American Immigration Policy: How Strait the Gate?

Abstract

The history behind the existing immigration law in the US is reviewed followed by an analysis of the current immigration situation and its causes; examination of the effects of immigration on labor markets population foreign policy and refugee problems; and consideration of the desirability of change in the present immigration policy and law. Until the late 19th century immigration to the US was unrestricted. The 1st major postwar immigration legislation was the McCarran Walter Act of 1952 which retained the national origins quota system for immigrants from the Eastern Hemisphere and unrestricted immigration for the Western Hemisphere. By 1965 it became clear that the national origins system had to be changed. Under the 1965 Act each country in the Eastern Hemisphere was provided with a maximum annual quota of 20000. Overall the bill greatly favored family reunification with 74% of the visas allocated to family members 20% to workers and 6% to refugees from communism or from the Middle East. In addition spouses and minor unmarried children of US citizens and parents of adult US citizens were admitted entirely outside of the quota restrictions and amounted to an additional 100000 immigrants per year. The total annual worldwide quota was set in 1965 at 290000. The 1965 Act remains the basis of the system today. Major changes occurred in 1976 when the preference system was extended to the Western Hemisphere; in 1978 when the hemispheric quotas were combined into 1 worldwide quota; and in 1980 with the passage of the Refugee Act. This latter Act allowed entry of refugees as defined by the UN. Of all the 1st World countries the US currently receives twice as many refugees and immigrants as the rest of the world combined. If the population effects of immigration are in dispute the labor market effects are even more hotly contested. Fierce debate exists over the allegation that aliens take jobs from US citizens and depress wages and working conditions. The present administration needs to realize that there are advantages to retaining a system that is familiar and works and that replacing it with untried solutions may actually create more problems than it solves. No changes can eliminate the irreconcilable conflicts of immigration policy. The goals acknowledged--primarily reuniting families and secondarily admitting needed workers and refugees--are themselves in conflict because immigrants in all categories must share a limited number of visas. Other goals such as encouraging investment or retirement or limiting population growth make the choices more difficult. The difficulties the US faces in establishing and implementing an immigration policy are not the result of incompetence or intolerance. The problems exist because the US continues to be attr active to enormous numbers of aliens and because the country is willing to admit a substantial number of them.