IMMIGRATION
This paper provides definitions of terms, a history of US immigration policy, a look at the demographics of immigrants in the US and in the Greater Cincinnati region, an overview of the employer's role, and a description of what services local organizations provide regarding immigration.
DEFINITIONS
HISTORY
DEMOGRAPHICS
EMPLOYMENT
CITIZENSHIP
PROCESS
ORGANIZATIONS
REFERENCES
CHRONOLOGY
DEFINITIONS
USCIS: US Citizenship and Immigration Services, a division of the Department of Homeland Security. The functions of the former INS (Immigration and Naturalization Services) were divided into three bureaus:
USCIS: Handles the filing of benefits and petitions. It works primarily in offices to take care of the paper work.
USICE: US Immigration and Customs Enforcement is responsible for investigation and enforcement in the interior of the US; they make arrests; and audit employers.
USCBP: US Customs and Boarder Protection is responsible for enforcing entry laws wherever people can enter by air, land or sea including any point, having or not having inspectors.
Immigration: Refers to entry into the US of people from other countries; they may be non-immigrants or immigrants.
Immigrants: People intending to be permanent residents of the United States.
Legal Immigrants: A person who comes to settle here with permission from the USCIS. There are five major types:
- refugees;
- asylees;
- family reunification immigrants (spouses, children, and parents of citizens of lawful permanent residents);
- work based immigrants (sponsored by an employer); and
- diversity immigrants.
Diversity immigrants enter under a lottery system that makes immigrant visas available to nationals of "under-subscribed countries." This replaced the earlier quota system allotting numbers of visas by world regions.
Non-immigrants: Visitors, tourists, guests, temporary workers, students and others who have a home elsewhere to which they intend to return. They generally enter the country with a visa specifying why they are coming in, how long they can stay and whether or not they may work for pay during their stay. Non-immigrants can change status to immigrant through formal legal processes. All others, with or without green cards, are legally considered non-citizens. Some immigrants remain in the country after their visas expire; this is a common source of illegal immigration.
Native: Refers to anyone born in the US, in a US territory, military base of born abroad of US citizen parents.
Citizen: Anyone born in the US is a citizen. Anyone born abroad to parents who are US citizens is automatically a US citizen. Citizens have the right to vote and serve in the legislature. It is possible to be a citizens of more than one country - this is called dual citizenship. However, immigrants who become US citizens through naturalization give up citizenship of their country of origin.
Alien: A foreign-born resident who has not been naturalized and is still a subject or citizen of a foreign country.
Foreign-Born: A term used by the US Census Bureau to refer to anyone who is not a US citizen at birth.
Permanent Residents: Immigrants, refugees, asylees and migrants, non-immigrant workers have due process rights as persons under the Constitution; they pay taxes and are counted in the Census. They may work, collect social security, serve in the military and participate in the social safety net.
Refugees and asylees: People unable to live in their home country because of persecution based on race, religion, nationally, social group or political opinion. Asylees enter the US and plead an individual case for humanitarian protection. If granted asylum, they can stay as permanent residents. Refugees are identified in groups based on State Department and United Nations determination of group persecution. They may receive resettlement services to help find them a permanent home. For example, many Sudanese have entered the country as refugees.
Enemy Alien: An alien who is a citizen of a country at war with the US.
Visa: A permit granted by the US State Department that allows an immigrant or non-immigrant to enter the United States. A visa may be temporary (for non-immigrant tourists, visitors and temporary foreign workers) or permanent (for immigrants). A permanent visa is informally called a Green Card.
Green Card: An informal name for a permanent resident visa which allows an immigrant to legally live an work in the US and apply for citizenship.
Naturalization: Refers to a process whereby an immigrant becomes a citizen of the US. Once naturalized, an immigrant has all the rights and responsibilities of citizenship with one exception - he or she may not become President of the United States.
Deportation: The forced removal of someone from the US. An illegal immigrant can be deported if arrested by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. A legal immigrant can be deported if he or she commits a serious criminal offense.
Essential Worker: A lesser skilled worker.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF IMMIGRATION LAW
Immigration law provides for federal regulation of the entry, residence, status and rights of the citizens of the United States. While this area of law has been continually changing, particularly during the past two decades, immigration was relatively open and unregulated by federal law until the late nineteenth century.
