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A New Century: Immigration and the US
By MPI Staff
Updated by Kevin Jernegan
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February 2005
Immigration, perhaps more than any other social, political, or economic process, has shaped the United States over the past century. As the next decades of the 21st century unfold, the rate of immigrant-driven transformation, which began in earnest in the 1960s, will continue to accelerate. Never before has the Statue of Liberty, long the symbol of America's rich immigrant heritage, lifted her torch over so many foreign-born individuals and families.
In short, America's profound demographic and cultural transformation continues — and the policies that govern who can enter the US, and how, will affect every aspect of American life in the new century. Just how to minimize the challenges confronting this "nation of immigrants" while maximizing the attendant opportunities will continue to animate the US immigration policy discourse in the years to come.
Managing Immigration
The United States has a long history of regulating immigration, dating back to the 1860s. Early legislation, such as the 1924 National Origins Act and the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, sought overall limits on immigration, but strongly favored immigrants from Europe over other regions of the world.
It was the Immigration and Nationality Act Amendments of 1965, however, which set in motion a powerful set of forces that are still shaping the United States today. The 1965 Amendments ushered in sweeping changes to immigration policy by abolishing the national origins quota system as the basis for immigration and replacing it with a seven-category preference system for the allocation of immigrant visas.
In addition, numerical limits were increased from 154,000 to 290,000, of which 120,000 were reserved for immigrants from the Western Hemisphere. The 290,000-person limit did not include "immediate family members" of US citizens (spouses, minor children, or parents), who were exempt from numerical limitations.
In this period, the United States first began to witness the transformation from predominantly European immigration to Latin American and Asian flows that continue to characterize today's immigration patterns.
The Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended by the Refugee Act of 1980, brought US policy in line with the 1967 Protocol to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention. The protocol, together with the 1969 Organization of African Unity (OAU) Convention, expanded the number of persons considered refugees. Whereas previously the definition of refugee had centered on those affected by World War II, the new framework took into account other global conflicts contributing to the refugee population.
In another change, in response to the growing undocumented population in the US, Congress passed the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986. IRCA resulted in large part from the recommendations of the Select Commission on Immigration and Refugee Policy, which was created in 1977 to study illegal aliens and other aspects of immigration and refugee policy. The commission's final report in 1981 included over 100 recommendations.
In an attempt to "close the back door while opening the front door," IRCA granted amnesty to illegal immigrants who had resided in the United States for a certain period of time. That period varied depending on whether or not the immigrant worked in agriculture. At the same time, it attempted to curtail incentives for future undocumented immigration by creating a system of employer sanctions. The system criminalized the facilitation of illegal immigration by placing steep penalties on those who would harbor or hire unauthorized residents. The third component of IRCA — enhanced border control — did not begin in earnest until the mid-1990s.
The Immigration Act of 1990 rounded out this set of legislation by adjusting admissions categories and restructuring employment-based entry categories for both permanent and temporary entries. The goal has been to increase the skills and education levels of these entrants.
The decade of the 1990s was marked by state and federal legislation that limited immigrants' access to a range of social services and benefits. In 1994, California passed Proposition 187, one of the most controversial pieces of state law. Specifically, Proposition 187 denied undocumented immigrants in California access to public schools, medical care, and other social services, and required public employees and law enforcement officials to report suspected undocumented immigrants to the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
In 1996, Congress passed three new federal laws that limited access to public benefits and legal protections for non-citizens. Under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), commonly known as the Welfare Reform Act, legal and undocumented immigrants no longer had access to federal public benefits, such as Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and food stamps.
The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) hastened deportation of illegal immigrants who committed crimes. It also made it more difficult for immigrants to make legal appeals following executive branch decisions.
The last in the three pieces of legislation, the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA), made it easier to arrest, detain, and deport non-citizens.
By the end of the decade, Congress' attention had shifted to the booming economy's increasing need for highly skilled immigrants who could fill technology jobs. The American Competitiveness in the Twenty-First Century Act, passed in 2000, increased the number of temporary work visas (H-1Bs) available per year from 65,000 to 115,000 in fiscal year 2000, then to 195,000 for FY 2001, 2002 and 2003.
The most far-reaching changes in US immigration may stem from the events of September 11, 2001, and related concerns about the growing undocumented population in the country. These issues are discussed in detail below.
Parting the Waves
Non-citizens entering the United States are divided among three streams: "lawful permanent residents (LPRs)," "non-immigrants," and "undocumented migrants."
