US immigration and illegal immigrants
ILLEGAL immigration is an issue for all countries. People from poor countries always try to migrate to rich countries or countries where there are jobs available. Look what happened in Kerala, when tourism and construction of new homes and apartment complexes were built, lot of immigrant workers from Bihar, Bengal, Orissa, Assam and Bhutan migrated to Kerala.
Since it is within India, it is not considered illegal migration. But Kerala now has more than 2500000 (25 lakhs) migrant workers and many of them have now settled with families in Kerala. In the meantime, a lot of illegal migrants from Bangladesh and Nepal have entered India and now settle in India.
European countries like Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and UK also have a lot of illegal migrants from African and Asian countries.
Most countries in Western Europe, Canada and the US accept immigrants from other countries through a process conducted legally. The US is very different in its immigration policies because it is a country of immigrants. Columbus and later Amerigo Vespucci discovered the land of America where there were native people in North America, which they called Red Indians, because they were looking for India when they found out the world is a globe, so they could travel west and find India, which is in the East.
Later, Spanish and Portuguese invaded South America and there were also native people. In North America, the majority of the invaders were British and later they settled there. The British formed 13 colonies and ruled under the British king. Later, these British people did not want to be under the British king and revolted against the king, formed their own army under General George Washington and fought against the British and liberated the colonies from British rule. They created the United States of America, a new independent country under a new governing system called democracy, which later President Abraham Lincoln defined as the Government of the people, by the people and for the people.
The Native Americans were mostly killed in the fights with them and some migrated towards South America. The United States of America is a country of immigrants from other countries, mostly western Europeans. Therefore, the United States of America has a very unique immigration policy.
“The law governing US immigration policy is called the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). The INA allows the United States to grant up to 675,000 permanent immigration visas each year across various visa categories. On top of those 675.000 visas, the INA sets no limit on the annual admission of US citizens’ spouses, parents and children under the age of 21.
In addition, each year the president is required to consult with the US Congress (Senate and House of Representatives) and set an annual number of refugees to be admitted to the United States through the US Refugee Admission Program. Finally, humanitarian protection such as asylum, Temporary Protected Status and other programs that may permit someone to reside in the United States legally do not have numerical caps, but do have other restrictions.”
The immigration policies of the US Government is very elaborate, which allow people to enter the USA through various ways. Through employment visas, doctors, nurses, engineers and technocrats from all of the world enter the USA. Once these people have completed their stay as permanent residents in the USA for five years, they can apply for citizenship. Once they become citizens, they can sponsor their brothers, sisters and parents, who will get the Green card or permanent residence, which is called family-based immigration.
Then there are refugees and asylees. People who come here through employment, called H1 visas and L1 (for management employees) are later sponsored by US companies and they become permanent residents. After five years as citizens, they can bring their brothers, sisters and parents. Spouses of H1 and L1 visa holders also become permanent residents, later citizens, and they bring their brothers, sisters and parents. Those who come here on a student visa can get jobs here and are sponsored by employers to get permanent resident visas, then become citizens and can bring their brothers, sisters and parents. These are the regular legal ways immigrants come to the USA.
Some are born in the USA to a person with no permanent visa or who entered illegally without a visa, who automatically become US citizens. Then there are work permits mainly given to people from Mexico and other South American countries to do basic labor work, like in farming, hospitality, as a cook etc., who are not available in the USA for employment.
Who are illegal immigrants? Those who enter the border illegally and stay in the USA and those who do not return after their employment visa or visiting visa or any temporary visa expires. It is estimated that there are 11 million of them, like no visa, they are called illegal immigrants. Most of these illegal immigrants are working in various capacities. Some have been in the USA for 10 or more than 20 years. There are many Indians and Malayalees with expired visiting, student and H1 visas.
