Illegal Immigration Issues

Globally, the United States has been known as "a nation of immigrants" almost from its inception. Beginning in the 1600s with English Puritans and continuing today, America is a melting pot of culture and ethnicity. In fact, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, immigration was the major source of U.S. population growth. Looking over our 200+ years we find that to clearly be true, with approximately 1 million immigrants coming to America during the 17th and 18th century. Almost 3 million arrived during the 1860s, and another 3 million in the 1870s. In the next four decades, the number of immigrants rose to over 25 million people, most from various European nations, most arriving in New York or one of the Eastern seaports (Damon, 1981). Despite the politicization, as of 2006, the United States actually was the number one country globally to accept legal immigrants into the country, with a current immigrant population of almost 40 million (Terrazas and Batalova, 2009). In fact, the peak of immigration was 1907, when over 1.2 million Europeans entered the country beginning a push towards legislation limiting immigration in the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1924 and the 1921 Congressional Quota Act. These immigrants came for two sociological reasons: the push factor (wars, famine, persecution and overpopulation) and the pull factors (jobs and the promise of freedom). Most came by ship, and a passage often cost the equivalent of an entire life's savings causing many

Furthermore, once in the US, most immigrants (due to lack of work authorization ) cannot provide for their needs. They make less than minimum wage so can only live in shady neighborhoods where insecurity rates are high. In order to survive, many immigrants do criminal acts like prostitution, theft, drug dealing, etc. And that generally increases the rate of insecurity in the nation.

The debate of who should be allowed to enter the United States has been an issue for many years, with the large number of people entering and living here illegally this has become a significant talking point amongst the candidates in this presidential election. But are their views something that should be shared and supported by Christians today? There are definitely two opposing views from Christians on this topic. I will present both views regarding illegal immigrants in the United States and then I will present my own opinion on this topic.

Not only do some Americans believe that immigrants take jobs away from Americans, but they also believe that immigrants bring crime to America. President Donald Trump has made numerous remarks about immigration and crime, suggesting that the two are linked. However when the amount of immigrants living in America, both documented and undocumented, increased sharply between the years of 1990 and 2010, the United States violent crime rate plummeted by 45% and the property crime rate declined by

“More than any other nation on Earth, America has constantly drawn strength and spirit from wave after wave of immigrants. In each generation, they have proved to be the most restless, the most adventurous, the most innovative, the most industrious of people. Bearing different memories honoring different heritages, they have strengthened our economy, enriched our culture, renewed our promise of freedom and opportunity for all” (Clinton 146). Those are some wise words from a former president who explains the importance of immigrants and has the mentality of a person who has reason. For many, or everybody, walking through a hot, dry desert with no water or even through a cold, windy and rainy desert would not be an activity that they would like to engage. Even though this dangerous and severe weather goes on, several people still immigrate illegally because they want what is going to be best for them. Some make it all the way and unfortunately some we do not hear about ever again.

Immigration is one of the central themes of the founding of the United States and as such it is often the epicenter of controversy among both citizens and policymakers. Throughout the twentieth century, American citizens and policymakers have brought to the forefront the importance of immigration and the role immigrants play within society. This can be a cause of friction between immigrants and multi-generational citizens because immigrants are often viewed with a negative connotation. They are often blamed for stealing jobs from hardworking citizens, draining the healthcare system and adding to the homeless population. They are associated with crime, poverty and in general they are perceived as undesirable members of society (Spenkuch, 2014). The relationship between crime and immigrants is of particular importance because there is a common perception that immigrants cause crime and their neighborhoods are riddled with criminal activity. Also important to note is that the characteristics of immigrants tend to coincide with members of the native-born population that are disproportionally incarceration. In general, they are poorly educated, earn low wages and are young, males. This led to the perception that incoming immigrants continuously add to the lower class, criminal population. In order to clearly understand the relationship between the two concepts they must be examined both from a theoretical and empirical viewpoint

