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Article Contributor: Michael Wall, East Carolina University
Updated: 23 August 2010

Page Outline:

1. Basic Facts
2. Important Terms
3. The Process Mexican Immigrants Take to Become Legal Residents of the United States
4. The Process Mexican Immigrants Must Take to Become Naturalized Citizens of the United States
5. Illegal Immigrants
6. Democrat and Republican Views on Immigration
7. What Is Washington Doing?
8. Sources

Basic Facts

The following statistics come from the Pew Hispanic Center.¹ For more information, visit the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website.

• According to the Pew Hispanic Center, 12.7 million Mexican immigrants live in the United States (as of 2008).
• It is estimated that during the year 2008, 11.9 million people illegally immigrated to the United States. Of those 11.9 million, approximately 59 percent were from Mexico.
• The Pew Hispanic Center states that, “the number of Mexicans living in the United States is very large from Mexico’s perspective, too,” with 11 percent of all Mexican-born individuals living in the United States.

Important Terms

• Alien: According to the Department of Homeland Security’s United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, an alien is “any individual who is not a citizen of the United States.” ²
• Immigrant: Any alien “lawfully admitted to the United States for permanent residence” is considered an immigrant.³
• Nonimmigrant: Any aliens, such as students or diplomats, who enter the United States “for a specific purpose.” ⁴ The topic of nonimmigrant individuals will not be discussed in this article.
• Visa: A document that allows an alien to apply to lawfully enter the United States. ⁵ There are two categories of visa:
  • Nonimmigrant Visas: These are visas for individuals such as students and tourists who plan to be in the United States for a short period of time. There is a list of countries whose citizens do not require a Visa to enter the United States A list of these countries can be found at http://travel.state.gov ⁶ This type of Visa will not be discussed in this article.
  • Green Card: This is formally known as an I-551 (Alien Registration Card). A green card is a Visa that allows an alien to make his or her permanent home in the United States.⁷ While a green card allows immigrants the right to legally stay in the United States, they are not allowed to vote or hold public office, and they can be deported for violating terms of their stay.⁸
• Naturalization: If an alien wishes to become a citizen of the United States, he or she must apply for naturalization. Naturalization is “the process by which an immigrant can attain United States Citizenship.” ⁹ If an immigrant is selected to become a naturalized citizen, he or she receives the same rights as United States-born citizens.¹⁰
• Illegal Immigrants and Unauthorized Persons: For the purposes of this article, illegal immigrants and unauthorized persons will refer to those individuals who are unauthorized to be present in the United States. For more information, see the ‘Illegal Immigrants’ section below.

The Process Mexican Immigrants Take to Become Legal Residents of the United States

• I-551 (Alien Registration Card), AKA Green Card:
  • In order to be allowed to make the United States a permanent home, Mexican immigrants must be issued an I-551 (Alien Registration Card). This card, informally known as a green card, allows Mexican immigrants the right to “enter, work, and live” in the United States as a resident.¹¹
  • It does not allow the immigrant the right to become a citizen of the United States.
  • One of the main goals of immigration policy in the United States is to “reunite families by admitting immigrants who already have family members living in the United States.”[12."Immigration Policy in the United States"] In keeping with this, being “immediate relatives of United States citizens” or having “other family members who are United States citizens” are the top two categories for eligibility to receive a green card.¹²
  • According to the Migration Information Source (using data derived from 2008 United States Census Bureau American Community Survey polls), 93.9 percent of Mexican immigrants who were granted green cards received them because they had family members who were United States citizens.¹³
  • Mexican immigrants are also be granted green cards if they are recruited by an employer for a specific job. In this case, the employer must prove that there are no “willing, able, [or] qualified United States Citizens” available for the job.¹⁴
  • Over a quarter of all green cards are granted to those that marry a United States citizen, making marriage one of the “clearest paths to citizenship”.[16.] These so called ‘green card marriages’ are a hotly debated subject, and often result in marriage fraud.

