7 Things You Didn't Know About Immigration

Many have heard this quote during the presidential campaign as Donald Trump proposed his future changes that would come with his presidency. Anyone living in the United States has been affected by immigration and will continue to be affected by the ongoing changes whether it happens in their community, family, or to themselves.  More and more cases are being seen daily about families affected by immigration reforms.

Although studies do indeed show an increase in immigration and crime, they have also shown they have little to no correlation at all.  Problems such as human trafficking have been shown to occur and increase because of illegal immigration, but most illegal immigrants were proven to be victims.(Still) The fear of deportation and losing everything they’ve worked for also lowers the chances of an undocumented immigrant to commit a crime. (Landgrave & Nowrasteh) Many migrate into the United States in hopes of getting a better life and have been shown to be more law abiding.

 According to Michelangelo Landgrave and Alex Nowrasteh, there were an estimated 2,007,502 natives, 122,939 illegal immigrants, and 63,994 legal immigrants incarcerated in 2014. Natives are more likely to commit a crime for several reason one being the fact that they don't lose much. Being a native grants an individual to legal assistance and other resources that will help them in the future, while illegal immigrants will be trialed and then deported to their country of origin.

Gaining entry into the United States illegally can be very challenging and even life threatening. To "cross the border" requires physical and mental insurance.  Many risk their lives and leave their families behind in their country of origin in order to provide their own families with a better life. They also constantly live in fear of being deported and losing everything, including being separated from their families again. They are unable to get better paying jobs due to the lack of documentation and are often abused in the workforce by being paid extremely low wages and given little to no benefits.

Many illegal immigrants faced and had to endure many hardships  in order to make it into the United States. Many leave their families behind in their country of origin in order to provide their own families with a better life.  The Hispanic culture, for example,  family is the core of all belief and personally witnessing the strong family ties that occur in the culture it is evident to see that undocumented immigrants are less likely to risk the chances of getting deported. The thought of being separated from their families is very challenging and has even been shown to cause medical problems within those who are undocumented (Health Implications). Many immigrant families are constantly worried about being separated. According to Deborah A. Boehm, the policies that direct family reunification are legally and logistically complicated, resulting in it being very unlikely for families to reunify after deportation.

Mix-Status families contain family members that are both documented and non-documented. Although the United States does have many immigration policies, such as the US Immigration Policy and the Case for Family Unity, that promote family unification, the new immigration reforms have made the already complex immigration reforms almost impossible to comply with.   The application process can become one of the easiest task compared to the challenge of having to be separated from one's family for an indefinite amount of time.  (Gubernskaya & Dreby) According to Zoya Gubernskaya and Joanna Dreby, the application for a legally immigrating a family member can take up to 20 years and can be very pricey when using immigration lawyers.

A common approach that has been used to control illegal immigration has been deportation.  ICE, the government affiliated organization, has conducted various raids in factories, fields, and communities. ICE has recently been known to do massive deportations, dropping many off at the boarder, such as Tijuana, Mexico. Despite the attempts ICE hasn't been very successful and has created furry and fear within communities. The American government also pays for the detainment of illegal immigrants, and the transportation of the detainee to their native country. Deportation has become such a big part of our society and controversy continues to rise within the United States.

Deportation isn’t helping reduce crime rates but instead has been proven to be separating families.  A recent Times magazine report showed a case of Maria, mother of two, was forced to raise her daughters on her own due to the deportation of her husband. Many more cases such as Maria’s occur throughout the United States where families are being separated and forced to make life changing decisions that will affect the entire family.  According to a study conducted in Los Angeles California by Kristina K Hermann, many children as well as the parents experience trauma after being faced with deportation. Legalized children are being forced to experience and endure a situation that comes with deportation.  The economic loss can provoke tension between the families. (Hermann)