Complexities Of Immigration

Immigration in the US has been a big topic ever since 1790 when the Irish started coming over. Ever since then people have been trying to stem the flow of immigration into this country. Since 9-11 people have been really adamant about immigration especially about limiting immigration into our country. They make good points but the real question is; is it feasible to restrict immigration? The Answer is simple, no; it is not feasible to restrict immigration.

People have wanted to restrict immigration to this country for over 200 years, and it has never successfully been done. Our country has tried to restrict immigration at certain points in our history. There was the Chinese exclusion act, and there was also the Nativist party. Both of these tried to stop immigration into this country. The Chinese exclusion act was a legal restriction on who could come into our country, and the Nativist party tried to pass laws like this, but they also used force to try and keep immigrants out of the country. Both of these ended up failing, the Chinese exclusion act are no longer legal, and the Nativist party has all but vanished. These were restrictions that were put on legal immigration, however the government does not just let any one walk into our country. If some one wants to enter our country legally and become a citizen then they must pass a series of tests. These tests include reading, writing, and speaking English, a health test, and a test designed to test the applicant’s general knowledge of the United States and how it is run. So the United States does have some general restrictions to who can come in to our country and be a citizen. If an applicant cannot pass these tests, or does not want to be a citizen then they can apply for a green card or a visa. However the down side to visas is that once they are up some people stay in the country and then become illegal immigrants.

Illegal immigration is a big problem in the United States. There are any where between 20 -35 million illegal immigrants in the United States according to a study published in the Huston Chronicle in 2007. People are split on immigration. Some people believe that we should harbor all immigrants legal and illegal because our country was founded on immigrants, however some believe that we should deport all of the illegal immigrants and say that if you want to become a part of this country then you must do it through the proper legal channels. There is one huge problem with immigration, and that is that it is both bad, and good for our country. It is good because with illegal workers companies can make bigger profits because they will pay the workers off the books. They are also a big part of our economic stability. If we deported all of the legal immigrants then the country would fall into depression because if all the illegal workers