Immigration to US: Balancing Morality & Protection - Essay Sample

Introduction

Over the years of its existence, the United States has been a huge attraction for immigrants who come for various reasons. Having such a huge influence on the world's immigration process is a daunting process for the country due to the need for maintaining humanity as well as having an alert on who is in the country. Maintaining this line between moralities and protecting oneself from potential dangers can be quite challenging for the countries system.

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When deciding on who is allowed to the country, various aspects have to be put into consideration. One, the immigrant's reason or reasons for fleeing their country is to be considered. Knowing why they left their home country and specifically chose to seek refuge in the USA will form the basis through which their legitimacy is considered. It is also worth noting that the trust in the immigrant should be ascertained to ensure these individuals are productive while in the country. Having a history of criminals and terrorists sipping through the country borders and causing havoc, makes every citizen worried of whom is let into the borders. By allowing individuals who are untrained in any speciality or who have a criminal record could be a potential risk in the nation's security (Hsu, 2017). With high rates of unemployment, idle individuals could be the trap for potential criminal activities.

As described above, it then becomes a hard task to achieve a rule were considering the humane things to do and how these actions must be within the scope of national security. The penalties and restrictions are affected by the natural need of humans to help and have empathy towards others. These laws are then needed to address both the morality as well as ensuring that the nation is safe from potential criminals.

The Controversy of Border Security and Immigration

During the past few years, immigrants from Mexico have been the centre of attention in that they have been restrictions on who enters through the southern border. This part has been marked controversy due to the current trend of ominous numbers of immigrants over the current years. This has been marked with the introduction of building the Mexican border which by itself is another controversial step for the nation. It has been observed that during this time, various immigrants from Mexico, Guatemala among other nations in South America have been marked with several challenges along their way and even in the US. Due to skyrocketing levels of poverty and political instability in these countries, the people have been forced to seek refuge in other countries with a hope to provide a better place for their children.

A study done by CNN showed the pains through which mothers and children go through to reach the border of Mexico and the US from their countries. A story of one expectant mother who walked for several weeks from Guatemala to the US-Mexico border seeking entry into the States was such an example of desperation and poverty in their home country (Liu, 2016). With this in mind, it is worth noting though some cases are extremely genuine; others take advantage and enter the country through this route but with evil intentions. The president has over the time emphasized on the need for an America with peace and stability with no fear of having immigrant turn on the local. His ideas led to the proposal of the building of the US-Mexican fence which will limit the entry of illegal immigrants. These cases and approaches may not be acceptable to many and hence the need for a "best-practice" law that will be both morally acceptable and also put into consideration the welfare on the country.

By closely observing the society, it is observed that it is divided into sections that believe in some of way in which the immigrants should be handled. These groups are seen to possess characteristics which separate them from the common group of people. Recent events at Texas can be used to emphasis the extremes to which society could get to ensure they have a society free from intruders (as they seem to think).

The Rise of the Immigrant Issue

Various aspects can be attributed to the rise in the concern on the role played by in immigrants in the country. The issue of viewing immigrants as a source of trouble in the society or a potential threat could be traced to the human instinct and maintenance of territories. Most anti-immigrant groups will attribute their claims to the theory that these may be a channel for distortion of the societal culture and norms.

None the less, various aspects from a legal perspective have been the cause for the limitation on immigrants. Initially, interior security is the main cause of the limitations to be put in place. The Homeland security act of 2002, for example, called for the centralization of Homeland Security to handle all aspects involving the entry and control of immigrants within the country (Clayton and Firth, 2018). These were mainly done to maintain a society where security was assured and relative control of the rising cases of terrorism infiltrating through the country's border security.

During the massive labour import from China, in the 1870s resulted in devastating economic results in the country and hence led to the drafting of the Page Act of 1875. This period was marked by the drastic rise in the number of Chinese immigrants who were at that time employed to work as labourers but ended up being jobless at the end of their contract. Such laws helped the country stabilize itself and maintain a harmonious society. With a large number of unemployed foreigners in the country, the government could not help but establish a basis through which they are employed and their stay in the country.

