Globalization and Immigration Problem
As international
interaction has increased and integration has spread to different aspects of
lives, globalization has brought significant advantages as well as
disadvantages towards people around the world. While people are pursuing their
self-interests like developments of income and living environment, people
become worried about problems brought by increasing immigration issues. Immigration,
induced by globalization, is a double-edged sword. Although it may facilitate academic
exchanges or technological advancement, immigrants may result in heavier burden
upon the host countries, especially in the fields of job opportunities, culture
and social welfare. To address this problem, two methods can be implemented:
taking a stricter immigration policy and offering workers a path to
citizenship. However, these solutions need to be carefully evaluated according
to its effectiveness before actual implementation.
Increasing
immigration has a variety of adverse effects on the global human society. First
and foremost, immigrants may compete for job opportunities and social welfare. According
to the US government, the immigration increased by 6 million in the year 2012,
which cause the national expenditure in accommodating asylums to rise from 100
to 200. A research also shows that more than half of cleaners in
Singapore are Chinese, Malaysian and Indonesian immigrants. In spite of the
intense competitive market of opportunities and welfare, immigrant issue may
also threaten the security. In order to minimize the adverse effects
immigration brought, one method involves taking stricter immigration policies. For
instance, UK has laws to restrict free access to healthcare for non-citizens (Casciani, 2013). Besides, US is taking a nationwide system
of bio-metric identification for visitors, which prevent employers
from hiring undocumented immigrants. This method is relatively effective in
ameliorate the immigration problems. Eliminating employment opportunities or
welfare would eliminate the desire to come into the country illegally. Nonetheless,
it may hurt business as technological immigrant labor may also develop the economic
growth. In addition, this method may also cause immigrants to protest against
the government on equality. Hence, the government should identify which element
attracts immigrants most and reduce benefits of immigrants on that area. In
this way, immigrants, considering benefits and costs of immigration, might be
less eager to move.
Another method is
to grant workers a path to gain citizenship. The amnesty been attempted before
in US and has benefited 12 to 20 million undocumented immigrants. In result,
large numbers of foreigners who illegally gained entry into the US are rewarded
with legal status for breaking immigration laws. This method is not as effective
as the previous solution. Although some assert that it is the broken
immigration system that results in large numbers of immigrants, opponents claim
that granting amnesty does not work and only encourages more illegal
immigration. Amnesty gives the potential immigrants an incentive to immigrate
illegally, because they may have a chance to become legal citizen hereafter. Hence,
to improve this method, government could collect the more detailed background information
of the applicants for amnesty, and evaluate them in terms of a list of stricter
criterions, then select people who deserve to become a citizen. Thus, granting
workers a path to gain citizenship may be an effective way but needs lots of
strict requirements as well.
In conclusion, immigration
has brought many problems to the native population and the host countries. To
address this problem, two possible solutions can be implemented: tougher
immigration policies and offering workers a path to citizenship. However, as
each solution has its advantages and disadvantages, no solution is a panacea to
such a complex issue. Hence, a combination of various solutions may solve the
problem more effectively.
References:
Casciani, D. (2013, Oct. 10). May:
living in UK to get tougher for illegal immigrants. Retrieved from
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24469584
