Persuasive Essay On Illegal Immigration

Illegal immigration has become more of an important issue in the United States since Donald Trump’s campaign for president in 2016. Immigration can be known as the act of people crossing national borders to live permanently in other countries. It becomes illegal when they cross those borders without the legal right to be in those countries. The U.S. has been an immigrant country since the pilgrims in the 1600s and has ever since, been diverse. Most of the immigrants are Latinos that come from Central America, but they also come from all over the world. The current path to legal citizenship is flawed and needs to be reformed to allow rights to be upheld, equal and fair treatment of all applicants, and to facilitate the process altogether.

Immigration can be seen as an important role to maintain diversity and a steady economy in many countries, including the United States. However, while people are trying to immigrate to locations where they would get better opportunities for themselves and their families, they are instead being greeted by death or closed doors, caused by awful conditions when trying to cross the border or the inability to gain access to a country with better opportunities. Immigrants are forced to cross illegally to improve their and their family’s lives due to the difficulty of attaining citizenship or visa; millions of families have been separated and they have to live not knowing what has happened to their loved ones. The trauma of an incident like this can impact someone’s life forever, and in order to ensure people’s safety and wellbeing, everyone should have a real chance to gain citizenship, disregarding their country of origin. The path to citizenship should be made easier and more inclusive so that people who are searching for opportunities are given the chance to improve their lives.

Immigrants have been coming to America way before the declaration of Independence in 1776. The United States of America has had immigrants from every nationality in the world seeking a better life or to pursue economic opportunities that may not be available in their native home. The majority of immigrants in the late nineteenth century arrived in the country on boats. Denial of entry were for the individuals whom are criminals, anarchists, or carriers of disease. Immigrants has the ability to become a legal resident, or a citizen of the United States. However, the process by which an individual can become a legal resident is much more complicated than it has been in years prior. In order to become a temporary or permanent resident of

The United States’ immigration system has several flaws that no one seems to know how to address. There have been several attempts to correct these flaws like accommodating immigrants with the Dream Act and trying to eliminate illegal entries into the U.S by spending billions of dollars on border patrol. However, there are flaws in those attempts also. For example, according to Daniel Gonzalez, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) recipients are having a hard time finding jobs and, in some states, are prohibited from getting a drivers license. Also, the billions of dollars that have been poured into increased border patrol “reduced but did not stop unauthorized entries” (Mae M. Ngai). Perhaps the flaws in the U.S. immigration system are present because the attempts to fix them contradict one another. Congress tries to make border patrol stricter, but yet attempt to accommodate undocumented immigrants. Nevertheless, these contradictions should be brought to the attention of the public and even Congress for three reasons: the U.S. have attempted to accommodate migrants, but their actions are severely flawed, there is too much money being spent on border patrol, but illegal entry still exists and is somewhat encouraged, and the House of Representatives and Senate can’t agree on how to approach the issue. These are issues that both current and future migrants and immigrants should care about because they should be accommodated in a way that is easy for them to live the

“Every single immigrant undocumented or documented, is a future American” (Diaz). According to Krogstad, Passal, and Cohn,” A rising share of unauthorized immigrants have lived in the U.S for at least a decade” (2017). During the last few days President Donald Trump has worked on building a wall on the Mexican border, and his dream (deporting all illegal immigrants) is soon becoming a reality. Many Hispanic Immigrants are saying goodbye to their dream, and are finding ways to cross the border, but every time an immigrant tries to cross the border illegally it is a different outcome. Border Patrols are detecting more, and more immigrants crossing the border illegally, and when they perceive them, the border patrols dispatch them back where they came from.

Sanctuary cities. The burden of many politicians and the home of many immigrants. California being one of these states that have several cities that are sanctuary including Oakland where a recently controversy brewed up. In late February, the Democratic mayor of Oakland, Libby Schaff tipped off the community of illegal immigrants through a Tweet that helped them escape from the Immigration and Customs Enforcements (ICE). The tweet said the following "I know that Oakland is a city of law-abiding immigrants and families who deserve to live free from the constant threat of arrest and deportation. I believe it is my duty and moral obligation as mayor to give those families fair warning when that threat appears imminent.” ICE’s intended number of captured immigrants was roughly around a 1,000 however, they only manage to capture roughly 200 of the illegal immigrants from Oakland.

