Historically, the immigration issue has been very persistent in the United States. Dating back into the nineteenth century, the illegal immigration of people from their homelands to America has been happening. To date, people still gains entry to the U.S. illegally. Some of the reasons why people immigrate are lack of education facilities, war, unemployment, social radicalization and family unification.  However, since the start of illegal immigration, there has been a relationship between race/ethnicity and immigration policy. Historically, the enactment and enforcement of the immigration policies has deep relationships with racism. However, an inclusionary human rights approach would be viable in shaping future immigration policies and their enforcement.

In the twentieth century, most of the immigration policies were based on controlling a certain people from entering America. It all began with the Chinese immigration to the American west in the nineteenth century. This led to the passage of the Chinese exclusion act in 1882 (Lee 42). The idea was to racialize the Chinese immigrants as permanent aliens. The politicians at the time argued that the government had the right to close doors to one nation and open doors to another nation. This was in line with protecting the future and survival of the America. The Chinese were viewed as a threat to the survival of America. As Lee (2002) says, the supreme court in 1889 described the Chinese immigration as “vast hordes of people crowding in upon us” and as “a different race … dangerous to America’s peace and security.”Chinese were viewed as a different race and an Exclusionary act generated to prevent them from entering America.

When determining the desirable, undesirable and excludable immigrants, race played the major role. By doing so, the gate keeping phenomenon helped to generate a framework for understanding the already existing racial hierarchy in America. Historically, the American borders have been open to some people but closed to other people. At the same time when America started to close its borders to unwanted foreigners, the nation also increased its influence abroad (Lee 45). The immigration laws were extended to the new territories. A good example is the annexation of Hawaii and the end of the Spanish-American war. After the two events, the Chinese exclusion laws were extended to both the Philippines and Hawaii.

Up to date, the immigration policies tend to lean on a certain race. The Mexicans for example are the greatly affected. Though most of the illegal immigrants are from Mexico, they are not the only illegal immigrants. There are many other people from different places who find their way into America. Lee (2002) argues that the Chinese immigrants were defined as the model by which other immigrants were measured. With the Chinese exclusion finished, similar restrictions were established to exclude all other immigrants. The deportation of illegal immigrants found in America became the standard of operation in America. However, the whole idea came from the Chinese exclusion. The immigration policies are solely based on racism since they are adopted from the exclusion of a single race.

With the generation of immigration policies were enforced. In the President Bush era, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) was very active in eradicating illegal immigration. Plants and industries were visited by ICE officers who separated the workers by nationality. The workers were divided between the documented and the undocumented (Hing 2). However, any person of another race found in the documented group was referred to the undocumented group to be checked.  This to some point was ethnicity. The raids perpetrated by the ICE had racial implications.

At the centre of the raids was racism. There were mainly done on plants and farms where workers were mainly from other nations. Those who defended the ICE argued that the claim of racism was very unfair given that most of the immigrants whether documented or undocumented were people of color. The argued that of the undocumented were white, the raids would still have been done. However this was controversial given that there were no raids on undocumented Canadians or the undocumented Irish people in the 1990s (Hing 5). Racism has been institutionalized in to immigration enforcement and it focuses much on the Mexicans and the Asians.

When President Bush initiated the ICE raid strategy, swift raids were conducted.  The raids were done by agents with riot gear, and assault weapons. Plants in Cactus, Texas; Greeley, Worthington, Minnesota; Nebraska; Colorado ,Grand Island, Hyrum, Utah, Iowa and Marshalltown were raided (Hing 5). Though the raids were done to arrest a handful of named workers, the number of agents on the ground and the manner in which the raids were done was alarming. The raids were meant to increase the number of those arrested from those in the warrants.

After arrest, the workers were always divided according to races and national origins. The illegal immigrants were forced to sign the deportation papers without any representation of a lawyer. According to witnesses’ testimonies, the ICE subjected the workers who seemed of Latino origin to great scrutiny. The workers of different origins were treated differently with white workers. Those who could not prove their citizenship were arrested and kept in Camp Dodge. Racial profiling was real during these raids.

Generally, the U.S. immigration policy and its enforcement victimize the Asians and Latin Americans.  The immigrants of color ended up being the subject of the ICE raids. The border policies are not fair. Racial profiling has been institutionalized. The relationship between race and enforcement of immigration policies is characterized by racial profiling. The constitution and bill of rights are not followed in some cases when deporting the illegal immigrants.

Inclusionary human rights approach should be used in the future immigration policies in the U.S. There are different reasons why people move from their own countries to America. These include but not limited to economic hardships, unemployment, lack of education facilities and war. These people are just looking for a better life.

As Humer (440) puts it, some of the immigrants are merely escaping the oppression and economic hardships in their countries. When the United States denies them entry through severe restrictions, it allows harm to occur to those people. This according to Huemer constitutes a violation of the rights of the potential immigrants. Many of these immigrants suffer from oppression and poverty in their nations. They are freeing to the U.S. in search of a better society to live in. When the government decides to crack on them, they are deported back to the poverty and oppression they ran away from (Kershnar 148). While in America, immigrants contribute to the development of the economy by undertaking low wages jobs. The United States government fails to confer a benefit to the immigrants.

In line with this, the adoption of inclusionary human rights approach will be viable. The rights of the immigrants should be protected. In addition, the United States government should have the desire to allow immigrants into their country. The immigrants should not be coerced into returning to their original countries whether undocumented or documented. However, coercion is in some cases justified if it is meant to defend an innocent person, to rectify an economic inequality or if the coerce had made an agreement (Humer 454). However, in the case of the illegal immigrants, they are actually contributing to the development of the nation by working in the jobs that the Americans are not willing to do. It is commonly argued that the immigrants lower the wages by accepting lower wages. However, economists agree that the overall effects of immigration on Americans are positive.

The decision to admit the immigrants should be based on considerations as opposed to justice. In addition, the restriction of immigration can be based on the idea of preserving the cultural values. However, the cultural values should not outdo the human rights of the immigrants.  In addition, the immigration policies and enforcement should not be based on race. The inclusionary human rights approach will go a long way in helping and respecting the rights of the immigrants. It is not by choice that the immigrants wish to move to the United States but the conditions in their nations force them. These are people with rights and thus should not be excluded from being welcomed as documented immigrants.

Work Cited

Hing, Bill Ong. “Institutional racism, ICE raids, and immigration reform.” University of San Fransisco Law Review 44 (2009): 1-50.

Huemer, Michael. “Is there a right to immigrate?.” Social theory and practice 36.3 (2010): 429-461.

Kershnar, Stephen. “There is no moral right to immigrate to the United States.” Public Affairs Quarterly (2000): 141-158.

Lee, Erika. “The Chinese exclusion example: Race, immigration, and American gatekeeping, 1882-1924.” Journal of American Ethnic History (2002): 36-62.

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