The Truth Behind the Border

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free ..." These are the words that once welcomed all immigrants to this country. Ever since this country was founded, we have had the basis of a nation that welcomes everyone who is in search of a better lifestyle. Yet we contradict ourselves with all the laws and harsh punishments that we have created for them now. We, as a country, are unable to see the truth and the harsh reality that these illegal immigrants face everyday and the main reason as of why they come to this country, which is to accomplish the American dream. Illegal immigration has to be solved for the good of the country and for the good of the people suffering. An immigration reform is necessary. An amnesty should be the solution for illegal immigration, because without these immigrants, families would be destroyed, but overall the United States' economy would simply collapse.

There are many reasons as to why the issue of illegal immigration should be solved. One of the strongest reasons being family unity. Immigration has become such a big social issue because of the fact that many families are affected by it every year. Many immigrants come to this country in search of a better future. Many of them may even be dismayed to find that the roads in Los Angeles and New York are not paved with gold. All they want is to have a job so that they can have money to send back to their family in their countries. Even immigrants who come here, find it hard to predict what they will actually encounter when they enter the United States (Borjas 79). They have no intentions of establishing themselves here permanently, because their ultimate goal is to prosper here and return to their country of origin in order to have a better life over there, not here. Some may come alone while others may be come with their children. But some come and have children here without planning it. Most immigrants don't want to create a family here because it becomes difficult for them to go back home, since they now have to take care of children here. But even with a citizen child, they still have the risk of being deported and not being able to see their children again. Due to the deportation process many kids are separated from their parents and are left without any parent figure. The fact that there isn't an authority figure makes matters worse. Once a child loses that, all goes down hill, since there isn't anyone to impose morals and values on the child. Most illegal immigrants come to prosper themselves here, but if they have children then they also want their children to prosper as well. This social problem needs to be solved because too many of them are being hurt by it. Besides the political issues that illegal immigration brings with it, the human factor about it has to be taken into account. Not only are these people being treated like criminals, but they are just seen as a rock in the shoes of the United States. The racial profiling involved with immigration has gotten out of hand. The fact that there are now states that have specific laws, like Arizona's SB 1070, in order to get rid of all immigrants, is stunning. Such clear hatred and discriminatory feelings, towards a certain group, haven't been so evident since post Civil War. The problem with this is that the hatred is not towards all illegal immigrants. Its only towards a certain ethnicity, and that's Latinos. The fact that police in Arizona are able to arrest someone if they think that someone's illegal, just feeds to the concept of racial profiling. There are people that do not realize that you can't actually put a face to an immigrant. Immigrants aren't only Latinos. There are also European and Asian immigrants. The reason behind why Latinos are the ones who get pointed at the most, is because of their looks. Europeans tend to "blend" in better with the American people. We have to realize that behind all the politics, every illegal immigrant is a human being and they deserve the right to prosper in order to have a better future.

Linda Chavez, director of the Center for the New American Community in Washington D.C., agrees with the fact that, despite all of these problems, immigrants remain a tremendous national asset. Immigrants have helped revitalize many urban neighborhoods and maintain a tax base in cities like New York and Los Angeles. Immigrants are also slightly more likely to work in the labor force than the native-born (35). This means that immigrants only take the jobs that Americans would never want to have. Immigrants are willing to work in the hard labor jobs which any American would not do for many reasons. Americans do not want to put themselves through all the hard work that immigrants do. Americans are not willing to go and possibly work in a farm picking fruits or vegetables, because they know the amount of work and effort that is needed, therefore are not willing to work so hard for such low wages. Immigrants are not taking away jobs from Americans, because Americans don't want those jobs in the first place. Important industries, such as the garment manufacturing, could not exist without an immigrant labor supply. American workers are not available or willing to work in these industries, even in times of high unemployment. If natives worked in these industries, they would demand wage and benefit packets that would ultimately bring the companies down (Rothstein 57). Experts have agreed that in most cases new immigrants replace and compete for low-skilled jobs with pother immigrants, not Americans. The garment industry being one of the prime examples, where men and women from Latino America, Caribbean, and the far East now sit at machines which were once operated by Jews and Italians ( Fierman 69). Many jobs wouldn't have workers if it wasn't for the immigrant workers. Immigrants don't have the same benefits that any native-born worker would have. They never ask for raises or for union benefits, because of the fact that they are so scared of being deported to their countries. That is when employers start to abuse these workers. They know that they have no way what so ever of complaining, so they go ahead and do whatever they want to them. Some employers even lower their salaries, to the point where they are being paid below the minimum wage. This abuse needs to stop immediately.

The viewpoints on immigration are very controversial. Liberals support legal immigration. But they also believe that everyone deserves the same benefits, such as education, health benefits, financial aid, welfare, social security and medicaid. According to them everyone should have all of these things regardless of their legal status. They see the human factor behind all of the politics. Liberals believe that it is unfair to arrest millions of undocumented immigrants. While Conservatives,