-action lawsuit</a> in 2008 to recoup back wages from the Bianco factory, as the plant was sold and then shuttered. In 2009, these Guatemalans created a <a href="http://cct-newbedford.org/history/">community workers center</a>, building on local union history to focus on immigrant and labor rights.</p>
<p>In 2012, the Guatemalan immigrant community in Greenville created the city’s first Hispanic Catholic Church specifically for Latin American immigrants.</p>
<p>In New Bedford, some of the arrested Guatemalans received asylum, giving them permission to stay in the U.S. In Postville, a group of about 60 women <a href="http://theuturnfilm.blogspot.com/">obtained visas</a> granted to crime victims, after they testified against Agriprocessors for labor violations and sexual harassment.</p>
<p>Yet, such slim opportunities for relief from deportation don’t resolve broader debates over the presence of immigrants in communities. Are undocumented immigrants illegal aliens? Victims? Or workers and neighbors?</p>
<p>Ten years on, memories of the Bush-era raids remain fresh in New Bedford, Postville and Greenville. This year, the <a href="http://www.thegazette.com/subject/opinion/staff-editorial/immigration-reform-summons-is-not-limited-to-postville-20180519">10th anniversary of the Postville raid</a> was called “a summons for a change of heart and a change in immigration laws.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/96399/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Funding for this research was provided by the Wenner Gren Foundation. </span></em></p>Immigrant raids can cause long-term community trauma. The raids can also lead to new political alliances that reshape the meaning of community.Elizabeth Oglesby, Associate Professor of Latin American Studies and Geography, University of ArizonaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/909232018-02-21T23:59:04Z2018-02-21T23:59:04ZCanada’s merit-based immigration system is no ‘magic bullet’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207337/original/file-20180221-132660-1qclwo4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">U.S. President Donald Trump points to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as he welcomes him to the White House in Washington, D.C. in October 2017. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>President Donald Trump has made comprehensive immigration reform in the United States one of his key legislative goals. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/31/us/politics/trump-state-of-the-union-immigration.html">He’s proposed bringing the U.S. immigration system</a> “into the 21st century” by providing a path to citizenship for some undocumented migrants and by fully securing the country’s southern border. </p>
<p>Central to his plans is a <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/statement-press-secretary-27/">merit-based, Canada-style immigration system</a> that would replace the current American system that focuses on <a href="https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/family-immigration.html">family reunification</a> and a <a href="https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/diversity-visa-program-entry.html">diversity lottery</a>. </p>
<p>But is merit-based immigration the simple solution for the complex set of immigration-related issues facing the United States? </p>
<p>Canada’s “merit-based” system <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-canada-is-inspiring-scandinavian-countries-on-immigration-90911">provides some lessons</a> for the United States. Despite the relative success of the Canadian merit-based system, Canada’s experience shows there’s no magic bullet.</p>
<h2>What does “merit-based” mean?</h2>
<p>“Merit-based” immigration systems are based on the principle of selecting newcomers according to their skills, education, adaptability, language proficiency and overall human capital. </p>
<p>These metrics, proponents argue, allow immigrants to fill specific labour market needs. But they also act as predictors of how a newcomer might adapt to a new social, economic and cultural environment. </p>
<p>Yet <a href="https://nyti.ms/2C0Aczk">the notion of merit is complex, contextual and highly politicized</a>. </p>
<p>All immigration selection programs are rooted in implicit and explicit definitions of merit, whether they’re based on economic criteria, ideas of cultural compatibility or family relationships. From that standpoint, all immigration programs are “merit-based” systems.</p>
<p>Current U.S. political debates tend to pit the programs of some countries such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/raise-act-global-panel-of-scholars-explains-merit-based-immigration-82062">Canada, Australia and New Zealand</a> against the U.S. system as it exists today. </p>
<p>As several analysts and researchers have shown, however, family ties and <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/migrant-social-networks-vehicles-migration-integration-and-development">social links</a> can also be considered a form of merit, and may have positive impacts on immigrants’ future contributions to their new home.</p>
