...We should not draw our conclusion just by looking at one source. I will compare the debate between two professors (Stern and Clement) who are specialists with opposite views on illegal immigration and give a general background of undocumented immigration. They both debate over foundation facts, for example the origins, causes, and demographics of the undocumented population. Most of the debate is over the negative effects of having the illegal migrants in the country and how they affect the job and wages, and overall the economic health of the country. They also talks about the societal issue such as the crime rate of the undocumented immigrants and how they threaten the public health in their articles. Furthermore, the two specialists also...
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...decisions and led to many political debates. Many Americans believe that allowing illegal immigrants to live in the USA is detrimental to our economy. For as long as I can remember, this topic has been a major discussion in the national news syndicate as well. One can open any newspaper, turn on any news channel, or visit any news site on the internet and one of the major headlines will have something to do with illegal immigration. With the overwhelming amount of undocumented immigrants in the USA, many questions are asked about the effects they are having on our economy. In the early 1600s, immigrants began arriving in the USA. As a country, the majority of the population was English. In 1607, so called “Foreigners” began to enter the country. Non-English immigrants were coming from mainly the British Isles, Whales, Scotland, and Ireland (Garis, R, 1927). During the year of 1637, Massachusetts was one of the first to implement a law regarding residents or colonies allowing immigrants into their homes. The Governor, John Winthrop, supported the law that states that any immigrants must have permission from the authorities to be in the colony (Hendricks, J. 2013). Immigration did not actually gain the Illegal status until 1808. This is the year that President Jefferson made foreign slave trade illegal, resulting in many slaves being smuggled into the USA (Hendricks, J. 2013). This is the first documentation of illegal immigrants coming to our county. In the current...
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...affects all aspects of society. Regardless of status, immigrants have always played a central role in the life and growth of our nation. Immigrants contribute $10 billion a year to this country's economic growth. The immigration debate is packed with ideology and misconceptions and the process of achieving citizenship has become cumbersome and bureaucratic (Cohen). In June 2012, President Obama announced that the federal government would no longer deport undocumented youths who immigrated to the United States before the age of sixteen and are younger than thirty, have been in the country for five continuous years, and have no criminal history. Under the policy, these immigrants would be eligible for two-year work permits that have no limits on how many times they can be renewed. In 2013, a bipartisan group of senators released a comprehensive immigration reform plan that would allow those who immigrated illegally as children to apply for permanent residence in five years, regardless of their current age (Lee). Measures have been taken at the state level to regarding immigration matters, however due to federal politics immigration remains a major reform issue that needs immediate intervention. From current reform, immigration enforcement, and proposed legislature, the need for immigration reform is now! Current Immigration Reform How the United States government should handle illegal immigrants has always been a subject of debate and a president's promise of change called for a...
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...Immigration Policy The issue of Illegal immigration policy and undocumented workers is extremely controversial in this country. Our individual opinions vary greatly; so many politicians have used it as a wedge issue while campaigning. The Free Dictionary.com defines a wedge issue as a sharply divisive political issue, especially one that is raised by a candidate or party in hopes of attracting or disaffecting a portion of an opponent's customary supporters. I have taken a particular interest in this subject since I began to study the Spanish language. Unfortunately, this issue often has a “Mexican or Latino face.” The recent backlash that Latino illegal aliens have received, the outpouring of racist campaign ads that have been airing and discriminatory legislature that has been passed has caused me to have great concern. The climate surrounding this debate has turned so “ugly” lately and I felt compelled to turn the microscope onto this issue for myself. Whether you support amnesty for illegal aliens or whether you believe that our current policy is too relaxed, there are a few facts that cannot be ignored. Several big businesses, construction companies, agriculturists, and employers in many service industries contend that the absence of immigrant workers would cause a major catastrophe in the U.S. economy. These groups, specifically, refer to the absence of the unauthorized workforce (Caulfield, 2006). Undocumented workers are estimated to fill 25% of all agricultural, 17% of...
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...Illegal Immigration Maricela Vega CJA 446 May 2013 With over 11 million immigrants in the United States illegally (as of 2011), the issue of illegal immigration continues to divide Americans. (ImmigrationProCon.org, 2013) Illegal immigration has become a major concern to the government in the U.S today. This was not a major concern until lately in the past twenty years. There has been an alarming increase of illegal immigrants in the U.S. A debate has arisen over the amount of action that has been exerted on the purposes. There are immigrants coming to America from all over the world today in search of the American dream. However, the greatest concern at this time is Mexico. Smuggling aliens has become more frequent every year. The smugglers are willing to go to great steps to smuggle people across and are escaping before they get caught. These smugglers are making hundreds and thousands of dollars to get these immigrants across the borders. Very few are actually caught and the illegal immigrants enter this country and disappear. Most of the illegal immigrants at this time are coming from Mexico, which means the bordering states are the major concern. When it comes to the topic of illegal immigrants or anytime the term “illegal immigrant” is brought up it is safe to say that many, or most Americans conjure up images of desperate migrants sneaking across the Mexican border. There is another side to America’s immigration problem, however, that most know very little about;...
