Illegal Immigration in the U.S.

The United States of America is a country which only shares international borders with only two countries; Canada on the northern side and Mexico on the southern part. The presence of these two countries so close to the United States has meant that there is migration of people from one of the three countries to another. Some of these individuals crossing borders are not citizens of any of the three countries. The process of immigration into the United States is clear and public to those looking to do so. However, the process has sometimes been termed as too expensive and time consuming for some people. This, therefore, leads to some people trying to avoid the process when moving into the United States for a variety of reasons.

Immigration becomes a problem because the cost of supporting the citizens together with the immigrants by the US government increases. This leads to the reduction of available opportunities for those trying to cross the border into the country. The result of this has been an increase in the number of illegal immigrants into the United States. There is therefore, need to address the issue given its consistency and the need to maintain good relations between the three countries. Both Canada and Mexico have their fair share of illegal immigrants living in the United States. According to statistics there are between 65000 and 75000 Canadians who are living illegally in the United States for a variety of reasons. Mexicans are even more totally up to 6 million immigrants. In total, there are more than 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States (Kim, Sei-hill, et al. pg 301). This is an indication that something needs to be done as this number continues to increase every year.

First and foremost, illegal immigrants pose a danger to the citizens of the United States, because they take jobs that would otherwise have been occupied by Americans. Illegal immigrants demand a much lower wage when working the same jobs as Americans. This means that employers, especially in the manufacturing sector will tend to hire more immigrants than locals. The result of this is that Americans will miss out on certain job opportunities to the immigrants. Immigrants accept low wages because most of them are escaping even worse conditions in their countries of origin and so are able to survive in the United States even with low wages and poor working conditions. Another way that illegal immigrants pose a danger to Americans is that they begin to form small gangs in the poor neighborhoods that they live in. These gangs are responsible for various crimes committed in the United States. Other such gangs are connected to even bigger gangs in Mexico and Canada which help them to smuggle drugs and weapons into the United States (Schuck, np). The gangs living in the US are used to make more money for Mexican and Canadian cartels and also spread their influence in the country. The end result is increased rate of crime. Illegal immigrants should therefore be deported back to their countries in order to avoid such a situation.

A second reason why illegal immigrants need to be deported back to their countries is the strain they put on the host government. Once these people have managed to enter and settle in the country, they begin to apply and collect money from welfare programs (Facchini and Anna, pg 296). These programs are meant to help American citizens and refugees who are living in poverty conditions. Illegal immigrants take advantage of that and exploit the government. This is an unnecessary drain on the resources of the country. The money given to them is paid for by Americans through taxes. Therefore, illegal immigrants need to be deported to their countries in order to preserve resources in the United States.

Lastly is the creation of a permanent underclass population. Most illegal immigrants are poor people who live below the poverty line in the US. The government in the United States makes efforts towards improving the lifestyles of its people through various programs. These programs are only beneficial to legal citizens of the United States. When their standards of living are improved, the poverty levels in the country continue to go down. The problem comes with immigration where there is a permanent influx of poor populations into various neighborhoods in the United States. This means that the efforts by the government will continue to be pulled back by illegal immigrants since certain neighborhoods will continue to be poor. Additionally, the immigrants lead to the reduction of wages by employers because as mentioned before, they provide cheaper labor. Americans working in such situations will have to accept wage cuts or quit the jobs. This will have an effect on their standards of living as a result of lower wages or job loss. This means that there will always be an underclass community in the United States as a result of the illegal immigrants. The solution for this is to deport them back to their countries of origin so that the United States government can only deal with Americans and the legal immigrants.

However, it is important to mention that the US has benefitted in a few ways from the influx of immigrants. Historically, it is evident that the United States was built on the efforts of immigrants. When people move into the United States, they are searching for better opportunities in life. Some of such individuals make major financial investments in the US. These investments coupled with some of the smaller businesses that they operate provide job opportunities to both immigrants and Americans (Borjas, np). This contributes positively to the growth of the American economy. Immigrants also contribute to the growth of the manufacturing sector through providing cheap labor. Manufacturers are able to cut on their production costs and increase output and therefore profitability in their firm through hiring immigrants. They settle for lower wages which is an advantage to the industry. More industries can be established relying on such labor leading to growth in the sector and consequently positive economic impact in the US by immigrants.

In addition to economic benefits, the US also benefits from immigrants in terms of cultural diversity. Immigrants from different countries are able to bring in new ideas and lifestyles to the United States which results in more cultural and racial diversity. When this happens, Americans are introduced to new types of foods, religions and languages. This contributes in the education of Americans on the different ways of life in different parts of the world which is good in making them understand issues from a global perspective (Hanson, np). The diversity may at first be a source of conflict but it eventually gets integrated into the American way of life and eventually reduces conflict between people from different backgrounds.

Both sides of the argument are valid in their own different ways. The argument supporting the deportation of immigrants back to their home countries, however, ignores the benefits that immigrants have brought into the country. The benefits of immigrants cannot be ignored since they are major and can be felt by the whole country. The benefits are however, not enough to make up for the disadvantages that illegal immigration has had on the country. Immigrants are mostly a burden to the host country.

This means that there is need for a different approach on the issue. Instead of choosing between deporting them back to their home countries or keeping them, the government should come up with measures that encourage immigrants to follow the legal route. This is through the providence of policies detailing a more cohesive approach to the issue of citizenship in order to reduce its costs and time consumption. This will not only encourage people to follow the legal routine but will also reduce the risk of smugglers from using their situation for the wrong reasons. When the government has set up suitable policies for immigrants it can then move forward with the action of deporting those who still do not follow the outlined procedure. Through the registration of immigrants, the government will also be in a better position to effectively allocate resources to those people who need it more. This reduces the wastage of resources by immigrants who are taking advantage of the welfare to get free financial help. The priority of American resources should be accorded to Americans before others are considered.

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