There are over 11 million illegal immigrants in America. Many illegal parents have their children over the border allowing them to become American citizens. Citizenship is granted to these kids under the 14th amendment. This is also known as birthright citizenship. People feel strongly about whether this should be allowed or if immigration regulations should be stricter. Many people are supportive of birthright citizenship in the United States, including a highly regarded columnist, Linda Chavez. However, many people are against birthright citizenship, such as the political columnist, George F. Will. Birthright citizenship has its pros and cons, but it is ultimately up to the individual to weigh the effects it will have on their life and decide
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First, the advantages of keeping birthright citizenship are that it fuels cultural diversity and grants the children and their family financial assistance which raises their quality of life. However, that creates disadvantages for the country as large sums of money are being taken out of other places to support this influx of people, such as taxes. Taxes often increase as a result of immigrants needing government assistance to begin their new lives. Taxpayers are put under financial strain when left with the bill and are compensating for the population that cannot provide for themselves. Subsequently, changing the policy for birthright citizenship can help alleviate some of those issues. Changing the policy would decrease America’s debt because the social programs would have far less people to take care of. This means tax payers dollars would be spent on people that have invested their lives in America for generations. This may sound ideal but it also comes with its own set of disadvantages, one in which being cost effectiveness. It will be time consuming and take several years to change legislation, especially with it being an amendment. This process is expensive and then the changes have to be presented to the American people and subsequently enforced, which would cost even more money. Next, would be the removal of the children of birthright citizenship and their
First, the advantages of keeping birthright citizenship are that it fuels cultural diversity and grants the children and their family financial assistance which raises their quality of life. However, that creates disadvantages for the country as large sums of money are being taken out of other places to support this influx of people, such as taxes. Taxes often increase as a result of immigrants needing government assistance to begin their new lives. Taxpayers are put under financial strain when left with the bill and are compensating for the population that cannot provide for themselves. Subsequently, changing the policy for birthright citizenship can help alleviate some of those issues. Changing the policy would decrease America’s debt because the social programs would have far less people to take care of. This means tax payers dollars would be spent on people that have invested their lives in America for generations. This may sound ideal but it also comes with its own set of disadvantages, one in which being cost effectiveness. It will be time consuming and take several years to change legislation, especially with it being an amendment. This process is expensive and then the changes have to be presented to the American people and subsequently enforced, which would cost even more money. Next, would be the removal of the children of birthright citizenship and their