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...name a couple and the list goes on. These types of freedoms people throughout the world covet, therefore attempt to enter the United States of America with hopes of sharing these freedoms. Some immigrants come with a legal passage by an ever-growing generous nation jumping through a large number of hoops and legalities, others on illegal terms in large numbers. Now, is it fair for a nation that has been built on such a vase array of different cultures and world travelers to turn away any new comers like to say “we are full?” Is it ok to punish these people for trying to make a better life for themselves and their families? Is it also fair to the tax paying individuals of this great nation to support such a noble cause from blood sweat and tears of our brows? In this debate we will discuss both sides of the argument, pros and cons of illegal immigration in the United States of America, in hopes to bring about a more clear understanding. Illegal immigration is the migration of people from one country into another illegally, violating laws of that country or state. Illegal immigration is universal and present in developed and underdeveloped countries (Palivos, 2010). The negative effects of people migrating to the country illegally is felt in various forums such as employment and over population, and although many laws have been enacted to prevent illegal entry, not every state within a country conforms to the same laws making someone ask the question as to whether the laws are...
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...young, and then there are the children who were born here, but are nonetheless growing up suffering the consequences of their parents’ unauthorized status. There are about 11.5 million illegal immigrants living in the United States today. Illegal immigrants are define as those who live within the country without legal authorization to do so. There are many ways one can became “illegal”, such as overstaying the time period specified on a tourist or student visa, or entering the United States without inspection, like crossing the border (Hoefer et al). Research has shown that, the population of unauthorized migrants is larger now than at any time since the United States began trying to regulate immigration in the early twentieth century; while the United States represents five percent of the world’s population, it has approximately twenty percent of all unauthorized migrants in the world. Although “illegal immigrants” account for about a fourth of the overall U.S. immigrant population, they dominate the immigration debate and are at the heart of the politic debates. As a result, we find ourselves at a national immigration impasse with every attempt at comprehensive immigration reform having failed over the course of the last decade. Caught in the middle are the children of these immigrants, youth who are coming of age and living in the shadows. An estimated 5.5 million children and adolescents are growing up with unauthorized parents and are experiencing multiple...
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...Illegal Immigration in the United States Illegal immigration has been the subject of debate and of controversial views for a substantial amount of time. The aggravations toward undocumented aliens mainly reside on the financial burden and dangers they represent for the rest of the population. Illegal immigrants are generally defined as unauthorized residents that are foreign-born non-citizens and who are not legal residents. There are two ways an unlawful status can occur, the most common one happening when individuals are entering the United States without the appropriate paperwork, mandatory inspections, and background searches. In the second occurrence, individuals were first legally admitted for a certain period of time predetermined by authorities and this either as students, visitors, or temporary workers. Once the time frame expired, they omitted to leave the country as they were mandated by law, thus becoming illegal residents. According to The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) latest report, it is estimated that over ten million illegal immigrants were currently residing in America as of January 2010, from which about 60% originally lived in the country of Mexico. Furthermore, the official statistics revealed that the overall population of illegal immigrants in the United States has enlarged by almost 30% in the past decade alone; this means that more than two million unauthorized aliens came to this country since the year 2000 (1). From such alarming numbers...
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...being spent on the state and local levels alone. Recent studies have also estimates that taxes collected from illegal alien workers, both in the above-ground economy and in the underground economy do not come close to the amount of current expenditures. The impact of illegal immigrants on the federal budget differs from their effect on state and local budgets primarily because of the types of services provided by each level of government. The federal government while providing some services requires state and local governments to provide certain services to individuals regardless of their immigration status or ability to pay in order for them to participate in federal programs. This has made most states and local governments bear much of the burden to providing education, health care and law enforcement to individuals living in their jurisdiction. Budgetary Effect of Illegal Immigration The Congressional Budget Office has attempted to evaluate for the last 15 years the impact of illegal immigrants on the budgets of state and local governments. The scope and analytical methods of the study vary and no reports have provided a consistent or reliable assessment of the national effect that illegal immigrants have on state and local budgets. The CBO was able to conclude through the reports hat state...
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...concerning the merits of allowing in immigrants, both who are already in our country illegally, and those who are trying to find their way here. Much of this debate has been highly polarized and politicized on both sides. One quick look at any internet message board will depict this, with people throwing around half baked political theories and ideas, with high spirits and low amounts of substantial discussion to be found. Our elected leaders in Washington however are the ones who need to make the final decision, and I urge them to take a look at facts, rather than popular opinion, and at the true effect on the lives of our citizens rather than political ideology. And so I say, in order to create good immigration policy, lawmakers need to know that...
