Abstract: As is known to us all, the United States is a nation of immigrants. It has been plagued by considerable increase in the size of the illegal population since the 1980s. Illegal immigration issue has been one of the major concerns of the government, the academia and the populace. Based on the latest statistics available and case study, the paper is designed to make an analysis of the efficacy as well as the legislation passed by and measures taken by the U.S. federal government to curb the illegal immigration flow. Then it is pointed out that the illegal immigration issue is more than a political one, and it involves economic, racial and diplomatic factors as well. Constrained by these contributing factors, the U.S. federal government has created loopholes in the illegal immigration policy and has been lax about enforcing the laws. Consequently, while the level of new illegal immigration is lower than a decade ago and the pace of illegal immigration has slowed significantly, the enormous ongoing scale of illegal immigration is a clear indication that the United States has not come close to controlling it. It is safe to say that the illegal immigration issue is and will be a thorny issue for the U.S. government.

Keywords: US immigration policy; illegal immigration; efficacy; contributing factors

摘要： 美国是一个移民大国。自20 世纪80 年代以来美国一直受到非法移民的困扰，非法移民人数不断攀升并由此产生了一系列社会问题。非法移民问题成为政界、学术界和普通民众关注的焦点问题。本文将通过数据分析、案例分析等方法对近年来美国联邦政府为治理非法移民问题所制定和实施的非法移民政策进行分析，对非法移民政策的实施效果进行定性评估，指出受制于非法移民问题所涉及的政治、经济、种族和外交等诸多因素的影响，美国联邦政府在非法移民政策的内容设计上存在着自相矛盾的漏洞，在政策的执行中表现出懈怠放任的态度，其结果是非法移民净增长并未停止，非法移民问题未能得到有效的治理，以此揭示美国非法移民问题治理的艰巨性和长期性。

关键词: 美国移民政策, 非法移民, 效果, 因素