No issue in any immigration policy kindles more dispute than the issue of illegal immigration. Unfortunately, some people confuse legal and illegal immigration. Legal immigrants are here legally. They have the proper, legal documents that allow them to live and work in the U.S. without complications. Illegal immigrants are defined as anyone who was born in a country other than the U.S. to parents who are not official U.S. citizens; they enter the U.S. without legal documents to prove their legal citizenship. Yet before the twentieth century, many individuals and families immigrated to the U.S. without restriction, and illegal immigration was not a problem at that time. Restrictive immigration quotas were presented, but even with limitations, citizens of the Western Hemisphere countries continued to immigrate outside of the quotas. Not until the 70th Congress did the Senate Committee pass an amendment to remove Mexico from the list of countries where families and individuals could immigrate without a quota. However, World War II began to require more and more troops, and the U.S. government looked toward Mexico because of the lack of manpower rather than issues regarding illegal immigration. The U.S. and Mexico endorsed an agreement that permitted Mexicans to work in America as a method to attend to the concerns of food processing in the U.S. during the war (Anderson, 91-93). In more recent years, President Obama, in an executive action, announced changes to DACA (Deferred

Historically, the United States accepts more immigrants than all other industrialized nations combined. According to the article, Sill Missing: Undocumented Immigrants in Health Care Reform pointed out that in 2010, the president of the United Stated, Barack Obama, signed the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to reject undocumented immigrants from purchasing health insurance coverage through the health exchanges. Moreover, they would not benefit from Medicaid as well (Galarneau, 2011)

What role will immigrants have in the future of American crime? Unlike the past and the present, it is difficult to determine exactly what sort of role immigrants will play in the future. According to the U.S. Census Bureau (2010) “The next half century marks key points in continuing trends — the U.S. will become a plurality nation, where the non-Hispanic white population remains the largest single group, but no group is in the majority” (p. 11). Estolano LeSar Perez, a researcher with Los Angeles 2050, says this could have a real impact on something that preoccupies many Americans: crime.

Mitt Romney in his speech to the RNC just four years ago would be considered near traitorous to the republican party in the divisive politics of the present. In this presidential campaign season, as in many previous ones, one of the largest issues continues to be that of immigration. The fundamental disagreement is not whether an issue exists, but as to how the United States should react to the ones waking up at night hearing that voice telling them to come to America. This paper will examine the roles of federal, state, and local governments have regarding the question: should state and local governments have the authority to draft and execute immigration policies? First, it will delve deeper into this topic by studying the history of immigration

However, not everyone that commits a crime is a immigrant. More than half of the federal sentences in 2014 were committed by U.S citizens. If we get rid of immigrants just to lower the crime rate, that's unfair. That is unfair, because if we get rid of the immigrants we have to get rid of all the criminals. That includes immigrants, U.S citizens, and illegal immigrants. Anyone that commits a crime should be taken care of not just illegal immigrants.

Deportation and illegal immigration can be touchy subjects for some people, but they are important and need to be talked about. The article says that in the first half of 2014 alone, “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported 22,088 unauthorized immigrants who claimed to have at least one U.S.-born child.” This shows that it is an actual problem, and we need to make a decision.

In America many serious crimes are committed by illegal immigrants. For instance on “February 17, [2015] Sergio Cobaruvias-Romero, an Illegal alien from Mexico, was convicted of possessing with intent to distribute drugs in texas. He was found with 20 bundles of methamphetamine weighing 46 pounds and four bundles of heroine weighing 13 pounds…”(Federation for American Immigration Reform, par.4). While other people say that illegal immigrants are not the only ones selling drugs; Americans sell drugs,too. However, if we force illegal immigrants out of our country the crime rate will reduce. If we allow illegal immigrants to stay, crime will continue to be high in America.

Illegal immigration is a subject that is literally splitting the country in half when considering the opposing opinions. While there are quite a few reasons backing up both sides of this controversial topic, I believe that illegal immigrants should be allowed to stay so long as they go through the proper procedures. I agree with those saying that it is unfair for those who are breaking the law to be allowed citizenship, but I also believe that there substantial reasons for allowing immigrants to stay. Illegal immigrants not only add to the mixed diversity of America, but they also offer their services for many different types of jobs leading to a higher economy. If immigrants get approved to be citizens and Americans begin to look at them like

It is proven that immigrants are far more afraid and less likely to as well participate in any crime involved activities, quit their jobs, shoplift, hurt others in any way, shape or form, or do something that could get them arrested. It’s the sense of fear they have for getting deported, but it may also be that good spirit in which they truly came here to start a better life with no problems. Many comparisons between cities, communities and counties are done by economists to differentiate the links of local concentration of immigrants and the rates of crime and violence in that specified area. Results showed that the higher number concentration of immigrants, the lower crime rate. There is no proven connection found between immigrants and higher crime