User:Amacune/sandbox

Causes
The United States is viewed worldwide as a highly desirable destination by would-be migrants. International polls by the Gallup organization have found that more than 165 million adults in 148 foreign countries would, if they could, move to the US, which is the most desired destination for migrants.[23] Most immigrants who come to the United States come for better opportunities for employment, avoidance of political oppression, the opportunity to rejoin their loved ones, for the prospect of providing better lives for themselves and their children, and for the educational and medical services benefits.

Causes by region
In general illegal immigrants from Mexico and Central America come for economic reasons, but also sometimes due to political oppression. From Asia, they come for economic reasons but some come involuntarily as indentured servants or sex slaves. From Sub-Saharan Africa, they come for economic activities and there is some chance of slave trade. From Eastern Europe, they come for economic activities and to rejoin family already in the United States. However, there are also some who come involuntarily who work in the sex industry. From the Middle East and other areas where Al-Qaeda is influential, they may come with the intention of committing acts of terror upon American citizens and institutions, however it is very important to note that this is an extremely small percentage of illegal immigrants.

Economic Incentives
As shown in the section causes by regions, economic reasons is the most popular reason as to why people illegally immigrate to the United States. The United States is attractive for economic reasons because United States employers hire illegal immigrants at wages substantially higher than they could earn in their native countries. These United States employers are pushed to hire illegal migrants for three main reasons - global economic change, the jobs needed to be filled in the United States, and ineffective employer sanctions. Global economic change is one cause for illegal immigration because information and transportation technologies now foster internationalized production, distribution and consumption, and labor. This has encouraged many countries to open their economies to outside investment, then increasing the number of low-skilled workers participating in global labor markets and making low-skilled labor markets all more competitive. This and the fact that developed countries have shifted from manufacturing to knowledge-based economies, have realigned economic activity around the world. Labor has become more international as individuals migrate seeking work despite governmental attempts to control this migration. Because the United States education system creates few people who either lack a high school diploma or who hold PhD's, there is a gap of needed workers to fulfill low-skilled jobs and also very high-skilled jobs. To fulfill these gaps, the United States immigration system attempts to compensate for these shortages by providing temporary immigration. So, immigrants in general, although mostly illegal immigrants, are doing the jobs that American workers will not do, including construction, meat-packing, and service industries. The third reason, ineffective employer sanctions, allows migrants in the country illegally to find jobs. There are three reasons for this ineffectiveness - the absence of reliable mechanisms for verifying employment eligibility, inadequate funding of interior immigration enforcement, and the absence of political will due to labor needs to the United States economy. For example, it is unlawful to knowingly hire an illegal immigrant but there are no mechanisms in place for employers to verify that the migrant's papers are authentic. As long as policies and economic conditions exist in the United States that reinforce illegal immigration, such behavior will continue. When such reinforcemnts do not exist, it will dimish. Evidence is already accumulating that the tide of illegal immigration is diminishing because of increased border security and tougher immigration laws and because there are fewer jobs in the American economy.

Inadequate channels for legal migration
The United States immigration system provides only limited channels for legal, permanent economic migration, especially for low-skilled workers. The United States immigration system rests on three pillars - family reunification, provision of scare labor as in agricultural and specific high-skilled worker sectors, and protecting American workers from competition with foreign workers. The current system sets an overall limit of 675,000 permanent immigrants each year; this limit does not apply to spouses, unmarried minor children or parents on U.S. citizens. Outside of this number for permanent immigrants, 480,000 visas are allotted for those under the family-preference rules and only 140,000 are allocated for employment-related preferences. The current system and low number of visas available, make it impossible for low-skilled workers to legally and permanently enter the country to work, so illegal entry becomes the way migrants respond to the lure of jobs with higher wages than what they would be able to find in their current country.

U.S. economy
One of the most important factors regarding public opinion about illegal migration is the level of unemployment; anti-immigrant sentiment is highest where unemployment is highest and vice-versa. In general, some say that undocumented workers are taking away jobs from Americans; however businesses and agricultural groups disagree and say that migrant workers are needed to fill unattractive jobs. This is further supported by a May 2006 New York Times/CBS News Poll reported that 53 percent of Americans felt that "illegal immigrants mostly take the jobs Americans don’t want". However there are others who say that immigration helps to "decimate the bargaining leverage of the American worker. If you use a form of labor recruitment that bids down the cost of labor, that leads you to a society where a small number are very, very rich, there's nobody in the middle, and everyone is left scrambling for crumbs at the bottom. Yet there are still others who say that the U.S. "has an economy that depends on immigration" and "without immigration labor, it would be almost certainly not be possible to produce the same volume of food in the country."

