Broadly speaking, immigration law focuses on the mechanisms created to determine how one will enter a country and gain citizenship in that nation. This type of law is applicable to all governments, but the United States has one of the largest immigrant populations in the world. Therefore, this entry focuses on the U.S. legal context. In the United States the law defines whether a person is an alien and explains what rights and obligations that person subsequently has. It also defines how an alien can become a naturalized citizen, which means that individual would enjoy the same rights as anyone born in the United States.

As of 2015, the discussion over immigration is highly controversial in the United States, and the topic is particularly relevant to ...

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