Homeland security and immigration
With the planetary menace of terrorist act hovering over all the civilized countries of the world, more so for those countries which are democratic, the security of ones own homeland has become a subject of predominant importance for every administration. The United States of America which has for the past one or two decades has become a major target for all those extremist groups. It has also suffered a major loss by the destruction of the famous Twin Towers and along with it around 3000 innocent human lives by the infamous Al-qaeda terrorist group. In order to prevent these sort of incidents from being perpetrated in the U.S. soil, the government of United States formed the Department of Homeland Security with their vision of Preserving our Freedom, Protecting America.
Department of homeland security:
In 2002, National strategy for homeland security and Homeland security act was formulated to thwart any action made by extremist elements against U.S. and to be prepared for any emergency by mobilizing the necessary units. To put this strategy into action the Department of Homeland Security was formed on March 1,2003 by combining 22 different agencies.
The department was separated into four different directorates under which the 22 agencies were divided and set up. The four different directorates and their constituent agencies are as follows:
1) Border and Department of Transportation protection directorate with the following agencies
2) Science and Technology directorate
3) Emergency preparedness and response directorate
4) Information analysis and infrastructure protection directorate
5) Coast guard and Secret service will stay within the department individually.
They serve their country with the strategic goals of Awareness, Prevention, Protection, Response, Recovery, Service and Organizational excellence.
Immigration:
With the United States of America being the dream of most of the people in developing and under-developed countries, the challenge of immigration is rising. Though the number of legal immigrants has been kept in control, the number of illegal immigrants is on the rise. Since the INS has been transferred under the umbrella of DHS and been renamed as Department of Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), it has now become the responsibility of DHS.
The USCIS is now concerned with all matters relating to immigration and naturalization. The DHS has now proposed some reforms to address the challenges arising in border security and immigration. These reforms represent the actions that can be taken by the administration within the existing laws to resolve the challenges in immigration.
The reforms that are to be taken are:
1) Border security:
To strengthen the security at border with increased infrastructure and personnel
To continue the policy of catch and return at borders of for illegal aliens
To strengthen the laws to prevent the international gang members out of U.S.
To expand exit requirements to identify those who overstay their visas
To require all travelers inbound to use secure documents like passports
To deliver State of the Border reports.
2) Interior enforcement:
To train local law enforcement personnel to act against illegal immigration
To increase the number of personnel in U.S. Immigration and customs enforcement teams
To take regulatory action against the Voluntary departure loophole which is being manipulated by illegal immigrants
3) Worksite enforcement
To issue a no-match regulation that will help the employers to identify illegal immigrant workers and help the government to take action against those employers those who employ illegal workers knowingly
To release a regulation that will decrease the number of documents that is necessary to confirm the identity and work-eligibility of the employees by their employer.
To increase the fines by 25%, imposed on employers who employ illegal workers knowingly
To include employers who hire large number of illegal workers under criminal investigations
To require all contractors and vendors to use the federal electronic employment verification system, so that they can identify illegal workers
To help the states to make further use of E-Verify
To further the resources of E-Verify by increasing the data sources it can connect with.
To seek for voluntary state organizations to share their data base of motor vehicle photos and records with E-Verify
3) TO streamline the existing workers programs
To make changes in H-2A agricultural seasonal workers
To streamline the H-2B non-agricultural seasonal worker program
To extend visa to professional workers
To study and report on reforms for visas for highly skilled workers
4) Improving existing immigration
To reform background checks for immigration
To make reforms to prevent illegal workers from receiving social security benefits
5) Assimilation
To create a new naturalization test
To provide increased resources for educators who train immigrants for naturalization
To launch a free web page to help immigrants learn English. from receiving social security benefits
5) AssimilationTo create a new naturalization test
To provide increased resources for educators who train immigrants for naturalization
To launch a free web page to help immigrants learn English.
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