In 1882, Congress enacted the Chinese Exclusion Law, which initiated the suspension of immigration of Chinese laborers for ten years. Six years later, Congress passed a statute that prohibited the return of all Chinese laborers who had left the United Sates, including those who had obtained the requisite certification to guarantee their return.
This law was upheld by the US Supreme Court in Chae Chan Ping v. United States (1889). The Court held the power to exclude foreigners was derived directly as "an incident of sovereignty," and not from the Constitution. This doctrine exists to this day, although procedural due process now applies to deportation cases and admission cases involving legal immigration.
Shortly after World War I, Congress passed the 1918 Immigration Act which authorized the Immigration Bureau to enforce alien deportation provisions. In 1940, the Bureau evolved into the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), and became part of the Department of Justice. The INS was authorized to handle applications for immigration benefits, including work authorizations, permanent residency an naturalization, and to enforce violations of the immigration laws.
In 1952, the Immigration and Nationally Act (also known as the McCarren-Walter Act of 1952) consolidated the various immigration related laws into one statute. The Act differentiated between "non-immigrant" and "immigrant" visas and established a system of "preference" for various family and employment visas. More specifically, priority was given to close family relationships and certain job skills. Also, the Act sought to maintain the ethnic and racial composition of the United States, which prompted President Truman to veto the Act. Congress passed the Act over the veto. However, in 1965, amendments to the immigration statute abolished the national origins quotas.
Congress enacted the Immigration Reform Act in 1986. This statute provided an amnesty law for undocumented aliens and employer sanctions law, increasing federal power over the work place. The federal government was authorized to sanction employers who hired aliens without work permits.
In 1996, Congress passed laws strictly restricting welfare benefits for aliens, including legal permanent residents. Together, the Anti-terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act and the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act also eliminated judicial review of certain deportation cases, expanded grounds for inadmissibility and deportation and provided three-year and ten-year bans from reentering after leaving the country.
In December 2005, the House passed the Border Protection, Anti-terrorism and Illegal Immigration Control Act (H.B. 4437). If signed into law this bill would make all illegal aliens and anyone who assists them, felons.
The Senate passed its Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act (S.B. 2611), in May 2006. While strengthening enforcement of immigration laws, the Act increases the number of permanent residence visas for people sponsored by an employer and/or family member who is a US citizen, provides for work authorization and eventual permanent legal status after paying a fine and taxes and passing certain English and civics requirements. The Act also authorizes "essential worker" temporary visas for people who have job offers to work in manual labor occupations.
Currently, bills passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate have some common elements; however, the bills are so diverse no reform is expected during this term.
(See Appendix for a chronology of immigration and naturalization laws.)
DEMOGRAPHICS
Population estimates as of August 2006:
- World population, 6,536,270,495
- United States, 299,539,798
- Greater Cincinnati 15 county region, 2,070,441
The US grants permanent residency to between 700,000 and 900,000 legal immigrants each year.
The number of immigrants over the past several decades includes:
1970 - 9.6 million
1980 - 14.1 million
1990 - 19.8 million
2000 - 31.1 million, a 51% increase in the decade. These percentage increases are unprecedented, numerically and proportionately compared to previous decades.
The immigrant share of US population is also growing at unprecedented rates. The percent of the foreign born population in 1990 was 7.9% of the total population, in 2000 it was 11.1%, and in 2006, 12%.
At least 1.3 million legal and illegal immigrants settled in the US on average every year in the 1990s. The illegal immigrant population is estimated to be somewhere between 11 and 12 million. There are an estimated 50,000 immigrants in this region. Immigration is the determinant factor in the US population growth.
The foreign born include people living in the US who were not US citizens at birth, including naturalized American citizens, legal permanent residents, illegal aliens and those on long term temporary visas such as students.
The immigration population in 1990 grew faster than at any time in the country's history and the distribution by country of origin has changed. With people coming from every country of the world, immigration is more diverse. Yet diversity among foreign born has declined. Mexico and Spanish speaking Latin America have come to dominate US immigration in the last decade. Mexico is the leading sending country for legal and illegal immigrants. It accounted for 22% of the foreign born in the '90's and 30% by 2000. Immigration from Spanish speaking Latin America accounted for more than 60% of the growth in the foreign born population nationally. The foreign born include people living in the US who were not US citizens at birth, including naturalized American citizens, legal permanent residents, illegal aliens and those on long term temporary visas such as students.
