Running head: NEEDS ASSESSMENT CYCLE

Needs Assessment Cycle

Johnathan Ricketts
CUR/528
July 15, 2014
Kelly Price Noble, DHA

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Needs Assessment Cycle

Reading this document will provide the reader with a needs assessment of the ongoing
immigration problem in the United States
Immigration Reform
From June 8, 2014 through July 4, 2014 the United States Immigration Services
celebrated the nations 238th birthday by welcoming 9000 new United States citizens. (U.S.
Citizenship and Immigration Services, 2014). 52000 people crossed into the United States
illegally in 2014. In South Texas, 115000 people were deported this year. 152000 are expected to
cross into the United States illegally by the end of this year. According to the Border Patrol, the
numbers have double since years past (Whitley, 2014). The problem of illegal immigration in the

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United States is not a new problem; the amount of people crossing is not new either.

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Table I
(Migration Policy Institute, 2012).
Purpose
The purpose of this assessment is to identify ongoing problems within the immigration
process of dealing with an influx of illegal immigrants. Priorities will be set for the requirements
and the recourses divided up. Potential solutions will be identified. Current solutions will be
assessed. Barriers will be identified and a program created or adopted to deal with the illegal
immigrants (Royse, Thyer, & Padgett, 2010, p. 56).
Problem
The problem is the act of illegally entering the United States when there are thousands of
people using the legal entry of following the rules. The priorities are to immediately deal with the

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people who are currently crossing the border by giving shelter, food and water; quarantine the
sick, identify criminals for deportation and prosecution, setup extra processing centers to deal
with the large number of people (Giordano, 2014).
Martial Law
While these steps are being taken, the border needs to be locked down properly by
congress instituting martial law allowing military personnel to intervene. The Law Posse
Comitatus Act of 1878 prevents the military from doing the duties of the civilian courts and
police unless authorized by Congress (Longley, 2014).
Budget
The current process for dealing with the influx of people crossing illegally into the United
States is to send back the Mexicans to Mexico and the Central Americans have to wait for a court
date according to the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act 2008. The Border patrol
has authorized a police training facility near the border to be used as temporary housing for
illegal immigrants. The facility is a temporary martialing area for agents to sort out whom all the
personnel are. The Border Patrol cannot sustain this facility for much longer as their funds are
running out. President Obama has requested from Congress to amend the 2008 law to repatriate
Central Americans children quicker. The President has also requested Congress authorize $3.7
Billion dollars to assist the Border Patrol in their efforts (Greenblatt, 2014).
Barriers and Time Allotted
Barriers identified would be Congress amending the law and approving the finances as
requested by the President. As of July 15, 2014 the Legislative Branch does not even have
immigration on the docket for the entire month. There are only six more days in session for the
entire month of July (United States House of Representatives , 2014).

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Level of Assessment

Normative need would be assessed by an expert. When dealing with the United States
Immigration issue, the expert would be the Border Patrol who is working on the problem first
hand risking their lives. The felt need would be the people of the United States who feel as
though something needs to be done for or against immigration reform. Expressed need would be
the obvious requirement for action given the thousands of homeless children crossing the border.
Comparative need would be for the leadership, President or the United States, down to the
Border Patrol Agent working these cases to compare the amount of people coming into the
country and people that have come to the United States for similar reasons in the past (Royse,
Thyer, & Padgett, 2010, p. 57).
Stakeholders
Funders for the immigration solution are ultimately the American taxpayer. Other
stakeholders are the Border Patrol Agents, politicians, people within the American communities
where the immigrants are housed, businesses owners who intend to hire the cheap labor and
unions which will argue loss of jobs (Royse, Thyer, & Padgett, 2010, p. 58)
Community Readiness Model
No Awareness
Congress having no awareness is not an excuse; referring to Table I, the amount of
immigrants entering the country is around 14% and rising. Since 1850 people have been
migrating to the United States. After the Vietnam War, there has been a steady increase in
immigrants that are counted; the number of people that enter the United States not counted is
unknown unless reported through census (Royse, Thyer, & Padgett, 2010).
Denial