The society will always tend to welcome those they deem fit and valuable in the overall welfare of the country. The Naturalization Act of 1906 is a good example of such. It was implemented due to the rise of immigrants getting into the country at the time. It became necessary because with a huge number in the country it could be imminent that the dependency rate would rise. It was then that a bar was set for who could be granted Citizenship. This implementation saw the rise in the rate of discrimination as individuals who would be seen as untrained and of much little value would not be welcome.

By early 2005, the laws had drastically changed. The restrictions on who could work in the country had been lifted and now the workers were required to be local and if not they had to meet some standards which would ensure the alien is legally in the country. This law raised the level at which petty jobs could be acquired. It also restricted the transactions within the country to only those who possess legal ID (Spies, 2018). It also marked a crucial period because it opened the way for the implementation of border restrictions on the immigrants.

The Psychology Behind Implementation of Laws on Immigration

What could be the reason behind every decision made about immigrants? Why do they behave the way they do when making these laws? What are the considerations they put in scope for the arguments? When looking into these reasons, the psychology behind every action becomes imminent. It is easy to assume that all these decisions are made based on one or a few factors. However, who decides the laws will ultimately determine the type of rules that will be put in place. If these players in the implementation of the laws are tending towards the removal of immigrants then they will always have some factors that will define them. It is also imminent that these fellows will develop laws that will favour their point of view. When trying to understand their drive and motivation, it is commonly observed that they will have some values that cause them to think the way they do.

Feeling insecure is essential for the survival of the human race, it is only worse when the subjects feel they are threatened too much that they result in violent ways of retaliation. Authoritarianism is common among the anti-immigrant groups. They will always develop a resistance phobia that causes them to retaliate against the allowance of immigrants in the country (Moullan, 2018). These cases are sometimes resulting in serious issues which include the mass shooting of civilians as stated before. With cultural diversity between the immigrants and the locals, it is common to find both parties struggling to adapt to the other's way of life. This difference in culture and traditions can be traumatizing as it brings about contradicting sides of individuals. It is also worth noting that these groups of people will have to go through a difficult time in the process of trying to find a middle ground for peaceful co-existence.

With these ideas and variables, the laws created by the local authority on bars for immigrants can sometimes escalate and be extreme. This will be attributed to the feeling of insecurity and the urge to reject the intrusion of immigrants. Such behaviour can be observed by the threatening to abolish any immigration from specific countries. Immigration laws can, therefore, be discriminative as they will tend to centralize the basis of acceptance of the state if the individual without considering their previous conditions.

An Ethical Dilemma

What are the restrictions to what can be done when handling immigration issues? At this point, understanding the ethical boundary to which the nation cannot cross when handling immigration. Immigrants are always moving into a country with a reason, this then calls for critical analysis to unravel this cause. This section gives an insight into how various issues should be handled ethically. Any immigrant should be closely assessed to ascertain the level of need that they have. Over time, it has been observed that terrorists can mix with legitimate immigrants and end up in a country where they can cause havoc. To avoiding any eluding of the border restrictions, the security should be extended to within the country (Hsu, 2016). This will form the basis of which the security will be enhanced.

The ethical behaviour at the border could be challenging in that the officers are faced with challenges that could interfere with their moral code. At the border, the officer is expected to ensure that only people with legible qualifications. This can anyhow be distorted when the officer is involved in practices that include making a profit from the activity. Seek of financial gain could lead to an officer moving from their way to give privilege to others who do not deserve. It is also common that an individual will tend to take the laws and implement in such a way that they feel is favourable to their own beliefs. This can be devastating to the basis of ethics as the individual will be biased towards the individuals from the other countries. They will most likely be tilted towards the ones they have a view of being favourable. This act of bias could be enormous to how the undertakings of the border are done.

Maintaining honesty could be a difficult task for the officer. Various factors could affect how they are inclined to make their decisions. These can be a factor of a preconceived societal believe, which can be causative of the agent being in wrong practice. Officers could be prone to making distorted decisions or change the expected results. At this point, it is easier for the officer to undermine the law to satisfy believes.

Given a free environment, officers will be faced with the challenge of ensuring they execute their tasks in a non-violent way. At the border, there have been cases of law enforcement be...