US Immigration Policy

“An immigration policy is any policy of a state that deals with the transit of persons across its borders into the country, but especially those that intend to work and stay in the country. Immigration policies can range from allowing no migration at all to allowing most types of migration, such as free immigration.” Immigration policy in the United States has changed throughout the years with the passing of different acts on the matter such as the “Naturalization Act of 1790, the Chinese Exclusion Act, the Emergency Quota Act of 1921, the Immigration Act of 1924 along with the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 followed with the Immigration and Naturalization Service.”

For most recent, the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 was created in order to abolish many previous restrictions created because of the act in 1790. The Act established a preference system which determined which ethnic groups were desirable immigrants and placed great importance on labor qualifications. This act also defined what types of immigrants there were: special skills, exempt from quotas, and refugees. The act targets a wide range of people. If any person was born in United States, Puerto Rica and the Virgin Islands they would acquire citizenship. Though your parents may not be from here, if you or your child are born here you are granted citizenship. The act was first vetoed by President Truman regarding the bill as "un-American" and discriminatory but was later overridden by the house and senate.

With this act came the Immigration and Naturalization Service which was created to keep people from entering illegally into the United States. But this also would issue permanent residency and naturalization to allow for people to apply for.

Policies on the matter of immigration dates back to the late 16^th century with the Naturalization Act of 1790 and was recently added to during 2001with the addition of the USA Patriot Act. “The USA Patriot  Act  amended the Immigration and Nationality Act to broaden the scope of aliens ineligible for admission or deportable due to terrorist activities to include an alien who: (1) is a representative of a political, social, or similar group whose political endorsement of terrorist acts undermines U.S. antiterrorist efforts; (2) has used a position of prominence to endorse terrorist activity, or to persuade others to support such activity in a way that undermines U.S. antiterrorist efforts (or the child or spouse of such an alien under specified circumstances); or (3) has been associated with a terrorist organization and intends to engage in threatening activities while in the United States.”  All of the Acts created over the past 200 years or so have been to amend with changing beliefs. The Department of Homeland Security, which replaced the Immigration and Naturalization Service, enforces immigration laws and bestows benefits on illegal immigrants. Different types of visas you can get include: Non Immigrant Visas, Green Card, Student Visas and Visitor's visas. Each of these allow for a specific time period to stay in the United States. People can also be granted citizenship.