Illegal Immigration

"People from every race, culture, and creed on the face of the earth now inhabit this land. Their presence illuminates the basic yearning for freedom, peace, and prosperity that has always been the spirit of the New World."

-President Ronald Reagan

Illegal immigration has always been a controversial issue facing America, not just in the interest of guaranteeing our citizens safety and that of our national security, but also with regard to our economy. Illegal aliens are a great source of cheap labor for unethical managers, although over the past decade it has become much easier for these illegals to attain fake drivers' licenses, birth certificates, green cards and other documents making it much harder for managers to discern legal status. There have been numerous proposals made by the United States government on how to rectify the problem, including completely open borders, amnesty and legal status to those already in the country, construction of a fence along the Mexican border and total deportation.

There is no argument over whether or not something needs to be done, but there is significant debate over what should be done. If illegal immigration continues at the this current pace, undocumented immigrants will make up over 16 percent of the total U.S. population by 2010. With 25% of the illegals in the U.S. currently on at least one major health or welfare program, staggering sums of our tax payers' money are being devoted to people who do not belong here in the first place. These funds could be used towards a multiple of other productive things including assisting the hundreds of thousands of struggling American citizens. One-third of all illegal aliens do not have health insurance, which is 2.5 times the rate for American citizens at large. The poverty rate for illegal immigrants and their U.S.-born children (under 18) is two-thirds higher than that of our citizens and our children, 17.6 percent versus 10.6 percent. Immigrants and their children now account for almost one in four persons living in poverty. Then there is the issue of serious crime many of these individuals bring to our nation. In Los Angeles for example, 95 percent of all outstanding warrants for homicide have been issued against illegal aliens. Above the level of poverty and violence that illegals are bringing to our glorious country, minimal of education in the norm with only 30 percent of individuals entering the country illegally having graduated from high school or achieved an equivalent education. So what exactly do these people bring to America?

America, the land of opportunity, unrestrained freedom, and unlimited opportunities to become successful in our society. This is what appeals to nearly one-million illegal immigrants every year. Many come to live the "American Dream" and exhibit an impressive work ethic that one needs to achieve success. Unfortunately though employers hire these illegals for low wage rate and their status restricts them from freedom to truly make a decent living. Their illegal status also denier millions of dollars in possible tax revenue that could be recovered by our government if we grant them citizenship. Although how fair and unjust would it be to grant legal status before the thousands of people waiting for legal citizenship?

Another attribute they give us is increasing diversity. People who make this point miss out on two key facts. First, we do not need illegal immigrants to make for a diverse America. America is the world's leader in granting citizenship to foreigners, allowing approximately two million legal immigrants into the country each year. The second point that is missed is that there is such a thing as "too much" diversity. Case in point, on March 27, 2006 at Montebello High School in California, California and American flags were hanging in front of the school and almost 1,000 students marched to the pole lowering both. To make the situation even more sickening they replaced them with the flag of Mexico and then rehung the American flag upside down.

The American Hotel & Lodging Association, the American Nursery & Landscape Association, the National Restaurant Association, the Farm Labor Organizing Committee, the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees as well as The Latino Coalition are just a hand full of organizations in support for amnesty for illegals. What is it that these groups of people all share? It's fear; fear that if their illegal workers are run out of the country their businesses will suffer significant economic hardships or possibly fail. They have good reason for this fear since illegal immigrants make up 17% of workers in building cleaning and maintenance occupations, 14% of private household workers, 13% of accommodation industry workers, 13% of food industry workers, 12% of the workers in construction and extraction occupations, 11% of workers in food preparation and serving occupations and 8% of workers in production occupations. Granting amnesty would clearly save the economy and keep many businesses in operation but it has some draw backs.

With so many people already wanting to come to America for our economic opportunities, freedom and chances to succeed if amnesty is granted this will only add another incentive for more illegals to come. Thus taking us right back to the original problem. It is also quite unfair, to the people who respect our laws and apply legally and endure years of waiting and checking back on the confusing U.S. Immigration and Services website. If amnesty is granted then we are only rewarding people for breaking the law.

There has been a controversial idea that would secure our nations economy by means of amnesty as well as secure our borders so that illegals would not be able to flood our country at the current rates. The Great American Wall, it would span 2000 miles from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. The wall would consist of two layers of reinforced fencing, large amounts of lighting, new cameras and underground sensors with estimated cost between three and four billion dollars. The building of the wall would not only protect our citizens, keep businesses functioning but also stimulate our economy with the amount of jobs needed to build it.

On the contrary many people strongly oppose the idea of the wall and what it stands for. They believe that if a wall is built it sends a strong message out to the world about how we view citizens of our neighboring countries. They also compare the thought of this wall to that of the Berlin wall, saying that it will be torn down after time and only cause turmoil with the U.S. and Mexico. There is quite the difference between this though, the Berlin Wall was created to separate West Berlin and East Berlin because of conflicting