Provide a 5 pages analysis while answering the following question: Social Science Immigration. Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide. An abstract is required. What appears from the discourse surrounding immigration is a spectrum of beliefs concerning amnesty. Another general amnesty with no preconditions occupies the far left of this spectrum while the only proposition for existing illegal immigrants is immediate deportation occupies the right. More recently, many have proposed a more moderate approach to amnesty that may appease the occupants of both left and right positions on the spectrum.

One aspect of an amnesty program that might not be appealing to everyone is that new laws would need to be passed. We believe that some sort of amnesty must be offered to existing illegal aliens in the United States, but that this law will place a series of requirements upon those seeking for legal citizenship through the amnesty program. The portion of the new amnesty law would explicitly exclude certain individuals. Illegal immigrants convicted of any crime greater than summary traffic offenses would not be eligible for the amnesty program. Critics may argue that this will be a difficult requirement to enforce, but we feel that it is important that only individuals that have shown they can obey laws while they were here (other than the laws they are breaking simply by being illegal aliens) be eligible for legal standing citizens. It is important that an amnesty program not introduce further burdens on society by granting individuals legal status that will soon become wards of the state in prisons or burden legal resources through frequent court appearances or altercations with law enforcement officers.

A second important requirement would be the ability to produce documentation from their native countries such as birth or immunization records. These records will be important in an amnesty program to verify the origins of those seeking legal citizenship. They will also help in the verification of identities of individuals seeking legalization through the amnesty program.