Sanctuary cities have been a hot topic in the news lately due to America’s illegal immigration problem. These cities protect immigrants that enter the US illegally. Because there are no background checks, criminals can cross the borders as well as those seeking a better life. According to our current president, Donald Trump, “Our cities should be sanctuaries for Americans- not for criminal aliens.” Even former President Bill Clinton cracked down on federal immigration enforcement. In his 1995 State of the Union address, he said, “We are a nation of immigrants. But we are also a nation of laws. It is wrong and ultimately self-defeating for a nation of immigrants to permit the kind of abuse of our immigration laws we have seen in recent

It was July 1, 2015 when Kate Steinle was shot. She was walking on a busy pier with her father when the shooting happened. The man accused of shooting her was a 45 year old man: Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez. He is an undocumented immigrant that had been deported 5 times already and had seven felony convictions. Kate Steinle died that day during surgery.

Illegal immigrants go through many hardships to get to have the lives they want. Many come to our country for the “American Dream,” in spite when they arrive, they see it is not as easy as they thought. Immigrants have come into our country since before we can remember, for some, it is impossible to get legal status, or they face deportation and border patrol, in the end, it was all worth it due to the Dream Act. Many come here as refugees and flee from the trouble such as mafias, and give their families the lives they deserve.

The United States of America, being a country established by immigrants, is known all over the world as the land of great opportunities. People from all walks of life travelled across the globe, taking a chance to find a better life for them and their family. Over the years, the population of immigrants has grown immensely, resulting in the currently controversial issue of illegal immigration. Illegal immigrants are the people who have overstayed the time granted on their US, visa or those who have broken the federal law by crossing the border illegally. Every year, hundreds of thousands of immigrants, legal and illegal, from around the world, come to the United States. These immigrants come because they want a chance at a better life; others are refugees, escaping persecution and civil wars in their home country. While America has long seen and celebrated itself as a nation of immigrants, what was useful in previous generations has potential problems that must be addressed through stricter immigration policies.

Since as early as the 17th century, immigrants from foreign countries came to America to start a new chapter in their lives; and in turn found success in a wholesome way with foreign. Flash forward in time a century or two, and find that the U.S. has gone a little too far to allow so many immigrants to arrive to the point where we let our guard down and allow certain catastrophic historical events to occur (Boston Marathon bombing, 9/11, San Bernardino shooting, etc.). I for one am against immigration due to the fact that if we are willing to go this far to let terrorists be invited into our home land only to tear it apart, then we might as well just limit immigration to a minimum.

One morning there is a knock at your front door. When you open the door, you notice it is a family that is in need of your help. They are looking for a place to stay, so you invite them in for the night, a night turns into a week and then months and now years. During this time, this family needs food, money and shelter. You end up having to pay for their medical bills, for their children’s education and their food. You think to yourself, “I really wouldn’t mind helping this family out, if only they would work to become a part of our family”.

How can people make the sacrifice to cross the border, risking everything they must have a better life style and try to make something of themselves? Then it is all ripped away from their families including, belongings, careers, everything. All this takes place because of the debate about the illegal immigrants being deported back for not having permission to be in the United States legally. There are many of illegal immigrants who have made a living here, not committing crimes, but paying taxes just like everybody else. Some people think all immigrants even though they have done no crimes, should immediately be deported. But what good would that do the people who have not done any crimes or have been supporting our economy by getting jobs and paying taxes? Those people who have done no harm should be given the opportunity to stay in the United States.

The deportation of people from our country into other countries would cause our country great turmoil. In order to keep the U.S. illegal immigrants free, we’d have to deport over 12 million people form this country and many of those people are children that were born here. The thing is that even if you are in the United States without legal documents or papers, some of our laws still apply to you. You have the rights as a regular American would have. The 14th amendment states that “no state shall... deprive any person of life, liberty or property, without due process of law; nor deny any person within its jurisdiction of the equal protection of the laws.” People that are being deported completely have the right to defend themselves when someone comes knocking at their door and telling them they have to get out of this country. Another law that an illegal immigrant has in the U.S. is the right to drive a car in some states. The states that would allow you to get a driver’s license would be California, Colorado, Connecticut, Washington D.C., Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Vermont, and Washington. Immigrants do NOT have the right to work unless the employer asks if they have a green card. So pretty much if they are illegal, they cannot work legally. The only way the immigrants could possibly work is If the employer does not follow the law and does not ask for a green card or if they actually have a green card. Like any other employee though, you get the rights to a good and safe working environment, to be paid, and free from abuse. Unfortunately, employers do not want to tell on their employees, so these laws are often abused.

There are few topics that evoke such emotion as that of immigration. One can go up to almost any person and receive a heavy one sided feeling about the dilemma. Illegal immigration has done much more good to our nation’s economy than it has done to hurt it. People immigrate to this country for many reasons. To find freedom, to escape or to make money. Each of these things being opportunities that just do not exist in their own country.