Border Security: Undocumented Immigrants

Illegal immigration has plagued the United States since immigration laws were created, and has worsened in recent history. Since Ronald Reagan’s Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 provided amnesty for 3 million illegal aliens in exchange for increased border security, millions of people have entered the country illegally. Over the past 30 years, the illegal immigrant population of the country has more than doubled from 5 million in 1986 to over 11.5 million in 2015. It has become one of the most controversial political issues in America. While not every undocumented alien is a bad or dangerous person, illegal immigrants in general are a national security threat, harmful to the economy, and a burden on the social welfare system. The best solution to the illegal alien problem is to secure and enforce the border, purge American territory of every person unlawfully trespassing upon it, and reform the immigration system to make it easier for foreigners to enter the United States legally like people have done for centuries.

Although the issue with illegal immigration is prominent, the solution is not as clear. Some say the annual quota of 20,000 Mexicans should be raised (Anderson 65). This does not help the fact that there is a 5-9 year wait for over 1 million immigrants to enter the country legally (Anderson 57). "Most illegals are of working age and looking for jobs" (Anderson 57). They don't want to wait years to get a job. Otherwise, there would not be near as many people crossing the border every year. Some people call for a border fence in order to lower the number of illegals (Marcovitz 27). In 2006, Congress began a $2.5 billion project to fence nearly 700 miles of the Mexican border (Marcovitz 27). Many are still pushing for the entire border to be fenced off (Marcovitz 27). Currently, only about one third of the border has been fenced, and over 1,000 miles still remain open (Marcovitz 28). The fence is patrolled by border officers. In 1992 there were about 3,500 border patrol officers. In 2010 that number had grown to over 20,000 (Marcovitz

Since the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001, immigration control and national homeland security have been issues of concern for both the national government and private citizens. In the wake of the attacks, a lot of articles were written about what the appropriate response should be to prevent another attack. In 2004, Mark Krikorian wrote an article for the Providence Journal entitled “Safety through Immigration Control” in which he contends that the only means to keep America safe from a follow-up attack is to strengthen and enforce immigration law to prevent terrorists from being able to enter the country. Edwidge Danticat, writing for The Nation in 2005, provides a juxtaposition to Krikorian’s stance in her essay “Not Your Homeland”, in which she describes her witnessing of the inhumane conditions many immigrants are forced to endure in the name of increased security to protect the country. She questions whether the added protections are worth the human cost we are paying by treating immigrants and refugees as guilty until proven innocent. At the crossroads of these two perspectives lies the question: what is the proper balance between national security and the humane treatment of immigrants?

One of the pros for building the fence is that “control of the borders are required for national security”. With the rise of terrorist groups around the world including

As time goes on, more and more immigrants venture to live in the United States. Throughout all of this, as a nation, we maintain a generally warm and welcoming stance towards immigrants. Unfortunately, lawful entry has become a massive multifaceted issue, resulting in a massive influx of illegal immigrants. Coerced by politics, the government allows illegal immigrants to enter, resulting in severe damage to the United States economy. Eventually, as the United States government fails to properly implement existing laws, illegal immigration is accelerated, creating more issues in the structure of the government that loom over the health of the country and its citizens.

Illegal immigration is an on-going issue, which is of much importance in the United States today. It has been overlooked for many years, however it has reached a point where it can no longer be ignored. Most of the illegal immigrants, 54% to be exact, come through the Mexican border. (Hayes 5) Since the early 1980’s, the number of illegal Mexican immigrants has risen at an incredible rate, causing the United States government to take action to create an even-handed solution that would be in the interest of both the illegal Mexicans and the citizens of the United States. This, however, has proven to be very difficult since it is still an issue today. The argument is that the

Illegal immigration and the deployment of these undocumented inhabitants of America has been a disputed issue for decades. It is debated whether to return the illegal immigrants to their country of origin, or to let them stay in the United States. Factual evidence and statistics has proven that although the immigrants may not be authorized as citizens or inhabitants of America, they do contribute to the diversity of the country. With such a large population of foreigners, the immigrants also influence America’s economy and the workforce. Immigration has been a prevalent aspect of civilization in the United States for centuries, and it is clear that allowing these illegal aliens to remain in the country will keep the economy and workforce secure. Since the immigrants have immensely escalated since the 1920s, it would drastically affect the nation to deploy all of these people. The deployment of illegal immigrants would negatively impact the economy, diversity, workforce, and stability of the United States, and undocumented immigrants should therefore be allowed to stay in America.

