The terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 dominated the world’s attention and catapulted the United States into a multi-layered defensive posture. Immediate and ongoing actions and policy changes by the federal government, followed by state and local governments were designed to increase security and to prevent further attacks. Immigration reform and enforcement became a central area of focus as America searched for ways to strengthen homeland security and to close ranks against others entering the country with devious intentions.

Notwithstanding all the attention, debates, proposals, and new restrictions directed at US immigration, there still exist many questions and problems regarding how to manage immigration, both legal and illegal. A special area of concern is how to deal with temporary workers, also called temporary non-immigrants.
While legal immigration did decrease significantly after 9/11, mostly due to the sweeping new laws and procedures that were designed to weed out potential threats, temporary worker immigration only decreased slightly. This occurred immediately after 9/11 when the country was on a high security alert. As time went by and the immediate threat was gone, the practical economic and business need for temporary workers required that the immigrant worker program return back to speed. Whether migrant farmers or highly skilled professionals, foreign workers were in demand before 9/11 and continue to be in high demand post 9/11. However, because there are still national security concerns, temporary non-immigrant workers face difficult and confusing sets of rules and regulations and often get caught up in enforcement sweeps or become objects of suspicion and investigation by the Department of Homeland Security.
Fortunately, statistics bear out the fact that most temporary workers migrate to the United States for economic reasons and most simply want to earn money for their families. However, it is also a reality that there is a small percentage of immigrant individuals who desire entry into the United States for felonious reasons. Immigration officials must make a sincere effort at sorting through such diverse groups of people. There must be systems, standards, and accountability for immigrants, but so far, those who manage such issues have not reached the delicate stabilizing point where nationwide security needs are balanced against economic, business, and human needs.