The Process Mexican Immigrants Must Take to Become Naturalized Citizens of the United States

• Naturalization
  • When a Mexican immigrant wants to become a citizen of the United States, that individual applies for naturalization. All requests for naturalization are processed by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (hereinafter USCIS).
  • There are certain requirements that an immigrant must meet before he or she can apply for naturalization. A few important requirements are listed below:
    • An immigrant wishing to naturalize must be at least eighteen years old and must possess a valid green card.¹⁵
    • In addition, naturalization applicants must have spent at least five years as a lawful permanent resident in the United States, with at least 30 months physically spent in the United States Furthermore, the naturalization applicant must have spent at least three months in their current state. There are certain exceptions to this requirement, including for immigrants married to a United States citizen. In this case, the immigrant needs to have been a lawful resident of the United States for only three years. Other exceptions include those for military service or certain employment.[18."Immigration policy in the United States."]
    • Furthermore, naturalization applicants must also be of “good moral character” without any “murder convictions or aggravated felonies.”¹⁶
  • After the immigrant has met the requirements, he or she can begin the naturalization process.
    • First of all, the naturalization applicant must complete a Form N-400. The applicant must also procure certain documents and photographs.
    • After this, the applicant is subjected to the naturalization test. This is an interview with a USCIS officer in which the applicants knowledge of the English language and United States civics is tested.
    • In order to pass the English test, the naturalization applicant must successfully read one sentence out of three correctly and write on sentence out of three correctly.¹⁷
    • In addition to the English language test, the naturalization applicant must show sufficient knowledge of United States civics. The USCIS has prepared a list of 100 questions, of which the USCIS officer conducting the interview will select ten. Of these ten, the naturalization applicant must correctly answer six to pass.¹⁸
    • If the applicant is selected, they will take the oath of allegiance and become an official United States citizen.
  • Of the 3,390,000 legal permanent resident Mexican immigrants in 2008, over 80 percent were eligible for naturalization

Illegal Immigrants

• How they enter the United States
  1. 1. Non-Immigrant Visa Overstayers: These are individuals that entered the United States for a specific purpose but stayed in the country after the expiration of their Visas.
     2. Border Crossing Card Violators: A Border Crossing Card is a document that allows Mexicans to enter the country legally, though they must say in “the border region.”¹⁹ In addition to staying in the border region, there are other rules, such as staying in the United States for less than 30 days, that these individuals must follow. If the individual breaks any of the rules, he or she is classified as an unauthorized person.²⁰
     1. Evading Immigration Inspectors and Border Patrol: Entering the United States by “hiding in vehicles, trekking through the Arizona desert, wading across the Rio Grande or otherwise eluding the United States Border Patrol.”²¹ will classify a person as an unauthorized person.
  • According to the Pew Hispanic Center, there are three ways that individuals become unauthorized to be present in the United States:

• Economic impact of and controversy about illegal immigration
  • Part of the controversy surrounding illegal immigration is whether or not illegal immigrants receive the same rights as legal citizens.
  • Proponents for the idea that illegal immigrants should not have constitutional rights argue that the words the people written in the constitution refer only to legal citizens. The Supreme Court has disagreed with this, stating that the constitution protects everyone, including illegal immigrants.²² This might be the case because the Supreme Court views the people to mean anyone living in the United States, be they legal or illegal. While illegal immigrants living in the United States may be subject to some of the same rights as legal citizens, they are not allowed to vote or bear arms, among other rights not afforded to them.
  • Another controversy is the amount of taxes that illegal immigrants pay and the impact that they have on social security.
  • According to a USA Today report, “experts agree” that illegal immigrants do in fact pay taxes.²³ According to the IRS, around $9 billion in taxes were paid by illegal immigrants in 2005. Proponents for stricter immigration control argue that $9 billion was a very small portion of the $593 billion total paid in taxes.
  • Immigration supporters, however, counter that illegal immigrants pay into social security (therefore adding to the social security program and supporting legal citizens) while reaping none of the benefits themselves.²⁴ This is because federal laws do not allow illegal immigrants to receive certain government benefits, such as Medicaid, Social Security benefits, or Medicare.²⁵
  • In a paper published in the journal The Tax Lawyer, Chapman University law professor Francine J. Lipman argues that illegal immigrants provide a “net positive contribution” to the United States economy.²⁶ Illegal immigrants do this by “contribut[ing] to the United States economy through their investments and consumption of goods and services. . . and unrequited contributions to Social Security.²⁷
  • A controversy has also arisen concerning the 14^th amendment.
    • According to the most common interpretation of the 14^th Amendment, any child born in the United States is a “citizen of the United States and of the state wherein they reside,” even if the child is not born to legal United States citizens.[30.Dwyer, Devin and Karl, Jonathan. “Republicans Eye Change to Birthright Citizenship.” Politics. ABC World News. 3 Aug 2010. Web, 3 Aug 2010.]
    • Senator Lindsey Graham (R – S.C.), with support from Republican Senators Mitch McConnell, John Kyl and John McCain, have indicated they may push for a change to the 14^th Amendment. These senators argue that “birthright citizenship. . . is a mistake”²⁸ and that “there was never an intent by our founders that just because you were here and you had a child born here and you were here not as a resident that your child would become citizen.”²⁹
    • Democrats, including White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs³⁰, argue that talk of changing the 14th amendment is simply a“political stunt.”³¹