Lawful permanent residents are foreign-born individuals who have been admitted to reside permanently in the United States. Such immigrants may enter the US through family-sponsored immigration, employment-based immigration, or through refugee and asylum admissions.
Family-sponsored immigration accounts for more than three-quarters of all regular immigration into the United States. In some cases, permanent residents may be admitted through the diversity visa lottery program, which allots additional immigration visas to countries that are underrepresented in US immigration streams.
According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), legal immigration in fiscal year 2003 was 705,827, coming mainly from Mexico (115,864), India (50,379), the Philippines (45,397), China (40,659), El Salvador (28,296), the Dominican Republic (26,205) and Vietnam (22,133). Together, these seven countries accounted for nearly half of all legal immigration.
Overall immigrant admissions and adjustments of status for fiscal year 2003 fell by approximately a third, from 1,063,732 in fiscal year 2002, primarily as a consequence of heightened security precautions introduced after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
In addition to those non-citizens who arrive to take up permanent residence, some enter lawfully as "non-immigrants" — foreigners who are in the United States temporarily. Totaling more than 27.8 million in fiscal year 2003, this category includes tourists as well as those who enter to help fill the temporary needs of US employers — often on visas that allow stays of greater than a year.
There are dozens of non-immigrant visa classifications, including the F-1 category for students in academic or language programs, the J visa for those who enter for cultural exchange purposes, and the TN category for professionals from Canada or Mexico who enter under North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) regulations.
Work-entitled non-immigrants, such as holders of various types of H and other visas, play an increasing role in the US economy. The H-1B visa category provides for the temporary admission of workers with specialized knowledge and skills. Congress determines the number of H-1B visas available each year. The number of H-1B visas Congress approves has declined substantially in recent years, from a high of 195,000 in 2001-2003 to 65,000 for fiscal year 2005.
For six of the last eight years, the number of H-1B visas authorized each year has fallen short of US employers' demand, with the annual cap typically being filled within the first few months or even weeks of the fiscal year. For fiscal year 2005, the cap of 65,000 H-1B visas was depleted on October 1, 2004, the first day of the fiscal year. Despite the high demand, non-immigrant admissions have declined in recent years with a commensurate reduction in tourism, foreign student enrollments at US universities, cultural and scholarly exchange, and business travel.
"Illegal" or "unauthorized" immigrants enter the US by avoiding official inspection, passing through inspection with fraudulent documents, entering legally but overstaying the terms of their temporary visas, or somehow violating other terms of their visa. Under IRCA in 1986, roughly 2.7 million unauthorized migrants were legalized.
While it is notoriously difficult to measure the undocumented population, the US Census Bureau and most independent analysts estimate the figure to be between 9 and 10 million as of 2003, and growing at a rate between 300,000 and 500,000 each year. Mexico remains the leading country of origin, claiming nearly half of the total, with several Central American and European countries also strongly represented.
Closer Look at New Faces
Since the 1960s, the number of foreign-born people in the US has increased. In terms of absolute numbers, this number is at its highest point in history. According to US Census Bureau 2003 Current Population Survey (CPS) data, 33.5 million foreign born lived in the US, representing about 11.7 percent of the entire population. However, this percentage remains well below the historic highs of almost 15 percent in both 1890 and 1910.
Approximately 53.3 percent of these foreign-born persons originate from Latin America (including Central America, South America and the Caribbean), 25.0 percent from Asia, 13.7 percent from Europe, and 8.0 percent from other regions of the world, such as Africa and Oceania.
Migrants from Central America (including, for data purposes, Mexico) account for nearly one-third of the entire foreign-born population. Mexicans, the largest single group, now compose 27 percent of all foreign born.
Mexicans account for the largest proportion of the illegal immigrant population by far, with El Salvador and Guatemala running a distant second and third place. Hispanics now comprise the largest ethnic minority group in the US, at 12.5 percent.
Spreading Out
Data from the US Census Bureau 2004 Current Population Survey reveal that the foreign-born population is geographically concentrated, with 67 percent residing in only six of the 50 states – 29 percent in California alone. The other immigrant-heavy states are New York (11 percent), Texas (9 percent), Florida (9 percent), New Jersey (5 percent), and Illinois (4 percent).
While the six states mentioned above continue to attract and retain the bulk of the foreign-born population, there is a growing trend toward broader dispersal across the United States. Economic conditions, such as cost of living and employment opportunities, are increasingly motivating immigrants to move to states such as Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, Arizona, Arkansas, and Oregon. These non-traditional receiving states have seen significant growth in their foreign-born populations, ushering in a new era of integration challenges across the country.
