Illegal Immigrants Entering America

The number of Mexican illegal immigrants entering America has been increasing over the years. According to Muschek who is a Mission Support Specialist at U.S. Customs and Border Protection, “the rate at which undocumented immigrants successfully cross the border into the United States is unlike anything seen since prior to the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986” (Muschek). Most illegal immigrants come from Mexico, with 6.9 million currently living in the the U.S. (Muschek). Every year the Border Patrol arrests thousands of illegal immigrants who have violated the nations’ laws by unlawfully crossing the border from Mexico. Illegally crossing the border is considered a misdemeanor and becomes a felony if repeated after being deported. Promoting lawful entry into a nation is essential to national security and economic prosperity. Illegal immigration is one of the top highly disputed issues in America that is …show more content…
Most illegal immigrants are employed. According to researchers at the Pew Research Center, “about 8.5 million jobs are encumbered by illegal alien workers out of a total population of 12 million illegal aliens” (Krogstad, Jens Manuel, Passel, & Cohn). Many Americans struggling to find jobs will be negatively affected by the high number of illegal immigrants entering the workforce. According to Professor Liu from Renmin University of China, “U.S. Census data shows that employment rates of native workers are strongly and negatively affected by the high number of foreign workers” (Liu). The large number of illegal immigrants that are employed also causes wages to drop because when the number of workers increases the amount the workers get paid decreases. “Empirical evidence shows the inflow of illegal immigrants not only increases citizen’s unemployment rates but also lowers their wage rates”