The Historical Perspective of Immigrant Families: How They Are Currently Politicized and Its Impact
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The Historical Perspective Of Immigrant Families: How They Are Currently Politicized And Its Impact Item Type text; Electronic Thesis Authors Larsen, Lauren Elisabeth Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 26/09/2021 16:50:45 Item License http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/632727 THE HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE OF IMMIGRANT FAMILIES: HOW THEY ARE CURRENTLY POLITICIZED AND ITS IMPACT By LAUREN ELISABETH LARSEN ____________________ A Thesis Submitted to The Honors College In Partial Fulfillment of the Bachelors degree With Honors in Family Studies & Human Development THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA M A Y 2 0 1 9 Approved by: ____________________________ Dr. Richard N. Wood Department of Family & Consumer Science THE HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE OF IMMIGRANT FAMILIES 2 Abstract This thesis discusses the United States’ immigration policy in relation to family. Family reunification has been the backbone of U.S. immigration for centuries, however this doesn’t mean that policy makers have been concerned about the well-being of immigrant families. Immigrant families have become a pawn in politics, leaving this vulnerable population dehumanized while seeking out a better life. The first section explains family-based immigration in the U.S. The second section contains a historical timeline from 1790-2018, focusing on twelve acts that impacted family and children historically. The third section explains three interrelated components that constitute the negative politicizing of immigrant families: demonization, objectification, and fear. The fourth section contains a description of how immigrant families are negatively impacted by current, inhumane policies. The closing section contains the author’s conclusions. Connected to these findings, future research may be able to advocate for an improved immigration and naturalization system in the U.S. so immigrant families are not politicized as they currently are. Keywords: family, historical timeline, immigration, politicization THE HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE OF IMMIGRANT FAMILIES 3 The Historical Perspective of Immigrant Families: How they are Currently Politicized and its Impact In the United States, immigrants account for 14% of the population (U.S. Census Bureau, as cited in Conner & Budiman, 2019). Due to the sheer number of immigrants present, U.S. immigration policy has had a profound impact on immigrant families. At times, policies were racist, with the intention of restricting undesirable races that many people in power believed would negatively impact America. Eventually, immense activism efforts would result in policy that prioritized family reunification. However, the reason behind prioritizing families was not because the government had a moral commitment or desire to reunify them. “Though family unity may be a professed goal and central value in American immigration policy, these pronouncements have not meant that immigrant families themselves are valued” (Lee, 2013, p. 111). Families were often used as a pawn, and once they arrived in America they faced many problems (Kandel, 2018). The Trump administration has done the unthinkable by separating families at the United States-Mexico border (Kandel, 2019), unconcerned by the negative long- lasting effects this may have. The following thesis is focusing on family-based immigration, its history, the politicization of immigrant families, and the impact on children and families. I: Understanding Family-based Immigration Policy allowing lawful permanent immigration focuses on: family reunification, immigration of persons with needed skills, refugee protection, and country-of-origin diversity (Kandel, 2018, p.1). “Family-based immigration currently makes up two-thirds of all legal permanent immigration” (Kandel, 2018, p. 1). A common way families immigrate to the U.S. is through “chain migration” which defines the process a citizen or foreign-born immigrant who obtained lawful permanent residence (LPR) (another term for obtaining a green card) can THE HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE OF IMMIGRANT FAMILIES 4 sponsor spouses and children (Kandel, 2018, p. 1). The terms “chain migration” and “family reunification” are synonymously used, especially in the media. Chain migration largely contributes to the growth of the immigrant population (Kandel, 2018). This has caused debate on how many LPRs should be awarded annually (Kandel, 2018, p. 1). The Immigration and Nationality Act establishes an annual limit of 675,000 immigrants (Kandel, 2018, p.3). 480,000 are family-sponsored immigrants, 140,000 employment-based preference immigrants, 50,000 diversity visa lottery immigrants (this number has been temporarily reduced 5,000 a year to adjust for numbers allowed through the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act of 1997), and an unlimited number of refugees and asylees (Kandel, 2018, p. 3). Though U.S. immigration policy grants unlimited admission to U.S. citizen’s immediate relatives, the annual level of family preference immigrants must be a minimum of 226,000 (Kandel, 2018, p. 4). “If the number immediate relatives of the U.S. citizens admitted in the previous year falls below 254,000… then family preference immigrants may exceed 226,000 by that amount” (Kandel, 2018, p. 4). In 2016, 86% of foreign-born admission were due to family ties (Department of Homeland Security, as cited in Kandel, 2018, p. 5). The above statistics, it is assumed, were the result of the 2002 Homeland Security Act that established two requirements of the Office of Immigration and Statistics. The first is to “collect and disseminate to Congress and the public data and information useful in evaluating the social, economic, environmental, and demographic impact of immigrations laws” (Homeland Security, 2019, para. 1). The second is “to establish standards of reliability and validity for immigration statistics collected by the Department’s operational Components” (Homeland Security, 2019, para. 1). THE HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE OF IMMIGRANT FAMILIES 5 Through the INA, lawful permanent residents from any country are to make up 7% of the annual limit of both family preference and employment-based preference immigration (Kandel, 2018, p. 5). There is a maximum number of visas available to immigrants based on their country of origin, however this does not guarantee all will be dispersed (Kandel, 2018, p. 5). Ultimately, the main issue is the number of immigrants eligible for a visa is much greater than the annual visa limit. What follows describes the problems immigrants face such as; supply-demand imbalance, impetus to violate immigration laws, and aging out of legal status categories. First, there is a supply-demand imbalance for U.S. lawful permanent residence, with the number petitioning for LPR status surpassing the number that can be admitted by law. A “visa queue” occurs where those who have been approved for a visa, wait for availability due to the admission limits (Kandel, 2018, p. 13). In November 2017, the U.S. Department of State determined there were 3.95 million family-preference immigrant applications (as cited in Kandel, 2018, p. 13). “Countries with relatively large LPR such as Mexico and China, increase visa waiting times substantially” (Kandel, 2018, p. 13). In February 2018, “LPR petitions filed under 1st family preference category (unmarried children of U.S. citizens) on or before March 15, 2011, were being processed close to seven years later for most countries” (Kandel, 2018, p. 15). This process receives criticism due to its lack of family reunification in a timely-manner and can cause immigrants to break the law (Kandel, 2018). Because obtaining a visa can take years, current U.S. immigration policy makes promises it cannot deliver. When temporary visas expire, immigrants are faced the difficult decision to “over-stay their welcome” or to enter the U.S. illegally (Kandel, 2018, p. 17). An additional problem is that individuals may age out of legal status categories. THE HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE OF IMMIGRANT FAMILIES 6 Aging-out denotes that the individual is no longer eligible for a benefit due to their age. This most commonly impacts children. In family-based immigration, children of U.S. citizens versus children of LPRs do not receive the same privileges. Children of citizens are protected due to the Child Status Protection Act of 2002. This means that their age will be “frozen” as what it was when they filed an immigration petition (Kandel, 2018, p. 18). If a family preference LPR ages-out, they would need to be sponsored by a family member (Kandel, 2018, p. 18). This is discussed further in the historical section of this paper. In both the 1981 Select Commission on Immigration and Refugee Policy and the 1995 U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform, family unification was regarded as the primary goal of U.S. immigration policy. Interestingly, due to the policy creating false hope for immigration for millions, both considered reconfiguring family-based categories (Kandel, 2018). At the 1995 U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform, a suggested limitation was that family-based preference should only include spouses and minor unmarried children (Kandel, 2018, p. 21). It has been argued that it is not the obligation