The Evolution of Immigration in the United States: the RAISE Act

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By: Justine Bearss

History of Immigration

Since colonial times, the United States has been a country of immigration, and has slowly become home to the largest immigrant population in the world. Beginning as early as the 1500s, Europeans and West Africans began to make their way to what is now known as the United States.

The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882

It was not until the 19th century that the United States experienced a surge of immigration, forcing the creation of the first immigrant-related piece of legislation: the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. The goal of this act was to ban Chinese labourers from migrating to America, as well as ban any Chinese that are currently in America from re-entering the country if they were to ever leave.

The Immigration Act of 1917

The Chinese Exclusion Act remained as the only restriction on immigration until 1917, when the Asiatic Barred Zone Act was put into place. This law restricted “undesirable” migrants, whom of which were from “any country not owned by the United States and was adjacent to the continent of Asia,” (Tucker & Creller, n.d.). These individuals were described as “idiots, imbeciles, feeble-minded persons, epileptics and insane persons,” (Chavez, 2017).

The Immigration Act of 1924

The Immigration Act of 1917 eventually encouraged the creation of the Immigration Act of 1924. This act inflicted heavy restrictions on immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe, limiting only 2% of each nationality to enter the United States per year (U.S. Immigration Since 1965, n.d.).

The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965

In 1965, the Immigration and Nationality Act was created. This goal of this legislation was to abolish the exclusion of Asian and African immigrants, as well the previously set quotas from 1924. The United States gave preference to individuals with specialized skills, immediate relatives of those already in the U.S., those with labor certifications, or those seeking temporary asylum. This law caused a shift in the diversity of the American people, bringing more culture, traditions, and ways of life into the country.

Beginning in the 1980s, there was a surge of illegal immigrants entering the United States, and has continued into present day. It has been estimated that in 2014, there were 11.1 million illegal immigrants living in the United States (Team & Nicholson, 2017). This high number has been seen as a grave problem to many American citizens and policy makers, and continues to be a driving force for current legislation in the United States.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Immigration in the United States

Advantages

Immigration can produce many benefits for a country, but has also been seen to bring negative effects to the natives of that country. For the United States, in particular, immigrants have provided great economic benefits. For example, in 2016, foreigners contributed over $2 trillion to the U.S. economy, and overall, has increased wages for American born labourers by an estimated 0.4 percent (Team & Nicholson, 2017). Furthermore, the young age of immigrants is gradually helping to slow down the currently aging workforce.

Disadvantages

However, even though immigration has brought the above benefits to the United States, there are several downsides that are encouraging current migration legislation proposals. In fact, 3 in 4 Americans have articulated that they desire tighter restrictions on immigration (Porter, 2017). It is believed that immigrants are taking jobs away from Americans that are currently unemployed and struggling to reenter into the workforce. Furthermore, many believe that immigrants are causing national wages to decrease, leaving Americans with less money.

The RAISE Act

President Donald Trump agrees with the latter group of Americans, articulating that immigration laws must be tightened, and has therefore endorsed the RAISE Act or the Reforming American Immigration for a Strong Economy Act. The overall goal of this piece of legislation is to eventually cut immigration to the United States by 50% over the next 10 years. His proposal includes the following:

  • Green cards are currently given to more than one million people per year. The RAISE Act hopes to cut this number down to 500,000 per year.
  • Green cards that are given out for employment reasons will now be based on a points system. This means that potential immigrants will be ranked based on their level of education, potential employment opportunities, ability to speak English, and age.
  • Newly migrated individuals will no longer be eligible to receive any type of welfare until they have been a U.S. resident for a minimum of five years.
  • Immigrants that hope to enter the United States based on familial connections will only be given preference if they are a spouse or a child under 18.
  • The U.S. currently has a green card diversity lottery in effect, which allows individuals to enter United States for reasons other than employment potential, family connections or refuge. With the RAISE Act, this program would be completely abolished.
  • The number of refugee seeking asylum in the United States would be cut to 50,000 per year.

In addition to the above proposals, Donald Trump has recently shown support for the construction of a wall between the United States and Mexico to prevent unauthorized immigrants from entering the country.

