Research on the United States Immigration Policy

From what I read, the U.S. Immigration policy is very complex. The U.S. allows for an annual worldwide limit of 675,000 permanent immigrants, with certain exceptions for close family members. Congress and the president determine a number separate from the number allotted to immigrants for refugee admissions. Immigration acceptance is determined on: the reunification of families, admitting immigrants with abilities that hold value to the U.S. economy, protecting refugees, and promoting diversity.

Bringing families together is an important issue to consider when planning an immigration policy. The family-based immigration category allows U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents (LPRs) to bring certain family members to the United States. The U.S. allows for 480,000 visas to be available for the family-based category per year. These immigrants are admitted to the U.S. either as immediate relatives of U.S. citizens or through the family preference system. Petitioners need to be at lease 21 years of age to petition for their parent’s to receive visas and all petitioners must meet certain financial requirements in order to be considered. Spouses and unmarried children who are under the age of 21 years also fall under immediate family. There is not a limit on visas available for immediate relatives. 

There are a limited number of visas per year for the family preference system. The preference system includes adult children married or unmarried, brothers and sisters of a U.S. citizen. The petitioner must be at least 21 in order to petition for his/her sibling. Spouses and unmarried minor/adult children of LPRs also fall under this system. Congress has made a complicated system for calculating the available number for yearly family preference visas. This number is determined by subtracting the number of immediate relative visas issued the previous year as well as the number of aliens that were paroled into the U.S. the previous year from 480,000. Also any unused employment preference immigrant visas from the previous year are then added to this number. The law says that family-based visas allocated through the preference system cannot be lower than 226,000. Consequently, this makes for the total number of family-based visas to exceed 480,000.

The Employment-Based immigration is the second category that is allocated to immigrants. Immigrants given this visa are given because they have valuable skills that the U.S. can use. These visas can be temporary or permanent. There are over 20 different types of visas for temporary nonimmigrant workers. Such types include athletes and entertainers as well as religious workers. Many highly skilled or immigrants with temporary work visas are sponsored by the company that they are working for. Permanent employment-based immigration is set to a rate of 140,000 visas per year and this is divided into 5 preferences where each has a limit. 

The INA also places limits on the allowed number of immigrants to come from once country into the States. No group of permanent immigrants (family-based and employment-based) from a single country can exceed 7% of the total amount of people that immigrate to the U.S. in one year. This is a limit set to prevent any one-immigrant group from dominating immigration patterns to the United States.  

The U.S. offers several categories of legal admission for people who are fleeing their country due to persecution or who are unable to return due to life-threatening conditions. Refugees are admitted to the U.S. based upon inability to return home because of a fear or persecution due to their race, social group, religion, national origion or political opinion. Refugees are to apply for admission from outside the U.S. Each year the president and congress determine a number for refugee admission. 

Immigrants that are already in the U.S. that have been persecuted or have a fear of persecution upon their return may apply for asylum within the United States or during entry while seeking admission. They must petition within one year of arriving in the U.S. There is no limit on the number of individuals who may be granted asylum in a given year nor are there specific categories for determining who may seek asylum. Refugees and Asylees are eligible to become LPRs one year after admission to the United States as a refugee or one year after receiving asylum.

The Immigration Act of 1990 as a dedicated channel created the Diversity Visa lottery for immigrants from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. Ever year around 55,000 visas are assigned randomly to nationals from countries that have sent less than 50,000 immigrants to the United States in the previous 5 years. To be qualified for a diversity visa the immigrant must have a high-school education (or its equivalent) or have, within the past five years, a minimum of two years working in a profession requiring at least two years of training or experience. This program especially benefits Africans and Eastern Europeans. 

To qualify for U.S. citizenship through naturalization, an individual must have had LPR status aka a green card for at least 5 years. There are other exceptions such for people who served in the military. Applicants for U.S. citizenship must be 18 years or older, they must demonstrate continuous residency, and display “good moral character,” as well as pass the English and U.S. history/civics exams. The person/s also need to pay an application fee, and complete other requirements.

Information was retrieved from:

How the United States Immigration System Works: A Fact Sheet. (2014, March 1). Retrieved April 28, 2014, from http://www.immigrationpolicy.org/just-facts/how-united-states-immigration-system-works-fact-sheet

Response to "Crossing the Wire" By Will Hobbs

With all of the media it is hard to put into perspective an immigrant’s story and an immigrant’s point of view of why people cross the borders illegally into our country. Before taking a look at this book, illegal immigration was a very black and white issue to me. The book Crossing the Wire by Will Hobbs brings forward the issue of illegal immigration and allows for the reader to see through the eyes of the immigrants. It comes down to the fact that the issue is not so black and white after all. I think it is a good idea to point out that there are many issues when it comes to illegal immigration, and many reasons why people travel to any country illegally. It was also interesting to whiteness the kinds of journeys and the treacherous adventures that these immigrants have to take in order to find their freedom and better ways of living.

