Free Essay Comparing President Obama and Trump's Immigration Policy

US immigration policy is critical in safeguarding its economy, national security as well as its diplomacy. Hence, it is imperative for the US government to adopt an immigration policy that prevents dangerous and illegal immigrants from getting in the US, facilitates economic growth and strengthens diplomatic ties. Immigration policy is one of the policies that President Barrack Obama and President Donald Trump had a different approach on. Each of them made significant changes to the immigration policies to match the needs of their respective administrations. The focus of this paper is to analyze the US immigration policy during the Obama and Trump's administration.

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The immigration policy during the Obama administration aimed to accommodate any individuals who face several struggles to become accepted as an immigrant in the US. However, Obama's immigration policy was focused to scrutinizing the individuals thoroughly to ensure they were the right immigrants whose intentions were positive towards the economy and the security of the entire country (Cisneros, 2015). Additionally, President Obama reconfigured the US immigration law through various government channels in order to protect the illegal immigrants in the US by then from eviction from the US (Cox & Rodriguez, 2015). Through the immigration policy, Obama not only safeguarded the illegal immigrants from eviction from the US but also facilitated them to acquire employment in the US (Cox & Rodriguez, 2015). Notably, through the immigration and other relief policies, Obama managed to protect almost half of all the unauthorized immigrants from being thrown out of the US. However, Obama used the immigration policy to deport many illegal immigrants, mostly during his first term in office. Obama used the immigration policy to address the recession that faced the US during his era by deporting and preventing more illegal immigrants from entering the country (New York Times, 2019).

President Donald Trump used the US immigration policy aims at addressing the issue of illegal immigrants from Mexico and other countries. Trump shaped the immigration laws to enable him to deport more than two million illegal immigrants who have been charged with various crimes within the US (Martin, 2017). It is worth noting that Trump administration has used the immigration policy to minimize terrorism in the US by banning immigrants from certain countries that are linked to terrorism. Furthermore, Trump has managed to lower the acceptance of refugees in the US significantly. As a way of fighting terrorism, President Trump nullified the deferred action for childhood arrivals (DACA) initiatives which were meant to offer work permits as well as temporary protection from deportation to individuals who came to the US in their childhood (Pierce & Selee, 2018). Trump took this step as a way of reducing the number of unauthorized immigrants in the US. Moreover, President Trump 's immigration policy has stopped the temporary protected status meant for immigrants from Haiti, Sudan, as well as Nicaragua (Pierce & Selee, 2018). This measure was taken to lower the influx of unauthorized immigrants and refugees from these countries.

The immigration policy was important during the Obama administration because it enabled him to find a way of accommodating the unauthorized immigrants who had entered the US a long time ago but had accepted to abide by the law. The policy enabled Obama to ensure that these immigrants had no criminal record before their assimilation as US citizens. Furthermore, the reshaping of the immigration law by President Obama and Trump was important in enabling them to deport several illegal immigrants who had been convicted of crimes in the US deporting such individuals translated to a better economy for the Americans. In addition, the immigration policy was critical to both President Obama and Trump because it helped them strengthen US border security. It is worth noting that the immigration policy encouraged thorough screenings at the border to ensure that people coming in the US are authorized. Also, the increased border security boosted the apprehension of criminals such as drug dealers and terrorists before they enter the US. Generally, the immigration policy during the Obama and Trump's tenure has led to a significant reduction in the number of unauthorized immigrants entering the US. For instance, in the 2015 fiscal year, the illegal immigrants apprehended at the border reduced by close to 30 percent compared to those in 2014 (Horsley, 2016).

President Trump as well as the US Congress felt the need to deal with illegal immigrants in the US as well as controlling influx of more immigrants in order to enhance border security, boost the US economy, remove unauthorized immigrants who had been convicted in the US, as well as minimize influx of terrorists (PBS News, 2010). President Obama and Congress felt the need to reshape the immigration laws to allow more deportations of unauthorized immigrants as an intervention mechanism to the 2008-2009 recession.

President Obama had the immigration policy approach that I most agreed with because it was more considerate to the human's rights of the illegal immigrants. The Obama immigration policy created a room for the unauthorized immigrants who had stayed long in the US to remain in the US as a long as they had no criminal record and were obedient to the US laws. This is unlike Trump's immigration policies, which were drastic and aggressive with unauthorized immigrants.

References

Cisneros, J. D. (2015). A nation of immigrants and a nation of laws: Race, multiculturalism, and neoliberal exception in Barack Obama's immigration discourse. Communication, Culture & Critique, 8(3), 356-375.

Cox, A. B., & Rodriguez, C. M. (2015). The President and Immigration Law Redux. Yale LJ, 125, 104.

Horsley, S. (2016, August 31). 5 Things To Know About Obama's Enforcement Of Immigration Laws. Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/2016/08/31/491965912/5-things-to-know-about-obamas-enforcement-of-immigration-laws

Martin, P. (2017). Trump and US immigration policy. California Agriculture, 71(1), 15-17.

New York Times, (2019). All Presidents Are Deporters in Chief. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/13/opinion/sunday/trump-deportations-immigration.html

PBS News, (2010, August 13). Obama Signs $600 Million Bill to Boost U.S. Border Security. Retrieved from https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/obama-signs-600-million-bill-to-boost-u-s-border-security

Pierce, S., & Selee, A. (2018, January 22). Immigration under Trump: A Review of Policy Shifts in the Year Since the Election. Retrieved from https://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/immigration-under-trump-review-policy-shifts