Resettling Refugees
The United States has a substantial refugee resettlement program. With a "flexible" ceiling on admissions set yearly by the president and Congress, refugee admissions are distributed regionally by allotting slots to refugees from East Asia, Near East/South Asia, Africa, the former Soviet Union/Eastern Europe, and Latin America and the Caribbean.
The US Refugee Program has decreased in size over the last decade as some of the larger programs for refugees from Southeast Asia and the former Soviet Union have diminished. The admissions ceiling fell from a high of 142,000 in 1992 to a low of 70,000 for the fiscal years from 2002 to 2005. Added to this is a 1994 agreement with Cuba that provides for at least 20,000 Cuban immigrants through legal admissions channels.
Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the percentage of the authorized ceiling actually admitted has also fallen. Administrative delays and budgetary shortfalls typically preclude 100 percent of the authorized ceiling from being processed and admitted each year, but usually around 90 percent are admitted. In 2002 and 2003, however, largely due to heightened security measures, only about 40 percent of the 70,000 authorized were admitted. In 2004, the percentage rose to 75 percent.
The US also has an asylum program for persons arriving in the US who are unable to return to their home countries owing to a well-founded fear of persecution. Reformed in 1995, the program has focused on reducing backlogs, recognizing legitimate claims within 180 days, and weeding out and deterring fraudulent claims.
After steadily declining from 127,100 asylum claims in 1993 to roughly 39,700 in 2000, the US received 34,184 claims in 2004, of which 10,613 were approved. In fiscal year 2004, the majority of asylum applications were filed by citizens of Haiti, the People's Republic of China, and Colombia.
At the Borders
The US borders with Mexico and Canada are among the most active in the world. Canada is the United States' largest trading partner, with an average of US$1.2 billion traded every day, according to the US Trade Representative. Mexico claims second place, with an average of US$733 million traded per day. With 132 legal ports of entry along the Canadian border and 25 along the Mexican border, cross-border traffic is bustling.
Ninety percent of Canadians live within 100 miles of the US-Canada border. It is estimated that every day, about 250,000 people arrive in the US from Canada for a variety of reasons.
With Mexicans constituting roughly a quarter of the foreign-born population in the United States — far outnumbering other source countries—the southern border is extremely important for the futures of both the United States and Mexico.
In 2001, according to the US Embassy in Mexico City, the US processed 2,650,912 non-immigrant visa applications in Mexico, an increase of 17.65 percent over the 2,252,594 applications processed in 2000, which represented a 37 percent increase over the 1,635,309 applications in 1999.
These numbers indicate that the US is growing more dependent on Mexican labor, and that the two economies are becoming more integrated.
Becoming American
Of the 33.5 million foreign born residing in the US in 2003, approximately 38 percent have obtained US citizenship through naturalization. Applications for naturalization increased dramatically in the 1990s in response to legislative developments restricting access to public benefits and legal protections for non-citizens, including Proposition 187 in California (1994), the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act (1996), and the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA, 1996).
Between 1994 and 1997, the number of naturalization applications filed nearly tripled, from 543,353 to 1,412,712. Since 1999, there have been, on average, slightly more than half a million applications for naturalization received every year.
Increases in the number of applications filed for benefits such as citizenship and immigrant visas, coupled with increased security precautions following the events of September 11, have resulted in historically high backlogs of pending applications.
By the end of fiscal year 2003, the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) had a backlog of 6.1 million pending applications. Recent efforts to deal with the backlog have reduced it to 4.1 million pending applications at the close of fiscal year 2004.
The US Citizenship and Immigration Services Office (USCIS) is reviewing citizenship testing procedures to standardize testing criteria, eliminate questions based upon rote memorization, and add more interpretative questions. USCIS is conducting pilot studies and planning to offer the new test in late 2006.
21st Century Challenges
Two challenges are clearly front and center on the immigration horizon: security concerns resulting from the events of September 11, 2001, and comprehensive US immigration reform. The latter involves satisfying security concerns about illegal immigration, preventing future unauthorized immigration to the fullest extent possible, and providing adequate legal means for needed immigrants (close family members and workers) to enter the United States. Both challenges stand to reshape immigration's impact on the United States in the next two decades.
The "War on Terror" and Immigration: No recent event related to migration policy has seized the American public's attention with the same urgency as the attacks of September 11, 2001. The threat to US national security posed by terrorism prompted, in 2002, the creation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which merged 22 federal agencies and abolished the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). In its place, the DHS division of US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) handles immigrant visa petitions, naturalization applications, and asylum and refugee applications. The Customs and Border Protection (CBP) division oversees the entry of all people and goods at all ports of entry.
