Americans have always been ambivalent about immigration, with realistic concerns bumping into altruistic, even romantic notions. The romance is summed up in the inscription on the Statue of Liberty, erected in 1886, proclaiming the famous lines ''give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.'' The ambivalence was expressed a mere four years earlier, when Congress enacted the first immigration restrictions, specifically excluding "paupers, ex-convicts, mental defectives and Chinese." That was at the beginning of the greatest wave of immigration in American history, which brought in 18 million new citizens, diversified U.S. society and gave us the enduring analogy of the ''melting pot.''
Now the United States is in the midst of another great wave of immigration, which brings in roughly one million new residents a year, but has yet to give us another analogy. More than one in 10 U.S. residents are immigrants, and while that's the highest share of the overall American population since the 1930s, it's still below the high of 15 percent recorded in 1890 and 1910, according to the Census Bureau. Most of the new immigrants come from Latin America and Asia. Like the earlier wave, the influx is likely to fundamentally change America, but Americans have yet to work through how they feel about it. Immigration policy is about deciding what kind of country the United States is going to be.
The question of how closely immigration officials are guarding the nation's borders gained even more attention in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Critics point to the fact that three of the 19 hijackers were in the U.S. with expired visas; others found it equally disturbing that the remaining 16 hijackers were able to roam the country at will, even though some of them should have raised suspicions. In the aftermath of Sept. 11, immigration regulations were one of the first tools the federal government turned to in its efforts to combat domestic terrorism. As the government took steps to bolster border security, it also began detaining young Middle Eastern men for questioning and deportation on immigration violations. The government's actions raised a number of concerns. Among them: Was it fair to immediately focus suspicion on immigrants? Did the detention of young Middle Eastern men amount to racial profiling?
Coming to America
The current wave of immigration has its roots in the Immigration Act of 1965. The law placed a new emphasis on reuniting families and granting asylum to refugees, while also favoring immigrants with desired job skills and ending the longstanding preference for Western Europeans.
The law not only increased the rate of legal immigration, it also produced a dramatic shift in the immigrants' country of origin. Prior to 1965, nine out of 10 legal immigrants to the U.S. were from Europe or Canada. Now, more than half come from Asia or Mexico.
Those figures don't include illegal immigration. Federal officials estimate there are 12 million illegal or undocumented immigrants in the United States, and border agents say they turn back 1 million people a year. Illegal immigrants acocunt for about 3 percent of the total U.S. population. A full third come from Mexico, federal officials say,
Historically, a few “gateway states” have taken in the majority of immigrants: California, New York, Texas, Florida, New Jersey, Illinois and Massachusetts. But that’s changing. States like North Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia are now major immigrant destinations, and increasing numbers are settling in suburban or rural areas.
That means the impact of immigration, is spreading to parts of the country that had comparatively little contact with immigrants before. American cities have always dealt with new arrivals, but many small towns are now grappling for the first time with the arrival of people with different languages and cultures, and with a sudden increase in demand on public services like schools. Local governments around the country, in effect, now have to come up with their own immigration policy on issues like day laborers and whether landlords can rent to illegal immigrants,
Need for Change?
The last several years have seen intense activity around this issue, but not much acutal progress. President Bush has called for creating a guest worker program that would allow millions of illegal immigrants who hold jobs to stay here legally for up to three years. But Congress rejected the plan in 2006, and instead called for the deportation of all illegal immigrants and proposed making it a felony to offer them any assistance.
In protest, many business leaders and organizations representing immigrants and Hispanics organized large demonstrations in 2006. The size and intensity of the protests surprised many, and extensive media coverage of the events led to a highly charged national discussion about immigration policy
In 2007, a bipartisan group of legislators created a plan, with support from the White House, to address national security and law-enforcement concerns raised by immigration, and once again attempt to create a guest worker program and give many illegal immigrants a path toward citizenship. The plan would include building a barrier along some or all of the 2,000-mile border between the U.S. and Mexico, which would be policed by thousands of additional Border Patrol officers. But the proposal stalled, and while a border fence is under development, it is unlikely anything more will be done on immigration until after the 2008 elections.
The Public View
Opinion polls depict the conflicting tugs in the immigration debate. Most Americans have generally positive views of recent immigrants. While immigration isn't viewed as one of the country's most pressing problems, there is rising concern about the latest wave of immigration, and growing support for new restrictions.
The public generally draws a distinction between legal and illegal immigration, and is far more concerned about the illegal variety. More than half of Americans say the country is too open to immigrants and, since Sept. 11, there's generally been more support for reducing immigration. More than half say controlling illegal immigration would enhance national security "a great deal" and give the government poor grades on this issue.
Most Americans say immigrants contribute to the country and take jobs Americans don't want, but are more divided on whether immigration overall helps the economy. Overall views on legal immigration are mixed, with people holding positive and negative views at the same time.
Choicework
For additional perspective on how society could address this issue, visit our Discussion Guide which sets out three alternative approaches.
The points of view are drawn both from what the experts say about an issue and from what the public thinks about it, based on surveys and focus groups. We call this section "Choicework." Each point of view comes with the arguments for and against, along with some potential costs and tradeoffs.