Florida Immigration Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Florida Immigration - Research Paper Example It is noticed that more than 8% of the workforce in Florida was constituted by the illegal immigrants in 2008. Natural calamities in Haiti too added much to the immigration burden of the state of Florida. The proposed Florida immigration bill attempts to curb illegal immigration by approaching it as a serious law and order problem than a socio-economic issue. The Fear Politics and the Fallibility of Cost-Benefit Analysis It is through a fear politics created by the right wing, illegal immigration issue comes to the forefront of policy making. There has never been more immigration to a country than it could afford. If more people come to Florida, even illegally, it means that there exist conditions for illegal immigrants to be here. It was independently testified by the business community in Florida, especially the sector of Agrarian businesses. And, importantly, the huge majority of the immigrants become successful in finding jobs and adapting the American way of life. In this contex t, it is quite astonishing to see even a theorist such as Huntington would argue that ‘in this new era, the single most immediate and most serious challenge to America's traditional identity comes from the immense and continuing immigration from Latin America, especially from Mexico, and the fertility rates of these immigrants compared to black and white American natives’ (Huntington, 2004, p.3). Therefore, at the heart of immigration debate, lies the hidden racism and xenophobia that our culture would be colonized from within by the alien culture of the illegal immigrant. This xenophobia, the fear politics generated from it is central in the discourse on immigration than supposed socio-economic issues and security matters. ‘Massive Hispanic immigration affects the United States in two significant ways: Important portions of the country become predominantly Hispanic in language and culture, and the nation as a whole becomes bilingual and bicultural’ thus wa rns Huntington (2004, p.7). This is nothing but eloquent and sophisticated articulation of fear of diversity and the negation of core values that constitute America. It is in this wider context, Arizona Immigration Bill and the replicated model of the Florida immigration bill came to existence. The Florida immigration bill has been hotly debated by both the civil society and policy makers in recent times. It is important to note that the current Florida Immigration Bill is stemmed from the more controversial Arizona Immigration Bill. Immigration, in the wider context, is an endemic problem in much of the western countries which are highly developed and industrialized. The United States of America has been at the receiving end of immigration issues from the end of Second World War itself. The rise of both legal and illegal immigration has sometimes developed into a national issue, especially the case of illegal immigration has much to do with other problems such as internal security and welfare distribution. Even the widespread recession in the United States has not resulted in any substantial decrease in the illegal immigration to the country. Arizona Immigration Bill was meant for countering the illegal immigration mainly through the Mexico border. Although the Florida peninsula is surrounded by water, it still experiences illegal immigrati