Immigration Case

The unemployment rate in the United States is increasing at an alarming rate. The economic conditions are affecting everyone. There are thirteen-million people in the United States that do not have jobs. (Bureau of Labor & Statistics) While so many people are without work during this horrible time, it is estimated that between fifteen and twenty million illegal immigrants were in the United States in the year 2004 (King, p. 1). Those illegal immigrants are coming to the United States just to find work. While those immigrants are getting jobs, the thirteen-million Americans without work are trying to figure how to eat and survive day by day. Illegal Immigration is a problem that needs to be fixed because it is affecting the United States economy negatively, it puts our own security at risk, and does harm to the immigrants themselves.

Undoubtedly, illegal immigrants are more to hire than average employees. Because they are not United States citizens, they do not have to abide by the law. They can worker long hours for very low pay because the labor laws do not apply to them. From an owner's perspective, that sounds like a pretty sweet deal. But, for somebody who is struggling to find work it is not too fair. Also, it is just another case of social injustice. The rich business owners are paying the illegal they hire very little which in turn keeps it from the working class of America who do not have jobs. The owners hiring the illegals are giving all of us in the middle and lower classes the shaft. That means that the upper-class is keeping their money causing a bigger gap between social classes. Now if things were changed and the immigrants were legalized and documented, would that not work better for the economy?

As things currently stand, illegal immigrants are hurting our economy. Illegal immigrants are coming to America to work for the most part. They take the lower level jobs that pundits often say nobody wants to do themselves. Well that might have been the case ten or fifteen years ago but we live in a much different America today. Unemployment is at ten percent at the moment (Bureau of Labor & Statistics). It is estimated that about ten-thousand illegals come across the border every day (King, p. 1). Now in a climate with such high unemployment, "Low pay is better than no pay" as my Grandmother used to say. That statement holds true to this day because with so many people out of work, people will lower their standards just to survive. With millions of illegals taking those jobs, it has made it to where if you are out of work it makes it almost impossible to find any job at the level below your job. The worst part is that our own citizens do not have money, but illegal immigrants are getting money. Illegal immigrants bring home an estimated sixty billion dollars a year (CAIR). Not only are they taking money away from United States citizens, but they are also taking it away from the economy. Most illegals are working for money to send back to back to their home country. So not only are citizens losing money to put into the economy, but money is being taken by illegals and sent to another country to be put into their economy and not ours.

Also, illegals cost our government (which we fund as tax payers) millions of dollars every year. We all know that the United States government is trillions of dollars in debt to other nations. One would think that all of the money our government spends should benefit our own citizens. It is estimated that the United States government spends up to eighty-seven billion dollars each year on illegal immigrants. That is almost three-hundred dollars per taxpayer spent each year on people that are in this country illegally. A staggering seven-billion dollars are spent on illegal immigrants in public schools (CAIR). Not only do illegals take jobs and take money, but they cause the employed sector of America lose money as well. Illegal immigrants cost native-born American men an estimated one-thousand seven-hundred dollars in wages (CAIR). So every time the government gives us that same speech about how much money they are spending and they need to raise taxes to equate the losses, just remember that close to one-hundred billion dollars are being spent on people that are not supposed to be in America.

Also, illegals are affecting an industry that we literally hold near and dear to our hearts, the medical field. Hospitals cannot turn away any person if they are truly in need of care. Because of federally-mandated programs requiring free emergency room services to illegal aliens, hospitals in Texas, New Mexico Arizona, and California have been forced to close or face bankruptcy. If illegals continue to come in at this rate, you might be able to see your medical expenses rise or even possibly see your local hospital close (CAIR). Everyone born in the United States is a citizen. Babies that are born in the United States with illegal parents are known as anchor babies. Those states where illegals get free treatment, hospitals lose close to three-thousand dollars per birth. It is estimated that there is close to four-hundred thousand "anchor babies" born in the United States each year. Just think of the "anchor baby" caused tax increases if universal healthcare is ever passed.

Furthermore, illegal immigration is creating an unsafe underworld for immigrants that expand rapidly if not fixed. Mexico is very well known for the drug cartels that run rampant over in Mexico. The crime in Mexico is comparable to fictional books and TV crime dramas. The reason people from Mexico are coming here by the tens of thousands is to escape the terrible lifestyle in Mexico. It is common for illegal immigrants to pay a high price to gangs so that the gangster can enter them into the country. To go along with the price they pay, they still are at risk of being caught or killed by border patrol agents of even rival gangs. The person who is smuggled in could possibly be indebted to the gang that smuggled them in or the money the person paid could be aiding in the Mexican drug war (Economist, p. 43). Most people who read this want to know how it affects them personally. Illegal immigration is causing more problems in the Mexican crime wars which directly affects the United States because they are our border nation and the criminal activity is could be spreading into the United Stated with each illegal that passes through the border.

Also, illegal immigration is hurting the immigrant's assimilation into society, which is an integral part to creating a unified and powerful country. People from all over the globe who want to immigrate here are attracted by a thing called the American Dream. In history class I always studied how immigrants would be ecstatic to come to the United States to meet people and try new American things.