CRIMINAL JUSTICE

Criminal Justice

David Powers

Course: CJUS230-LUO

Instructor: Scott Smylie

November 20, 2011

Abstract

The paper discusses the ongoing debate about the laws requiring law enforcement officials to check the residency status. The justice department perceives these laws to be non functional as they do not bring any good to the actual law enforcement practices. For example, the fact is that the illegal immigrants easily get the driver's license but how does it happen is a big question on the laws of immigration and residency status check. The paper also examines the immigration and residency check laws of various states so as to analyze how well they are outlined and implemented (Borjas, 1999).

Table of Contents

Introduction3

Federal Laws and Immigration3

The Immigration Laws and Racial Profiling7

The Controversial Nature of Laws8

An Example: Driver's License and Identification- Tennessee State10

Residency Status Check12

Criminalization of Irregular Migration through Identification Check14

Conclusion15

References17

Bibliography18

Criminal Justice

Introduction

The lawful permanent resident status is referred under the U.S immigration law as an alien who is lawfully accorded the privilege of residing permanently in the U.S.A. A permanent resident has a privilege of being able to reside in the States of employment including self employment, with the exception of the requirement of U.S. citizenship. The proof of the resident status is the Green card. The card is valid for ten years and then it must be renewed (Bumgarner, 2004). Unlike a U.S citizen, a permanent resident has no right to vote in U.S. elections or serve on jury duty. Despite the outlined procedures there has been much debate made on the nature of these laws and the requirement that resident cards are proof of identity. The illegal residents at times are smart enough to make an illegal driving licensing, thus the law has to identify such cases. Keeping this debate in view the paper highlights the nature of law in various states and why the department of justice claims the immigrant's laws as being impractical (Ong, 2004).

Federal Laws and Immigration

Immigration laws of the United States have been immensely controversial in the recent decades. In contrast, international migration often arouses heated controversies and inflammatory rhetoric. That may seem odd in the context of the United States since we like to think of ourselves as a nation of immigrants (Bumgarner, 2004). Why are there such passionate arguments about people who seem to like our country so much that they want to move here? Immigration laws put stress on society, on the environment, on the economy, and on government. More people mean more pollution, more crime, more crowding, and more need for government services. Americans take pride in their immigrant history, but they are also concerned about the impact of large-scale immigration, particularly when much of it seems to be illegal and uncontrollable. They are empathetic with immigrants, but they also are concerned about their own citizens and their own national identity (Ong, 2004). The conflict explains the intensity of the debate about U.S. immigration policy. Americans are caught between competing ideals, and neither side of the debate is obviously right (Borjas, 1999).

The current immigration ...