Illegal Immigration

&loginpageThe topic of illegal immigration is a hot one to say the least. According to the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), there are over thirteen million people living in the United States illegally. Every day, people pour across the U.S.-Mexican border as well as the southeastern part of the country from Cuba. Our northern border with Canada is often overlooked, but up until recently, one could literally drive across it unchecked, required only to state their American citizenship. This provides an open highway for possible terrorism. I’m going to focus on the immigration from Mexico, where the nation is split on a solution to what is undeniably a problem. While illegal immigrants provide a cheap labor force for employers in fields most Americans see as undesirable, the issue is whether or not illegal aliens benefit American society and the economy more than they tax it. The aliens do not pay taxes, yet they utilize public education and healthcare, clog the jails, and bring foreign diseases into the country that we may not have cures for. I firmly believe that illegal immigration must be stopped before it gets any further out of hand.

There is no doubt that illegal aliens do provide a beneficial service to the United States. Industries such as meatpacking and agriculture depend on undocumented workers for their labor forces, since employers don’t have to pay them minimum wage or file tax information for them (Haines). Produce prices would be through the roof if the workers commanded the rate of pay required by law. However, law enforcement agencies are starting to crack down on employers who hire undocumented workers, in some states requiring them to submit proof of legal residency and citizenship before hiring (Vitello). An example of this involves Keith Eckel, a tomato farmer in Pennsylvania who requires upwards of 125 laborers per season to harvest his large tomato crop. But due to the new legislation forcing him to hire only legal workers, he was unsure if he could count on the usual help for the upcoming season, as he is sure many if not all are in the country illegally. It’s been illegal since 1985 to knowingly hire an undocumented worker (Solis), but this is not a question an employer typically asks when he is looking to find someone to work for five dollars an hour. Also, the consequence when caught was only a civil fine, but now criminal charges are being filed against these employers in Rhode Island, with more states sure to follow. Eckel actually decided to forgo planting an entire field due to his uncertainty. He is part of a group composed mainly of farmers in equal situation pushing for a system allowing immigrants to apply for temporary seasonal work permits. This would provide the labor source that the farmers need, as well as jobs for the immigrants. If we are not going to completely seal off the borders, then this would be a logical solution. Something would need to be figured out deciding whether or not taxes would be taken out, because if we’re going to allow them to stay in the country, they will use the health care system as well as our public schools if they have children.

Illegal immigrants place an enormous load on both our educational and healthcare systems, and they don’t pay taxes to help with the costs. Since they don’t have medical insurance, illegal aliens will go to hospitals with ailments ranging in severity from a common cold to a hangnail to a gunshot wound. This results in long lines and waiting rooms full of people with illnesses that could be solved by walking to the local drug store, while people with broken bones and other more serious problems are left there waiting. I myself have experienced this phenomenon, as I was forced to wait with a broken foot in a room full of people with coughs for four hours just to see the doctor. This is taking into account that the aliens even do something about their sickness, rather than continue to walk the streets coughing and spreading their germs all over the place. The hospitals cannot turn a patient away, and rarely do the aliens have money to pay for the services and treatments they receive. Those costs usually fall upon the taxpayers, such as those in Georgia who paid upwards of $58 million in 1994 for the emergency medical services of farm workers in the northern part of the state (US Senate). That was in 1994. That figure could be ten times that in current times.

The same thing goes for the public school system. Illegal immigrants send their children to school because they get two meals a day and are out of the house or apartment all day. The schools are crowded with these children who often have little or no intention of learning anything, and receive no support at home. Many of these families are migrant workers, meaning they move to wherever there’s a crop that needs to be picked. School takes a backseat here and the children drop out. It’s next to impossible for teachers to instruct in this environment. The kids don’t want to be there, and there’s never a guarantee that they will even show up the next day. The education budget in California is already stretched, and again, the tax thing is an issue. California taxpayers spend a reported $9 billion per year on the education of undocumented students (Yamamura). There is just not enough money flowing into the system to support all of these extra kids.

Crime is another major result of illegal immigration. Illegal aliens comprise many of the nation’s most dangerous Latino gangs, including MS-13, an international ring started by El Salvadorian prison inmates in Los Angeles. Nationwide membership of MS-13 numbers more than one hundred thousand, with fifty thousand members in the United States alone as of 2005 (Krikorian). These gangs specialize in drug and human trafficking across the Mexican border, bringing marijuana, cocaine, and methamphetamine along with more illegal aliens into the country. As gang members and drug dealers are arrested, our jails continue to be taxed. Aliens resort to theft, as they can’t always afford things like food or clothes, things they need to survive. Far more criminals are arrested than are released, so in order to make room for the more dangerous ones, criminals with minor offenses are released back into society, where they will likely strike again. Prison also offers inmates a bed to sleep in, showers to bathe in, cable television, and multiple meals every single day. They can’t often find that stability in society, and upon release will offend again, hoping to go back to that.

So what is America to do? Do we build a fence along the southern border of the country? Do we grant amnesty to those already living in the country? I don’t believe that the fence is a practical idea. It will