This story reveals a strong point that it is American policies toward Mexico that provides fuel to people crossing the border. Victor is forced to find other work because he cannot sell his corn for a fair enough price as of result of American corn devouring the market in Mexico. When your family is your world you would do anything to protect them and to keep them alive. Victor being the man of the family since his father had died in El Norte years before, has to decide to make the journey to America only because he feel as if there is no other option.

It is interesting to see how Victor’s feeling change toward leaving to the States when he finds out there is no other way. Rico, Victor’s best friend receives coyote money at the beginning of the book.  Victor highly frowns upon Rico’s decision to leave his family until circumstances come into play that Victor can no longer feed his family on their crop money.

Another interesting part of the book was how I saw how hard it truly is to cross the border. Which shows these people’s determination for wanting to provide for their families. I found it interesting to see how it is not only hard to cross on the American side of the border but also the Mexican side of the border because so many people are trying to get by it is in a way survival of the fittest and survival of the wisest.

There was the man in the book, Hector that grew up in the States, was walked across the border as a baby on his mother’s back, graduated and even worked in the States his entire life but was deported after a accident where he there couldn’t provide paperwork that he was a citizen. After all of those years, he knew nothing else, only spoke English and was truly American, but because of lack of paperwork and because he was not born on certain soil he was considered an illegal. This part of the story spoke mountains to be because it reminded me of so many people that I know that have been in the same situation but cannot work or are afraid that they will be deported to a land that they know nothing of.

In the light of reading this book I have found more of an understanding for people wanting to cross our borders into America. I think that there needs to be a better system for people who have lived in the States for their entire lives and do not have documentation, especially since their know no other country.  

Response to "Sold" By Patricia McCormick

There were many times while reading Sold by Patricia McCormick that I had to pause and take a break before continuing on. The use of detail and realism was incredible. It is almost depressing to think about how big of a deal human trafficking is while it seems that many people either turn a blind eye or have no idea about it. I actually read the book before doing research on Nepal/India as well as research on human trafficking. It was interesting to see so many similarities in Sold with my research. I think this is what made McCormick’s book so real.

Starting off in the beginning when the main character, Lakshimi was talking about her mom she told us about how her dad had passed and how she had a stepfather who did not work. In Nepal, the man is the head of the household and is to be respected by the children. While her stepfather did not work because he had an arm that would not work, Lakshimi was still to give him respect and treat him as if he were the head of the household. This was very frustrating to me because Lakshimi’s father would take whatever money he could scrape up and instead of spending it on his family who really needed it he would go and gamble it away. I believe he had a huge impact on Lakshimi being “sold”.

Lakshimi’s Ama (mother) said that at least they had the stepfather even if he did not work because he completed the family. In Nepal, it is frowned upon to not have a complete family and family is to precede one’s individual self. You can see that strong connection of family and honor throughout the book even when Lakshimi getting into the roughest of times she is still devoted to her family. Another connected that is made on the same page is that Lakshimi talks about trying to ignore her father when he laughs with the other men of the village about how sons are much better than daughters because a daughter is like a goat, good for while it is baring milk, but no one thinks twice when it is time to make a stew, whereas a son will be a son forever. In my research on Nepal, it said that sons are valued much more than daughters.

I found it interesting to see that physical purity, religious refinement and humility rank to be some of the highest values in Nepalese society yet, human trafficking is such a big thing. While talking in class, I also learned that if a man has a disease such as an STD, they would be in search of a virgin because they believe that their pureness will heal them. This is beyond ridiculous and not logical at all. This also enrages me because it shows how selfish that man is to spread their disease, how cruel the trafficker is to allow this to happen and it reflects on the society as to how women are obviously not valued at all.

Just touching on the whole system in the book where the trafficker Mumtaz broke Lakshimi and literally brainwashed her into thinking that this is ok, we talked in our groups about how this reminded us of an abusive husband that after a while the abuse is all that the victim knows and they eventually crave it and feel loved when it happens. I found that this is what seemed to also happen with many of the girls who paid off their debt to Mumtaz, that they felt like there was no where else to go and they eventually just continued on with the work. Through research we found that many women who continue to help the traffickers have been victims themselves of human trafficking and they just continue the cycle by recruiting other girls. This same psychological brainwashing could possibly be going on with these women because they no longer know no difference; the trafficking is all they can remember.

