Illegal Immigration Debate

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There are more than 12 million illegal immigrants living in the United States. Almost 50% of these 12 million illegal immigrants are Mexicans who have crossed the border illegally. Each year, an average of 500,000 illegal immigrants make there way to America. The ongoing debate of whether or not illegal immigrants are beneficial to the United States has been a debate politicians and citizens for decades. Although illegal immigrants play a big role and often times have a positive affect on the United States, illegal immigration negatively affects our country’s economy, schooling, workforce, and increases crime in areas where illegal immigrants are dominant. A major problem the United States faces due to obtaining half a million illegal immigrants …show more content…
This common belief is false. Throughout the United States, there is an estimated 19 million people who have finished high school and gotten their diploma. The people in favor of illegal immigration seem to believe that America has a shortage of unskilled workers, whose positions must be filled by illegal immigrants. The truth of the matter is that those unskilled workers leading the unemployment rates are in need of the jobs that these illegal immigrants currently hold. Vernon Briggs, a speaker from “Let’s Stop Welcoming Undocumented Immigrants: A Debate”, states “We all know that if undocumented workers are pouring into the professional elite ranks in this country, if they were coming into the professor rank, the lawyer ranks, the doctors rank, or the business executive ranks this issue would have been solved a long time ago.” (Briggs) This quote sheds light on the fact that if illegal immigrants were taking jobs that American citizens have spent thousands of dollars on through schooling and countless hours of hard academic work, the on going epidemic of illegal immigration would have been resolved in a timely …show more content…
citizens. However, these schools are funded specifically by the citizens of the United States through taxes. Due to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals act, 37,000 unaccompanied minors were able to enroll in public schools across the U.S in September of 2014. These illegal immigrants were also granted two years of amnesty along with the opportunity to apply for work permits. Unaccompanied minors are immigrants under the age of 18 and have been granted lawful immigration status in the U.S. even though they are illegal immigrants. The cost of one child attending school in Montana cosseted the state $18,630. Other states like New York and Texas were given an estimated 5,000 unaccompanied alien minors to attend schooling and cosseted $78 million to $148 million annually. These outrageous numbers include classes presented by a teacher who is able to speak Spanish and meal plans that were either free or at least at a reduced cost. According to the article “$761 Mil to School Influx if Illegal Alien Minors” on Judicial watch, “37,472 Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) are living throughout the nation and states will spend an astounding $761 million a year to educate them in public schools”. That is a heavy load for the states to carry, not to mention that the cost of these unoccupied aliens is ultimately falling into the hands of taxpayers. Many people may argue that the costs of

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