Running head: COMMUNITY PROBLEM REPORT 1

Community Problem Report:

Immigration and Criminal Justice

Andrea Lucero

The University of Texas El Paso

RWS 1301
COMMUNITY PROBLEM REPORT 2

Abstract

This paper will be about immigration and how it affects the United States it will also talk about

background information on what is the difference between a legal immigrants and an

undocumented immigrant. It will mention several custom enforcement programs focusing more

on the city of El Paso. Then it will discuss how immigrants affect the University of Texas at El

Paso and what programs are provided to help or include immigrants. Then it will go into detail

on how the universities criminal justice program includes immigrants.

COMMUNITY PROBLEM REPORT 3

Community Problem Report:

Immigration and Criminal Justice

Migration happens all around the world, it is necessary for expansion. Sometimes

migration is not always a positive thing that is where immigration comes up. Immigration is the

action of living in a foreign country. Immigration can happen illegally, that means these

immigrants do not have proper documentation to live in that foreign country. Since El Paso is a

borderland city immigration and illegal immigration happen very often. That is why El Paso

immigration enforcement programs should enforce the laws so they can manage/limit the amount

of illegal immigrants. These immigration enforcement programs can act aggressively and make

situations worse. Luckily, the University of Texas at El Paso is a welcoming community. UTEP

should advocate towards citizenship rather than deportation.

Living in a Borderland Community

El Paso is close to the United States Mexican border, since El Paso draws in people from

Juarez, Mexico it creates a diverse community. Demonstrated by the graph from Image 1, El

Paso Population (2017), El Paso is made of approximately 649,121 people, which is inclusive of

legal immigrants; this does not include those who live here undocumented. People cross the

United States Mexican border every single day, some come to shop for food or clothing, others

come for educational purposes like public schools, and others come for work. After they have

done these activities they are supposed to return home but some do not. An abundance of

families send their children to public schools because they say the United States has a quality

education system, parents or children old enough come to work because United States wages are

higher than Mexico’s, and as far as the clothing and food although it may not be cheaper but it is

better quality. There are many purposes for immigrants to cross the border, the United States
COMMUNITY PROBLEM REPORT 4

offers so much and all these immigrants want is a chance to make a healthier living for

themselves.

There are many valid arguments on how immigrants bring advantages and disadvantages

to the United States. According to Light and Togunde (2008), Mexican immigrants bring pros

and cons to the United States Mexican immigration are responsible for increasing United States

population while raising other ecological problems. It is argued that if immigration continues it

will exceed the carrying capacity of the United States and will put incredible stress on United

States wealth, water, energy, timber, and soil resources as well as on housing. Duignan; Gann

(1998) Others argue that if the United States did not have Mexican immigrants that Americans

would have to do the jobs these immigrants were doing. Which would require the prices to be

raised on all products. Mexican immigrants do jobs that Americans do not want to do, making

them cheap labor. This means that Mexican immigrants are essential to the United States. Rojas

(1997).

Department of Criminal Justice

The criminal justice department at UTEP deals with issues on crime policy and criminal

issues in the United States Mexican border. According to UTEP’s webpage on Criminal Justice,

students are able to enter courses that will give them a better understand on criminal justice.

Slack; Harvey (2011) A degree in Criminal Justice can offer a plethora of occupations like crime

scene investigator, law enforcement, paralegal, lawyer, etc. Each of these occupations requires

knowledge of the subject which UTEP helps provide. Whichever occupation you chose UTEP

will be there to guide you. Also, if this isn’t the path a student is willing to take for any of these

occupations then they can take a course simply just for informative purposes. Any student is
COMMUNITY PROBLEM REPORT 5

welcome to join these courses as long as they have the correct prerequisites. Students can choose

courses that are specific to national immigration law and/or local immigration laws.

All custom enforcement programs should have better communication with each other.

According to James, D. (1994), Border Patrol, Immigration and Custom Enforcement, and

Immigration and Naturalization Services all work together to decrease the amount immigrants.

The border patrol is in charge of managing who and what crosses from the borders, they claim

once they have crossed it is no longer their problem. Once border patrol is aware of the situation

they should alert other programs or in other words call for backup. Instead of putting the

situation out of their hands they should be informing others so that way they can accomplish

their goal of minimizing illegal immigration. Better communication between enforcement

programs will help the United States reach their goal.

University immigration resources

The University of Texas at El Paso should advocate the resources they have for

immigrants here on campus. UTEP has an immigration department that helps immigrant students

and employees seek the proper documentation to work on campus. Slack; Harvey (2017) UTEP

offers a visa called the H-1B visa which allows an immigrant to work on campus. This visa

requires a bachelor’s degree and experience in that particular occupation. There is an application

on the UTEP webpage that cost money and takes a process of 6-8 weeks. This visa only last 3

years but can be extended to 6 for an extra charge. Another visa offered is the LPR, which stands

for United States lawful permanent resident. This visa applies more towards professors or higher

occupations. In order to be eligible for this visa you need the H-1B visa and must pay the

application fees. These two visas help immigrants live in the United States and also be able to

work. UTEP gladly supports these visas.

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DACA gives benefits to immigrant students not only just at UTEP but all around the

United States. UTEP offers DACA students various levels of support. McRaven, William (2018)

Chancellor William H. McRaven gives a statement on how him and other UT institutions

supports DACA and the benefits it gives to immigrant students. For more than 15 years UT

institutions have supports DACA students and their accomplishments, chancellor says he will

continue to support them no matter what. Of course he will obey the United States laws and

obligations but that will not stop his encouragement. He has other employees of UT systems to

support his claim. His statement says that he will not track DACA students because it is his right

to protect the privacy of these students. As you can see Chancellor and the UT systems are proud

supporters of the DACA community and will continue to support immigrants. They believe these

students should have the opportunity to have fair education rights just has citizens do.

Conclusion

In conclusion, El Paso is a borderland community with many immigrants. The University

of Texas at El Paso is highly affected by the number of immigrants that attend college. Of course,

UTEP welcomes them and even has multiple programs to help immigrants succeed like DACA

and the Criminal Justice department. Although they do have these programs, students who are

undocumented can be easily deported even though they are succeeding in school. Since UTEP

has these amazing programs, they should advocate more of what they have. For example, visas

and H-1 bill. These documentations can help students gain citizenship or partially gain until they

act themselves. Once they see the positive environment UTEP has they will want to engage more

by acting and becoming citizens.

COMMUNITY PROBLEM REPORT 7

Image 1

This image represents El Paso’s population sorted from race in 2017.

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References

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Bransom, S. (1977, Immigration law helps foreign students. The Prospector El Paso,

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