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...birthright citizenship may have become a touchy subject. Some people argue that the undocumented citizens or illegal immigrants steal jobs away from rightful US citizens. Also people say that the undocumented citizens want to have a baby in the United States of America with the assumption they will grant US citizenship to them as a family. In certain states the police were allowed to stop anyone that they felt to not hold US citizenship just by looking at them. With this thinking different ethnic groups have been looked down on and even discriminated against. Some people just see the color of the person and form an opinion against a certain group of people, mainly minority groups, without knowing their true status. The fourteenth Amendment provides citizenship to the child of anyone who gives birth in the United States of America. Elizabeth Wydra, Chief Counsel, of the American accountability center writes, “the words and history of this constitutional text establish that it provides automatic citizenship-"birthright citizenship"-to anyone born in this country regardless of race, color or status of one's parents or ancestors.”(Wydra) Some people argue by doing this undocumented immigrants gain access to America by slipping through the cracks. “Along with the grand statements supporting liberty and equality, ethnic stereotypes and racial hostility were also on full display in the debates over the Fourteenth Amendment.”(Wydra) It seems that the American politicians forget...
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...including Obama tried to adopt the immigration reform, the policy has been murky since Naturalization Act of 1790. The federal government developed a cohesive procedure for naturalization. Immigrants at that time were granted citizenship after living in the U.S. for at least 2 years without criminal records. Every President since Dwight D. Eisenhower has taken executive action at some point regarding to immigration reform. With the last immigration reform act passed in 1986, the time to fix a broken immigration system is long overdue. Since the United States has been highly populated with diverse population including documented or undocumented immigrants, the government could have considered adopting the immigration reform specifically and permanently. Apparently, there are some reasons that take many years to process an immigration reform in Congress such as polarization in Congress, Federalism, courts’ decision, media impaction, and interest groups. It is hard to believe that why the government is not fully paying enough attention to immigration reform bill that is one of the most important not only for country itself but also for its economy. Now, we have estimated 11 million people living in shadows including men, women, and kids. There are many felons among these undocumented immigrants but ignoring this immigration reform will not solve any but it will gradually make people believe that the democracy even originated from here is weaker or the government is even more polarized...
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...commonly debated topics is immigration. While it is not a new topic that is up for debate, it has surely been brought to light more recently because of how profound it is being tackled by our current president. A lot of the real conflict comes from the perceived threat immigrants pose on American citizens, whether it be physically or economically. However, immigration does not pose a threat to the United States. Immigrants are merely trying to integrate themselves into American society by participating the best way they can while also fending for their own. Ultimately, several immigrants come to the United States in the pursuit of asylum....
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...Immigration Debate Angelique Diaz BSHS/332 September 1, 2010 Audra Duhon Immigration Debate People have a concern about the influx of undocumenting workers asserting the illegality of employment. On the other hand, many immigrants assert that they are just looking for a chance to make their lives and the lives of their families just a little bit better—and many sympathetic Americans think that these immigrants deserve that chance. The legal question will, at some point, be a settlement in the political arena. However, deep questions remain over what sorts of ethical reasons could be offerance either in favor of opening of borders to immigrants. One issue of importance in settling the ethical issues regarding immigration is that of equality(parrcenter.edu).This paper I will discuss the unethical immigration debate. Increased immigration is important for both the economic and spiritual well being of the United States. Immigrants often take jobs, which would otherwise go unfilled and increase the productivity. Empirically, the United States has recently undergone a long period of increased immigration and has an economy, which may have its ups and downs but is still the envy of the world with significant immigrant contributions in the prominent high technology sector. The most convincing argument against immigration is usually their effect on wages, but current economic policy is already focusing on fighting this wage pressure to reduce the threat of inflation...
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...in a modified version of the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, including addenda that provide a path to citizenship for immigrants younger than 12 years of age and augment enforcement and deportation efforts for adult immigrant criminals. In consideration of the goals and prospects of our proposed legislation and its implications for future immigration politics, there are several obstacles that appear relevant to its passage. Obstacles to Previous Reform Attempts One of the greatest challenges for our group to confront is the elevated level of partisanship currently present in Congress and the federal government as a whole. Research demonstrates that over the last several decades, increasing division along party lines-- particularly in Congress’ voting patterns—has ignited simultaneous division over immigration policy and reform. A 2011 study released by the Immigration Reform Caucus of the House of Representatives revealed that agreement on immigration-related legislation in both the House had dropped on average 4 - 5% with each successive session of Congress. These numbers correlated closely with similar analyses of changes in party polarization during the same period (1975-2005). Overall, these data portray the Democrats' as supporters of policy that is more forgiving for undocumented immigrants—including more amnesty initiatives and citizenship measures, while reflecting the Republican focus on tighter enforcement of existing policy and concern...
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