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When all the immigrant children began entering the country in record numbers, Congress
acts as though they are in denial. The congressmen individually agree there is a problem but
refrain from making hasty decisions (Royse, Thyer, & Padgett, 2010, p. 76).
Vague Awareness
Congress begins to acquire a vague awareness of the immigration problem once the local
community acts out; in this situation local Americans blocked the Customs Buses and would not
let them drop off the immigrants into Murrieta, CA (Royse, Thyer, & Padgett, 2010, p. 76).
Preplanning
The local leadership near the borders come together to institute direction for the Border
Patrol Agents until proper leadership in Congress passes appropriations to fund the immigration
issue (Royse, Thyer, & Padgett, 2010, p. 76).
Preparation
During the ongoing immigration issue, the local authorities will have to come up with
ways to deal with the thousands of people migrating into the United States. In preparation for the
incoming funds, the local leadership can work together to acquire a more suitable living
environment and processing facility (Royse, Thyer, & Padgett, 2010, p. 77).
Initiation
Once the funds arrive and the laws amended, whichever comes first, local authorities
along the border can take action to turn around incoming personnel with expedience to prevent
clogging the judicial system any further (Royse, Thyer, & Padgett, 2010, p. 77)
Stabilization

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If the funds are authorized and the law amended, time will be the Border Patrols relief as
more people are sent back to their native countries, the word will spread and the influx will
subside (Royse, Thyer, & Padgett, 2010, p. 77).
Confirmation/expansion
Long term plan can be implemented once the funds are allocated and laws changed.
Local policies and facilities can be created to deal with large influx of personnel. More Border
Patrol Agents can be put on the border as those funds have already been appropriated for 3000
new officers (Royse, Thyer, & Padgett, 2010, p. 77).
Professionalization
Once the facilities are in place, laws are in place, and the Southern countries have been
assisted with their ongoing drug trade and gang violence, proper restoration to the nations
borders can be regained. Long term agreements between the United States and Mexico over the
ongoing gang problems driven by money through drug trade and human trafficking can be
address properly (Royse, Thyer, & Padgett, 2010, p. 77).
No Appropriation of Funds or Changes in Immigration Laws
This assessment focused on the potential for positive changes after Congress does their
due diligence. However, in the event Congress only passes funding or only amends the law or
neither, then the immigration problem could fester and become unsafe. There are men that call
themselves the minute men which take posts along the border or the United States and vow to
protect it. The majority of the people crossing the border are not criminals; they are fleeing from
a horrible situation in their home country. Minute men may inadvertently instigate civil unrest
which could cost innocent lives. By implementing martial law, the situation is diffused and both
sides are protected; the Minute men stand down, the Border Patrol receive the assistance they

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need, and this researcher knows through 23 years of Navy experience the military is able to lock
down the Southern border in under 24 hours (Ronemus, 2014).
Instrumentation/Conclusion
Assessing how the United States leadership has dealt with past immigration issues, how
the current leaders are dealing with the same issues, and how future leaders should deal with the
same immigration issues can be daunting. To narrow the assessment, instead of observing and
documenting failures by the leadership, finding the problems in the broken steps followed by the
leadership or barriers of impasse will allow for outliers to be beaming obvious problems to focus
on. Then solutions are discussed by the leadership and the local community, and laws can change
as well as local policies (Royse, Thyer, & Padgett, 2010).

References
Giordano, D. (2014, July 9). CBS Philly. Retrieved from Border Protester On Illegal Immigrants:
These Children Bring In Diseases That We Eradicated Decades Ago:
http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2014/07/09/border-protester-on-illegal-immigrantsthese-children-bring-in-diseases-that-we-eradicated-decades-ago/
Greenblatt, A. (2014). NPR. Retrieved from What's Causing The Latest Immigration Crisis? A
Brief Explainer: http://www.npr.org/2014/07/09/329848538/whats-causing-the-latestimmigration-crisis-a-brief-explainer
Longley, R. (2014, June 18). About.com News & Issues > US Government. Retrieved from Posse
Comitatus Act: The Military on the Border:

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http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/defenseandsecurity/a/Posse-Comitatus-Act-The-MilitaryOn-The-Border.htm
Migration Policy Institute. (2012). MPI. Retrieved from U.S. Immigrant Population and Share
over Time, 1850-Present: http://www.migrationpolicy.org/programs/datahub/charts/immigrant-population-over-time?width=1000&height=850&iframe=true
Royse, D., Thyer, B., & Padgett, D. (2010). Program Evaluation, Fifth Edition. Cengage
Learning.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. (2014). USCIS. Retrieved from USCIS Will
Naturalize Nearly 9,000 New Citizens During Independence Day Celebrations :
http://www.uscis.gov/news/news-releases/uscis-will-naturalize-nearly-9000-new-citizensduring-independence-day-celebrations
United States House of Representatives . (2014). Retrieved from House of Representatives
Schedule: http://www.house.gov/legislative/date/2014-07-15
Whitley, J. (2014, July 3). WFAA Channel 8 News. Retrieved from Border security talk
overshadows kids crossing border at congressional hearing :
http://www.wfaa.com/news/politics/Border-security-overshadows-unaccompanied-kidsin-congressional-committee-265783731.html