Analyzing Sociological Perspectives on Migration Issues
As with many places through out the United States, towns are increasingly changing or making news laws to address the issue of immigration. One such town is Freemont, NE. The article addresses two issues related to sociology. The first is controlling the flow of immigration by implementing laws to prevent businesses from hiring illegal immigrants (ONeil, 2010). The hope is to either regulate immigration or limit its effect on the local community. They intended to achieve this by forcing businesses to get licenses and use the government’s E-Verify program. The ordinance would also have an effect on housing rentals, in which cases citizens would need a license in order to do that as well (ONeil, 2010).
For the town of Hazeltown, PA, they attracted national attention due to the harshness and severity of their laws. The ordinance allows for legal workers to sue businesses who hire illegal immigrants (ONeil, 2010). Also, businesses need to submit documentation at the city’s request to prove work eligibility verification for any of their workers. There are also hefty fines imposed on people who knowingly house illegal immigrants. Laws such as this affect an immigrant’s ability to seek work and housing. If they move to an area with such laws, employers may not hire them do to the severity of the financial penalties and in this case law suits. It also makes it difficult to obtain housing if landlords are held responsible for knowing their tenant’s citizenship status. Fines of $1,000 per person are not worth the risk to many.
The article helps to understand migration for a sociological perspective by showing how these laws affect migrant/immigrant workers hoping to come to the United States in search of work. It highlights how towns are increasingly taking the law in their own hands to combat the growing number of illegal aliens who make their way here. The main purpose of these policies is to prevent unauthorized immigrants from obtaining employment by way of sanctioning employers who do so.
References
- ONeil, K. (2010, November 1). Hazleton and beyond: Why communities try to restrict immigration. Migration Policy Institute. Washington, DC. Retrieved February 9, 2015, from http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/hazleton-and-beyond-why-communities-try-restrict-immigration ↩1 ↩2 ↩3