<p>Consequently, when it comes to immigration, there is no objective definition of what “merit” really means.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207390/original/file-20180221-132663-4pwye6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207390/original/file-20180221-132663-4pwye6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207390/original/file-20180221-132663-4pwye6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207390/original/file-20180221-132663-4pwye6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207390/original/file-20180221-132663-4pwye6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=554&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207390/original/file-20180221-132663-4pwye6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=554&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207390/original/file-20180221-132663-4pwye6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=554&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A child looks on at a citizenship ceremony hosted by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada at Government House in Halifax in November 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Canadian Press/Andrew Vaughan</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Merit-based systems have also been criticized for reinforcing <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jan/19/points-based-immigration-racism">global human capital inequalities</a> and for indirectly sorting candidates based on <a href="https://sites.hks.harvard.edu/fs/gborjas/publications/journal/CardFreeman1993.pdf">ethnic and cultural origins.</a></p>
<p>But proponents see merit-based systems as yielding better integration outcomes. They also argue that they allow for better management of immigration levels, <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/selecting-economic-stream-immigrants-through-points-systems">build public trust</a> and are more responsive to labour market dynamics.</p>
<p>Trump says the system will help <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/03/03/donald-trump-praises-canada-immigration-system-again/98685784/">ensure economic growth, economic mobility for both native-born Americans and immigrants</a> and will close the door to unwanted immigrants. </p>
<h2>Canada’s “merit-based” system</h2>
<p>Canada implemented a points system in <a href="https://www.pier21.ca/research/immigration-history/immigration-regulations-order-in-council-pc-1967-1616-1967">1967</a> in order to move away from origin-based selection of immigrants. Fifty years later, in 2017, Canada admitted <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/annual-report-parliament-immigration-2017.html">296,346 permanent legal immigrants</a>. About 52 per cent of them entered through <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada.html">different categories</a> of the “economic” class of the immigration program, Canada’s own version of a “merit-based” immigration system. </p>
<p>Under this system, economic immigration candidates are evaluated and ranked using a <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/express-entry/become-candidate/eligibility/federal-skilled-workers/six-selection-factors-federal-skilled-workers.html">100 points selection factor grid</a>. The selection factor grid is a 100-point selection grid that considers factors such as age, education, work specialization, work experience in Canada and abroad as well as arranged employment in Canada.</p>
<p>Applicants to the <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/express-entry.html">federal skilled workers program</a> are further ranked according to a <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/express-entry/become-candidate/criteria-comprehensive-ranking-system/grid.html">1,200-point Comprehensive Ranking System</a> (CRS).</p>
<p>Would-be immigrants to Canada are also evaluated for <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/express-entry/become-candidate/eligibility/federal-skilled-workers/six-selection-factors-federal-skilled-workers.html#toc5">adaptability</a>, measured by elements such as past experiences in Canada, but also by the presence of relatives in the country and their spouses’ language proficiency.</p>
<p>So even when measuring for “merit,” the Canadian immigration system does include a recognition of the importance of family ties and social networks.</p>
<p>What’s more, not all of the 159,125 individuals who entered Canada through the economic class in 2017 were selected using the economic criteria. </p>
<p><a href="https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/2fbb56bd-eae7-4582-af7d-a197d185fc93?_ga=2.53271276.557796671.1519245839-574487783.1518018590">Between 2006 and 2015</a>, only 41 to 49 per cent of these individuals were selected directly based on their potential for contributing to the Canadian economy. The rest of the economic class is comprised of close family members of the main applicant, like <a href="http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/11f0019m/11f0019m2017390-eng.htm">spouses and children</a>.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, Canada’s experience overall with its immigration program has been positive. Among other benefits, <a href="https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/national-survey-reveals-the-canadian-public-opinion-about-immigration-has-remained-stable-or-grown-more-positive-over-the-past-year-598322281.html">it’s been credited</a> with building the Canadian public’s support for relatively high immigration levels.</p>
<p>But merit-based immigration programs demand investment into the system, and they may have unintended consequences. Canada’s merit-based program provides three important lessons for U.S. policymakers and citizens:</p>
<h2>Lesson 1: “Merit-based” is only the beginning</h2>
<p>A central argument by proponents of merit-based immigration is that it will lead to better immigrant integration outcomes. </p>
<p>While that’s largely true, a constellation of social and state actions also affect how immigrants fare in their newly adopted homes.</p>
<p>Two are especially important: Immigrant integration services and efforts to find jobs for immigrants.</p>
