| Abstract | Immigration to the United States has been a hotly contested topic for decades. Historically speaking, anti-immigrant sentiment tends to intensify during periods of economic downturn, giving rise to the notion that new immigrants are taking jobs from native citizens and placing an undue fiscal burden on the nation's economy. Noted differences in public opinion also exist between skilled and unskilled immigrants. After analyzing deportation data as well as statistics on legal permanent residents, the results demonstrate that regardless of legislation passed in the wake of economic downturn and public outcry ultimately is not significant, and actually causes more issues. The result of increased deportations is due to a massive increase in global population, as well as improved transportation technology. While unemployment is often championed by some as a reason to restrict immigration, a downturn in those rates had no statistically significant effect on deportations or the immigration of both skilled and unskilled individuals. Simply based on raw statistical data, a relationship does indeed exist between the economy, immigration policy, and enforcement. If investigated fully, this information could be a strong predictor of migration numbers available for the government based on the current state of the economy. |
