Explain who should set immigration policies – the federal government or the states?

For this assignment, you will apply your knowledge of the
American political system to explore answers to TWO of the following questions:
1.
Is the Constitution flawed?
2.
Who should set immigration policies – the
federal government or the states?
3.
Should a president be able to secure policies
they believe are critical to the nation’s wellbeing by signing an executive
order, especially if such policies are unlikely to get through Congress?
Length, Source, and
Other Requirements
·
You must establish and defend a position in
response to TWO of the three questions.
·
For each question, you should write a FIVE
paragraph essay (an introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion),
establishing and defending your position. That means you will write TWO
separate essays, FIVE paragraphs each, TEN paragraphs total.
·
Source requirements:
o
The strongest papers will draw on multiple
sources from the learning materials including readings, lectures, and
discussion
o
You are also free to use outside sources
relating directly to the topic. These can include newspaper articles, policy
reports, books, journal articles, etc. However, the emphasis should be on
demonstrating your knowledge of the course materials.
·
Papers may be single- or doubled-spaced with 1-inch
margins
·
Times New Roman (12 pt.) or Calibri (11 pt.)
font
·
You must include a works cited at the end of
your essays, which includes both learning materials from the course and outside
sources. Either MLA or APA formats are fine.
Remember, there are no “right” or “wrong” answers. In
evaluating your essays, I will look to see if you:
1.
Clearly stated your position
2.
Developed your argument using strong supporting
evidence. The strongest papers will use
specific ideas, examples, and concepts from the readings.
3.
Identified and addressed potential
counter-arguments
If you have any questions or concerns about the midterm please
reach out to me right away. It’s been a difficult semester, to say the least,
but we want to make sure you’re setup for success.

1. Is the Constitution flawed?
Even though Democrats and Republicans disagree on everything
from abortion to gun control, praise for the U.S. Constitution can be found on
both sides of the aisle. In his book Audacity
for Hope, President Obama explained, whether we are “[c]onservative or
liberal, we are all constitutionalists.” Some of his greatest critics agreed.
During a speech at the 2012
presidential convention, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) told “a love story. It’s
the story of all of us, a love story of freedom. It’s the story of our Founding
Fathers, who fought and bled for freedom and then crafted the most miraculous
political document ever conceived, our Constitution. The Framers understood
that our rights come, not from monarchs, but from God-and that those rights are
secure only when government power is restrained.”
Every September, during Constitution Week, we are invited to
celebrate the wisdom and foresight of the Founding Fathers, to praise the U.S.
Constitution as one of the greatest political documents of all. But during a
speech he gave during the bicentennial celebration of the Constitution’s 200th
anniversary, Justice Thurgood Marshall
said he could not “accept this invitation, for I do not believe that the
meaning of the Constitution was forever ‘fixed’ at the Philadelphia Convention
. . . To the contrary, the government they devised was defective from the
start, requiring several amendments, a civil war, and momentous social
transformation to attain the system of constitutional government, and its
respect for the individual freedoms and human rights, we hold as fundamental
today.”
What do you think?
Is the Constitution
flawed?
2. Who should set immigration policies – the
federal government or the states?
Upon taking office, the Biden Administration was presented
with an emerging crisis at the border, including a surge in undocumented
migrant children arriving at the U.S.-Mexico Border. At the same time, restrictionist immigration
policies put in place by the Trump Administration have reduced the number of
both skilled and unskilled workers, exacerbating a labor shortage crisis in the
United States. Drawing on your knowledge of federalism, compare the
restrictionist immigration policies of the Trump Administration to the
integrationist policies adopted by states like New, California, and Illinois.
What do you see as the advantages and disadvantages of allowing states to regulate
immigration for the purpose of addressing labor shortages? What role should the
federal government play more broadly?

Last Completed Projects