<p>Canada funds <a href="http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/newcomers/services/index.asp?_ga=2.48629286.1620380811.1519060787-574487783.1518018590">immigrant integration programs </a>that range from language training to information on jobs, bridging programs to jobs and job training. While Canada offers specific social programs for <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/economic-integration-refugees-canada-mixed-record">refugees</a>, several services are also available to all classes of permanent immigrants. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207392/original/file-20180221-132663-1cba0te.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207392/original/file-20180221-132663-1cba0te.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207392/original/file-20180221-132663-1cba0te.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207392/original/file-20180221-132663-1cba0te.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207392/original/file-20180221-132663-1cba0te.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207392/original/file-20180221-132663-1cba0te.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207392/original/file-20180221-132663-1cba0te.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Three-year-old Simboo runs into the arms of her mother, Jelele Etefa, as they pose for a group photo following a Canadian citizenship ceremony in Halifax in February 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Indeed, Canada plans to spend just over <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/report-plans-priorities/2015-2016.html#a1.3">$1 billion</a> on immigrant integration services in 2018. </p>
<p>Experience and research have shown these programs are critical to helping merit-based immigrants succeed economically and socially. They also increase immigrants’ overall sense of belonging to their new society and <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/TCM-canadian-exceptionalism">encourage social participation</a>.</p>
<p>But integration services are not enough: Canada’s experience shows that while immigrants selected based on their economic criteria fare better in the labour market than others, many of them still endure economic difficulties.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/data-on-canadian-immigrants-from-shithole-countries-might-surprise-trump-90088">Data on Canadian immigrants from 'shithole' countries might surprise Trump</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Underemployment, trouble entering the labour market and the need to go back to school, despite having university degrees, <a href="https://biv.com/article/2017/10/skilled-immigrants-face-tough-job-market">are all too common experiences</a> for Canadian immigrants even if they meet the “merit-based” criteria. </p>
<p>Skills-based immigration programs can easily run amok if the labour market can’t accommodate foreign education and skills credentials. As a consequence, both <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/programs/foreign-credential-recognition/consultations.html">Canada’s federal and provincial governments have had to invest</a> in educating employers — and are still working to create and enforce <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/programs/foreign-credential-recognition/funding-framework.html">standards for foreign skills recognition</a>. </p>
<p>Canada’s experience proves that a merit-based system demands much more than simply choosing “the right” immigrants. Governments must invest in supporting them once they’ve been admitted.</p>
<h2>Lesson 2: Immigrants & labour market needs</h2>
<p>Matching the demands of the labour market to new immigrants is a challenge. That’s due in part to the difference between the speed at which labour markets evolve and how quickly an immigration system can operate to bring job-ready candidates to any given country and employer. </p>
<p>The challenge is compounded by popular and political ideas about who is an “ideal” economic immigrant — for example, a doctor or an engineer — and the actual labour needs of the country.</p>
<p>In the last 30 years, those types of disconnects have been <a href="http://irpp.org/research-studies/choices-vol14-no5/">a constant test</a> in Canada but also in other countries.</p>
<p>In the early 1990s, the Canadian government’s preferred solution was to select immigrants based on predictions about their capacity to adapt to a changing labour market. To do so, they used <a href="http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/11f0019m/11f0019m2014361-eng.htm">human capital</a> as the main merit criterion. That had several unintended effects, including the <a href="http://reviewcanada.ca/magazine/2011/03/taxi-driver-syndrome/">underemployment</a> of many immigrants and labour shortages in several technical sectors. </p>
<p>Since then, the Canadian government has made a move towards a more demand-based model, and provides provinces and territories as well as employers with a bigger say in the selection system. </p>
<p>More recently, the system was again amended to <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/immigration/2018/02/12/having-a-job-offer-is-no-longer-key-to-immigrating-to-canada.html">reintroduce human capital factors</a> because the immigrants selected by the demand-driven model were not considered skilled enough.</p>
<p>Canada’s experience is one of a tug of war between planning for long-term labour needs and short-term labour supply.</p>
<p>Despite these adjustments, current Canadian programs still struggle to address the needs of labour markets that are increasingly divided between the need for high-skilled versus low-skilled workers, like those in short supply in the service sector.</p>
