United States Immigration Policy

While I had always considered immigration to be a problem for the United States, I never realized how much of a problem it presents until I started researching it. The main problem seems to stem from the 20+ year-old set of regulations that the United states government uses. These regulations are so out of date that potential immigrants may have to wait decade beer receiving any sort of legal immigration papers. According to the immigration policy Center's website, the outcry for reformed immigration policy was finally being addressed by previous president George W. Bush who was in talks with the president of Mexico to help alleviate the illegal immigration issue. Everything was going smoothly until September 11th 2001 and the terrorist attacks occurred. Due to fear, panic, and confusion the issue of immigration was left at the wayside until matters could be settled. However, once the dust cleared, American were more concerned with terrorist threats and war than immigration. Since then, this issue has remained almost a non-issue with global concerns taking precedence over who could immigrate to the United States. Now, with America more xenophobic than ever, it doesn't appear that immigration policies will change. If they do it will be hard to determine whether it is for better or for worse. But what is it that makes this antiquated system so unfair? First, only 675,000 visas may be given out each year. 480,000 of those are dedicated to family members of U.S. citizens and the restrictions on family are stringent. A person who wishes to bring a family member to the U.S. must live above the poverty line, they must have proof of relation, and their family member must have some sort of job skill that can be helpful to the U.S. manual labor is not one of these skill sets. This must all be accomplished for someone who has a LEGAL relative living here already! Even then it could take years to get a visa. Never mind the extensive requirements for someone without family or other ties to the U.S. it is no wonder why cries for reform are becoming louder and harder to ignore. We live in a wonderful country and we should be more willing to share it with others.