Abstract

How can a nation like the United States of America both have and lack immigration laws? The title here implies a contradiction! Considering the history of immigration law from the 1798 Naturalization Act through the recent controversial executive orders by President Obama, our government has sought to carve out a path to residency and/or citizenship for individuals so inclined. Some of the measures along the way have been exclusionary and even racist. However, recent immigration policies seem to have been attempts to control populations of people flowing into the United States for the sake of equity. Starting with the “Immigration Reform and Control Act” of 1986, laws have been made so that immigrants have inroads to permanent residency and citizenship but the problem is enforcement in both will and deed. Our nation has immigration in theory but in practice? One can not really be clear about what constitutes such a practice given millions of illegal immigrants live and work in the United States. Beyond the legal problem of enforcement, the moral problem exists in the loss of our humanity and the humanity of immigrants living in the United States. Unfortunately, the path to moral rectitude is blocked by a problem of incompatibility. Moral rectitude cannot be accomplished by the status quo. It also cannot be accomplished by amnesty or deportation. A morally tolerable solution exists somewhere in between with some degree of punishment and yet seems, concurrently, too much and not enough.