When the Europeans first came to the America’s, they tore through waging battles and forcing out the natives. Today, immigration is not quite that severe, but illegal immigration is a continuing and growing problem today.
First, to understand the concept of illegal immigration, we need to take a little trip on the history ship. Rewind to almost 300 years ago, when the first white Europeans came to the Americas. Before there was the U.S, the Americas were torn and tribal. The only government were those of the Native American tribes, usually a direct democracy where the entire tribe voted on almost every decision. There were many tribal skirmishes and battles, sometimes even wars. But then the European colonists came into the Americas. Most of the natives acted friendly, greeting them. Some, though were hostile, attacking the colonists at random. The Colonists began trading with the Natives, usually trading guns for food, spices, and furs. As the European population grew, so did their need for more room.
Eventually, The colonists, now the newly dubbed “Americans” began to force natives west as the Westward Expansion began. The Americans moved most of the natives to reserves, small plots of land that were to be untouched where the natives could continue their traditions and customs. Some natives assimilated to American culture. The age of the natives is now dead, and the age of Americans has began.
Fast Forward about 200 years. America has become a world power A booming dreamland of economic opportunity and almost absolute freedom. Well, that might not be the tale of late, but that’s still how many people outside of our borders view America. Even in this world economic meltdown, with businesses closing doors, and multi- million dollar government bailouts going into executive’s pockets, America still seems like a land of pooprtunity to many people. This takes us to the meat of the problem. Illegal immigration has been a problem for many years and is all but growing today.
But what is an illegal immigrant? In my view, an illegal immigrant is anyone who comes to this country, the United States of America without some type of government recognition that allows them to come. The general stereotype of an illegal immigrant is a Hispanic man that crossed the United state’s southern border. He can not speak English, and he lives in a run-down trailer working as a custodian or a landscaper. This stereotype is wrong. Many illegal immigrants come from Canada. In fact, Canada beats out Korea and Vietnam in the number of immigrants. Many immigrants can speak English, though not very well, and some can speak English fluently. Immigrants, while many of them do take low paying, unskilled jobs, also take skilled, blue- collar jobs. Most immigrants, can also look like you or me.
So, New, fresh workers taking low- level jobs, what’s the problem? There are plenty of problems with illegal immigrants. One of the more obvious ones is that they are not officially recognized by the American Government as a citizen, therefore, according to the government, they don’t even exist. They do not have to pay taxes. Many illegal immigrants fake their identification and reap government benefits without paying their dues. Illegal immigrants can apply for medicaid coverage, unemployment, and many other government programs without paying their dues.
If that doesn’t bother you, how about the simple fact that they’re breaking a law? according to americanpatrol.com,
“Under Title 8 Section 1325 of the U.S. Code, “Improper Entry by Alien,” any citizen of any country other than the United States who:
- Enters or attempts to enter the United States at any time or place other than as designated by immigration officers; or
- Eludes examination or inspection by immigration officers; or
- Attempts to enter or obtains entry to the United States by a willfully false or misleading representation or the willful concealment of a material fact;
has committed a federal crime.
Violations are punishable by criminal fines and imprisonment for up to six months. Repeat offenses can bring up to two years in prison. Additional civil fines may be imposed at the discretion of immigration judges, but civil fines do not negate the criminal sanctions or nature of the offense.”
If you don’t enter this country legally, you commit a federal offense. It’s very simple to understand. If coming to this country without proper U.S. papers is such an offense, why do so many immigrants come to this country illegally? Because the system in which the immigrants are processed is very costly and inefficient. Many immigrants can’t pay the processing fees, and it takes years just to get their visa, and many more to become a full citizen. Many immigrants think that it is not worth the time, and they would rather take the risk of coming over here illegally.
Illegal immigration also leads to other crimes being committed. Drug trafficking, prostitution, traffic and driving infractions, even terrorism. When immigrants come across the border, they usually bring very little with them. But, one thing that immigrants do bring is drugs, and not the kind that you find in a pharmacy. Immigrants, when they come here, bring drugs like marijuana and cocaine with them. Narcotics and illegal contraband are easy to conceal in a pocket or a backpack, and it fetches good money on the street. Money that is great to start a new life in America. Another good moneymaker on the street is prostitution. Many illegal immigrants will sell out their daughters, wives, or other relatives or friends to make profit.
Many immigrants can not speak English well, and they can not read it, and that leads to many traffic violations and accidents along the roadways. Thy can sometimes kill American citizens when they cause wrecks. Some immigrants deliberately kill American citizens. Some immigrants will murder for owed money. Some immigrants turn out to be full- fledged terrorists.
Another thing that illegals can bring over is disease. many immigrants that come to the U.S. are among the poor in their own country. This means that they can not afford to see a doctor if they have an ailment, and when they come over to this country, they bring that ailment with them. Sometimes they will bring a disease that they do not know that they have, like HIV/AIDS because they can not afford to get tested. Other diseases can come over that they have built an immunity to, but Americans have not.
There is one thing that immigrants do not bring with them… and education. Many immigrants are uneducated, and that’s why they take low- paying jobs that do not require a skill like being a janitor, lawn mower, or house- keeping. But due to laws, any child born on U.S. soil is an American citizen, therefore, even though their parents do not pay taxes, the government has to pay for his/her education. An estimated $14.6 billion has been spent by the government educating children when their parents do not pay taxes. (since 1996, grades k-12, immigrationcounters.com).
So you’ve read all the arguments and seen the statistics, and you might say “just send them back,” unfortunately, because they officially do not “exist” according to the government, the government can not track these people down. On the other side of the table, the debate might be “just give them amnesty,” to do that, we would have to revise U.S. code, and we would have to decide exactly who gets the amnesty. Also, it would be too costly and the government would have to rush and give out more than 22 million social security numbers, ID’s, and other information. This would be way too inefficient.
In conclusion. Illegal immigration is wrong, and it an ever- growing problem in the U.S. Illegal immigrants do not pay taxes, yet take advantage of the system using fake identification, and bring more crimes along with them. The problem is that there is no clear way to deal with the illegal immigrants. You’re in the president’s chair right now, you’ve heard the facts, the statistics, and everything that goes along with it. You need to write some form of legislation to deal with illegal immigration. What would you do?