Argument in Support of Illegal Immigrants receiving Social Services - Essay Example

?Argument in Support of Illegal Immigrants receiving Social Services Among various problems that the socio-economic scenario of the United s of America has experienced in recent situation, illegal immigration is definitely one that has resulted in a great deal of debate both from politico-bureaucratic and human rights perspectives. Increase in the illegal process of immigration mainly from Mexico to the United States, though has a long history, however, was witnessed most conspicuously since 1970s afterwards. Roots of the problem can be cited within execution of the Bracero Program during World War II (specifically in the year 1942) that allowed US employers to derive temporary workers from Mexico (Lemay 4). Now US being one of the strongest economic powers and having a politically stable democratic structure compared to Mexico, was regarded by majority of such workforce as a convenient shelter that would help them for economic and social prosperity. Thus, while a major part of the temporary workers never left the United States even after expiration of their temporary visas, on the other hand, America’s economic and social stability continued to attract immigrants from Mexico to such an extent that even after demise of the Bracero Program and consequent implementation of the “Immigration and Naturalization Act, 1965” much success could not be attained in controlling the process of illegal immigration. According to recent estimation (2006) the United States is home for 34.7 million immigrants of whom 9.4 million have received legal sanctions to reside and enjoy the civil rights of the nation whereas 11.6 million are estimated to be illegal immigrants. This huge population that does not have any legal right to reside and enjoy the benefits as offered by the nation is also considered to be threats against economic and social security of common US citizens (Colton-Sonnenberg 2-3). Empowered by the “Border Protection, Anti-Terrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act, 2005” the American administration has received authority to restrict illegal immigrants from receiving social services. The Act clearly states that application for permanent residence from people who have immigrated illegally will remain unauthorized unless they are recognized as legal citizens of the United States. The Act further states that applications for asylum or any other “Temporary Protected Status” will also be rejected by the state authorities (Colton-Sonnenberg 4). While considering the fact that the economic supremacy United States is enjoying owes a great deal to the illegal immigrants, actions taken by the nation against providing them with any kind of social service facilities clearly appear to be maliciously selfish and biased on humanitarian grounds. It has been clearly specified by several legal propositions (such as Proposition 187 of 1994) and Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigration Responsibility Act, 1996 that illegal immigrants are mainly responsible for economically burdening the nation as well as increased anti-social activism (Koven, and Gotzke 140-142). Illegal immigration, from legal perspective, is clearly an act of offense and a state has every right to take actions against those who are joining the act. However, actions taken by the United States to condemn the offense is offensive in itself as those are violating both legal principle of naturalism and norms of humanity. While evaluating the issue of American socio-economic prosperity, the immense contribution from immigrants and their successors in this scenario has been acknowledged by the former American President John F. Kennedy. He not only recognized the United States as a nation of immigrants but also emphasized on the importance of formulating immigration policy in such a manner so that social welfare of the immigrants is ensured (Colton-Sonnenberg 3). Getting to the roots of immigration problem it becomes clear the flaws in implementing the foreign policy has a major role to play to result in the influx of illegal immigration: “Numerous studies and scholars have noted the importance of the Mexican immigration patterns to the United States established during the Bracero period, which essentially set-up chain-migration patterns that have persisted long after the end of the Bracero Program – indeed, these patterns even influence today’s undocumented immigration flows” (LeMay 4). While the situation could have improved with adequate evaluation of the entire system that contributed to the problem, decision of the American government to restrain illegal immigrants from enjoying their rights as human beings is actually exposing government’s declining tendency to acknowledge their mistakes and through same means they also wish to justify their actions wrongfully. While through the Fourteenth Amendment of the US Constitution has provided specific importance on protecting the “Equality before the Law” principle (Madden), however, legal efforts to deprive illegal immigrants from accessing their rights as human beings and consequently seclusion from the entire social domain clearly suggest violation of the principle. Amanda Peralta has quite specifically expressed her concern against tendency of the American governance and judiciary against illegal immigrants, resulting in crimes against humanity, as they aim to deprive the immigrants from enjoying their social rights: “As a result of lenient supervision of local law enforcement agencies that are acting as federal immigration officials, dozens upon dozens of human rights violations are being cited in this deportation process. ... asylum seekers ... have been denied the knowledge of the judicial process and provided no guidance or legal counsel; human trafficking victims have been lost in a system that is blind to human suffering and goes against everything the American judicial system is supposed to stand for. Every day the number of wrongs committed grows” (Peralta). The act of illegal immigration is clearly offensive in terms of both humanistic and legal grounds but undertaking actions that are of the same nature against this act is not justified and cannot also be supported. The increasing rate of illegal immigration from Mexico to the United States can be regarded as a matter of concern, especially in the era of social security crisis but in order to solve this situation the United States is required to evaluate the past mistakes and consequently formulate foreign policies in such a manner so that the problem is solved without social welfare issue of the immigrants from humanistic perspective are not violated. The legal propositions and Acts executed by the US government actually aim at depriving these immigrants from necessary social services, aspects that are essential for their daily survival. Adoption of criminal actions, as the US governance is doing, in order to end an act of crime (illegal immigration) neither can be supported on humanist nor on jurisprudential grounds. Works Cited Colton-Sonnenberg, Ana. The Present Debate about Illegal Immigration. Norderstedt: GRIN Verlag. 2008. Gotzke, Frank. and Koven, Steven G. American Immigration Policy: Confronting the Nation's Challenges. Amsterdam: Springer, 2010. Hanson, Gordon Howard. The economic logic of illegal immigration. Washington DC: Council on Foreign Relations, 2007. LeMay, Michael C. Illegal immigration: a reference handbook. Santa-Barbara: California: ABC-CLIO, 2007. Madden, Russell. “Equality before the Law”. Available at: http://home.earthlink.net/~rdmadden/webdocs/Equality_Before_the_Law.html. Retrieved on: July 7, 2011. Peralta, Amanda. “Injustices against illegal immigrants.” The Chronicle. Nov. 17, 2009. Available at: http://dukechronicle.com/article/injustices-against-illegal-immigrants. 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