Why We Need To Legalize Illegal Immigration

Immigration has always been a complex issue in the United States. Previous and current administrations have had great difficulties in setting policies and programs in place to address this problem. During the course of American history, laws were enacted to address such issues. There were numerous legislative milestones in regards to immigration in the United States. In order to understand the current issues regarding immigration, we have to look back at the policies that were in place along with the goals that they intended to serve. According to (Barusch, 2012), the United States had an open immigration policy; which means that anyone could relocate to this country. As a result of this policy, the government had to redefine

Throughout most of America's history immigration was seen as a natural process that benefited the nation (Divine 2). There were no clearly defined policies on immigration until the 1890's. During this time the country started questioning the economic benefits of more immigrants. In May 1921, the first bill in American history dealing with immigration was passed. This bill restricted European immigration and created the quota system (Divine 5). The downward turn in the economy could justify this turn toward restriction. Who could argue for more immigrants when the nation's own citizens could not find work. The slowing economy and the "spirit of intense nationalism" in the United States at this time made immigration a hot topic (Divine 23). After the depression hit, everyone agreed that there was a "need to limit immigration," of course the extent of those limits was not easily agreed upon (Divine 77).

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

There are many issues in the United States. Some of them are more distraught than others. One issue that has recently had a lot of controversy would be immigration laws. Should we put a stop to immigrants coming over United States boarders? Should the immigrants already in the U.S.A. be allowed to stay? These are some questions being asked by today’s society. Immigrants are not all bad; some are very useful to the United States. In society today, it is easy for some people to find issues with immigrants in America, but people also need to remember America was formed by immigrants.

Some citizens and politicians believe immigration is taking a negative effect on native born American citizens. They claim these illegal immigrants trespassing damage the U.S by bringing drugs, crime, and stealing jobs from American citizens. They also make statements that immigrant’s illegally trespassing damage the U.S by bringing drugs, crime, and stealing jobs from American citizens. “…they worry that leaky borders could allow in terrorists and undocumented immigrants who

Ever since the creation of the human race, human beings have been prone to moving place to place for new opportunities and beginnings. People who move from one country to another are called immigrants. As nations started to form, their were rules and laws set on who could and could not live in a specific country. Most of these laws included immigrants to go through a lengthy process to get approved to go into the country they desired. However, even after the lengthy process is completed, the country still has the right to deny their entrance. In fear of being rejected, many immigrants decided to illegally cross the borders of other countries causing many problems with the country's society, specially the United States of America. Historians saw a great example of this in the 1920s. The 1920s in America unfolded the greatest wave of immigration in American history; more than 25 million foreigners, also known as immigrants, arrived on American shores (Shmoop). Before the 1920s, immigration in the United States had never been systematically restricted by federal law, however that changed with the 1921 Emergency Quota Act and the 1924 Immigration Act. For the first time in American history, these acts imposed a limit on the number of immigrants allowed to enter the United States which eventually caused many to enter illegally. Today America is faced with some similar issues with immigration as they did in the 1920s, for example, the number of illegal immigrants in

Since the beginning of times up until present time the United States Congress has always passed laws to limit immigrants rights. Immigrants who came to America for a better life have gone through many struggles due to the restrictions against them. Precedently, with the Chinese Exclusion Act, which prohibited Chinese immigrants to enter the United States. Another act was the Gentlemen’s Agreement Act between Japan and America, where Japan agreed to limit immigration, only if President Theodore Roosevelt agreed to limit restrictions on Japanese immigrants. Then in 1924, Congress passed the Immigration Act of 1924. The act limited the number of aliens that are allowed in the U.S. Congress passed this act because they felt that immigrant threaten America’s “old ways.” Congress wanted American to be “pure” again, by doing so, they had to get rid of many immigrants. The factors that led to Congress to pass the Immigration Act were to maintain American traditions, maintain jobs for American citizens, and repair the income.

Immigration in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s and immigration now of course have some difference, but both came to the United States for pretty much the same reason. All these immigrants come from their different backgrounds and places. These immigrants also have struggled when they first get here, but something they can all agree on is that they came here for one main reason and that’s for advanced improvement especially economic.

During this time frame the population of the United States rose from approximately 50 million to 123 million people ("History"). This is an astonishing increase of 146%. Just as surprising is that immigrants to our shores made up approximately 37% of that change. “Between 1890 and 1924, the year immigration was severely restricted, more than twenty-five million immigrants poured into the country; they transformed the face of America's laboring population”

Historically, immigration as a percentage of the United States population has been far higher in previous years compared to where it is now. Even as far back as 1870, the foreign-born population of the US was 5,567,229 while the US population was 38,558,371, meaning that immigrants were making up approximately 14.4% of the US population. Calculating the immigration percentage in the same way, it was 13.3% in 1880, 14.7% in 1890, 13.6% in 1900, 14.6% in 1910, and 13.1% in 1920, the last year before the first immigration quota acts were passed (US Census Bureau). During those years in which foreign-born population was steadily 13-15% of the US population, the US saw some of its largest economic and industrial growth ever in a period known as the Gilded Age (Jones). Proponents of comprehensive immigration reform would then say that if we want to see economic growth similar to that time period, we should then allow immigration at a similar rate, which would have a huge benefit on American society.

Immigrants come to America chasing hopes and dreams of someday having a life of wealth. The United States has this imagine that everything will be better and all your problems will be solved. However, in the last century we’ve had a raise of Illegal Immigrants in the country.

Today, many immigration laws have been passed due to terrorism and other criminal activity. A lot of immigrants are taken advantage of at their jobs because their bosses pay them very little compared to someone who is legal. Also people immigrate into the us free of any criminal background hoping to create a better future only to be sent back to their original country leaving behind anything this person worked for and sometimes even

During the 1920’s the United States really became a country of immigrants, even though not everyone was on board. In this time we saw immigration numbers that would far exceed the decades that would come after it and only to be surpasses by the decade that came before in a 40 year span. Almost 4.3 million people came to the US in the 1920’s and they spanned from far and wide to come to the US. Numbers would dip in the coming decades and would not surpass the million mark for at least two decades. These numbers saw drops that would relate to immigrant life and US immigration tactics.

Illegal immigration has always been a grave issue that affects everyone in the world. Immigration is people from other countries that enter another country without any papers or visa, illegal citizens. Immigration has always been a huge debate between government and society, they are not welcomed properly and threaten in a good way, in fact they are the ones that have to face real danger and discrimination. They have neither rights nor any chance to oppose to anything submitted by their superiors.

Illegal immigration, a hot topic among many Americans. Many americans seem to think that illegal immigrants are the sources of all the nations problems. The question that remains is are these people right? While illegal immigrants can cause some issues throughout the nation such as higher crime rates, terrorist threats, and disadvantage to american workers, they also do many good things such as boost the economy, add more cultural influence, and provide a cheap labor force.