Long before the declaration of war on poverty by President Lyndon Johnson (1964), poverty has played a central role in American politics and policy. From the launch of the New Deal (1933-35) to the Four Freedoms of 1941by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt; poverty has always shown to be a complex, multifaceted problem that most leaders and policymakers believe can be overcome only through the design of comprehensive set of innovative policies and effective reforms (Kearney & Harris, 2014; Thomson & Snell, 2013; Walker & Day, 2012; Devas, 2012; Ferretti & Molina, 2012). To understand the complexity of the phenomenon of poverty and its impact on the undocumented immigrants it will require an extensive literature review which I intend to …show more content…
It is what empowers a person to provide housing, education, food, transport, and other essentials for oneself and one’s family. An adequate income contributes to personal freedom and mental fitness that includes the choice to participate in social activities that are sometimes important for one’s comfort. In the United States, an inadequate income is one below 200% of the federal poverty threshold, henceforth, the poor (U.S. Census Bureau, 2012). More succinctly, the poor is defined as a person without or lack of an adequate income that lives on an income of $11,720 for a single person family (Southern Poverty Center, 2012, Pew Research Center, 2011; United States Census Bureau, …show more content…
It is a plague without borders whether in thriving times or during economic depression, in both agricultural and industrial societies, regardless of how it is measured or the presence of antipoverty programs and aid to the poor (Provine & Doty, 2011; Brooks, 2010; Obama, 2010; Sumner, 2010; Lyons & Brown, 2010). Poverty has become a more serious social phenomenon with the excessive instability of the world economy that tends to entangle with corruptions and mostly poor performance of governments (World Bank, 2010; Anand & Lea, 2011; Robinson, 2011; Mullainathan, 2011; Yoshikawa et al., 2012). Hence, this complexity demands it to be partitioned under several theories. Which theory of poverty is ultimately embraced will always have a long lasting impact on the public policies that need to be adjusted (Tavernise & Gebeloff, 2011; Chandy & Gertz, 2011; Barrientos, 2011; Wilson,