Immigration: A Debate

 For our first Action Project in The War On X, we as a class chose to discuss immigration. Part of the process was to distinguish the process for entering the United States between migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees. After doing this research we had to write about what parts of the system you agree with, what parts you disagree with, and an alternative solution between one of the populations. I took a direction of how disagree with the system as a whole because it is unethical and confusing.

With the current state of the entrance process to enter the United States, there are no aspects that make me agree with how it is handled. One aspect I especially disagree with is the lack of accessibility for refugees trying to come into the country. The I-589 is a 14 page document that is only available in English that comes with a 12 page instruction book that also is only available in English. There is no recognized official language in the United States and yet we treat it like it is. We do not know the circumstances back in an asylum seeker’s home country and we have no right to assume whether they do or do not learn English in their home country. If people’s lives are at risk of persecution then we should be helping them to the best of our ability to get them to a better place, rather than throwing more barriers at them. 

I do not agree with how refugees and asylum seekers, migrants, and immigrants have both been lumped together as if they are interchangeable for one another. Though alike, they carry different meanings. Migrants typically are leaving their home country in search of opportunity, they take up temporary residency, whereas immigrants are arriving in a country to set down roots. The system as a whole is confusing for many coming into the country. The system is inherently racist and xenophobic because it requires references proving that you’re an upstanding character. However if you are trying to uproot their entire lives to leave a country they may not have that time or resources to complete that portion. 

According to the United Nations, the term migrant carries no internationally accepted definition. In order to fix this issue we should create an international definition for the term that sets the standard for the population and rules and regulations to benefit them as well. Under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (2002) it protects refugees entering Canada and are set protections to maximize social, cultural, and economic benefits, which I agree with. Though this law is in Canada, we should introduce a law like this because if we all are succeeding, then it offers economic prosperity.