The decline in diversity is occurring even in places where there is no large scale immigration from Mexico. There were increased percentages of Filipinos in Alaska and Hawaii, Canadians in Montana and Dominicans in New York.
There are costs and benefits in declining diversity. It may be harder to assimilate and integrate a larger and less diverse immigrant population. A larger group can lead to what demographers refer to as spatial and linguistic isolation. A more diverse immigrant population may increase the incentives to learn English, become familiar with the culture and the ways of the community.
However, immigrant groups, historically have settled in already established ethnic communities.
In 1850, almost half of all Cincinnatians were foreign-born and most of those were German immigrants and their children.
While some say the immigrant population adds costs and strains services such as schools and hospitals; others say immigrants help drive economic growth and add diversity.
Because the immigrant population tends to be younger, the percentage of population over 65 has fallen. In 2003, 80% of the foreign born were 18 to 64 years of age whereas 60% of natives were in this age group. Urban population losses, including our region, come from this age group. The foreign born coming to this area can replenish some of this workforce age group. Jobs attract immigrants especially when wages are far higher than in their native land. US consumers look for low costs for new houses or new roofs, cleaning, landscaping and other service industries. Jobs are available in these sectors of the economy. Other immigrants start their own small businesses.
In 2000, the Greater Cincinnati area had the 2nd smallest percentage of foreign-born people of any metropolitan area in the US. After India and Germany, Mexico ranked 3rd as a country of origin in providing immigrants to this area. The highest concentration of immigrants live in the northeastern Cincinnati suburbs.
Immigrants also come to an area for education. More than 2,2000 international students were enrolled at the University of Cincinnati this year, most of whom are graduate students. Some stay and establish and/or patronize businesses: three Indian restaurants and grocer specializing in Indian food along Clifton's Ludlow Avenue and other establishments in the suburbs. People from India and Germany have moved along the northeastern corridor: Blue Ash, Montgomery, West Chester and Mason, the fastest growing suburbs in the region.
The Hispanic population is also moving outward in the region. About 11,700 Hispanic residents live in Hamilton County, a 24% increase over the past 5 years. In Butler County, the Hispanic population has risen from about 4,780 to about 7,500 during the same period. In northern Kentucky the Hispanic population has risen from 2,579 to 3,684, a 43% increase. These numbers could be higher if there has been under counting of this group.
The Pew Hispanic Center estimates that almost half of the 10.6 million adult Mexican immigrants living in the US sent at least some money back to relatives last year for a 2005 total of $20 billion. At the state level, increases in the foreign-born population are not associated with negative effects on the employment of native-born workers according to a recent Pew Hispanic Center study.
The numbers of immigrants are estimates, based on US census figures and adjusted over the decade. The census does not distinguish citizens from other residents. Rather, the census counts every person every decade. Additional information is gathered from the long forms sent to a sample of households. There have been some discussions and legislative proposals about not counting illegal aliens when determining congressional districts. Such a change would require an amendment to the US Constitution.
LEGAL WORKERS: EMPLOYERS' AND EMPLOYEES' RESPONSIBILITIES
The 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act sought to control illegal immigration by eliminating employment opportunity as a key incentive for unauthorized people to come to the United States. All employees, citizens and non-citizens, hired after November 6, 1986 must complete an Employment Eligibility Verification form. The form is commonly called an I-9. The purpose of the form is to prove that employees are legally eligible to work in the United States.
The employee section of the I-9 includes fields for name, address, etc. and a place to attest (under penalty of perjury) that he/she is:
- A citizen or national of the U.S. or
- A Lawful Permanent Resident or
- An alien authorized to work until a specified date.
The employee is required to present documents that prove the legal status. There is an extensive list of acceptable documents from which the employee may use as proof and an employer may not require which documents an employee uses. Examples of acceptable documents are a U.S. Passport or a Driver's License and a Social Security Card; a Certificate of Naturalization or a Government issued photo ID and a Birth Certificate issued within the U.S. or outlying possession of the U.S.; a Voter's Registration Card and a Native American tribal document.
Employers must examine the evidence of identity and employment eligibility within three (3) business days of the date the employment begins. An employee who fails to produce the required document(s) within the three-day period should be terminated.
A common question employers pose is, "What happens if I properly complete the I-9 and later learn that the employee is not actually authorized to work?" The employer cannot be charged with a verification violation, but then may not knowingly continue to employ the person.
