Theoritical approaches on illegal immigration from central america and mexico

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Introduction

Illegal immigration the United States by people from Central America and Mexico has been a of contention that has featured in many discussions for a long time . Specifically , illegal immigration from Mexico has currently formed the basis of debate to proponents of tougher illegal immigration laws to prevent illegal immigrants from Mexico and opponents of such plans . Many US citizens feel that this issue needs to be addressed very fast and congress is under pressure to act efficiently . The number of

immigrants from Central America and Mexico in the United Stated has surpassed any other minority group there including the Africa Americans . This population usually referred to as Hispanics get into the country either illegally or legally . According to a statistical yearbook of the immigration and Nationalization service (1996 , 47 .8 of the immigrants ' population was from Central America and Mexico . The number of illegal immigrants from Central America and Mexico is rapidly growing and this is in part , attributed to the various reforms on immigration laws since the 1960s . These reforms have led to increase in population from less than 10 million immigrants in 1970 to a number greater than 28 million today of which Mexicans accounts for the majority . Of course , other nations contribute to the huge number of the population and their numbers increase each day but the Mexicans rate of increase has been risen ten fold . This is according to Steven Camarota in his article immigration from Mexico , center for immigration studies The vast number of illegal immigrant from Central America and Mexico has recently been termed as phenomena . The reason behind this immigration includes but is not limited to poverty , search for employment or greener pasture , reunions with parents , family reunions and so on . It is important to note that it is very difficult for the US government to estimate with certainty the number of unauthorized or illegal immigrants in the United States since their details are undocumented . However , a rough approximation shows that indeed they are numerous say over five million . This discusses the issue about illegal immigration to United States by the Mexicans , the attitudes of the residents from both countries as well as the theories surrounding immigration . The theories I will focus on are functionalist , conflictist and interactionalist

Functionalists theory

Functionalists theory also called functional analysis postulates that society is made up inter dependent sections which work together to fulfill the functions necessary for survival of society as a whole (Alba Victor 10 , Holmwood , pg . 87 ) Max Weber and Emile Durkheim who were popular back in the 1930s , in the United States , developed this theory . These people believed that different sections in the society could work together in a symbiotic relationship . The theory is based on three constructs . One , that the society is an collection of interdependent parts , two , presence of functional requirements essential for survival of society and to maintain balance and three , that each part exist to fulfill its functional requirement (Holmwood...