The terrorist attacks also catalyzed the passage of far-reaching enforcement laws with implications not only for suspected terrorists, but for immigrants already in the US and all people seeking to enter the country.
Most prominent among these has been the USA Patriot Act, which was signed by President George W. Bush in October 2001. The stated goal of the Act is to deter terrorism in the US and worldwide through enhanced law enforcement and a crackdown on terrorist money laundering. The Act also expands law enforcement powers to search, monitor, detain, and deport suspected terrorists, strengthens border enforcement (especially along the Canadian border), and allows for the detention of foreign nationals for up to seven days while the government decides whether or not to file criminal or immigration charges.
Other legislative developments expanding the administration's authority to combat terrorism have also had implications for immigrants. The Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002, for example, tightens visa screening, border inspections, and tracking of foreigners.
The 2001 Congressional Authorization for the Use of Military Force, which authorizes the administration to "use all necessary and appropriate force" to prevent future acts of terrorism, has also been employed to arrest and detain individuals suspected of ties with terrorist organizations.
Because increasingly expansive measures to prevent or intercept terrorist activities could have implications for the rights and liberties of immigrants and US citizens alike, immigrant and civil liberties groups have closely followed these developments and made legislative efforts to keep government power in check. Numerous lawsuits have also been filed in federal courts, challenging in particular the government's authority to indefinitely detain persons without the benefit of due process protections.
The debate over intelligence reform highlights the division over the role of border management in combating terrorism. Created by Congress in 2002, the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (also known as the 9/11 Commission) was charged with investigating the circumstances surrounding the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and recommending responses. Its final report and recommendations were released in July 2004.
The 2004 Intelligence Reform and Terrorist Prevention Act implemented many of the 9/11 Commission's recommendations regarding intelligence operations, but did not include a number of contentious immigration measures. These measures went beyond the Commission's specific recommendations, nearly preventing the legislation's passage. The immigration-related proposals would have expanded the government's authority to arrest, detain, and deport immigrants, restricted judicial review and oversight, reduced the number of documents immigrants may use to establish their identity, and barred undocumented aliens from receiving driver's licenses.
In the coming decade, exploration of the nexus of security, civil liberties, and immigration, as well as the tolerance for such sweeping legislation, will continue to spark domestic immigration and security debates.
Comprehensive US Immigration Reform: As part of growing political attention to the intersection of immigration and security issues, the administration and some members of Congress have become increasingly concerned about the growing undocumented population, estimated to be between 9 and 10 million.
From a national security point of view, the presence of a large undocumented population, the size, composition, and movements of which cannot be monitored, represents an unacceptable obstacle to keeping the US secure. At the same time, the undocumented population plays an important role in the US economy, particularly in the agricultural and construction sectors, which rely heavily upon low-cost labor to keep consumer prices low and remain competitive in global markets.
In January 2004, President George W. Bush praised the contributions of immigrants to the US and proposed a temporary guest-worker program. Under his proposal, immigrants willing to work in jobs for which US workers are scarce may be granted a three-year work visa, which could be renewed once for an additional three years. After those six years, the workers would be required to return home.
President Bush has been careful to distance himself from a blanket amnesty program. He nonetheless faces opposition from conservative Republicans who believe a guest-worker program would reward those who entered the US illegally and encourage more illegal immigration. Other critics argue that, in the absence of any potential for eventual permanent residency, President Bush's proposal provides too little incentive for immigrants to participate in the guest-worker program and leave the US once their stays expire.
Independent of President Bush's guest-worker proposal, members of Congress have also been working on several pieces of legislation designed to legalize portions of the undocumented population. It is unclear what direction and form pending and new legislation will take during the President's second term.
Conclusions
As immigrants and immigration flows in general have been cast into the debate on national security, immigration will retain its current position as a domestic and security policy issue.
In addition, President George W. Bush will likely make comprehensive immigration reform a priority issue in his second term. Important in this regard is the country's ability to enhance security while facilitating the movement of high- and low-skilled immigrants.
At the same time, the family-reunification dimension of US immigration, combined with the country's international humanitarian obligations, further emphasize the importance of this issue.
Ultimately, the ability of the United States to capture the benefits of immigration will depend on its capacity to integrate immigrants in a meaningful way. This is as true in America's big cities as it is in the heartland.
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