llowed immigrants, displaced by the war to enter the country abovequota limits (Divine 128). Since then our legislators have been faced with numerous proposalsconcerning immigration, too many in fact to mention. Those mentioned above are significant inthe fact that they show a definite shift in Americas attitude toward immigration. Since the 1920simmigration has not been seen as a natural process, but a process that could overwhelm a nation ifleft unchecked.Current Immigration Laws and IssuesAs of this time there are no less than fifty proposed bills in Congress that can affectimmigration, which proves that this is an ongoing battle with little chance of ending. In recentyears the immigration policy has found itself in a state of flux; going back and forth between proand anti immigration. The Immigration Act of 1990 is one of the more current policies to regulateimmigration. This policy sets a flexible annual limit on immigration at a rate of 700,000immigrants per year until 1994 when the number will drop to 675,000. This number of coursedoes not include refugees and those seeking asylum (Immigration...). If these numbers seemstaggering one must take into account the estimated 300,000 to 400,000 illegal immigrantsadded to the nations population each year (Suro 8). In the mid-90s there was a shift in Americasimmigration policy to close the doors and end the current era of immigration (Suro 8). In fact inPresident Clintons 1995 State of the Union Message he said: It is wrong and ultimatelyself-defeating for a nation of immigrants to permit the kind of abuse of our immigration laws wehave seen in recent years, and we must do more to stop it. (Immigration...) This attitude led to the Immigration Enforcement Improvements Act of 1995, which wasmeant to secure our borders, make deportation of illegal easier, and discourage the employmentof illegal aliens (Immigration...). In essence this was a proposal to enforce the laws already inplace. Thi...