Democrat and Republican Views on Immigration

• Both the Democratic and Republican party favor bolstering border security to some extent. Both parties also argue that all immigrants to the United States should learn to speak English.³² The two parties differ, however, in their approach to addressing the issue of the millions of illegal immigrants who currently reside in the United States.
• In the past, the Democratic Party has favored amnesty – allowing illegal immigrants to stay in the country, provided they obey certain rules.³³
• The Republican Party has stated that it supports creating a “strong immigration system without sacrificing the rule of law”. The Republican Party has also stated in the 2008 Republican Platform that it “oppose[s] amnesty.”³⁴ Amnesty, the Republicans reason, could encourage even more illegal immigration.
• Democrats
  • The Democratic Party advocates that the current border-security/immigration system needs to be changed to put an end to illegal immigrants entering the United States.
  • For those immigrants “living here illegally but otherwise playing by the rules”, Democrats support a system that makes those immigrants “come out of the shadows, pay a fine, pay taxes, learn English, and go to the back of the [legal immigration] line.”³⁵
  • On July 1, 2010, President Obama gave a speech echoing the statements above. In his talk, Obama argued that neither “blanket amnesty” nor the mass deportation of illegal immigrants is possible. Instead, Obama argued for a system that “demands responsibility” from illegal immigrants while still allowing them to become citizens.³⁶
• Republicans
  • Republicans have stated that immigrants who overstay their visas should be deported.
  • Illegal immigrants, according to the Republican Party, should not be allowed to receive the same rights as legal citizens. These rights include owning a driver’s license and receiving social security benefits.

What is Washington Doing?

Immigration has been a contentious topic in recent years. The following list of legislation and agencies is by no means exhaustive.

• United States Laws
• The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965
  • Signed into law on October 3, 1965 by President Lyndon Johnson
  • This law eliminated the old system, which granted visas to immigrants by their country of origin. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, “people of all nations were placed on equal footing.”³⁷
  • This system also gave more preference to “family reunification,” as opposed to the national origins quota system.³⁸
  • The structure of the current immigration system is largely based on this law.³⁹
• The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (Pub.L. 99-603, 100 Stat. 3359)
  • This law made it touger for employers to hire illegal aliens by requiring that “the employer attest. . . that the worker. . . is a United States Citizen or national, or authorized alien.”⁴⁰
  • All aliens who entered the United States before January 1, 1982 were eligible for permanent residence status under certain conditions. In other words, these aliens were granted amnesty.
  • In addition to the above amnesty, this act allowed for the permanent residence of certain agricultural workers.
  • Before The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, 600 visas were issued annually. This act allowed for an increase of 5,000 visas to be issued annually.⁴¹
• The Immigration Act of 1990 (Pub.L. 101-649, 104 Stat. 4978)
  • The most important part of this law was the enactment of the Diversity Visa Lottery Program.
  • Under the Diversity Visa Lottery Program, individuals from regions defined as “low admission states” (Faubert and Stone) were given preference. These low admission states were defined as those with less than 50, 000 immigrants per year.⁴²
• Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigration Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA)
  • According to Immigration Lawyers, this law “overhauled” much of the immigration laws preceding it.⁴³
  • IIRIRA 96 introduced the idea of “unlawfully present” aliens and introduced new punishments for these individuals.⁴⁴  If a person was present illegally in the United States For more than 180 days but less than one year, he or she was deported and banned from admittance for three years to the United States. For individuals illegally present in the United States For more than one year, the ban was ten years.
  • The law also allowed for certain illegal immigrants to become permanent citizens. Aliens who has lived in the United States for seven years were adjusted to permanent resident status provided they had no criminal history and could prove that their deportation would cause hardship to a United States Citizen.
  • Green card holders where also effected by this law. These individuals were eligible for “relief from removal” if they had held their green cards for five years with seven consecutive years present in the United States.⁴⁵