<p>Consequently, Canada relies increasingly on temporary immigration to meet market demands. In the last 10 years, the number of so-called <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/operational-bulletins-manuals/temporary-residents/foreign-workers.html">temporary foreign workers</a> <a href="https://maytree.com/wp-content/uploads/shaping-the-future.pdf">has grown tremendously</a>, as have concerns about <a href="http://irpp.org/research-studies/study-no35/">worker abuses and overall precarity</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207344/original/file-20180221-132680-mdaunb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207344/original/file-20180221-132680-mdaunb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207344/original/file-20180221-132680-mdaunb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207344/original/file-20180221-132680-mdaunb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207344/original/file-20180221-132680-mdaunb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207344/original/file-20180221-132680-mdaunb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207344/original/file-20180221-132680-mdaunb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Temporary foreign workers Honorato Peralta and his wife, Vanessa Tamondong, are seen here during a news conference in Vancouver in December 2014. They said they were victimized by an employer and their immigration consultant.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And despite <a href="http://irpp.org/research-studies/study-no55/">reforms aimed at providing temporary workers a path to permanent residency</a>, the need for those low-skilled labourers runs counter to the long-term social and economic objective of Canada’s merit-based system. </p>
<p>What is “best” for the economy, and what types of immigrants are most needed, often eschews simple answers.</p>
<h2>Lesson 3: The need for bureaucrats</h2>
<p>Trust in the bureaucracy is critical to a successful merit-based system. Any immigrant-selection system relies on a comprehensive, technical method of assessing would-be newcomers, the gathering of information on the labour market and on global migration trends, as well as the monitoring and evaluation of programs. </p>
<p>On the ground, <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=Zk1BCgAAQBAJ&lpg=PA41&ots=H9pZosbZ08&dq=vic%20satzewich%20implementation&hl=fr&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false">considerable work</a> is required to assess individual applications based on merit criteria. While technology makes these tasks easier than before, well-trained public servants and well-funded public infrastructure are needed.<br>
In Canada and elsewhere, government workers use research, field expertise and discretion to assess applicants. The need for accurate data along with the complexity of these programs often make elected officials dependent on the expertise and advice of public servants. </p>
<p>Bureaucrats are uniquely positioned to see the negative consequences of selection programs, and to propose innovative solutions based on their hands-on experience. </p>
<p>What’s more, experiments that have involved employers in immigrant selection programs remain inconclusive. While they remain important partners, bureaucrats still have the advantage over employers in assessing immigrants.</p>
<p>The move to merit-based systems often politicize not only overall immigration levels, but also the very definition of “merit.” </p>
<p>The cacophony of partisan advice and political opinion on these often highly technical assessments of immigrants means it’s crucial to have reliable data on immigration and unbiased analysis. The trust of Canadian elected officials in the country’s immigration bureaucracy is one of the secret ingredients of its success.</p>
<h2>Hardly a ‘magic bullet’</h2>
<p>A merit-based immigration might address some of America’s immigration challenges.</p>
<p>But it could also have negative consequences, especially as long as state-funded integration services remain <a href="https://escholarship.org/content/qt2nc0m8bm/qt2nc0m8bm.pdf">comparatively limited and not accessible to all immigrants in the U.S.</a>. </p>
<p>The U.S. government will also need work to ensure that the immigrants it selects will respond to the actual labour market needs of its diverse economy. The distrust the Trump administration clearly harbours towards the American federal bureaucracy might also create considerable challenges to the design and implementation of a merit-based system. </p>
<p>Canada’s experience shows that selecting immigrants based on economic merit is not a silver bullet. Finding the “right” immigrants is the only one step in a large group of government actions that support immigrants and the country overall.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/90923/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mireille Paquet does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Canada’s experience shows that selecting immigrants based on economic merit is not a silver bullet; finding the “right” immigrants is the only the first step.Mireille Paquet, Professor of Political Science, Concordia UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/906032018-01-24T11:39:12Z2018-01-24T11:39:12ZDACA isn’t just about social justice – legalizing Dreamers makes economic sense too<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203096/original/file-20180123-33560-qh4nod.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Demonstrators chant slogans during an immigration rally in support of DACA.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Earlier this month, <a href="http://kxan.com/2017/12/02/daca-summit-gives-dreamers-hope-encouragement/">hopes were high</a> that a bipartisan deal could be reached to resolve the fate of the “<a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/dreamers-24037">Dreamers</a>,” the millions of undocumented youth who were brought to the U.S. as children. </p>
<p>Those hopes <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/11/politics/daca-deal-obstacles-flake-white-house/index.html">all but vanished</a> on Jan. 11 as President Donald Trump aligned himself with hard-line anti-immigration advocates within the GOP and struck down bipartisan attempts to reach a resolution.</p>
