Immigration reduction in the United States facts for kids

Immigration reduction is a idea in the United States where people want to lower the number of immigrants coming into the country. They believe that fewer immigrants would help solve social, economic, and environmental problems.

People who support this idea suggest several ways to reduce immigration. These include making it harder for people to enter the country illegally and reducing the number of temporary work visas. Some also want to change how legal immigrants are chosen, focusing more on skills rather than family connections.

It's different from general immigration reform, which might only focus on stopping illegal immigration while still supporting legal immigration. Some who want reduction believe current legal immigration levels are too high. The idea of "self-deportation" means creating policies that make people who are in the U.S. illegally decide to leave on their own.

In 2016, Donald Trump became president. His campaign talked a lot about reducing immigration. He won the election and put many anti-immigrant policies into action.

Looking Back: The History of Immigration Reduction

People have thought about controlling who comes into their lands for a very long time. Even in the Roman Empire, people worried about too many new groups arriving. They saw people from places like North Africa, the Middle East, and Germanic peoples as unwanted new populations.

Modern Efforts to Reduce Immigration

In the United States, different groups have pushed for immigration limits over the years. They had different reasons and goals.

• Mid-1800s: The "Know Nothing" movement didn't like the increase in Catholic immigrants, especially from Ireland and Germany.
• Late 1800s: The Workingman's Party opposed Chinese laborers coming to California. This led to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which stopped Chinese immigration for a time.
• Late 1800s and Early 1900s: The Immigration Restriction League worried about many immigrants coming from southern and eastern Europe. After World War I, these concerns led to laws like the Emergency Quota Act of 1921 and the Immigration Act of 1924, which set limits on how many people could come from certain countries.

Labor unions, which are groups that protect workers' rights, have also debated immigration levels for a long time. Early unions like the National Labor Union and the American Federation of Labor (AFL) wanted immigration restrictions. They believed that too many new workers might lower wages. The AFL-CIO (a large union group) didn't change its view on immigration restrictions until 1999.

Another concern that became linked to immigration was overpopulation. In 1968, Paul R. Ehrlich wrote a famous book called The Population Bomb. It warned about future disasters if the world's population grew too much. Some environmentalists believed that immigration was causing too much population growth in the U.S. They started groups like Negative Population Growth in 1972 to focus on reducing immigration.

A key person in the modern immigration reduction movement was John Tanton. He started the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) in 1979, which became a large and well-funded organization. Tanton also helped create other groups, including the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) and groups that promote English as the official language, like US English. These organizations have received money from various foundations.

In 1994, voters in California passed Proposition 187. This law aimed to limit benefits for people who were in the U.S. illegally. However, a judge stopped parts of the law, and it was never fully put into action. After this, many politicians avoided talking about immigration because it was a very sensitive topic.

The internet helped immigration reduction groups connect and share their ideas. Websites like VDARE and ProjectUSA started in 1999. NumbersUSA created a system for people to easily send faxes to their lawmakers about immigration issues.

In 2004, voters in Arizona passed Proposition 200, which required proof of legal status to receive certain public benefits. This showed strong support for immigration reduction among voters. In 2005, the Minuteman Project started, where volunteers went to Arizona to help patrol the border. This project was controversial and didn't have the support of the official border patrol.

In 2016, Donald Trump ran for president. He promised to stop illegal immigration, deport people living in the country illegally, and build a wall along the border with Mexico. He also wanted to limit legal immigration and ban travel from certain countries. Trump's ideas were called racist by some, but they were very popular in many parts of the U.S. As president, he put many of these policies into place, like separating immigrant families at the border and limiting refugees.

How Many Immigrants Should Come In?

People who want to reduce immigration have different ideas about the ideal number of immigrants for the United States.

• Some believe the number should be set each year to help keep the country's population from growing.
• Congressman Tom Tancredo suggested limiting annual immigration to between 30,000 and 300,000 people.
• The organization Population-Environment Balance (PEB) called for a limit of 100,000 people annually, which would be a 95% cut from previous levels.
• Some groups even support a complete stop, or "moratorium," on immigration for a period of time. For example, the America First Party called for a ten-year moratorium, only allowing spouses and children of citizens to enter.

Ways to Reduce Illegal Immigration

People have suggested several ways to reduce the number of people living in the U.S. illegally.

Border Walls

The United States-Mexico barrier is a wall that has been partly built to reduce the flow of people entering the U.S. without permission. The "Trump wall" was a name for a proposed expansion of this barrier during Donald Trump's time as president.

Making People Leave on Their Own

Some groups support a strategy called "attrition through enforcement." This means making it harder for people to live in the U.S. illegally, so they might choose to leave on their own. The idea is to stop new illegal entries and encourage those already here to "self-deport." This approach is seen as a way to reduce the illegal population without mass deportations.

Arizona SB1070, a strict anti-illegal immigration law in Arizona, was designed to use this strategy.

Working with Local Police

Some people believe that state and local police should work more closely with federal authorities to enforce immigration laws. For example, Section 287(g) of a federal law allows local police to be trained to act as immigration agents. This means they can report people who have broken immigration laws.

New Laws

Another approach is to lobby Congress to pass laws that lower future illegal immigration levels and prevent "amnesties" (ways for people who are in the country illegally to become legal residents).

Many who want to limit immigration also question the idea of "birthright citizenship." This rule means that anyone born in the U.S. is a citizen, even if their parents are not. They believe that children born to parents without legal status should not automatically become U.S. citizens.

They also think that denying public benefits to people without proper documents would remove reasons for them to come or stay illegally. Laws like California's Proposition 187 (1994) and Arizona's Proposition 200 (2004) tried to require proof of legal status to receive certain benefits.

Different Ideas Within the Movement

Even within the immigration reduction movement, there are disagreements. Some groups don't want to be associated with more extreme views. For example, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) has criticized some other leaders in the movement. Different groups also disagree on specific policies, like whether a national ID card should be used.

What Do Americans Think?

Surveys show different opinions on immigration reduction. For example, a 2013 survey found that most Americans (63%) supported creating a way for people living in the U.S. illegally to become citizens. Only a smaller number (18%) supported a plan to find and deport all illegal residents.