Federal Government on Illegal Immigration Issues

The federal government has deported more illegal immigrants from the U.S. than ever before, the director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Thursday as part of an effort to push back on the suggestion Washington isn't doing enough. The federal government to reform US immigration policy during the past administration has left immigration policy-making to local municipalities. "Immigrants, Politics, and Local Responses to Suburban Washington" illustrates how local officials in Prince William County, VA responded to the growth of immigrants in their county over the past decade by creating "restrictions" policies (Cozic, pp 117-119).

The Federal Government should enforce current Immigration Laws as they relate to illegal immigration. If they choose not to then the local municipalities should have the right to do so. Not the best solution as you will have a chaotic process which could differ by region. Perhaps by doing so in a couple of areas it might push the issue with the new administration.

Being a county that witnessed the tripling of their Hispanic population from 2000 to 2006, many long-time residents pressured the county government to crack down on "illegal" immigration by creating legislation without a public hearing to (Andryszewski ,pp 112-115): (1) order the police to check the residency status of lawbreakers and (2) allow the county government to deny business licenses and certain social services to unauthorized immigrants. Many long-term residents and county officials believe that they lack the infrastructure to support the new immigrant population, while many new immigrants of Prince William County feel that they are being discriminated against (Rumbaut, pp 121-124).

As the US enters into a deeper recession and if Congress and President Obama choose to delay immigration reform, we may see more local governments adopt "restrictions" immigration policies. Multiple issues here; generally speaking though on ...