I want to start out by apologizing for being late this week with my posts. I wasn’t late on my postings during Thanksgiving week, however this week was Championship Week in college football and I managed to make it to the Big10 championship game for the entire week! Although my team lost in the last minute of the game it was definitely still a once in a lifetime experience for the most part.

This research will address U.S. immigration, specifically border security. I will evaluate liberal and conservative views on this issue and then present my own ideas.

Immigration is something that has been a part of the country’s history since it was found it. The first Immigration Act was found in 1980; those seeking asylum or refugee statuses are admitted to the United States if they have “a well- founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion (DiNitto, 2014). Since the 1986 amnesty, more than 11 million illegal aliens have now settled in the United States, and the country knows very little about whom they are or what their intentions may be (Immigration News& Activism, 2015). In the 20th century, the United States government established the illegal immigration reform and Control Act. Which forced on the enforcement to deal with the illegal undocumented immigrate and amnesty (Center for Immigration Studies, 2010). When this bill was passed it brought a lot of attended to the growing immigration problem. In the 21st century, the immigration policy was a change in the wake of September 11th. The United States has poured many more dollars into increased southern and northern border and port security to

This paper will be discussing immigration policy, what fixes the United States needs to make to the current policy and what aspects should remain the same. This paper will first discuss what our current policy is, then transition its focus to immigration quotas, border patrol and security, and lastly discussing refugees. In order to reform the immigration policy, we must have an open policy for refugees. We will allow refugees to enter while still maintaining secure background checks and screenings. Along with that we must get all illegal immigrants currently in the United States on a path to citizenship, and maintain our immigration quotas while still doing what we

Border patrol/immigration has become a huge topic in not only the United States government, but also to the everyday people. Not only has immigration and border security become a main issue in the last presidential election in 2016 it has also become a main topic for the safety of the citizens of the United States Of America. This is becoming a huge problem because currently there are “10 million illegal immigrants in the United States and this number is growing by 700,000 each year.” (Pearce, 1) Why are these numbers so high? It is because we do not have the right amount of security at our borders in America “On one hand, the presence of so many aliens is a powerful testament to the attractiveness of America. On the other hand, it is a sign of how dangerously open our borders are.” (Johnson, 1) as American citizens, we should be fighting for a

Immigration has been a critical issue that divides the country for many years. However, the United States of America is a country built by immigrants for immigrants, from the beginning until now. The statue of liberty is facing the rest of the world, holding the torch of freedom, which has the flame of hope that promises a new bright future to all immigrants that come to the nation, regardless of neither their country of origin nor the color of their skin. The United States of America is a country that welcomes immigration and this is one of the reasons why this country is a great country.

Illegal Immigration is the main cause of Border Control Problems in the United States. This is for the reason that the U.S has many benefits for the illegal aliens. It is wasting the U.S’s money on people that aren’t natural citizens that have a hard time in their own country while others have it easy. It makes citizens want better bored control to prevent the waste of money. This is all through illegal immigration.

The United States of America has always been a refuge where poor and oppressed people from the far corners of the world can come to begin a new life. Much of the nation’s allure to prospective immigrants is in its promise of equal opportunity for all, regardless of race, creed, or color. But the pressures of rising unemployment rates, congested cities, a crippled healthcare system, and national debt skyrocketing out of control have caused America to defend her borders against the influx of immigrants that threaten her already ailing economy. Still, despite all the heightened security measures incorporated in recent decades, a steady stream of immigrants continue to enter the country illegally. The Washington Times reports that there are