Solving Immigration Policy in the USA

Potential Solutions

The Trump administration has launched a massive deportation effort in 2025 to remove undocumented people from the United States.  The top issue in the 2024 election, Trump promised to do mass deportations, therefore the administration believes they have a mandate to extract these undocumented people (approximately 12 million people) from the USA.  In addition, Trump has gotten extra money to build more border wall on the Mexican border and hire more ICE agents through his recently passed “Big Beautiful Bill” (which also reduces taxes and cuts social programs). Conservatives also oppose any form of amnesty or pathway to citizenship for undocumented people.

In contrast, liberals support refugee/asylum seekers under international laws and higher levels of legal immigration and believe the USA should create a pathway to citizenship for undocumented people who do not have a criminal record (other than coming here without legal status).  

We are STUCK with these two opposing policy positions on immigration.

In a perfect world, people in all countries would want to stay in their own countries.  However, in the real world countries have political unrest and highly corrupt governments making it hard for people to survive or thrive. Also, regional wars and  warming climate have made some places in the world unlivable, causing increased human migration.  So, what is the USA to do in the real world?  We can’t let everyone in, and we can’t keep everyone out. 

Here are some potential solutions:

Before we jump into potential solutions, let’s understand the USA’s population density relative to other countries in the world.  The USA ranks #180 in population density (96 people per square mile) out of 242 worldwide countries/entities.  This is because while we have over 341 million people, the USA is #3 in land mass (3,531,900 square miles), only behind #1 Russia and #2 China.  Since we only have 4% of the worldwide population but a very large territory, one could argue we could increase our population without being negatively impacted.  For more data on worldwide population as compared to land mass, go to

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_dependencies_by_population_density

1.  Continue deportation and/or incarceration of illegal immigrants with serious criminal histories but do so with due process.  No person should be arrested and deported without a careful legal review of their immigration, work and family history status, given our US Constitutional guarantees (see text of Section 2 of US Constitution below).
2. Increase work visas to support industries in need of specific workers (Agriculture, Construction, High Tech and Leisure & Hospitality) but tighten up our work visa reviews.  Too many people just over-stay their work visas and remain in the USA illegally.
3. Allow more people to legally immigrate to the USA.  On average the USA allows 1 million people to legally immigrate per year. What if we allowed 1.5 million or 2 million people to legally immigrate?  Obviously, these people would need to be vetted to ensure they would safely assimilate into our society.  We also need to understand the cost of immigration enforcement relative to the opportunity to integrate more people into the US economy and increase GDP.  The current deportation effort is going to cost hundreds of billions of dollars so perhaps we would be better served with more immigrants and lower deportation costs.
4. Provide programs to allow people here illegally, but who have no serious criminal history, to become citizens over time.  The first priority should be the young people in the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program, initiated by President Obama in 2012, as these people have already proven they are law abiding and contributing to our economy.
5. Continue to secure our borders, using satellite and drone technologies more than physical barriers, since walls will always be breached by desperate people. Given immigrants can just fly into the USA and stay here we also need better computer systems to identify people who just over-stay.

Join In.  Suggest solutions.

What do you think?  What could solve our immigration issue in the United States?  Remember, comments must stay on topic and not be defamatory of anyone.  Solutions to problems is what this UNSTUCK Blog seeks.

Additional information is provided below to guide this discussion – Current Situation, Historical and Constitutional context.  Given the increased influence of religion in our country at the present time, there is also information on religious perspective on this topic.

Current Situation

According to the US Census, in 2024 America had 340,110,988 people, 13.9% of which are foreign born (47 million).  It is estimated that 25% of those foreign-born residents are undocumented/illegal (about 12 million) and 75% are now either naturalized US citizens or here under a legal work visa (about 35 million).   

Recent estimates for 2025 show there may be 15.8% foreign-born residents (53.3 million) with most of the increase being undocumented/illegals (+6.3 million).  Estimates for 2025 are not based on Census data and may not be accurate, but these estimates have caused a political backlash about the liberal immigration policies of the Biden administration.  

