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Immigration and Population

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Module 2 Environmental Controversy
Immigration and Population in the U.S.
Taron Church
Rasmussen College

Author Note:
This research is being submitted on November 20, 2011 for Aisling Kane G328/EVR3410 Section 01 Human uses of the Environment Course.

Immigration and Population in the U.S. The two articles presented for this week’s lesson contain very different viewpoints. The first, by Seper, provides a lot of alarming factual information about how illegal immigration is negatively affecting our country, especially the state of California, and needs to be taken control of. The second article, by Hoyt, is very much the opposite; it provides almost no factual information to support his ideas about reforming immigration laws. Each article was interesting, although I have to say that the article that spoke out against illegal immigration was better written and provided a lot more relevant information, not just personal opinions and accusations. It’s hard to argue with evidence, and even the side that was pro-immigration stated that there are large costs for our country associated with it. As shown in the article Illegal aliens cost California billions, "California's addiction to 'cheap' illegal-alien labor is bankrupting the state and posing enormous burdens on the state's shrinking middle-class tax base" (Seper, 2004). Illegal aliens are costing our country roughly $10.5 billion dollars a year for health care, education, and incarceration. The education system alone is spending $7.7 billion a year to put aliens, which account for about 15% of our student body, through school. Illegal aliens also used $26.3 billion in government services in 2002; can you imagine how much those costs have risen over the past nine years? They may have paid $16 billion in taxes, but if you do the math, that means that they still cost taxpayers $10 billion that year. These

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