Research Paper on Illegal Immigration Essay

Illegal immigration has become a huge issue in the United States, it is estimated that there are about twelve million illegal immigrants living in the U. S. today and that number is growing larger every day. This issue has caused multiple social, economic, safety, and law issues within the country. The state and federal government is using billions of dollars on things such as school, welfare, and medical and receiving minimal or no money in return simply because they are giving out the money to illegal immigrants who do not pay taxes to help fund things. Even though illegal immigrants help the economy, take low paying jobs, and improve the overall image of America, the U. S. must not allow any persons who enter this country illegally to stay in this country because, the illegal immigrants create social, economic, safety, and law issues for the country. The United States has a long history of immigration from different countries. People first started immigrating to the U. S. in around the year 1815. â€Å"Between the year 1815 and 1915 it is estimated that thirty million Europeans arrived into the United States† (Willis par. 1). Once people started immigrating to this country is when the problems started to begin regarding illegal immigration. People of the time wanted to get into, and be a part of this country they just did not want to do it the correct way. Charles Willis stated, â€Å"During the large wave of immigration the U. S. limited the number of people allowed to enter the U. S. , and a certain amount from each country. However the door was left open for Mexicans, who even then were desired by employers for their cheap labor. As history would show, this legal immigration led to illegal immigration† (par. ). This is when illegal immigration is believed to have begun. Furthermore, there are more facts in history about illegal immigration taking place. For example, a L. A. Times story from April 1926 noted that many of the ranch workers in California’s Imperial Valley entered the U. S. illegally without paying the fee or passing the literacy test (Gheen par. 6). Because of all the immigration, both legal and illegal, the government needed to do something to be able to control what was going on, therefore between 1882 and 1917 the U. S. government introduced laws regulating immigration. Immigration legal and illegal did not just occur in history, but is a current event in the United States today. Illegal immigration has become a larger problem in modern times than it ever was in the history of this country. It is estimated that there are twelve million total illegal immigrants residing in the United States (Miller 11). It is also estimated that 1 to 1. 5 million immigrants enter the U. S. each year, and of that million 850,000 people are believed to be illegal (Miller 12). All the people entering the country illegally can cause an abundance of problems. There are only a certain number of immigrants allowed into the country each year. All the people coming to the country illegally count as part of that number. The illegal immigrants that come to this country take up spots for immigrants that want to come here the legal way. That is not the only problem they cause either. Illegal immigrants use up government expenditures. According to William Gheen, â€Å"Undocumented workers do not generally pay income taxes but do use schools and government services, they are seen as a drain on government spending† (par. 8). Illegal immigrants also take up jobs that legal citizens of this country may desperately need that job. This country has been going through times where it has been hard for people to find jobs, if illegal immigrants had not taken some of these jobs it would have been easier for the citizens of this country to find a job. Illegal immigration is still a problem in modern times. Even though there are many bad aspects to illegal immigration there are also some positive sides of it. Although illegal immigration has negative aspects, it also has some positive aspects as well. For example, illegal immigrants help the economy. The money that illegal immigrants spend on goods and services in their local communities and around the state, â€Å"reverberates throughout the whole economy, creates more jobs, more spending and more revenue, the economic benefit far outweighs any cost on the fiscal side† (Gheen par. 12). A 2007 study on immigrants in Arkansas found that the total economic impact of Arkansas’ one hundred thousand, fifty one percent undocumented, on the state economy is nearly three billion dollars (Willis par. 5). Texas comptroller study found that the one million four hundred thousand undocumented immigrants living in Texas in 2005 contributed 17. billion dollars to the state economy (Willis par. 5). Illegal immigrants also take low paying jobs. Most Americans do not like to wash dishes, bust tables, and mop floors, but those are jobs that need to be done. Employers always have trouble finding regular employees to do that kind of work, which is also usually low paying. Americans are not willing to work them whereas the illegal immigrants are. When businesses have trouble filling positions of low skill jobs they only have two choices, raise the wage rate