The instructions for completing the I-9 are very clear about anti-discrimination. For employers with 4 or more employees, "It is illegal to discriminate against any individual (other than an alien not authorized to work in the U.S.) in hiring, discharging, recruiting or referring for a fee because of the individual's national origin or citizenship status. It is illegal to discriminate against work eligible individuals." The I-9 process may not be used to pre-screen employees for hiring.
You can learn more about the Employment Eligibility Verification process at: www.uscid.gov - look for "About Form I-9."
A PATH TO CITIZENSHIP
Priority preferences depend upon the type of immigrant (employment or family) and are adjusted based on a per-country limit; no country may have more than 7% of the total immigrants in a year. Immigration law provides for the government to set quotas for each country regarding the number of visa applications. An oversubscribed country has submitted applications in a number greater than its quota. An undersubscribed country has submitted applications in a number lesser than its quota. This means that "oversubscribed countries" currently China, Mexico, India and the Philippines will wait much longer than others. For example, if you are the husband of a lawful resident from China, you might be getting a green card now if your original petition was approved in 1995. There are additional proportional and numeric adjustments based on special laws and treaties.
In family based immigration, the law allows for 226,000 visas per year and the State Department is now processing applications started in September 1982 through January 2001. The amount of time will vary depending on type of immigrant, national origin, and demand from that country.
In employment based immigration, 140,000 visas are allowed per year, and the State Department is processing applications for employment in 2007. There are no employment based permanent visa preferences for unskilled workers.
Finally, there are 55,000 diversity visas divided by region and with a 7% per country limit designed to permit immigration opportunities for persons from countries other than the principal sources of current immigration to the US.
- AFRICA except Nigeria 22,800; Nigeria 17,600
- ASIA except Bangladesh 5,900; Bangladesh 4,700
- EUROPE 17,150
- NORTH AMERICA and the Bahamas 13, Oceania 650
- SOUTH AMERICA and the Caribbean 1,300, Nicaragua and Central America, 5,000
These diversity visas are what is commonly known as the "lottery," it does not require family or employment sponsors.
THE PROCESS
To become a citizen, an immigrant has a four-step process through two different federal bureaucracies.
- Sponsor: An employer or family member files an immigrant petition with the USCIS on behalf of a specific person.
- Getting a visa number: Getting a number may take years. The State Department processes petitions based on number of visas available each year for each category of residence.
- Notification: The State Department notifies the immigrant that he/she finally has a visa number and can apply to adjust to permanent resident status. Some immigrants stop here and keep their original citizenship.
- Naturalization: Citizenship.
If a permanent resident desires to attain citizenship he/she must become a naturalized citizen through principles established in 1802. Naturalization requires five years of residency in the US; certification of moral character (determined through a criminal check and an in-person interview); documented English and civics knowledge (through a test administered by USCIS); and attachment to the Constitution (through an oath ceremony). Status may be denied at any stage, and there are appeals and reapplications.
THE ROLE OF ORGANIZATIONS
Some organizations provide direct service to immigrants. Immigrants settling in the Greater Cincinnati area do have resources available. There are classes for students who want to learn to speak English. The classes are called "English As a Second Language." Some organizations provide resettlement services with direct assistance and instruction to prepare students for passage of the citizenship exam. The following services are provided in specific situations; employment counseling, transportation, case management and counseling services.
There are many local, national, community based and religious organizations that have policy statements concerning immigration. The statements tend to support comprehensive immigration reform from many different perspectives.
Recently a Warren County group has come together to discus how to stem illegal immigration and the perceived crime that it brings to the area. Legislation has been proposed in the State legislature that would ban companies from holding state contracts if they employ illegal immigrants. Legislators are exploring ways to toughen state laws that deal with illegal immigrants.
Other organizations focus on some or all of the following aspects of reform:
- A path to citizenship; integration into a common culture and appreciation of diversity
- Work permits, employment and production in a competitive global economy
- Respect for civil liberties within our country and for human rights abroad
- Border security in an age of terrorism and drug-trafficking.
REFERENCES
The Center for Immigration Studies
Favors restrictive policies.
www.cis.org
Pew Hispanic Center
Mission is to improve understanding of the US Hispanic population and to chronicle Latinos' growing impact on the entire nation.
http://pewhispanic.org/
U.S. Census Bureau
www.census.gov/population/socdemo/
immigration
Local media articles:
CityBeat
Cincinnati Enquirer: 3/8/06, 4/12/06, 8/11/06, 8/19/06, 8/20/06
Cincinnati Post: 8/16/2000
Time magazine: 2/6/2006
LWV Minnesota: Immigration in Minnesota - Challenges and Opportunities, May 2006.
