Issue Exploration
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Ryan Hermansen
12/12/2010
English 1010-060
Mr. Cole
Country Under Siege
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.
Because of the countless sweeping generalizations today, some background is necessary on what exactly constitutes an illegal immigrant. As defined by U.S law, an illegal alien is defined as a person who is not a U.S. citizen and who is in the United States in violation of U.S. immigration laws. These people, who are stereotypically classified as the main problem, are not only of Hispanic descent, coincidentally they just so happen to be the largest percentage of people involved, a staggering 68%. According to the Pew Hispanic center, in October 2008 there were estimated to be a population of 11.9 million illegal immigrants present in the U.S, translating to nearly 3000 – 8000 illegal immigrants entering our country and adding to our grand total every single day. If immigration continues at current levels, the nation's population will increase from the present 301 million to 468 million in 2060 - a 167 million, or 56% increase claimed by the center for immigration studies.
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. Once caught, I do not know of anyone that would authorize these people being allowed back into society to continue their actions, so the only resolution has been to store them in our prison systems, draining the available cells that could be used to house our actual at-home delinquents. 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. Housing and controlling these people in the prisons does not come free of cost, rather the expenses fall into the laps of the American tax payers, which I’m confident could unearth better use. 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.
One other way that illegal immigrants have had a breach on our safety, has been the rise of gangs in our urban communities. These are a serious threat to the wellbeing of our general public and cause fear in neighborhoods that would no other reason have need for concern. Because of the serious nature under which these groups operate, these gangs often have rivals that represent and compete for often the same possessions, once these paths cross, you can likely expect explosive results on both sides to break loose. Violence is not the only quality that gangs are known for, in recent years drug trafficking has been near the top of the list as a major problem to try and control among them. According to Olga R. Rodriguez, "Mexican traffickers supplied 77% of the cocaine, 53% of the methamphetamine and approximately 50% of the heroin that enters the U.S.". At least 4.5 million pounds of cocaine with a street value of at least $72 billion is smuggled across the southern border every year according to a website titled, “The Dark Side of Illegal Immigration. As the information reveals, this is a multi-billion corporation that has a firm foundation within our countries limits and only adds to the list of reasons to argue for a permanent border control unit.
One not of importance, is that street crime is simply not the only way by which this problem is being carried out or being solely looked at to base the main point; other contributing factors are as much to blame in the worry over public safety. Illegal drug sales and possession in the United States are among some of the leading dilemmas that we face today, largely because so much of it is being trafficked across the country’s borders unchallenged. So then we ask ourselves, whose responsibility is it to protect and defend the citizens of this great country from such affairs and threats? We must exercise constructive criticism with our very own government for their lack of emphasis to monitor the drug dealings which happen so frequently, and question the ineffectiveness of which we ask the border patrol units and other law enforcement services to crack down
on something that is not being in any way prevented. It is my belief that the majority of Americans would and do share the same point of view on securing our borders if not for any other reason than this.
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, through research done by Adam Davidson.
As large as the past stated figure might seem, this does not even account for all the many jobs that were lost to companies sending their factories over seas for the simple fact of paying lower wages. As fast and as easy as it is to point the finger of blame towards them completely would truly be unwarranted, when citizens of our own country, are in part responsible for factors leading to a decline in private sector jobs. In our countries day to day economic worries, the jobs that are effected and essentially lost are simply a mere member of a large group, it can also dwindle down into expenses that come out of our own pocket books as citizens, to fund programs that help aide struggling illegal immigrants. Because of the tremendous in pour of illegal’s in our country, expenses from various government run agencies project to run about $100,000,000,000 billion dollars each year to pay for people who shouldn‘t be here in the first place. Over the near future, we are estimated to spend $400,000,000,000 billion on a report done by CNN’s, Lou Dobbs. Money, in a struggling age, that could have a myriad of other applications and more effective use, including humanitarian aide.
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.
In conclusion, 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. Some activists in favor of unrestricted immigration at all levels would argue that other factors than rule of law have a part in opposition to the matter, it is necessary to understand that this is a matter of ethics and certainly not of race, we need to be prepared to confront and to avoid distractions of those who would argue contrary to that point.
This great country of ours will always continue to be the ‘melting pot’ of the world, but the way in which we do so needs to be revised. 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. Help secure our borders and protect our country that is under siege.
Works Cited
C., James. "Illegal Immigration is a Matter of Public Safety and Homeland Security | Public Safety Blog." Public Safety Degrees in Criminal Justice, EMS and Fire services, Homeland Security, and Public Health. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 2010. <http://www.publicsafetydegrees.com/blog/index.php/homeland-security-stories/illegal-immigration-is-a-matter-of-public-safety-and-homeland-security/>.
"Economic impact of illegal immigration? - U.S. news - Gut Check - msnbc.com." Breaking News, Weather, Business, Health, Entertainment, Sports, Politics, Travel, Science, Technology, Local, US & World News- msnbc.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 2010. <http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19462758/ns/us_news-gut_check/>.
"Illegal Immigration Facts & Statistics." End Illegal Immigration. Stop Illegal Immigration. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 2010. <http://www.endillegalimmigration.com/Illegal_Immigration_Facts_&_Statistics/index.shtml>.
"Q&A: Illegal Immigrants and the U.S. Economy : NPR." NPR : National Public Radio : News & Analysis, World, US, Music & Arts : NPR. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 2010. <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5312900>.
"The Dark Side Of Illegal Immigration: Facts, Figures and Data Show A Disturbing Truth." The Dark Side Of Illegal Immigration: Facts, Figures and Data Show A Disturbing Truth. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 2010. <http://www.usillegalaliens.com/>.
" You Tube ‘Cost of Illegal Immigration." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. . N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Aug. 2010. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDZBAtAyFOM>.
" Illegal Aliens - What Is An Illegal Alien?, How Many Illegal Aliens Are There?, National Security Entry-exitregistration System - Foreign, City, Contributing, 2004, Post, and Denver ." Library Index. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Aug. 2010. <http://www.libraryindex.com/pages/304/Illegal-Aliens.html>.
Works Consulted
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