Research Writting 220

According to polls, at least 80 percent of the Americans now favor cutbacks in immigration quotas. More than 90 percent support an all-out effort to curb the massive illegal immigration issue. There are anywhere between 2 and 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States. Since the 1990 it is report that in a single year, 800,000 to 1 million illegal immigrants enter into the country every year. Most of these immigrants cross the boarder through California and Arizona. Illegal immigration has become a sensitive issue in the United States. Even though illegal immigrants are given an opportunity for citizenship, all immigrants need to be here legally because the government has laws about immigration that should be followed and illegal immigrants cost tax payers millions of dollars each year. Below is a chart that shows the increase of illegal immigrants between now and the year 2023.

Under the United States Constitution, Congress is the key to solving the illegal immigration problem. The U.S. Constitution gives Congress the sole power "to establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization" (Article I, Section 8), and declares, "The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion" (Article IV, Section 4). Congress has been very remiss in fixing the illegal-immigration invasion. Which raises the question, "Why?" While Congress has been debating and passing a wide variety of immigration bills in recent years, no major immigration reform bill has been passed by both houses. Until last year the pattern has been that the Senate has passed immigration reform bills based on amnesty and temporary (or guest) worker provisions, while the House has been passing immigration bills based on improving border security with fences and more Border Patrol agents. Last year the public outcry against amnesty as a fix for illegal immigration became so overwhelming that the Senate could not pass its usual amnesty bill, but had to drop the subject. Why is it that Congress is failing to perform one of its essential constitutional duties: securing and maintaining our national borders so as to preserve our nation's freedom and independence for the benefit of our citizens?

Illegal immigrants, who are also known as undocumented aliens, enter the country secretly, without obtaining “green cards” or passing through an entry point. Because illegal immigrants do not identify themselves for fear of deportation, it is almost impossible to determine how many there are in the county. Various sources have estimated between 2 and 12 million, but most estimates are little more than educated guesses or often influenced. The picture shows a group of illegal immigrants enter the country across the Arizona desert.

Illegal immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border face a new danger in their harrowing trip across the vast desert of America's southwest. Some U.S. citizens who live near America's border with Mexico are frustrated by what they see as an unrestricted flow of illegal immigrants. These Americans believe that they have the right to protect the U.S. border and have formed militia groups. Immigrant rights advocates claim that these organizations put migrants at risk and hold these groups responsible for murders and attacks on migrants in the Arizona desert. While Border Patrol officials do not directly oppose civilian militias, they do not encourage them either. Local leaders and human rights organizations, however, take an affirmative stand against what they call the militias' vigilante actions. Since 1999 human rights advocates in Arizona have been warning state officials about the threat these civilian militia groups pose. While local residents in the Southwest are frustrated with U.S. border policy, most do not support civilian militias. The boards of supervisors and city councils in the Arizona communities of Bisbee, Sierra Vista, Tombstone, and Douglas have passed resolutions that oppose the formation of civilian militias. Responding to discontent in their communities, political leaders have begun to ask for federal help. U.S. senator John McCain of Arizona has advised the Senate, "Vigilante groups have formed, taking up arms, and taking the law into their own hands because they do not believe the federal government is doing its job at preventing illegal immigration at the border. We simply cannot tolerate this type of violence at the border." He and Senator Jon Kyl, also of Arizona, support resolutions against civilian militias and ask that the federal government take responsibility for border problems. Whether civilian militias are a threat to migrants or an effective tool in controlling the U.S.-Mexico border remains controversial. The authors in the following chapter debate other issues concerning how the United States should respond to illegal immigration.

More should be done to restrict illegal immigration and ensure that people entering the country illegally are not afforded the protections and rights provided to citizens. President George W. Bush's 2004 proposed program to offer legal status to undocumented workers disadvantages those going through the proper channels to gain citizenship. Municipalities across the country have policies in place that prevent law enforcement officials from making arrests based solely on illegal immigration status. As many as eleven states have allowed illegal aliens to acquire driver's licenses. Efforts to enter the country illegally have the potential to compromise national security and contribute to a sense that illegal actions have no negative consequences and may in fact reward those who subvert the law.

In 2004, President George W. Bush announced his intention to sponsor a program that would provide illegal immigrants with the opportunity to work legally in the United States for three-year renewable periods. The president was careful not to label the program amnesty for illegal immigrants, although some viewed the proposal as an open invitation for people from Mexico to enter the United States and undercut the wages of workers in low paying jobs. William Norman Grigg, editor for the New American, claims, "Open borders, amnesty for illegal aliens, subsidies for Mexico's economy, exporting manufacturing capacity south of the border, expanded welfare benefits for foreigners who entered our nation illegallyвЂ"these are all part of the same seamless design. As [Mexican President Vicente] Fox himself put it, that design is the `integration' of the U.S. and Mexico into a hemisphere-wide political unit."

Cities such as Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, Austin, San Diego, and Houston have "sanctuary" programs in place that handcuff law enforcement groups