When the whole Spokane Spa raid happened, I remember watching an interview with one of the women that had been giving services to other people. I remember her talking about while she was not dirt poor, that the whole idea of actually having money for once in her life was a big deal to her. She loved to actually be able to indulge in a bit more expensive things on herself and on her children that eventually the system gobbled her up and she was addicted to the money. This too seems like it could happen with a victim of human trafficking especially if they come from absolutely nothing at all. They say money can’t buy happiness, but maybe for these people it can. While it is a very sour subject, like was discussed in class human trafficking is a result of a much bigger problem, poverty. I think too that it is important to worry about America’s poverty and America’s issues before we become superheroes and try to save every other country.

Research on Nepal, India and Human Trafficking

Through my research on Nepal I found that Nepal is roughly equal to the size of Iowa. Nepal is home to many ethnic groups and most descend from various Tibeto-Burmese groups that have traveled into Nepal. The official Language is Nepali and around 48% of the population of Nepal speaks it to some degree. Nepali is an Indo-Aryan dialect that is related to Hindi. English is becoming more popular in Nepal; many private schools have adopted the language to teach in school making it so that to speak English is associated with having a better education and having a higher social status. Nepalese are Religious, family oriented and modest people. Physical purity, spiritual refinement and humility rank as their most cherished principles. Many believe in Karma. Family takes priority over the individual and it is considered strange to want to be alone. Broken families are frowned upon in the Nepalese culture and Boys are preferred over daughters. The father is the head of the household and children are to respect and obey their fathers. While it is frowned upon to make any public display of affection, many members of the same sex will publicly express their friendships by linking arms or walking hand in hand. An interesting fact that I found was that one’s feet never are to be pointed at another person. If one’s foot touches someone the person is to apologize immediately.

India is around 1/3 the size of the U.S. and has the worlds largest population. India is also known to be one of the most ethnically diverse countries in the world. Indian culture is split along four main groups: rural-urban, male-female, wealthy-poor, and the various castes. Differences among groups of people are usually shown in relation of social freedoms as well as in access to educational and economic opportunities. Around 41% of the population speaks Hindi, the country's most widely spoken language. There are twenty-two languages that have official statuses in Indian culture. (Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santhali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu.) The languages spoken vary by region however, Indian law claims English as a “subsidiary official language.” It is used in government, business, education, and national communication.

People who do not share a common first language generally communicate in either Hindi or English. It seemed to me that people of India were much like the people of Nepal where their values were quite similar. The average Indian has deep respect the nation's founder, Mahatma Gandhi, as well as his ideas and practices which included humility, nonviolence, self-denial, and religious harmony. Sadly Indians are aware that Gandhi’s ideas are not being met. There are tensions between Hindus and Muslims, social classes, rural and urban areas, and traditional and modern values which make it difficult for India's people to seek common ground amid their diversity. To try to fix this citizens of India are pursuing to find a balance amongst it’s countries continual social change.

Human trafficking is most commonly done for the purpose of sexual slavery, forced labor, or commercial sexual exploitation as well as for the use of extracting organs for trade. The term trafficking is sometimes confused because human trafficking does not necessarily have to do with travel. The trafficking can occur within a victim’s country or within a trans-nationality. Victims of human trafficking are usually held against their will through acts of force and required to provide services at their trackers request. Arrangements of human trafficking may be contracted but with little or no payment or on terms that are very exploitive, they may be structured as debt bondages for the victim but they are structured so that the victim will never be able to pay off their debt.

Traffickers involved with children often take advantage of the parents’ extreme poverty. Parents sell children to traffickers in order to pay off debts or gain income. Sometimes parents are deceived thinking that the scenarios will provide training and a better life for their children. Parents also may sell their children into labor, sex trafficking, or illegal adoptions. Sex trafficking victims are generally found in terrible circumstances and are easily targeted by traffickers.

Museum Display Assignment

Artifact #1:

Bible/Faith: I grew up in a Christian home. My parents, while in the military were blessed with being pastors of a church in Okinawa, Japan. While this was before I was thought of, my parent’s faith has been passed on to me and I grew up going to church and communicating with God through prayer often. My thoughts, traditions, holiday celebrations, and morals are tied to my faith. I have not read through the entire Bible, however it is one of my goals to do so. I would say as an adult, my religion has become my foundation as I have continued to grow and discover who I am and while I have branched out and started a family of my own. My lifestyle is not necessarily the portrait perfect Christian life, however my faith leads and guides the way I think and view many things.

Artifact #2:

Family Picture

My family means the world to me. I am who I am mainly because of my family. Every thought, every decision, every breath is wrapped around what may affect my children and my family. I am constantly striving to better myself and make it so my children are taken care of. My fiancé, the father of my children is my rock and my best friend, he is such a hard worker and I am so blessed to have him in my life. He has also introduced me to his wonderful family and they have opened me into their lives with open arms and have become a big part of my life as well. My parents are also a huge part of my life and decision-making. Both of them have strong opinions and are very open to express their feelings If I ever am in need of advice my parents are whom I go to.

