The Land of Opportunity
Are you proud to be an American? American citizens have been blessed enough to live in a country that offers a broad spectrum of freedom and opportunity. Foreigners dream of the day they can step foot on American soil. People are going as far as illegally crossing the U.S. borders to experience life here in the states. It’s such a good opportunity, that many foreigners bring their families over as well. The United States offers a variety of things that foreign countries do not. The United States offers good health care, sanitary living, high paying jobs, and ultimately good welfare benefits. Leerkes explained how governments in prosperous countries are increasingly regulating and selectively restricting international migration (112). The main attraction to foreigners however, is that the U.S. is a great place to raise a family. The one thing keeping an outburst of foreigners from illegally entering the U.S. is our border patrol and national security. There are approximately 853,000 illegal immigrants who are able to pass through our border without being detected on an annual basis stated Brown (422). If you aren’t part of the 28% that get caught and deported, you have a good chance of starting a new life and being able to start working the loop holes of the system (Brown 422). Although many Americans argue illegal immigration is beneficial, their presence here in the United States is both socially and economically degrading. One of the several draw backs of having a large number of illegal immigrants residing in the U.S. …show more content…
is that they have put a damper on American jobs. On the flip side, some see the presence of the large amounts of the illegal immigrants as a positive thing. They pay $9 billion in taxes out the $75 billion collected annually off the social security W2 forms (Brown 423). These immigrants contribute just as much as legal American citizens do. For example they buy groceries, clothes, and other essential items all benefiting the economy in one way or the other. However everything is not picture perfect. These aliens are taking the spots of American citizen jobs, leaving a percentage of society unemployed and out of a perfectly good opportunity. In the construction industry, 20% of the employees are illegal immigrants, leisure hospitality has 17% undocumented workers, 13% in manufacturing, and 4% in agriculture (Brown 423). Companies hire undocumented citizens because the illegal immigrants are willing to work long hours in return for low wages. They end up costing American citizens $113 billion in taxes, $29 billion federally, and $84 billion at the state level, revealed Brown (423). “Studies found that the greatest costs to the federal government from illegal immigration was for Medicaid, medical treatment for uninsured aliens, food assistance programs and school lunches, federal prisons and court costs, and federal aid to schools”(Brown 424). Criminal activity is another raising issue, primarily with undocumented aliens. However, on the bright side it shows that our law enforcement is taking proper protocol and is doing a good job at protecting our streets. It’s a good thing that these illegal criminals are being locked up in the U.S. where they pose no threat to society. Dow stated “Between 1995 and 2007, the average daily population of US immigration detainees increased from about 6,000 to more than 27,000” (535). Unfortunately, Arizona and California are seeing a spike in illegal immigrants getting locked up in their jails for serious crimes. In Arizona’s state prisons, 15% of the inmates are undocumented. Of these 15% of inmates, 40% are for kidnapping, 24% are for drug charges, and 13% are for murder (Brown 425). These are very serious crimes that are being committed by people that are sneaking onto our home soil. In California, there are 20,864 illegal inmates in jail; representing 13% of all prisoners in California. With the cost of every inmate being $44,563 a year; it adds up to a total of $929,762,563 per year for housing illegal immigrants in prisons throughout the United States (Brown 425). The terrible thing is that American citizen tax money is being used to house illegal immigrants on U.S. soil. For those that are not in prison, it does not mean they are ideal
Are you proud to be an American? American citizens have been blessed enough to live in a country that offers a broad spectrum of freedom and opportunity. Foreigners dream of the day they can step foot on American soil. People are going as far as illegally crossing the U.S. borders to experience life here in the states. It’s such a good opportunity, that many foreigners bring their families over as well. The United States offers a variety of things that foreign countries do not. The United States offers good health care, sanitary living, high paying jobs, and ultimately good welfare benefits. Leerkes explained how governments in prosperous countries are increasingly regulating and selectively restricting international migration (112). The main attraction to foreigners however, is that the U.S. is a great place to raise a family. The one thing keeping an outburst of foreigners from illegally entering the U.S. is our border patrol and national security. There are approximately 853,000 illegal immigrants who are able to pass through our border without being detected on an annual basis stated Brown (422). If you aren’t part of the 28% that get caught and deported, you have a good chance of starting a new life and being able to start working the loop holes of the system (Brown 422). Although many Americans argue illegal immigration is beneficial, their presence here in the United States is both socially and economically degrading. One of the several draw backs of having a large number of illegal immigrants residing in the U.S. …show more content…
is that they have put a damper on American jobs. On the flip side, some see the presence of the large amounts of the illegal immigrants as a positive thing. They pay $9 billion in taxes out the $75 billion collected annually off the social security W2 forms (Brown 423). These immigrants contribute just as much as legal American citizens do. For example they buy groceries, clothes, and other essential items all benefiting the economy in one way or the other. However everything is not picture perfect. These aliens are taking the spots of American citizen jobs, leaving a percentage of society unemployed and out of a perfectly good opportunity. In the construction industry, 20% of the employees are illegal immigrants, leisure hospitality has 17% undocumented workers, 13% in manufacturing, and 4% in agriculture (Brown 423). Companies hire undocumented citizens because the illegal immigrants are willing to work long hours in return for low wages. They end up costing American citizens $113 billion in taxes, $29 billion federally, and $84 billion at the state level, revealed Brown (423). “Studies found that the greatest costs to the federal government from illegal immigration was for Medicaid, medical treatment for uninsured aliens, food assistance programs and school lunches, federal prisons and court costs, and federal aid to schools”(Brown 424). Criminal activity is another raising issue, primarily with undocumented aliens. However, on the bright side it shows that our law enforcement is taking proper protocol and is doing a good job at protecting our streets. It’s a good thing that these illegal criminals are being locked up in the U.S. where they pose no threat to society. Dow stated “Between 1995 and 2007, the average daily population of US immigration detainees increased from about 6,000 to more than 27,000” (535). Unfortunately, Arizona and California are seeing a spike in illegal immigrants getting locked up in their jails for serious crimes. In Arizona’s state prisons, 15% of the inmates are undocumented. Of these 15% of inmates, 40% are for kidnapping, 24% are for drug charges, and 13% are for murder (Brown 425). These are very serious crimes that are being committed by people that are sneaking onto our home soil. In California, there are 20,864 illegal inmates in jail; representing 13% of all prisoners in California. With the cost of every inmate being $44,563 a year; it adds up to a total of $929,762,563 per year for housing illegal immigrants in prisons throughout the United States (Brown 425). The terrible thing is that American citizen tax money is being used to house illegal immigrants on U.S. soil. For those that are not in prison, it does not mean they are ideal