<p>Now that optimism is re-emerging once more after Republican Senate leadership agreed, in exchange for ending the shutdown, to hold a vote on a solution to the young immigrants’ plight within weeks – if they haven’t reached a more comprehensive deal on immigration by then. But whether or not the president and Republicans can overcome the anti-immigrant elements in their party and reach a deal remains to be seen. </p>
<p><a href="https://cis.org/Immigration-Hurting-US-Worker">One of the arguments</a> advanced by those who oppose giving them citizenship is that doing so would hurt native-born workers and be a drain on the U.S. economy. My own research shows the exact opposite is true. </p>
<h2>Lives in limbo</h2>
<p>All in all, about <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2018/01/18/there-3-5-m-dreamers-and-most-may-face-nightmare/1042134001/">3.6 million immigrants</a> living in the U.S. entered the country as children. Without options for legal residency, their lives hang in the balance. </p>
<p>To address this problem, the <a href="http://www.pbs.org/weta/washingtonweek/web-video/vault-president-barack-obama-signs-daca">Obama administration created</a> the <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/consideration-deferred-action-childhood-arrivals-daca">Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals</a> program in 2012. <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/deferred-action-for-childhood-arrivals-daca-33587">DACA</a> gave <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/daca-four-participation-deferred-action-program-and-impacts-recipients">almost 800,000 of them</a> temporary legal work permits and reprieve from deportation. Although his successor terminated the program in September, this month a <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/01/10/576963434/federal-judge-temporarily-blocks-trumps-decision-to-end-daca">federal court halted that process</a>, allowing current recipients the ability to renew their status. </p>
<p>Any cause for celebration, however, was short-lived as the Department of Justice immediately responded by asking the Supreme Court to overturn the ruling. The Supreme Court has not yet announced a decision. In the meantime, the future of DACA recipients remains uncertain.</p>
<p>Today, the best hope for a permanent fix for the Dreamers rests on bipartisan efforts to enact the 2017 DREAM Act – for Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors – which would extend pathways to citizenship to undocumented youth who entered the United States as children, graduated from high school and have no criminal record. A version of the act was <a href="http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/349285-graham-durbin-call-for-action-on-dream-act-by-end-of-september">first introduced</a> in 2001 and will likely be up for discussion in coming weeks. </p>
<p>The debate surrounding the DREAM Act is often framed around two seemingly irreconcilable views. </p>
<p>On one side, <a href="http://www.elle.com/culture/career-politics/a14473133/kamala-harris-dream-act-op-ed">immigration activists advocate</a> for legalization based on pleas to our common humanity. These Dreamers, after all, were raised and educated in the United States. They are American in every sense but legally. </p>
<p>On the other, <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/08/25/time-for-trump-to-keep-his-promises-daca-is-unconstitutional-and-bad-for-american-workers.html">critics</a> contend that legalization will come at a cost to U.S.-born workers, and their well-being should be prioritized. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202536/original/file-20180119-80171-1b2jixd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202536/original/file-20180119-80171-1b2jixd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202536/original/file-20180119-80171-1b2jixd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202536/original/file-20180119-80171-1b2jixd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202536/original/file-20180119-80171-1b2jixd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202536/original/file-20180119-80171-1b2jixd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202536/original/file-20180119-80171-1b2jixd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many immigrant advocates consider the DREAM Act the best hope for a permanent fix.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Lynne Sladky</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Impact of Dreamer citizenship on wages</h2>
<p>My <a href="http://ftp.iza.org/dp11281.pdf">research</a> with economists Ryan Edwards and Francesc Ortega estimated the economic impact of the 2017 DREAM Act if it were to become law. About 2.1 million of the undocumented youths <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/news/mpi-estimates-number-dreamers-potentially-eligible-benefit-under-different-legalization">would likely be eligible</a> to become citizens based on its age and educational requirements. </p>
<p>Our research showed that immigrants given permanent legal work permits under the DREAM Act would not compete with low-skilled U.S.-born workers because only those with at least a high school degree are eligible for legalization. The act also encourages college attendance by making it one of the conditions for attaining legal residency. </p>
<p>We also found that the act would have no significant effect on the wages of U.S.-born workers regardless of education level because Dreamers make up such a small fraction of the labor force. U.S.-born college graduates and high school dropouts would experience no change in wages. Those with some college may experience small declines of at most 0.2 percent a year, while high school graduates would actually experience wage increases of a similar magnitude.</p>