Implications

It is hoped that the RAISE Act will allow unemployed Americans to re-enter the workforce and take the jobs previously held by immigrants. This, in turn, is believed to help the U.S. economy grow, as well as increase national wages.

However, there are some economists and Americans that oppose this bill. If the RAISE Act were implemented, it would completely erase the 4 million individuals in the immigration backlog currently waiting to enter the country (Anderson, 2017). Furthermore, if immigration were cut in half, economic growth in the United States would actually decrease by 12.5% (Anderson, 2017).

Outcome

This bill has not yet been passed and is currently still in negotiations. It is uncertain whether or not this bill will be implemented and if immigration will be cut by 50% within the next 10 years.

References

115th Congress: 1st Session. (n.d.). Retrieved 11 03, 2017, from Senate.gov: https://www.cotton.senate.gov/files/documents/170802_New_RAISE_Act_Bill_Text.pdf

Alcaraz, A. O., & Chicon, R. M. (2017, 01 23). A comparative approach of dealing with diversity: the managing of immigration and education in Spain and immigration and health in USA. 28. Revista de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades.

Altangerel, K. (2017, 12 01). U.S. Immigration Reform and the Migration Dynamics of Mexican Males. De Economist (Netherlands), 165(4), 463-485.

Anderson, S. (2017, 09 18). RAISE Act is DACA Poison. Retrieved 11 03, 2017, from Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/2017/09/18/raise-act-is-daca-poison-pill/#7a44b5499909

Berardi, R. (2017, 11 20). Year in Review: President Trump and Immigration. Buffalo Law Journal, 89(47), pp. 3-3.5.

Chavez, L. (2017, 10). Trump's Massive Miscalculation. Foreign Policy(226).

Chinese Exclusion Act. (n.d.). Retrieved 11 02, 2017, from Our Documents: https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&doc=47

History. (2017). U.S. Immigration Before 1965. Retrieved 11 02, 2017, from History: http://www.history.com/topics/u-s-immigration-before-1965

Joseph, C. (2017). What are the Advantages & Disadvantages of Immigration Employment? Retrieved 11 02, 2017, from Chron: Small Business: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/advantages-disadvantages-immigration-employment-2920.html

O'Connor, B. H., & Figueroa, A. M. (2017, 12). A Time to Keep Silence and a Time to Speak. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 48(4), 411-419.

Porter, E. (2017, 02 08). How the Make America Greater: Allow More Immigration. The New York Times, 166(57502), 1.

Powers, B. (2017, 10). Losing Hearts and Minds. New Republic, 248(10), pp. 8-10.

Shugerman, E. (2017, 08 02). Donald Trump announces new immigration policy favouring financially stable English speakers. Retrieved 11 02, 2017, from Independent: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-immigration-policy-english-speakers-financial-stable-raise-act-tom-cotton-david-perdue-a7873711.html

Team, C. I., & Nicholson, M. D. (2017, 04 20). The Facts on Immigration Today: 2017 Edition. Retrieved 11 02, 2017, from Center for American Progress: https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/immigration/reports/2017/04/20/430736/facts-immigration-today-2017-edition/

The Effects of Immigration on the United States' Economy. (n.d.). Retrieved 11 02, 2017, from Penn Warton: University of Pennsylvania: http://budgetmodel.wharton.upenn.edu/issues/2016/1/27/the-effects-of-immigration-on-the-united-states-economy

Tucker, D., & Creller, J. (n.d.). 1917 Immigration Act. Retrieved 11 02, 2017, from The University of Washington-Bothell Library: http://library.uwb.edu/Static/USimmigration/1917_immigration_act.html

U.S. Immigration Since 1965. (n.d.). Retrieved 11 02, 2017, from History: http://www.history.com/topics/us-immigration-since-1965

US immigration proposals: What's in the Raise Act? (2017, 08 02). BBC, 2017(11), p. 02.

Wikipedia. (2017, 10 28). Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. Retrieved 11 02, 2017, from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_and_Nationality_Act_of_1965

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