Investors
According to a gallop poll done in 2006, the opinions of investors were illustrated to support some of the claims made above and disagree with others. In support of an opinion stated above, 84% of investors believe that illegal immigrants mostly take low paying jobs that Americans do not want. However, nearly 62% of investors say illegal immigration is hurting the investment climate. 68% of investors say that illegal immigrants cost taxpayers too much because they use government services like public education and medical services but another 25% say that in the long run, illegal immigrants become productive citizens who come to make up paying their fair share of taxes.

Response of government
An ABC News Poll, indicates that most respondents (67%) believe the United States is not doing enough to keep illegal immigrants from coming into the country and, according to a CBS News/New York Times poll most Americans believe that US immigration policy needs either fundamental changes (41%) or to be completely rebuilt (49%).

In an opinion poll by Zogby International in 2005, voters were also asked, "Do you support or oppose the Bush administration's proposal to give millions of illegal aliens guest worker status and the opportunity to become citizens?" 35% gave their support; 56 percent disagreed. The same poll noted a huge majority, 81%, believes local and state police should help federal authorities enforce laws against illegal immigration.

Federal response
Although Americans may favor one immigration policy over another, perceptions of government and officials’ ability to implement these policies is consistently negative. Public opinion demonstrates consistent variation across surveys in the trust Americans have that one party will more capably handle immigration issues. Americans think that Democrats are more likely than Republicans to make the right decisions when it comes to dealing with immigration. Since 2006, public opinion has additionally rated the Democratic Party 12 percentage points higher than the Republican Party on this issue.

In 2006, only 20 percent of respondents said they approved of the way Congress was handling the nation’s immigration policy. Most respondents (51%) would be upset if Congress does not pass an immigration bill while significantly fewer (22%) would be pleased.

State and local response
According to a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll, most respondents (55%) believe state or local police forces should arrest illegal immigrants they encounter who have not broken any state or local laws.

The previously cited CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll poll indicates that most respondents (76%) are against state governments issuing driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. A poll by the Field Institute found that "[California] residents are very much opposed (62% to 35%) to granting illegal immigrants who do not have legal status in this country the right to obtain a California driver’s license. However, opinion is more divided (49% to 48%) about a plan to issue a different kind of driver’s license that would allow these immigrants to drive but would also identify them as not having legal status."

Further, most respondents (63%) in the above-mentioned 2006 Quinnipiac University Poll support local laws passed by communities to fine businesses that hire illegal immigrants while 33% oppose it.

In addition to these opinions, others at the local level have gotten involved in grass root, citizen-organized efforts to enhance controls on illegal migration. Several citizen-led anti-illegal migration organizations have been created using a “Minuteman” mantra. These organizations developed with the purpose of patrolling the border and lobbying legislative bodies to create policy to reduce illegal migration. For instance, the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps (n.d.) have the following as their stated mission: “It is the mission of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps to see the borders and coastal boundaries of the United States secured against the unlawful and unauthorized entry of all individuals, contraband, and foreign military. We will employ all means of civil protest, demonstration, and political lobbying to accomplish this goal.”

Sanctuary cities
Currently there is a lot of controversy around Sanctuary cities. Many American cities have designated themselves as sanctuary cities and many other state and municipal governments discourage the reporting of illegal immigrants to U.S. immigration and Customs Enforcement. A sanctuary city is defined as a city that follows certain practices to protect illegal immigrants; these include - cities that do not allow municipal funds or resources to be used to enforce federal immigration laws, usually by not allowing police or municipal employees to inquire about one's immigration status. These cities include Washington D.C., New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Santa Ana, San Diego, San Jose, Salt Lake City, El Paso, Houston, Detroit, Jersey City, Minneapolis, Miami, Denver, Baltimore, Seattle, Portland, Oregon, New Haven, Somerville, Cambridge, and Portland, Maine. The controversy of this topic comes up around election time when public officials are often faced with deciding if they will continue to enforce the laws of a sanctuary city or appear to be harsher on immigration. Also the public opinion of the cities is not very high, a poll in 2011 found that 59% of the population supported a proposal to remove federal funding to sanctuary cities and 58% wanted the Justice Department to take action against these cities.