• State Laws
• Arizona’s Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act (Arizona SB 1070)
  • Signed into law by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer on April 23, 2010, it is intended to go into effect on July 29, 2010.⁴⁶
  • Under Article 8, the law allows any Arizona Law Enforcement Agent or Agency the power to “determine the immigration status” of any person “lawfully contacted” by the Law Enforcement Officer.⁴⁷
  • Also under Article 8, if the individual under suspicion provides the Law Enforcement Officer with “a valid Arizona Driver License; a valid Arizona non-operating identification license; a valid tribal enrollment card or other form of tribal identification; or any valid United States federal, state, or local government issued identification” the individual will be considered legally present in the United States.⁴⁸
  • Furthermore, the law makes it a misdemeanor offense for any alien to “willfully fail to complete or carry an alien registration card” described in 8 United States Code Section 1304(e) or 8 United States Code Section 1306(a).
  • Numerous civil rights organizations, such as the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders, are challenging the law legally. These groups, and others like them, charge that the law supports racial profiling, specifically against Latinos, and allows state agencies to enforce federal laws.[52 “2 lawsuits challenge Arizona's immigration law.” Government and politics. Arizona Daily Star. 29 Apr 2010. Web, 18 Jul 2010.]
  • Governor Brewer counters that article 8 of section 2 of the law, which amended the original version, will stop racial profiling.⁴⁹ This article reads in part that a law enforcement officer “may not solely consider race, color, or national origin in implementing” the legislation.⁵⁰
  • On July 6, 2010, the United States Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the Arizona law.⁵¹
  • In it, they state that Arizona has “crossed” a “constitutional line” that allows the federal government “exclusive” power to regulate immigration, in short meaning that Arizona has violated the Supremacy Clause.⁵²
  • They have also requested that the Arizona court stop implementation of the law while the case is under review.⁵³
  • Republicans, who publicly oppose the Justice Department lawsuit, claim that the lawsuit demonstrates that the Obama administration does not care about securing our nation’s borders. Democrats, who favor the suit, state that it supports the supremacy clause of the constitution.^{54 55}
  • On July 28, 2010, in response to the Justice Department lawsuit, Federal District Court Judge Susan Bolton blocked certain parts of SB 1070. She “largely sided” with the Justice Department’s arguments against the law, stating that the law would violate the federal government’s authority over states on the issue of immigration.⁵⁶
  • The injunction blocked numerous parts of the law, including ones that would allow police to initiate immigration checks and another part that would make it a misdemeanor for immigrants to be present in the state without documents. This injunction makes it “likely, but not certain” that the Justice Department will win in federal court.⁵⁷
  • Lawyers for Governor Jan Brewer appealed Judge Bolton’s decision on July 29, 2010, wishing to lift the injunction against the law.⁵⁸
  • The court in which the appeal was filed set a November date for appeal in a federal court.⁵⁹

