The process to become a naturalized resident of the United States of America is long, complicated and expensive. In most cases, it involves many hours filling out paperwork, thousands of dollars in application and attorney fees, and years of waiting time between document filings, meetings with INS personnel, and final approval of citizenship. Once the process is complete and the resident alien is sworn in as a naturalized resident, under the Constitution, he or she is endowed with the same rights as a natural-born citizen, with only one exception–they cannot become President of the United States.

There are subtleties to the law which one could argue appear to allow discrimination against naturalized residents. For instance, while a natural-born citizen can live abroad indefinitely in another country of their choosing, naturalized residents who choose to live and work in other countries may see their citizenship revoked on a case-by-case basis, depending on their circumstances. In addition, in recent presidential elections there were instances where State laws imposed more stringent residency requirements on natural residents than those imposed on natural-born citizens.

Perhaps the most common form of discrimination naturalized residents face is job discrimination based on national origin. Due to this country’s most recent and severe economic downturn, it is common for natural-born citizens to cast an accusatory look at people who have come to this country seeking citizenship in order to better their lives through better job opportunities. The higher the unemployment rates rise, the more blame we will see unfairly placed on naturalized residents.

It has been announced that the nation’s detention system for illegal immigrants will be going through many changes so that some improvements can be made. This includes changes to medical care, increase accountability and lower costs.

Currently the system consists of approximately 300+ privately run detention centers. Many county jails also lease part of their space to the government to house these illegals. Approximately 40% of illegals are housed in the prison system. Most of those being held pose no risk to the public and are not criminal offenders. Amnesty International has brought this to light in the media and further state that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency provides horrible medical care that has resulted in deaths. There has been a significant growth of illegal immigrants housed in the system since 2004; the increase was about 20,000 people.

It has also been announced that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency will no longer house illegal families in the T. Don Hutto facility located in Texas. This facility has had lawsuits brought against it by the American Civil Liberties Union who stated that children were detained illegally, were made to wear prison uniforms and only received one hour of schooling per day. Families will now go to the Berks Family Residential Center, a facility in Leesport, Pennsylvania or put into alternative detention programs.

Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, said that this move shows Immigration and Customs Enforcement is not serious about deporting illegals. These changes are aimed at gaining greater control over the system that houses about 33,000 a day and has been criticized greatly.

One of the most significant reasons for green card petitions is to find employment and get started on the American Dream. One of the many factors affecting the number of green card applicants is the prevailing economic crisis and its effect on the economy of their own home country. Often resulting in a green card petition to be too costly to be even considered. Some developing nations have a per capita income of around $55 a month, resulting in years worth of savins going into a single application.

The other possibility for the drop in green card petitions may be the reality that those who have a viable job with a green card, may find themselves a victim of “last in, first out”, when layoffs occur in companies that hired them. Hiring is down and with the unemployed growing, the chances of finding a job are becoming slimmer and slimmer. Without growth spurts in industries and small businesses, it is difficult to see many taking the risk at a time like this.

One other more prevalent, less obvious reason is that many of the countries from which green card petitions usually originate are involved in businesses that have now been outsourced to their own country. Industrialized countries have sent jobs in customer service, technical support and data entry to countries like India, China, Japan, Thailand and the Phillipines where labor is less costly.

The issue regarding illegal immigration has been a political thorn in the side of both major parties for decades. For conservatives, it really comes down to closing the national borders and prosecuting those who break America’s immigration laws by sending them back to their country of origin. Whether it is building a wall or mounting armed patrols, many conservatives say that border control is paramount to gaining control of the issue. Anything less, the conservatives assert, amounts to a blanket acceptance of the activity that results in illegal immigration.

However, the liberal faction of the political spectrum state that American’s themselves are responsible for illegal immigration due to our lack of desire to perform labor that the illegals perform willingly. For the liberal’s, they insist that legalizing the immigrants who came here illegally is the only moral thing to do. Yet, there is a problem with this suggestion. What do you do about those immigrants who have observed the law and acted appropriately? For those who want to legalize immigrants who have not followed the rules, they suggest that they should pay a fine and be sent to the back of the immigration line.

These are the two predominant solutions to the illegal immigration problem. Neither satisfies the immediate concerns that face the nation today in that both “solutions” are costly and time consuming. As America struggles with economic woes and rampant crime, some of which is contributed by illegal immigration, these two solutions may amount to placing a band-aid on a gaping wound.