<p>For the legalized immigrants, however, the benefits would be substantial. For example, legalized immigrants with some college education would see wages increase by about 15 percent, driven by expansions in employment opportunities due to legalization and by the educational gains that the DREAM Act encourages.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202539/original/file-20180119-80171-wjvwfo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202539/original/file-20180119-80171-wjvwfo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202539/original/file-20180119-80171-wjvwfo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202539/original/file-20180119-80171-wjvwfo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202539/original/file-20180119-80171-wjvwfo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202539/original/file-20180119-80171-wjvwfo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202539/original/file-20180119-80171-wjvwfo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">President Trump’s termination of DACA has put the lives of Dreamers like Faride Cuevas, second from right, in limbo.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Broader economic benefits</h2>
<p>The DREAM Act also promotes <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-dreamers-and-green-card-lottery-winners-strengthen-the-us-economy-82571">overall economic growth</a> by increasing the productivity of legalized workers and expanding the tax base. </p>
<p>Lacking legal work options, Dreamers <a href="https://www.rsfjournal.org/doi/pdf/10.7758/RSF.2017.3.4.06">tend to be overqualified</a> for the jobs they hold. My ongoing work with sociologist Holly Reed shows that the undocumented youth who make it to college are more motivated and academically prepared compared with their U.S.-born peers. This is at least in part because they had to overcome greater odds to attend college. </p>
<p>We find that they are also more likely than their native-born peers to graduate college with a degree. Yet despite being highly motivated and accomplished, undocumented college graduates are employed in jobs that are not commensurate with their education level, according to sociologist <a href="https://www.rsfjournal.org/doi/pdf/10.7758/RSF.2017.3.4.06">Esther Cho</a>. With legal work options, they will be able to find jobs that match their skills and qualifications, making them more productive. </p>
<p>Legalization also <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2017/08/30/science.aan5893">improves the mental health</a> of immigrants by <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-daca-affected-the-mental-health-of-undocumented-young-adults-83341">removing the social stigma</a> of being labeled a criminal and the looming threat of arrest and deportation. </p>
<p>From an economic standpoint, healthier and happier workers also make for a more productive workforce.</p>
<p>Overall, we estimate that the increases in productivity under the DREAM Act would raise the United States GDP by US$15.2 billion and significantly increase tax revenue.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202537/original/file-20180119-80194-16tge4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202537/original/file-20180119-80194-16tge4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202537/original/file-20180119-80194-16tge4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202537/original/file-20180119-80194-16tge4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202537/original/file-20180119-80194-16tge4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202537/original/file-20180119-80194-16tge4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202537/original/file-20180119-80194-16tge4w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin and Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham have been leading recent efforts to pass bipartisan immigration reform.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Everyone can win</h2>
<p>The U.S. continues to grapple with how to incorporate the general population of nearly 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the country. </p>
<p>The inability of the Trump administration and lawmakers from both parties to <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/17/trump-rejects-horrible-bipartisan-immigration-plan-reuters.html">find common ground</a> is emblematic of just how <a href="http://news.gallup.com/poll/206681/worry-illegal-immigration-steady.aspx">deeply divided</a> Americans are between those who want to send most of them home and others who favor a path toward citizenship for many if not most of them. </p>
<p>While there appears to be no resolution in sight for the general population of 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States, common bipartisan ground <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/survey-finds-strong-support-for-dreamers/2017/09/24/df3c885c-a16f-11e7-b14f-f41773cd5a14_story.html">can be found</a> on the issue of Dreamers. A recent survey found that 86 percent of Americans support granting them amnesty.</p>
<p>The DREAM Act offers an opportunity to enact a permanent resolution for a group widely supported by the public. What is more, our research shows a policy that affirms our common humanity also increases economic growth without hurting U.S.-born workers.</p>
<p>This is a win-win for everyone, whether you care about social justice or worry about U.S. workers. </p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of an article originally published on Jan. 19, 2018.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/90603/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amy Hsin receives funding from the MacArthur Foundation and the William T. Grant Foundation.
