The Need For A Change In The Immigration Process In America

Immigration is a huge topic of discussion in modern America, with worries of illegal immigrants crossing the border. A question that pops into my mind is, “why does the immigration process take so long?” The process is expected to take over five years longer because of this extensive and particular manner to become a permanent resident; there are three favorite ways to achieve legal residence. There is a need for a change in the process to make it more rapidly and efficiently or change how the legal obtainment of permanent residency can be established.

Zach Quinn from Cronkite News discusses the issues regarding immigration policy and how it affects many different aspects of life for immigrants. How the prolonged and outdated practices require new ways for who and how someone becomes a resident of the United States. Quinn talks to Edgar Grace from Mesa, Arizona, and he states that:

...first came to the United States after his father, a lawful permanent resident, petitioned on his behalf. From 1990 to 2000, the Garcias traveled back and forth from Guadalajara, Mexico to Chicago, where Garcia and his mother obtained visas and waited six years for green cards. Then he waited another nine years to receive full citizenship.

Grace is one of the various examples of immigrants being stuck in a waiting game, trying to obtain their full citizenship. He was compliant with everything, and he meant one of three criteria to become a U.S. citizen of either being a family member, being a worker, or refugee. Even when Gracia and his mother obtained their visas, they still had to wait six more years for their green cards. During the process of waiting for the U.S. Government is again doing their background checks such as, interviewing candidates family and doing extensive background checks to ensure that they are eligible for their citizenship. According to Republican views, the party believes that the system needs to be in place to ensure immigrants who enter illegally aren’t provided with the same as that of a legal citizen. They also believe in warmly welcoming those who come to the states using the proper methods, while doing their best to keep the illegals out of America. Republicans typically see that telling illegal immigrants that they are “pardon” from coming in illegally will encourage more to do so, which is a statement I agree with myself. How can we keep illegal immigrants from coming in? How do we tell them, “No, you can’t come to America? You have to apply and wait for a vast amount of years like we have been doing to everyone else.” This has opened my eyes to many different sides of why immigrants come in unlawfully instead of applying. The wait time to get your green card, then wait for even more for your visa while you are being separated from the ones you love.

The process of getting a green card takes many different steps and not to mention is a costly process. According to boundles.com, the current naturalization fee for a U.S. citizenship application is $725, which includes $640 for the operation and $85 for biometrics services. They are both non-refundable whether or not if the government decides not to approve your application. Some might be able to a reduced fee or even entirely waved. To get your fee waived you have to prove to the U.S. government that you can not afford it. Some of the reasons boundless listed off are you received public assisted benefits, your annual household income is below 150% of the federal poverty level, and you have a financial hardship. There are also stringent rules when it comes to paying for just this application. These include, all payments have to be exact amounts or they will reject your application, you have to use one payment method and if you and your family are applying you have to all pay with the same means of payment. Also, if you are having trouble with your application and you have to hire an immigration lawyer, you are looking to pay anywhere between $800 to $5,000 for green card assistance stated from Thervo. The price for the application also goes with how much the immigration agent has to go over your use, go through your background information, interview your whole family to make sure you are an eligible candidate to be a U.S. citizen.

One of the main people that are for stronger immigration policy is our own President Trump. Trump has a famous saying that he and his supporters chant “Build that wall!” But, what about his new merit-based legal immigration system? Well, his new legal immigration system protects Americans wages and safety net programs, prioritizes immediate families, and creates a fair and transparent process for immigration to America stated by the White House website. They further discuss the modernizing of the legal immigration process to protect our American workers. The white house website says that 70% of immigrants who come to the States in this day an age are admitted based on family relationships or random visa lottery.

Mr. President plans to increase the number of legal immigrants selected based on skill. In a public speech back in May of 2019, Mr. President talks about such plan “... includes a sweeping modernization of our dysfunctional legal immigration process. The system will finally be fair, transparent, and promote equality and opportunity for all.” A lot of Americans agree with Trump’s plan to build the wall, and to send I.C.E to go and find these unlawful citizens and take them back to there home countries. I do agree with Trump’s ideas of having stronger border security and sending illegal immigrants back to their home countries. As I did more research into the topic, I began to think about the illegals that help our economy and how they are good citizens. Why can’t we take the ones who are not doing for our countries and send them back home? Why do we have to lump them into the groups of immigrants who are going against the law in other ways instead of just coming to America unlawfully.

With such an extensive discussion that can affect so many people's lives, it’s hard to know what the right thing to do is. Growing up, I never realized that so many peoples lives had been changed just crossing the border. From them crossing, they were able to give their children a better experience then they had to grow you in their home country. But, I do believe we have a significant problem with the influx of illegals coming to America. I think that if they are fully embedded into the American economy, they are working, paying bills and spending money on various things. What I have learned is that our immigration policy is one that takes many more years then I thought it did, years that they could be with their families. We need to find a way that we can even speed up the process by a couple of years, and we might be able to lower the illegal immigration problem we have.