APPENDIX
CHRONOLOGY: CHANGES ON IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION LAWS
1790 Naturalization is authorized for "free white persons" who have resided in the United States for at least two years and swear loyalty to the United States Constitution.
1798 The Alien and Sedition Acts say the President can deport any foreigner deemed dangerous. Imposes fourteen-year residency requirement for prospective citizens.
1802 Residency requirement for prospective citizens set at five years.
1882 The Chinese Exclusion Act suspends immigration by Chinese laborers for ten years. This is the first time the United States had restricted immigration on the basis of race or national origin.
1891 The Immigration Act of 1891 created the Immigration and Naturalization Service to administer the federal laws relating to the admission, exclusion, and deportation of aliens and to provide for the naturalization of aliens lawfully residing in the United States.
1906 First language requirement is adopted for naturalization; ability to speak and understand English.
1917 Literacy requirement is implemented for all new immigrants: ability to read forty words in some language. Prohibits immigration from Asia, except Japan and the Philippines.
1921 National-origins quota system is born. Admissions from each European country will be limited to 3% of each foreign-born nationality in the 1910 census. The effect is to favor Northern Europeans at the expense of Southern and Eastern Europeans. Most Asians continue to be excluded.
1924 Johnson-Reed Act preserves America's "racial" composition. Immigration will be based on the ethnic makeup of the United States population as a whole in 1920.
1950 The Internal Security Act bars admission to any foreigner who might engage in activities "which would be prejudicial to the public interest, or would endanger the welfare or safety of the United States." It permits deportation of non-citizens who belong to the US Communist Party or whose future might be "subversive to national security."
1952 The McCarran-Walters Act retains the national-origins quota system and continues to allow for deportation of "subversive immigrants," despite Truman's opposition. For the first time, however, Congress sets aside minimum annual quotas for all countries, opening the door to numerous nationalities previously kept out on racial grounds. Naturalization now requires ability to read and write, as well as speak and understand, English.
1965 Congress eliminates racial criteria from immigration laws. Each country receives an annual quota of 20,000.
1980 The Refugee Act of 1980 sets up the first permanent and systematic procedure for admitting refugees.
1986 The Immigration Reform and Control Act gives amnesty to about three million undocumented residents. Law punishes employers who hire persons who are here illegally. The purpose is to make it difficult for the undocumented to find a job. Side effect: employment discrimination against those who look or sound "foreign."
1990 The Immigration Act of 1990 raises the limit for legal immigration to 700,000 people a year.
1996 The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act toughens border enforcement, closes opportunities for undocumented immigrants to adjust their status, makes it more difficult to gain asylum, expands grounds for deporting immigrants, strips immigrants of many due process rights and their access to the courts. The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act makes citizenship a condition of eligibility for public benefits for most immigrants.
1998 Some of the provisions of the previous law are withdrawn. Some public benefits are restored for some elderly and disabled immigrants. American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act significantly raises the number of skilled temporary foreign workers that United States employers are allowed to bring in to the country.
2000 Legal Immigration Family Equity Act permits immigrants with family or employer sponsors to gain legal status. Congress lets severely disabled immigrants become citizens even if they cannot understand the Oath of Allegiance.
2001 PATRIOT Act tightens entry procedures for foreign-born arrivals to the US and establishes a monitoring system that involves law enforcement agencies at many levels. This act amends the entrance criteria for all foreign nationals to include security and terrorist concerns, health-related grounds, criminal history, indigence and previous removal.
2002 President Bush's Fiscal Year 2003 Budget restores food stamp eligibility to documented immigrants who have been in the country for five years. National Security Entry Exit Registration System (NSEERS) requires everyone from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan, and Syria to comply with new monitoring requirements. Homeland Security Act splits the INS into an enforcement agency, the Bureau of Border Security, and a service agency, the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services Department. A major purpose is to block potential terrorists from entering the country.
Report prepared by the Immigration Committee: Rina Saperstein, Chair, Bette Evanshine, Donna Dansker, Marty Harrington, Dell Heitkamp, Linda Lehman, Chris Moran, Mary Kercherval Short and Gail Wick.
November 2006
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