Running Head: Immigration

Immigration in the United States
November 24, 2012

Immigration in the United States
Criminal Issues
Other than economic issues, elements of criminal activity are also drawbacks. Immigration is an attraction for drugs and other types of corruption. Deportation has been on the rise the past decade. According to the Pew Hispanic Center, more than 400,000 illegal immigrants were deported in the fiscal year of 2011. Seemingly, as the United States is unable to strongly enforce the immigration policies, thus creating more problems for the U.S. as a country and the people. Under the Obama administration, Homeland security issued several new priorities to focus deportation on convicted criminals, people who pose threats to national security, and repeated border crossers. Nearly 55% of the deported last year were convicted criminals, which is the highest percentage in almost a decade.
Security is another very profound problem. “The real problem presented by illegal immigration is security, not the supposed threat to the economy” (Kane & Johnson, 2006). Although there is no direct threat to security, the presence of millions of illegal immigrants break certain laws, extract resources, create covers and ground for criminals and their activity. Drug smuggling and gang violence have also become primary issues in terms of security. In addition to security issues, immigrants also have become infamous for creating or obtaining false documentation. Immigrants have managed to create methods to further deceive the system by creating false identification such as social security numbers in order to file taxes and receive assistance that U.S. tax payers are paying. If discovered, they face not only deportation but also charges of identity theft. Some even go as far as bringing family members, get married or even have children here, automatically making those individuals U.S. citizens. According to the fourth Amendment, of the U.S. Constitution, babies born in the United States to illegal immigrants will without a doubt be a U.S. citizen. These children are known as anchor babies.
The issue of overall safety and terrorism is also a major concern. There is practically no way to distinguish the types of individuals who are entering the country, such as drug-dealers, murderers, or even terrorists. The possibility of dangerous people living within the United States and its communities, the well being and overall safety of the people of the United States is threatened. In general, with the lack of ability to control and completely execute the laws of immigration, the danger of illegal immigrants will continue to infringe, leading the country and further endangering the lives and well-being of U.S. citizens. With a country as large as the U.S. and borders that stretch thousands of miles, it would be nearly impossible to protect and observe every area at its full and complete capacity.
Disease
The health issues of immigrants have been largely discussed within the media. More than 7 million people who are born in other regions that now reside in the U.S have been found to disperse some type of infectious disease to the country. Many of the immigrants carry over infectious type disease that is commonly found in the Latin community. Because the Mexican government lacks to aid in health care, many of these disease go untreated. Being that majority of Mexico is poverty stricken many of these diseases are the result of over-crowding in homes, un-sanitized water and unprocessed food. More than one third of the tuberculosis cases found in the U.S. each year are found in immigrants from Hispanic or Latin communities. With a lack of screening, these disease and more are crossing the border each day. The U.S. are beginning to take precautionary measures to ensure that these deadly disease do not further infect the U.S. citizens. With a great deal of illegal immigrants given employment in hospitality areas, they handle food items on an extremely large scale.
Illegal immigrants put not primarily adults at risk but children as well. Childcare facilities are already consumed by a multitude of germs but vaccinations are given individually on a consistent basis. However, some illegal immigrants have falsified documents to enroll their children in childcare facilities or school. By doing so, causes a risk of outbreak of multiple infectious diseases they have not been screened or vaccinated for. On an even larger scale, HIV and the swine flu (also known as H1N1) has become a near epidemic. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, HIV and swine flu for an immigrant is nine times higher as it would be for a U.S. citizen.