• Proposed Legislation
• Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005 (H.R. 4437)
  • On December 16, 2005, this legislation passed in the House of Representatives, with 92 percent of Republicans voting in favor and 82 percent of Democrats voting against.⁶⁰
  • This shows the differing opinions between Republicans and Democrats on illegal immigration.
  • When the legislation moved to the Senate, it did not pass.
  • This legislation made the act of being present in the United States illegally a felony offense.
  • Furthermore, under Title II, Section 401, any “alien who attempted to illegally enter the United States” would be “detained until removal.”⁶¹
  • Any alien found to be living in the United States illegally would be allowed to depart the United States voluntarily, provided that they paid a $3,000 fine and paid their own expenses out of the United States.
  • Also, this legislation stated that any illegal alien convicted of DUI would have been deported.⁶²
  • This legislation triggered the 2006 immigration reform protests.
  • These protests consisted of a series of marches over many months across the nation. The marchers were in favor of a comprehensive immigration reform and also believed that the Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005 would result in mass deportation.
  • One of the largest marches occurred in Los Angeles, with over 500,000 protesters participating. This march was “so massive”, with much of downtown Los Angeles crowded with protesters, “that few causes have matched it.”⁶³
  • On May 1, 2006, the protests continued with the Great American Boycott.
  • The aim of the Great American Boycott was to halt “business as usual” by having immigrants and those that support them boycott schools and businesses.⁶⁴
  • Over 500,000 people showed up at two separate marches in Los Angeles. In New York City, over 10,000 people formed a human chain to show their solidarity of support for immigration reform.⁶⁵

• Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act (S.1033)
  • Sponsored by Senator John McCain (R-AZ) and Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA), it was introduced on May 12, 2005. The aim of this bill, and the two bills that it spurred, was to be a compromise between Republicans and Democrats, while still reforming immigration policy. The bill was never voted on.
  • Under Title III, certain “essential workers” would be granted temporary visas.
  • Any aliens that were “present in the United States before the date” of the bill and who met other requirements would be granted non-immigrant status and no longer considered in the United States illegally.
  • This bill spurred two additional bills, which are discussed below.⁶⁶

• Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006 (S.2611)
  • Under Title IV, Section 402, a “new non-immigrant temporary worker category (H-2C visa)” would be instituted. This would allow an individual to work in the United States for three years, with one three year extension (S.2611).
  • Furthermore, aliens who were agricultural workers would “be admitted for up to a ten-month employment period” for up to three years total (S.2611).
  • Any alien who paid a $2,000 fine, was illegally present in the United States since April 5, 2001 and had been employed in the United States for three years during that five year period, among other requirements, would be eligible for permanent resident status.⁶⁷

• Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007 (S.1348)
  • This bill was sponsored by Republican Senators John McCain (AZ), Sam Brownback (KAN), Lindsey Graham (SC), Chuck Hagel (NEB), Mel Martinez (FLA) and Arlen Specter (PA). Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy (MA) was the lone Democratic sponsor.⁶⁸
  • This bill, like the one before it, was never voted on.
  • Undocumented workers would be allowed to legally live in the United States through the enactment of a new Z visa.⁶⁹
  • Also, temporary workers would be issued new Y visas. This visa would allow the worker to remain the the United States for two years, with the option to renew the visa three times.⁷⁰

• The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act (’The DREAM Act’)
  • Introduced on March 26, 2009 to both the House and the Senate. Prior versions of this bill were introduced in the both of the Comprehensive Immigrations Reform Acts of 2006 and 2007.
  • Currently, children brought here by immigrants can only apply for citizenship through their parents.
  • Under The DREAM Act, immigrants between the ages of 12 and 35 who were brought here before the age of 16 and have a high school diploma will be granted temporary residency for sex years.
  • If the immigrant obtains at least a two year degree or serves in the United State military for two years with an honorable discharge, that immigrant will obtain permanent citizenship.⁷¹

• Government Agencies and Technology
• United States Citizenship and Immigration
  • According to their official website, they are “the government agency that oversees lawful immigration to the United States.”⁷²
  • Created by the Homeland Security Act of 2002, the USCIS is a component of The Department of Homeland Security. They are one of three agencies (the other two being Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection) that replaces the old Immigration and Naturalization Services.⁷³
  • The USCIS “determines eligibility and processes applications” for naturalization applicants. They also verify that individuals are allowed to work in the United States.⁷⁴

• US-VISIT
  • This is technology collects “biometric data such as digital fingerprints and a photograph” from individuals entering the United States.
  • If a Mexican traveler uses his or her Border Crossing Card to “travel outside of the “border zone” and/or stay longer than 30 days”, that individual must be processed through US-VISIT.⁷⁵
  • Republicans believe that the US-VISIT system is very important in regards to illegal immigration, as it will allow officials to better track persons visiting the country.

Important Immigration Documents

• The United States Citizenship and Immigration’s Guide to Naturalization
• Various important documents for immigrants

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Sources