The US population has nearly doubled since 1960, and our racial mix has changed dramatically.  In 2024 our demographics in the United States, according to our Census are:

• 58.4% White (down from 84% in 1960)
• 19.5% Hispanic (up from 4% in 1960)
• 13.7% Black (up from 11% in 1960)
• 6.4% Asian 
• 1.3% American Indian/Alaska Native
• 0.3% Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander

This racial mix is threatening to some Americans and welcomed by other Americans.  The states with the largest immigrant populations are:

• California (27% immigrants) 
• New Jersey (24%)
• New York (23%)
• Florida (22%)
• Nevada (19%)

History

Since its inception, America has gone through three major waves of immigration:

• 1840-1889 during which 96% of immigrants came from Europe and Canada
• 1890-1919 during which 93% of immigrants came from Europe and Canada
• 1965-2024 during which 84% of immigrants came from Latin America (49%; primarily Mexico), Southeast Asia (27%) and Africa (8%) – a major shift from previous immigration waves

Given the USA’s historical reputation as a country of opportunities and these massive immigration waves, the USA has also had very restrictive immigration policies and has done massive deportations at times:

• During the Great Depression in the 1930’s the USA deported primarily Mexicans via a Repatriation Program.
• Following WWII and the Bracero Program (1942-1964) which gave work status to millions of Mexicans, the Eisenhower administration ran “Operation Wetback” in the 1950s deporting mostly Mexicans.
• Currently, the USA is in “The Age of Mass Expulsions (1965-Present) “ during which we have deported tens of millions of people.
• According to Wikipedia, “From 1920 to 2018, the USA expelled nearly 57 million people, more than any country in the world.”  For more details on our history of deportations go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deportation_from_the_United_States

Until 1965 US immigration was allowed primarily from Western Europe but in 1965 the Immigration Nationality Act opened immigration to Latin America and Asia countries, followed by the Immigration Act of 1990 which opened more countries for US immigration.  

The 1967 Protocol relating to the status of refugees authorized US immigration to provide asylum to refugees seeking it in the USA.  The Refugee Act of 1980 established the Office of Refugee Resettlement which supports the United Nation’s 1951 Convention on worldwide refugee resettlement. 

Religious organizations in the United States have been actively involved in the support of refugees since the 1960s, helping immigrants apply for asylum, which is a legal status under US law.

Beyond legal means by which about 1 million immigrants come to America each year, people overstay their visas or cross our north or southern borders illegally.  During the Biden administration from 2020 to 2024, there was a major surge of illegal crossings at our southern border, primarily driven by COVID-19 and unstable conditions in Central America. 

These waves of immigration have caused our percent foreign-born residents (including both legal and illegal) to fluctuate wildly from 9.7% in 1850 to 14.8% in 1890, down to 4.7% in 1970, then up to current levels (between 13.9-15.8%).

US Constitution

For the most important positions in the US government, the Constitution requires US Citizenship – 7 years for House of Representatives, 9 years for Senators and lifetime for President (must be native born).  

That said, the entire Bill of Rights (the first ten Amendments to the Constitution) uses the word “person” or “persons” and not “citizen” as these protections were intended to be for everyone in our country, regardless of citizenship status.  People have the right to peaceably assemble, keep and bear arms and be secure in their homes, not just citizens.  

Section 2 of the Constitution defines who is a US citizen (native born and naturalized persons) and it protects the rights of any person to life, liberty, property and due process of law.  It is reasonable for the Constitution to do this as people come and go from the USA for business, vacations or education and they would not come here if they were without any rights or protections:

“All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive ANY PERSON of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any PERSON within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

Bible

The Bible uses the word “citizen” 8 times, 7 in Acts and one reference in Luke.  Several of these passages reference “citizens of Rome”, which was the dominant government at the time in the Holy Land.  

The Acts 22:25 passage in the Bible illustrates that citizenship even way back then had protections from punishment without being adjudicated (due process or rule of law) – “As they stretched him out to flog him, Paul said to the centurion standing there, “Is it legal for you to flog a Roman citizen who hasn’t even been found guilty?”