The issue of immigration is an ongoing sensitive topic, which is currently being argued in different areas right from local schools; in various areas like classes or board meetings, up to the courts of law. The two authors explore the issues surrounding immigration policies; whether rules should be stringent to keep bad people out and how to deal with the problems bringing the immigrants to America’s doors.
Immigration is the movement of people from one country (native country) to another, with the idea of being permanent or temporary residents. These people are referred to as immigrants. There are several reasons why immigrants move from their country of origin. They include; search for greener pastures, asylum seeking for those escaping civil wars and evil motives, in the case of terrorists. As Americans, we know that the US is a country with many immigrants from many regions, and this is a point of pride4). Places such as Haiti, which are usually affected by storms and other national calamities, and countries of the Middle East that have frequent wars are some of the places from which a large number of immigrants come. As much us we may not know all the reasons for immigrants coming to the US, I advocate for improvement in ways of dealing with immigration such that upon thorough procedures of scrutinizing who is who, immigrants with good motives should be given a chance to settle in our country either temporarily or permanently.

Immigration of people in the US has disadvantages, advantages, and challenges that immigration officers encounter when discerning which immigrant is worthy or not. The benefits depend on the mission of the immigrant to the foreign countries. For instance, in America, we have immigrants from places like India who are splendid doctors. They in turn work with doctors that are citizens in improving the health sector. On the other hand, some of the disadvantages caused by immigration are overpopulation and depleting of the national resources. When immigrants come to the US and settle down, the population increases. Furthermore, more resources are set aside to cater for their needs for those who are found fit to stay. In the long run, the countries resources become overstretched, but all these mean that we have to address this topic with an open mind.

There are several ways that the US can consider to do away with the nightmares that come with immigration. A lot of stories have been covered in our news and posted on the internet on how at times the government is unfair in dealing with this topic. Yes, some of these people have caused us in our country especially terrorists. Given they are a security threat, some of the immigrants who originate from countries known to harbor terrorists like the Al-Qaida suffer innocently. Especially young children and women who are considered as security threat sometimes because of their origin. The solution to this will be the improvement of Immigration laws and services by enriching our federal agencies, which are responsible for immigration. These agencies include; Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Department of Labor (DOL), Department of State, Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of Education (DOE) and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). If these agencies work together efficiently, immigration will not be an issue anymore. The government is doing better compared to how it handled this topic back in the 90s given several laws and bills were passed and implemented to deal with it. The most substantial reorganization was the Homeland Security Act that was signed in November 2002, by the then President, George W. Bush. Aside from other roles of DHS, immigration control is the hub.

In conclusion, the focus should be on the thorough screening of people at the borders and airports. Also, there should be more issuing of visas overseas to cut down on suspicious immigrants. The most critical is to improve our local security. Some of these people who are terrorists are already in the country. They may have come by following the required procedures but are still dangerous. If stereotyping is given room and in that case giving more concentration to people from Saudi Arabia and Egypt, terrorists will slip the hands of our security agencies (Krikorian 2). These people don’t come announcing themselves instead they camouflage. This will create the America that everyone will adore including asylum seekers rather than the one, which will crush their dreams. Countries need each other and people have to live in harmony and help one another where possible. In doing this America shall learn to protect itself without sacrificing innocent lives. For those immigrants that had already died due to one or two reasons, it will not be in vain (Danticat 3). Therefore, immigration should be embraced with more of positivity rather than negativity.

• Danticat, Edwidge. “Not Your Homeland.” Cbsnews.Com, 2005, http://www.cbsnews.com/news/not-your-homeland/.