Illegal Immigration

Illegal Immigration

The United States of America is at a crossroads. People all over the country are using this time to try and determine who they will vote for as the next President of the United States. I am not a political junkie, my interest in many of the different topics people seem to get fired up about is limited, and I rarely have the time to really sit back and get caught up in the whole Republican vs. Democrat debate. I find myself listening to each Candidate as an individual, and trying to determine whether they speak from the heart, or if they speak from a platform previously generated by a larger group of people. That all being said, there is one issue I find imperative for the future of America, as well as my future as an individual. Illegal Immigration. It is time the politicians in this country realize that something needs to be done about illegal immigration, and that our borders need to be secured. In this paper I will examine the reasons I believe Illegal Immigration should not only be considered as a top priority for our politicians, but also why it is a burden to every legal American. I believe most Americans are against illegal immigration, but I feel that the majority just don't know the dire situation that our country is in and the damage that illegal aliens are doing to the United States. Illegal Immigration is not only a burden to our economy, it also causes rise in terrorist threat, crime, traffic accidents, disease, and cost of education. America is unique from most other countries in that she was founded by immigrants from numerous other countries. These immigrants had a vision, they had education, and they were determined to build this country. Today, immigration is described in two ways Illegal, and Legal. It would be impossible for me to include in this paper the contributions legal immigrants are currently making, however, I will explore the various aspects of illegal immigration and the direct negative consequences it has on our current society as well as the stability of this country. The time is now for all Americans to stand up and fight for the abolishment of Illegal immigration, for the securing of our borders, and for the removal of Illegal Immigrants from out Country.

It is an undisputable fact that the vast majority of illegal aliens or immigrants are Hispanic/Latino. This is most definitely a result of the social and economic woes of Mexico. It is also a direct result of poor border security on our southern most borders. While Hispanic illegals are a problem, the border is even more of a problem. It is estimated in a Report by Homeland Security in April of 2006 that 45,008 aliens from countries on the U.S. list of state-sponsors of terror or from countries that protected terrorist organizations and their members, were released into the general public between 2001 and 2005, even though immigration officers couldn't confirm their identity." As reported in a February 2005 USA Today article by Mimi Hall, "Despite new technology, Border Patrol overwhelmed", the numbers are going up and DHS is concerned as they admit they only catch an estimated 1/3 of the border crossers. The article goes onto say "in 2003 the Border Patrol arrested 39,215 so-called "OTMs, other-than-Mexicans, along the Southwest border. In 2004, the number jumped to 65,814." These numbers alone should scare all Americans, as we are told by DHS, as well as politicians that al-Qaeda is constantly trying to smuggle terrorists as well as weapons across the borders of this country. Can we as a nation, as individuals, as Americans sit back and allow terrorists to pay their way illegally into our country? I believe that every day we allow our borders to remain unsafe we open ourselves up to another terrorist attack.

Crime rates in this country are at an all time high. While some believe it is the behavior of society as a whole, there is plenty of evidence to show that illegal immigrants contribute to high numbers of crime. Just watching the major media outlets and news reports everyday Americans may not be convinced that Illegal Immigrants raise crime risks and numbers, however, the evidence of the opposite is overwhelming. Unless an illegal alien commits a crime like murder, it often is unreported by the media. Illegal immigration itself is a crime, but unfortunately, the main stream media sees it as a victimless crime and therefore reports of it are few and far between. Another reason why we may not hear enough about crimes by illegal immigrants was explained in an article by Fernando Quintero, of the Rocky Mountain News titled " Immigrants often silent on family violence" Where the writer goes on to explain how Illegal Immigrants who are victims of crimes often are afraid to report the crimes against them to authorities based on their fear of being deported. Many of these crimes are acts of domestic Violence against women and children. Another contributing factor to US Citizens not hearing enough about crimes by Illegal aliens is that the media rarely makes a distinction between crimes committed by illegal aliens and citizens, as a matter of fact, it seems they go out of their way to keep us uninformed. Then too, is the fact the FBI and Justice Department do not track it. In any case, while a large number of Illegal Aliens are committing crime, I think it's important to remind people that a vast majority of Illegal aliens are decent, hard working people who are trying to make a better life for themselves and their families. However, that does not take away from the fact they are breaking US Immigration laws and in this country illegally. It is also a fact that a large number of illegal's are criminals and sexual predators. In an online article written by Doctor Madeleine Cosman she writes about san encounter with an Agent with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). His major work is to capture and deport illegal alien violent sexual predators. ICE recently added a new sex-crime section to its responsibilities for enforcing border, economic, infrastructure, and transportation security laws, and for preventing terrorism. Last year, ICE launched Operation Predator to target illegal aliens whose sex crimes, especially against children, make them deportable from the United States. In Iowa, agents recently arrested 14 convicted sexual predators, and nationwide that number is near 2,600, many of which were armed and dangerous. Her article goes on to detail a few individual cases, but them alarmingly discusses the fact that many of these aliens serve their sentences and are released back into the town or city that they terrorized previously. The only way an arresting agent can know if an illegal will be released from jail is if they procure a legal instrument called a detainer. A detainer requires