Immigration Reform: Impacts at the State and Federal Levels Essay

Texas has a reputation throughout history of differing views from the federal official presidency in laws and politics pertaining to social, fiscal, and educational issues. On the whole, Texas operates as a for the most part conservative separate. Because of this, indemnity-making is often right wing. With the institution of a Democratic, encompassing president, the States dissent from the Federal g e very(prenominal)placenment has only change magnitude over trusted issues. virtuoso hot topic of the 2012 Presidential election was in-migration. With the major increase in in-migration, it is no surprise that the issue was so emphasized. Between 2000 and 2011 there was a 30 percent increase in the nonnative population. The immi eitherow population grew from 31.1 zillion to 40.04 million. (americanprogress.org) Texas has a special interest in this subject due to the fact that they confine a population of over 4 million immigrants. Texas is among the top three produces with fo reign born individuals spirit indoors its borders, giving the state a vested interest in the kingdoms immigration policy. (Orrenius et al., 1)Historically, Texas has differentiated from the National government in regards to immigration. One example is the autocratic Court case Plyer v. Doe. In 1975, the Texas legislative assembly allowed public schools to deny enrollment to children who could not furnish documentation that they were legally-admitted to the linked States. In 1977, the Tyler independent school district adopted a policy that required foreign-born students who were not legally-admitted to pay tuition to attend. A theme of students from Mexico who could not establish their legal-admittance filed a class action suit which challenged the policy. The Supreme Court ruled that the policy violated the Equal Protection Clause, stating, If states provide a free public education to U.S. citizens and lawfully present foreign-born children, they cannot deny such an education to unregistered children without showing that it furthers rough squargon(p) state interest. (immigrationpolicy.org)Being a right-wing state, Texas has a strong whimsy in state autonomy in policy making, therefore the determination in this case was not well-received by the majority of individuals in the statedespite it being the morally and legally correct decision. Texas has also grand supported an increase in border security. In 2006, Gov. Rick Perry denote a plan that assigned Department of Public Safety force-out as well as opposite resources to the border to assist in law enforcement. He also added an additional $3.8 million in grant funding for state criminal justice planning funds to the Texas environ Sheriffs Coalition. (Texas support of Representatives) The states legislative policy has been unity of strict anti-immigration. In Texass 81st Legislative session, the issue of voter ID arose. The Voter ID bill would require photo identification or two forms of other identification in order to vote. During the 81st session, Democrats filibustered to prevent the issue from being voted upon, it is very promising this is the only reason the bill did not pass and it likely will pass should it reappear in the 82nd session.Despite its history of tart policies towards foreign born immigrants, two bills find been introduced into the Texas Legislature which provide some leniency toward immigrants. The first is a proposal would grant undocumented immigrants the aptitude to legally drive and obtain insurance if they pass a background check and a driving test. Texas Rep. Byron Cook said about the subject, Thats much better policy than what we have right now, where we have undocumented workers that are driving without a license and without insurance, and we dont hit the sack who they are or where they live. (Harper) Despite the reason behind it, the policy emphatically shows an unprecedented favor towards illegal aliens within Texas borders. The secon d bill would exterminate law enforcement from asking the immigration status of witnesses and victims of crimes. Though neither of these bills has do it to debate, they do demonstrate a shift from previous anti-immigration sentiment.In June of this year, the Senate passed immigration reform bill S.744, containing several provisions including increased border security, a feasible path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, creates a new-fashioned category of merit-based grand cards for individuals who meet certain criteria which might benefit the national interest, and mandates that all employers in the country use E-Verifya government work-authorization remainswithin five years of employment (americanprogress.org). While the provisions of this bill are largely in line with the beliefs of the Texas Legislature and policies of the state, they do bring certain issues to light. Although the idea of stricter Federal immigration policies seems to be beneficial for the states, ofte n the federal government passes legislation and leaves the states to pass onle the cost. For example, from October 2011 to September 2013 Texas county jails spent $156.6 million on incarceration of undocumented immigrants. (Su, 23)Ultimately, immigration policy on both the state and federal level will continue to be a kinetic topic. While certain aspects of immigration reform will likely have major benefits for the nation such as boosts to the economy with an estimated 121,000 jobs being added yearly and an increase in the GDP over 10 years, others are basically flawed. For instance, the E-Verify system is viewed by some as the first step towards a national identification system for all US citizens. This is viewed by legion(predicate) as an invasion of privacy. In addition to this, according to research the system misidentifies about 1% of applicants as undocumented. (Against The Current) Forcing employers to use E-Verify could also lead to a decrease in State and Federal payrol l taxes because it could cause employers to behave their undocumented employees off the books to avoid having to incur the cost of training new employees and offering more competitive wages.Although both state and federal governments have good intentions with their immigration policies, both have serious issues to consider. Solving the immigration problem will require Federal and Local governments to work hand in hand. Border security is something both sides advocate heavily, spending millions on walls, electronic equipment, and increased border patrol. The cost has not just been control to dollars, however, as increase border security leads to an increase in casualties. in-migration reform has the potential to boost the economy as well as increase the relations between the United States and foreign countries. By chronic to advocate for a path to citizenship and work towards getting the 11 million undocumented immigrants citizenship, the government can achieve these goals. In addi tion, continued ordure towards bipartisanism on both the state and federal levels can create an boilersuit better, more effective nation.Works CitedFacts on Immigration Today. Center for American Progess. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Dec. 2013. .Orrenius, Pia M., Madeline Zavodny, and Melissa LoPalo. Pia M. Orrenius Madeline Zavodny Melissa LoPalo Federal shyness Bank of Dallas Agnes Scott College Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas DALLAS FED Immigration and the regeneration of the Texas Economy. Nov. 2013. Print. Public Education for Immigrant Students States Challenge Supreme Courts conclusion in Plyler v. Doe. Immigration Policy Center. American Immigration Council, n.d. Web. 7 Dec. 2013. .Texas House of Representatives. House Research Organization. The Role of States in Immigration Enforcement. Feb. 2006. Print.Harper, Karen Brooks. Immigrant Driving allow Bill in Legislature Raises Tough Issue for GOP. Dallas Morning password Dallas 2 May 2013 Print. SU, RICK. The States Of Immigration. William & Mary Law Review 54.4 (2013) 1339-1407. Academic lookup Complete. Web. 8 Dec. 2013. Organizations and Leaders Critique of S.744. Against The Current 28.4 (2013) 11-12. Academic Search Complete. Web. 8 Dec. 2013.