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Proposing a new methodology: Applying systems engineering approaches to the current political impasse in the immigration law and policy debate in the U.S

Posted on:2016-02-20Degree:D.L.PType:Thesis
University:Northeastern UniversityCandidate:Japhet, Noah Nelle EkeFull Text:PDF
GTID:2476390017470398Subject:Public policy
Abstract/Summary:
There is a general agreement among U.S. politicians that the country is in need of comprehensive immigration reform. However, there is also fundamental disagreement among members of Congress about how to overcome their political and ideological differences to pass comprehensive immigration legislation. This thesis focused on the question: What are the most important issues for the U.S. House of Representatives to focus on in the immigration debate?;The goal of this study was to develop an interdisciplinary quantitative approach to decision making in law and policy. The identification and use of non-biased and non-partisan tools may help identify core issues around which constructive discourse and compromise may be possible to overcome the current impasse in the House of Representatives over these contentious immigration issues. In 2013, the U.S. Senate passed the Senate version of immigration reform under the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act. This bill then went to the U.S. House of Representatives for a general vote. But the law hit an impasse in the House due to strongly held positions among the House members. The debate on immigration is viewed by many observers as ideological and political in nature. While some policymakers favor border security as priority, others prefer a restructuring of the visa program. And yet, others prefer the legalization of the undocumented immigrant population with a path to citizenship.;In this thesis project, I explore the possibility of applying systems engineering techniques, especially the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), to the immigration debate currently stalled in the U.S. House of Representatives. By applying an AHP approach, I seek to identify which issues are most important for future House discussions to take up. The results show that study participants clearly considered legalization and path to citizenship as their top priority ranking it with an overwhelming 0.496 compared to the second top priority, border security and control at a distant 0.246. The fight against terrorism came third with a 0.163 and the need for STEM professionals came in fourth with 0.094. While these results show an overwhelming preference by the respondents to consider the legalization and a path to citizenship as the top priority for the immigration reform, the respondents' individual preferences played a positive role in determining the final aggregate preferences of all the respondents. Nonetheless, passing legislation on comprehensive immigration reform is a critical aspect in the general wellbeing of the U.S. society. This study clearly showed that the respondents regarded legalization and path to citizenship as the most important issue that would benefit the American society politically, socially, and economically while maintaining the rule of law and safeguarding the civil liberties of unauthorized residents in the U.S. The method described in this thesis supports the view that law and policymakers should adapt proven interdisciplinary approaches such as the AHP method of analysis used by systems engineers to find consensus to group decision making. The AHP method therefore, may contribute to combining empirical evidence and subjective experience to improve decisions on law and policy questions faced by the American public on a daily basis.
Keywords/Search Tags:Immigration, Law, Debate, Method, Impasse, Systems, Political, Applying
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