Sociology of Immigration - Essay Example

Most recently, the immigration debate has centered on the most effective way to streamline the extremely bureaucratic process of visa application and focus on the millions of undocumented immigrants within US borders. The debate is also focused on the implementations of policy at the local level without placing public trust in jeopardy, especially among immigrant communities. The US continues to tussle with the issue of controlling immigration. The purpose of this paper is to present a sociological assessment of the ability of the US to control its borders, discussing how the state cannot control the movement of migrants, and the implications of this incapacity.

Although many American legislatures advocate controlling migration into the country, the current situation does not reflect this position. An examination of the history of migration shows that the US has been unable to control migration effectively. Federal legislation aimed at providing comprehensive reform to the migration topic has stalled in recent years. During its first term, the Obama administration focused on enforcement-based policies of deterring illegal immigration. Meanwhile limiting state-level immigration laws highlight the blurry divide between federal and state authority regarding immigration policy (West 112). . People’s decisions to migrate from their countries of origin to others, for instance, the US, are typically influenced by a myriad of factors, which can be categorized in two major groups: push and pull factors.

Push factors include environmental factors in the country of origin, for instance, lack of enough job opportunities, poor medical services, political fear and fear or torture, natural disasters, primitive conditions, few chances of finding companionship and loss of wealth (West 71). On the other hand, pull factors consist of attractive attributes of the country to which the migrants move. For instance, improved job opportunities and living standards, lower crime rates, better medical services, security and education, and family links push people to migrate to the US.

Immigration processes are quite difficult to steer. People’s decisions to leave their countries of origin to seek enriched lives elsewhere have a fundamental effect on their wellbeing. Consequently, many people accept extreme risks to enter the US. These choices are extremely unlikely to be swayed in a reliable manner by border controls, threats of detention or deportation or internal checks. In liberal democracies such as the US, punitive measures against migration are immensely difficult to justify (West 76).

In fact, there is a lot to suggest that harsh measures stimulate highly sophisticated attempts at evasion with regard to traffickers and migrant smugglers. This means that migration control guidelines have the opposite effect of compelling people further underground, exposing them to vulnerabilities such as exploitation. Things become even more complex when migrants enter the US, where they are typically able to gain access to more opportunities and services than they would have in