high enough to fill jobs or eliminate positions (Gheen par. 4). Businesses must then raise the prices of their items to make up the difference. Higher prices that the customers of those businesses will end up paying for. Illegal immigration also improves the overall image of America. No other country in the world has the diversity of races, religions, and cultures as America does. America brings together all sorts of different people around the world. Diversity in a country brings less prejudice against people and helps to introduce new ideas, perspectives, music, food, entertainment, strengths and skills. Other countries do not have a good image of Americans, allowing them to see all the good things this country has to offer helps Americas overall image (Willis par. 7). There are multiple positive aspects to illegal immigration. Even though there are some positive things about illegal immigration there are still lots of negative aspects as well. Illegal immigration brings lots of problems to this country. Firstly, illegal immigration allows more opportunities for terrorists, drug deals, and criminals to enter the country. When people come into the country illegally police cannot monitor what is being brought into our country. They cannot do a background check to see if any persons who come have criminal records or could pose a potential threat to the country. Illegal immigration is linked to drug smuggling, murder, and other crimes which threaten the safety of Americans. Jim Kouri said, â€Å"In the population study of 55,322 illegal aliens, researchers found that all together they were arrested at least 459,614 times, averaging eight arrests per illegal alien. Nearly all had more than one arrest. Thirty eight percent, about twenty one thousand had between two and five arrests. Thirty two percent, about eighteen thousand, had between six and ten arrests, and twenty six percent, about fifteen thousand, had eleven or more arrests† (par. 11). Illegal immigrants commit multitudes of crimes which make the city or the area they are living in unsafe for the citizens in that city. Secondly, Illegal immigrants consume high amounts of government resources. Most illegal aliens occupy low income employment and are more affected by downturns of the economy, which in turn puts them into welfare services which the government pays for. Undocumented workers do not usually pay income taxes but use government services, these people are seen as a drain in government spending. The government spends one hundred and thirteen billion dollars on outlays for services and benefits for illegal aliens and their families (Morrow 137). Education for children of illegal aliens represents the single largest expenditure at an annual cost of fifty two billion dollars, which is nearly all payed for by the state and local government (Morrow 138). Illegal immigrants also take up low income easy jobs for less skilled Americans. U. S. itizens receive less job opportunities because they have to compete with illegal aliens. The U. S. citizens pay back the government resources they use by paying taxes, whereas the illegal aliens do not refund the government there money. That is another reason the government should not allow any illegal immigrant to stay in this country. The last reason why the government should not allow illegal immigrants to stay in this country is they encourage more illegal aliens to enter the country. Once a couple people are here illegally they will often try to bring their family over to the country as well. It has been said that, â€Å"Immigration has a chain effect, in which people move to the U. S. , acquire legal status and later bring in more family members either legally or illegally† (Miller 18). People entering the country illegally and being allowed to stay here without any repercussions encourages more people to do the same. â€Å"Failure to punish illegal activity encourages more illegal activity, emboldens crimes, breeds public cynicism, and discourages others from obeying laws† (Miller 19). Illegal activity unpunished threatens American values of law and order. Illegal aliens abuse the generosity and compassion of the American people. Illegal immigration brings nothing but bad things to America. The United States government needs to overcome the problem of illegal immigration. Although there are some good aspects to it such as the illegal aliens will take unwanted low paying jobs that Americans will not work, and how diversity and acceptance of different types of people improve the overall image of America the negatives simply outweigh the positives. For example the illegal aliens can bring whatever they want into the country without anyone knowing what they brought or their background which can potentially pose a threat to American Citizens. Illegal immigrants are a drain of government money because they typically do not pay taxes which pays for all the services they use. They take away job opportunities for Americans to have, and by coming into the country it encourages other people to try to sneak into the country illegally. In order to stop illegal immigration from continuing, the government needs to put more people onto border control so they can monitor and stop more illegal aliens from entering our country.