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Immigration is significant and central to our country, for without it our country would not exist today; however, there is a right and wrong way to go about it. There are thousands of people coming through our borders illegally every day, we need to make sure this does not happen and persons wishing to come here go through the proper process. It boils down to this, our borders need to be secured. Very few Americans are against a reasonable amount of legal immigration, but most Americans are against any amount of illegal immigration, regardless of race, nationality or ethnicity. With that said, actual immigration is not looked down upon or questioned as something that should be reconsidered, rather when it is done illegally is the time when citizens become concerned. It is when violence, drugs and economic peril become involved that measures need to be taken to discover a resolution.

All peoples, regardless of background, rate safety near the top of their list of priorities. With the rise of illegal immigrants in our country, so have the rise of crime rates across the nation followed that pattern closely. As one dimensional as this predicament may seem, it as most things, is attached with extra baggage. Crime rates are just the tip of the iceberg; the question of where to store these criminals is at best a two edged blade. Over 25% of today's federal prison population are illegal aliens. In some areas of the country, 12% of felonies, 25% of burglaries and 34% of thefts are committed by this group. In 1980, our Federal and state facilities held fewer than 9,000 criminal aliens but at the end of 2003, approximately 267,000 illegal aliens were incarcerated in U.S. correctional facilities, These statistics contribute to an astonishing 30% of all prisoners according to a CNN study. From a report at the Center for Immigration Studies, illegal immigrants collectively represent a group that is a significant danger to the public. Roughly 80% have committed serious crimes in addition to immigration violations, and on top of that, 40% have violent crime histories. 

A second major dilemma associated with illegal immigration is the impact they have on our economic welfare. You often hear the phrase claiming that illegal immigrants are taking American jobs; that often second guessed notion as we will discover has some relevance surrounding it. According to a study done recently in 2008 by NumbersUSA, it is estimated there were approximately 7.7 million illegal aliens employed in U.S. Individuals who defend this number by saying today’s Americans would not be caught doing these jobs have not taken the time to take a step back from the issue or personal biases and consider the following. To be candid, what is the likelihood that most people would accept a fruit picking job that pays one to two dollars an hour? The most likely answer, probably not. However, if we were to get those jobs in Americans hands, the businesses which operate our fruit production sectors would be forced to pay higher wages to our own citizens; in turn boosting economic contributions through taxes, consumer confidence and decrease the unemployed workforce. Supporters of this ideology argue that the U.S. economy would benefit if illegal immigrants were to be dismissed from their current positions, because U.S. employers would be forced to raise wages to attract American workers.

The ideology that our country can just soak up these individuals and grant them amnesty is preposterous, to even consider granting this endowment for them would cause costs to increase from $ 10.4 billion to $28.8 billion a year. The reason for this would be because an amnesty program would transform the illegal immigrants to a ‘unskilled immigrant with legal status’ who would have full access to a number of government aided programs. As the economic times are today, citizens are more than aware than any more stress put on our struggling economy could just be the tipping point in a gradual spiral for the worse and most I believe, are not willing to take that chance. Is all that has been stated really worth saving the ten cents on a head of lettuce at the end of the day? I would not say so, and would challenge the individuals reading this paper to use full advantage of our democratic system and tell law makers what Americans really want.

illegal immigration in the United States is a problem whether the general public would like to accept it or not. Sometimes the mentality of, ‘this issue has grown too large to handle‘, takes over peoples minds; so we choose to either dismiss the facts or accept them as they are with the knowledge that we cannot do anything to combat it. As supported by the facts, we cannot allow ourselves to shove this issue under the rug once again, as those before us have done, time and time again, it is a real issue that needs to be enthusiastically met head on. Immigration is not merely a conservative or liberal issue from Washington, it is an American issue.

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