</span></em></p>As lawmakers debate immigration policy in coming weeks, they should realize that giving immigrants who came to the US as children citizenship not only has broad political support but lifts the economy too.Amy Hsin, Associate Professor of Sociology, City University of New YorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/853572018-01-23T11:21:08Z2018-01-23T11:21:08ZSpanish use is steady or dropping in US despite high Latino immigration<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/el-uso-del-espanol-en-eeuu-no-aumenta-pese-a-la-inmigracion-latina-100072">Read in Spanish</a></em>.</p>
<p>Hidden just beneath the surface of the ongoing heated <a href="http://beta.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-cornelius-daca-immigration-20180117-story.html">debate about immigration in the United States</a> lurks an often unspoken concern: language. Specifically, whether immigration from Spanish-speaking countries threatens the English language’s dominance. </p>
<p>Language and immigration have long been politically linked in the U.S. When Farmers Branch, Texas, passed an English-only “requirement” in 2006, <a href="http://www.dallasobserver.com/news/farmers-branch-has-spent-five-years-and-millions-of-dollars-trying-to-keep-out-mexicans-is-it-time-for-a-truce-6426693">then-Mayor Tim O'Hare</a> justified it by saying that “we need to address illegal immigration in our city and we need to do it now.”</p>
<p>The Farmers Branch city council <a href="https://www.dallasnews.com/news/farmers-branch/2017/11/29/farmers-branch-officials-repeal-ordinance-made-english-citys-official-language">voted unanimously to drop the controversial ordinance</a> last November, but <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2014/08/12/states-where-english-is-the-official-language/?utm_term=.0569b98fc0fd">31 states and hundreds of towns</a> in the United States still have local English-only or “official English” laws.</p>
<p>The perception that Latino immigration has led Spanish to sideline or even overtake English in the U.S. is widespread. After all, Spanish is the <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/183483/ranking-of-languages-spoken-at-home-in-the-us-in-2008/">second most dominant language in the country, after English</a>. It is spoken by <a href="http://potowski.org/content/espEEUU">48.6 million people</a>: 34.8 million Spanish-speakers age 5 and older of various national-origin backgrounds, 11 million undocumented Latin American immigrants and an estimated 2.8 million non-Latinos who use Spanish in the home. </p>
<p>Census data on U.S. demographic changes <a href="https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2015/demo/p25-1143.pdf">project</a> that by 2060 the Latino population in the U.S. – the group most likely to speak Spanish – will grow 115 percent, to 119 million. </p>
<p>But these figures don’t tell the whole story. As a linguist, I have studied Spanish-English bilingualism in Texas, California, Florida and beyond, and I can attest that Spanish is not taking over the United States. Far from it: Political fearmongering notwithstanding, Spanish actually holds a rather tenuous position in the country.</p>
<h2>From bilingual to monolingual</h2>
<p>How can the Latino population be growing rapidly while Spanish-speaking remains stable? The answer lies in oft-overlooked peculiarities of census data and in the particular linguistic history of the United States.</p>
<p>If one looks only at immigration patterns over the past half-century, it is true that the U.S. has been gaining Spanish-speakers. From 1965 to 2015, roughly half of all immigration has come from Latin American countries. This trend added some <a href="http://www.pewhispanic.org/2015/09/28/modern-immigration-wave-brings-59-million-to-u-s-driving-population-growth-and-change-through-2065/ph_2015-09-28_immigration-through-2065-06/">30 million people</a>, most of whom came speaking Spanish, to the American populace. </p>
<p>But this is only half the story. While new immigrants bring Spanish with them, <a href="https://bilingualismucsd.wikispaces.com/-/Wiki%20Project/Team%2010/Latino+Immigration+and+Language+Assimilation">research shows</a> that their children tend to become bilinguals who <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/04/20/rise-in-english-proficiency-among-u-s-hispanics-is-driven-by-the-young/">overwhelmingly prefer English</a>. As a result, the same immigrants’ grandchildren likely speak English only.</p>
<p>Linguists call this phenomenon “<a href="http://paa2008.princeton.edu/papers/80685">the three-generation pattern</a>.” In essence, it means that non-English languages in the U.S. are lost by or during the third generation. </p>
<p>We can see this pattern playing out in <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/04/20/rise-in-english-proficiency-among-u-s-hispanics-is-driven-by-the-young/">data from the Pew Hispanic Center</a>. Surveys show that in 2000, 48 percent of Latino adults aged 50 to 68 spoke “only English” or “English very well,” and that 73 percent of Latino children aged 5 to 17 did. </p>
<p>By 2014, those numbers had jumped to 52 percent and 88 percent, respectively. In other words, the shift from Spanish to English is happening nationwide, both over time and between generations.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"925388593912320000"}"></div></p>
<h2>Why English dominates</h2>
<p>Language shift is not a naturally occurring phenomenon. Rather, it is a consequence of cultural forces that pressure speakers to give up one language to get another. These forces include restrictive language laws that formally <a href="http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/trailguide/la-na-election-day-2016-proposition-58-bilingual-1478220414-htmlstory.html">prohibit the use of Spanish</a> in educational or government settings, as Farmers Branch, Texas, did for 11 years. </p>
