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Illegal Immigration in America

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The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) states that illegal immigration costs California nearly $22 billion each year. This amounts to $2,724 per California household to pay for the health care, education, welfare and incarceration of illegal immigrants (Gallegly, 2012, para. 3). While not the root of unemployment, illegal immigrants have added to the strain caused by high unemployment in our society. Illegal immigration brings thousands of people into the country each year; it has been the cause of the country’s deficit, along with the loss of jobs of able and ready workers. Each year more immigrants enter the U.S. as the need for jobs increases. The number of people on unemployment will increase since business owners can pay workers less than minimum wage. If not confronted and resolved in the near future, taxpayers will support illegal immigrants with no retribution, and America’s debt will continue accumulating at an alarming rate. Immigration started nearly a thousand years ago and began an ongoing trend of more immigrants entering the country, which in turn has resulted in a few of the problems contributing to America’s economic situation. Travelers came to America with huge hopes of a new nation with both political and religious freedom. Many wanderers came to America in hopes of a promised land and others believed America offered unlimited resources, while people from Africa were brought to America against their wills and forced to help build a new nation. “About 60 percent of immigrants are from Mexico alone; another 20 percent are from other Latin American countries, 4 most notably El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. More than one million illegal immigrants also come from Asia and hundreds of thousands from Europe and Canada” (Johnson, pg. 3, para. 1). Although California may have been the goal for many immigrants at one point,

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