Artifact #3:

Passport

I absolutely love traveling. I have been to London and to Spain as well as many states throughout the U.S. I love to experience different cultures and learn about the historical features of each city/town. I love to see how people around the world live their daily lives, what kind of foods they eat, what their traditions and celebrations are, and how they go from day to day. I feel that Americans have become so programmed to our way of life. By witnessing other cultures, I believe that you begin to reflect on yourself more and that you open your eyes to other possibilities. I want to travel as much as possible and experience as many different cultures and countries as I can. 

Artifact #4:

EWU: I am the first person in my immediate family to attend a four-year college and being in school has always been a huge part of my life. I love learning and I love that Eastern has opened so many doors and possibilities for me. I have found out more about myself in the last year and a half that I have been at Eastern than I have ever before. I am in the Elementary Education program here at Eastern and to be apart of something that lays out a pathway to my future career is a huge leap for me and I couldn’t be more proud to be apart of Eastern’s Education program. Education is such a valuable gift that we are given. I feel very blessed to have been able to continue my education as far as I have and I am very excited to be able to become a teacher and to educate my future students.

Artifact #5:

Stack of books: I have always been a fan of reading for pleasure, but recently books have opened up a whole new set of doors for me. I am a slow reader, but I love to read and it is a good thing too because I am a reading major which requires quite a bit of reading. I enjoy that reading opens up so many possibilities and causes one to think. I also enjoy that reading allows for an escape from the world as well as reading provides information and truth that is sometimes shielded from the public. 

Response to "Kampung Boy"

I was not quite sure what group of people from Malaysia would be in this book and while reading I found that there were many things that I did not know about the Malays. I suppose the main thing that I did while reading this book was I compared this boy and his family to the American culture. There were obviously big differences, which was not surprising at all. The whole birthing processes is way different than that of what you would find in the American culture. It was interesting to see that they called the woman’s lochia (post partum bleeding) to be her “Pantang” (taboo) period. In addition its interesting to see that after the mother’s complete recovery from her Pantang that the family had a ceremony where they brought the baby out of the house for the first time and that they shaved the baby and gave him a bath. This is different because in the American culture a party is usually held before the baby is born and this is called a baby shower. It is interesting that they family would wait so long to bring the baby out of the house and in addition that they would shave the child’s head. A first haircut for children in American culture usually does not happen within the first 6 months after the child is born and it depends on how fast they child’s hair has grown.

 It was interesting to see how the family kept the boy as a baby in the house as much as possible. It was also interesting to see that the family kept the children naked until they went off to school. In the American culture we like to dress our children and have them fully clothed as much as possible, if we do not have them in clothes we generally have a diaper on them which seemed like they did not have that with the family in the home. In addition, it was interesting to see that the family had the boy take care of his baby sister that is generally not something that you would have your small child do.

The boy and his father seemed to have a similar relationship with that of a boy and his father would have in the American culture. Before the boy was sent off to school he looked forward to having his father come home from work and they would play when his father would come home. For bath time, this Malaysian family did not have their own bathtub; they would go with the father and walk down to the river. While we would go shopping for groceries once a week or a few times a month, this family would go on a monthly shopping trip. The boy would look forward to riding into town on his father’s bike to purchase supplies. The American culture also usually takes a car to go grocery shopping and also if they were to take a bike, they would have the child sit in a child’s bike seat, not just on the bike frame holding on to the handle bars.

The boy went off to school at the age of 6 which in the American culture children usually start between the ages of 5 and 6 so that was an interesting similarity however, the father paid the teacher upfront and monthly and he also gave the teacher a cane to use on his son when the sun was “stubborn or naughty… as long as you (he) did not break any bones of blind him.” In the American culture public education is free and physical punishment is illegal.

         The traditional weddings of this family’s culture were much different from the weddings found in the American culture because both the men and women in the American culture sign the marriage papers whereas in the book only the groom needed to do so. Also the book showed that there is a reception that is held after the bride and groom are ushered into their bedroom to be left alone. In the American culture, the wedding reception is held with the newlywed couple and they later go to a hotel/honeymoon.

         The father and how much he wanted his son to succeed in school was much like of the children and their parents in the American culture, especially since college has become such a big thing in the past decade or so. It was also interesting to see the boy’s thoughts as he was leaving the Kampung to go onto school his feeling seemed to be very similar to those that an American student may feel as they leave for college. Looking back on the family within the book and an average family found in the American culture it was interesting to see the similarities an the differences.