<p>Schools also drive the three-generation pattern. Even though Latin American parents often speak to their U.S.-born children in Spanish, those children almost invariably attend English-only schools. </p>
<p>There, they learn that academic success is achieved in English. As a result, first-generation children <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3526379/">expand their vocabularies and literacy practices in English</a>, not in Spanish.</p>
<p>They may also encounter negative attitudes toward Spanish from teachers and peers. For example, in October 2017, a New Jersey high school teacher was caught on video <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/24/nyregion/speak-american-high-school.html">reprimanding three students for speaking Spanish</a>, encouraging them, instead, to speak “American.” That no such language exists is beside the point – her message was clear. </p>
<p>Social pressure to speak English is so great that Latino immigrant parents may notice resistance to using Spanish at home <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-latino-immigrants-english-fluency-20160422-story.html">as early as kindergarten</a>. A generation later, though grandparents may continue to use Spanish in the home, grandchildren will often respond to them in English. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202623/original/file-20180119-110117-wsvy9r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202623/original/file-20180119-110117-wsvy9r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202623/original/file-20180119-110117-wsvy9r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202623/original/file-20180119-110117-wsvy9r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202623/original/file-20180119-110117-wsvy9r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202623/original/file-20180119-110117-wsvy9r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202623/original/file-20180119-110117-wsvy9r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The children of Latino immigrants often feel social pressure to speak English at school.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gosia Wozniacka/AP Images</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The numerous <a href="http://www.ethnicstudies.ucsd.edu/_files/miscellaneous/Bilingual%20Manual%20on%20HOw%20to%20raise%20a%20bilingual%20child.pdf">blogs, websites and guides</a> dedicated to helping Latino parents navigate this bilingual terrain indicate just how common language shift is.</p>
<p>Indeed, when I ask my own Latino students about when they speak what to whom, the answer is almost always the same: Spanish with elders, English with everyone else.</p>
<p>This pattern seems to hold in small towns and big cities, on the East Coast and on the West, and in towns with large and small Latino populations. From <a href="https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1G1-122260252/spanish-language-shift-in-chicago">Chicago</a> to <a href="http://www.english.illinois.edu/-people-/faculty/debaron/380/380reading/heritagelangretention.pdf">Southern California</a>, children of Spanish-speaking immigrants become English-dominant. </p>
<p>The Spanish-to-English shift even occurs <a href="https://www.academia.edu/15765243/Multilingual_Miami_Trends_in_Sociolinguistic_Research">in Miami</a>, where over 65 percent of the population is Latino and where speaking Spanish has clear economic benefits. That’s why Miami <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/education/article22190205.html">struggles to find enough Spanish-speaking teachers</a> to staff its public schools. </p>
<h2>English on the rise</h2>
<p>Spanish isn’t the only immigrant language that has struggled to keep a foothold in the U.S. Germans, Italians, Poles and Swedes went through <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/09/05/what-is-the-future-of-spanish-in-the-united-states/">similar language shifts</a> in the 19th and 20th centuries. These languages, too, were sometimes seen as a <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/language-in-immigrant-america/587C8A3284F62BF298D58680511386B2#fndtn-information">threat to American identity</a> in their time. </p>
<p>Then as now, <a href="http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-coca-cola-super-bowl-ad-stirs-controversy-20140203-story.html">American anxiety</a> about the role of English in U.S. society was totally unfounded. In the roughly 150,000-year history of human language, there has never been a more secure tongue than English. </p>
<p>More people worldwide <a href="https://qz.com/444456/the-most-useful-foreign-languages-an-english-speaker-can-learn-and-why/">do speak Mandarin and Spanish as their first language</a>. But with some <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/266808/the-most-spoken-languages-worldwide/">400 million first language speakers and more than 500 million adoptive English speakers</a>, English has a global standing enjoyed by none of the roughly <a href="https://www.ethnologue.com/browse/names">6,000 other languages spoken worldwide</a>. It has been that way for about half a century. </p>
<p>If Latino immigration declines markedly in the U.S., language shift may actually lead Spanish to disappear across America. English, on the other hand, isn’t going anywhere fast.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/85357/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Phillip M. Carter does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Spanish is not overtaking English in the US, despite political fearmongering. In fact, due to the ‘three-generation pattern,’ Spanish speaking in immigrant families tends to decline over time.Phillip M. Carter, Associate Professor of Linguistics, Florida International UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.