Presidents Take on Immigration
Throughout American history various presidents have held different views on immigration and their support of immigrants.
To say immigration reform greatly depends on the government in office each presidential cycle is an understatement, and many organizations recognize presidents who create progress for this cause. For example, each year, USCIS marks this holiday with naturalization ceremonies across the country. In 2016, nearly 20,000 new citizens were naturalized in more than 180 ceremonies. Legally, each U.S. president has the latitude to scale back or enforce immigration legislation.
The following leaders publicly supported, and even changed, immigration practices and are remembered for it.
Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy
During Fidel Castro's Cuban Revolution thousands of Cubans migrated to Florida seeking safety from the Castro's communist practices. Under President Eisenhower, the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966 was introduced and later under President Kennedy passed by Congress to legislatively establish Cubans' present-day right to immigrate in unlimited quantities to the U.S.
Jimmy Carter
Under his administration the modern refugee resettlement program was passed as the Refugee Act of 1980. The program created a permanent and systematic process for vetting, admitting and resettling refugees. As well as a process for reviewing and adjusting the number of refugees allowed to enter the U.S. to meet emergencies, requiring annual discussion between Congress and the president.
Ronald Reagan
After the labor movement of 1981 in Poland Reagan declared extended voluntary departure for Poles and repeatedly extended the program throughout the decade. Albeit, the extensions faced controversy since the Reagan administration declined to extend similar privileges to refugees from El Salvador and other Central American countries escaping civil wars. Reagan also ended an extended voluntary departure program that had been created for Ethiopians after their civil war began.
George W. Bush
After hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast in 2005, the Bush administration issued a memo suspending employer-verification rules in the area. The destruction affected many residents' access to legal documents and led to an urgent need in post-hurricane construction, so protecting legal residents whose immigration status could not be verified was welcome.
Gerald Ford
Ford passed the Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act to help Southeast Asian refugees who fled their countries after the Vietnam War. The program resettled close to 300,000 refugees from Vietnam, Cambodia and other countries between 1975 and 1979.
Barack Obama
While deportations increased during Obama’s presidency, his administration is also credited with created progressive solutions for young immigrants. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy allowed undocumented immigrants who had been brought to the United States as children to apply for renewable two-year periods of deferred action from deportation. In 2014 Obama attempted to create the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) that would have offered renewable deferred action status and work permits for undocumented individuals who were parents of children who are U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents. Unfortunately, lawsuits from state governments led to a 2015 injunction blocking DAPA’s implementation. To-date there has been no government consensus to offer residency to DACA recipients.
Presidential Leadership in Immigration
As Lyndon B. Johnson said, “yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose.” As the needs of the U.S., and every other country, are affected due to population, immigrants are a key to solving manufacturing, employment, and economic issues.
OPA understands that everybody benefits from citizenship, supporting positive changes to immigration processes to make citizenship attainable. For this reason, we developed our 1% interest immigration loan through community lending, and welcome everyone to be part of our effort of breaking the financial barriers to citizenship.
Test your knowledge on presidential action on immigration with this interactive quiz from the International Rescue Committee: Which U.S. presidents supported refugees?
