Stakeholders are the groups of people that have investment in issues. Issues of large significance have many different groups of stakeholders. When discussing the topic of immigration, stakeholders that come to mind are undocumented immigrants, families of the immigrants, American citizens, Government officials, and Members of the U. S. work force. Many of these groups would be affected in different ways if the US made amendments to the processes dealing with allowing immigrants into America as citizens. The route to finding the solution of the issue is through first defining the stages of stasis theory.
America opened its arms wide to accept all kinds of people from across the earth. The US wanted others to come live here, experience our amazing country, and live the American Dream. But today our immigration policy has many issues that are ruining what this country’s main ideals revolve around. Today, we are making it harder for others to come to America legally, and experience the American dream, but we are also letting others into America that have not yet earned the right to live here.
I had a friend from high school, Jeremiah Sabbado, who legally became a resident senior year of high school. He came to the United states from Saudi Arabia. He came over with his family because his dad was granted a work visa. His family followed the path to permeant residency the right way. They stayed here on a visa integrating their lives to the culture of Dallas, Texas. He attended private school when he arrived in middle school and continued into high school. I was friends with Jeremiah so I was able to talk to him about the process as it was happening. I discussed with him the criteria that must be met to become a citizen and how he made that dream a reality. Some of the questions I asked him are” What were the requirements needed to meet? What was the most difficult part?” Then I asked him if there was anything he wants to mention on how the process may be “broken.” The requirements his family had to meet were living in the country for 5 years, a $700+ payment, and to pass a ten-question test. He mentioned the process was more grueling for the rest of his family because he was still under eighteen. As long as one of his parents passed the test he would be a citizen. They still required the payment for his card and the paperwork. The connection I have to someone that actually went through the process gives me a better understanding of what people actually go through while trying to work with the government to live in the U. S. legally.
Today the legal processes for immigrants to come into our great country legally has become very difficult and expensive. According to ABC news, the cost of immigrations lawyers’ fees is overwhelming, an immigration lawyer can cost between $5,000 to $7,000, and in some cases the cost can come near $15,000. These high costs, are denying many lower class people the opportunity to come to America. And only about 15.5% of immigrants America welcomes each year are granted permeant residency (Ribizky). These immigrants are missing out on all the opportunities that the U.S. can offer, what most immigrants come here for in the first place. The difficult legal process to come in is incentivizing immigrants to come over illegally. A lot of unauthorized immigrants in America have what is called specialization of labor. For example, many immigrants from South America specialize in farming in the United States. The government is trying to deport the working unauthorized immigrants, and there will not be enough people to fill in the job gap lost by the deportation of them. The United States is also tearing apart families, and destroying lives by deporting unauthorized immigrants. All well, the path of citizenship is flawed; the citizenship test is a joke. Per I side with, the citizenship test is only 10 questions about America’s history (Pergamopn). For those who want to come into America they need to be worthy of it, they need to know what America was built on and the core values of America.
The United States has one of the world’s largest immigrant populations and though immigrant assimilation is faster compared to other countries, the topic of immigration concern is highly debated. Economic analysis has found that immigration and inflow of labor has had very little effect on wages or job reduction. Economic data and the bulk of academic research states that in the long-term, wages are unaffected by immigration and that economic effects are mostly positive for the economy in its entirety. Since 1970 America has seen a surge in immigration and with the increase in investment by firms from influx in workers, there are balancing wages and boosting of the economy. A popular belief is that immigrants are taking away jobs from American citizens. Regarding this belief, empirical data suggests long term benefits for the natives which initially could come at the cost of short term unemployment and lower wages. While average wages remain the same, immigration might affect relative wages of different working types by increasing their relative supply. Comparing their educational background, a study by Wharton School of Business of University of Pennsylvania puts immigrants on a spectrum where recent immigrants have either less high school degrees than US citizens or on the other hand have completed college and hold more advanced degrees than citizens. This in turn results in increased supply of the least and most skilled workers. Studies have also shown that immigrants tend to complement the American born workers rather than replacing them due to linguistic barriers.
Immigrants bring in a wave of talent and ingenuity causing disproportions in the field of innovation. A study conducted in “Immigrant Founders and Key Personnel in America’s 50 Top Venture-Funded Companies” found that more than half the firms had at least one immigrant founder and more than three quarters had immigrants is top managerial or research positions. In 2011, another study prompted that more than 76% patents have at least one immigrant author and that immigrants file twice as many patents as natives which then produces a positive spillover. Like the two sides of a coin, even immigration has its pros and cons. More often than not, immigrants are less educated and have lower incomes. As a result, they pay less in taxes and use federally funded programs at a higher rate than US born citizens do. Linguistic barriers increase the cost of education to states if immigrant children are not fluent in English. Though these factors impose short term costs on state budgets, it is offset by the tax paying lifetime of a second-generation immigrant.
The stasis of this issue is hard to pin point because of the number of stakeholders involved and the difference in views that they hold. The stasis of the argument begins with the disagreement over the action that should be taken. The people involved have discussed the facts of the issue and understand the underlying causes for the problem. The definition of the issue is creating a successful path to citizenship that works for all parties involved. The quality of the issue has been evident in processes involving government officials because of the strong differences in beliefs between republicans and democrats. The stasis category that is most important today is the discussion of policy. The questions that rise from this are who should be involved in helping/addressing the issue, as well as what should be done about this problem. The disagreements between illegal immigrants and their families versus government officials and Americans citizens/workers are the catalyst for why discussion is still on-going and policy has not been put into place. The path to a successful solution is having a discussion with leaders of the groups involved to find a compromise that satisfies all sides.
The facts of the issue are “According to the Pew Hispanic Center in Washington, there are 10.3 million illegal immigrants in the United States today—57% from Mexico… approximately 800,000 illegal Mexican immigrants find a way across every year” (Fair). The reason Mexicans flee their home country to come to America is the condition they are in and how little opportunity there is compared to America. The real way to correct the issue would to be assist the Mexican government to clean up the country and remove the amount of corrupt on-going activities. Immigration is viewed as race issue. If we do not take action by changing laws that are already in place or instituting new laws the problem will only get worse and the number of people affected will increase. The costs that are at risk of solving this is upsetting a large portion of the stakeholders. The issue is so popular and serious because President Trump holds it as a constant talking piece.
Illegal immigrants value the process of building a better life, security, and humane aspects of the immigration system. These people are the Stakeholders that are most effected by any change because they are the catalyst that fuels the issues. The stake holders that the immigrants are directly related to is their families. Illegal immigrants and their family members argue on points like the path to citizenship is broken, it’s much easier to come illegally. Family of immigrants value the safety illusion projected by living in the united states.
Government officials are stakeholders in the issue of immigration and they mainly value security, and the state of American citizens. Government officials and American citizens mostly acquainted on their stasis they understand the definition of the issue the discrepancy is provoked when dealing with the aspect of procedure.
American citizens value safety. The American workers are affected on an economical level by illegal immigrants. The presence of undocumented aliens on the workforce has a large impact. Illegals work cash jobs or low-profile positions. Americans involved in the workforce value the stability of the economy and value their economic status.
The issue of immigration has been on the forefront of priorities the united states wants to reform. The procedure that must take place has yet to be determined. The many pro and cons of immigration reform are all based on the specific stakeholder. There are many different groups of people that are involved in and heavily affected by change to the legal system dealing with illegal immigrants or reform of the path to legal citizenship. The intricate problems of the united states immigration must be dealt with before the problem is too large and unsolvable.