Immigration Problem Essay, Research Paper

The world has gone through a revolution and it has changed a lot. We have cut

the death rates around the world with modern medicine and new farming methods.

For example, we sprayed to destroy mosquitoes in Sri Lanka in the 1950s. In one

year, the average life of everyone in Sri Lanka was extended by eight years

because the number of people dying from malaria suddenly declined. This was a

great human achievement. But we cut the death rate without cutting the birth

rate. Now population is soaring. There were about one billion people living in

the world when the Statue of Liberty was built. There are 4.5 billion today.

World population is growing at an enormous rate. The world is going to add a

billion people in the next eleven years, that’s 224,000 every day! Experts say

there will be at least 1.65 billion more people living in the world in the next

twenty years. We must understand what these numbers mean for the U.S. Let’s look

at the question of jobs. The International Labor organization projects a

twenty-year increase of 600 to 700 million people who will be seeking jobs.

Eighty-eight percent of the world’s population growth takes place in the Third

World. More than a billion people today are paid about 150 dollars a year, which

is less than the average American earns in a week. And growing numbers of these

poorly paid Third World citizens want to come to the United States. In the

1970s, all other countries that accept immigrants started controlling the number

of people they would allow into theircountries. The United States did not. This

means that the huge numbers of immigrants who are turned down elsewhere will

turn to the United States. The number of immigrants is staggering. The human

suffering they represent is a nightmare. Latin America’s population is now 390

million people. It will be 800 million in the year 2025. Mexico’s population has

tripled since the Second World War. One third of the population of Mexico is

under ten years of age, as a result, in just ten years, Mexico’s unemployment

rate will increase 30 percent, as these children become young adults, in search

of work. There were in1990 an estimated four million illegal aliens in the

United States, and about 55 percent of them were from Mexico. These people look

to the United States. Human population has always moved, like waves, to fresh

lands. But for the first time in human history, there are no fresh lands, no new

continents. We will have to think and decide with great care what our policy

should be toward immigration. At this point in history, American immigration

policies are in a mess. Our borders are totally out of control. Our border

patrol arrests 3000 illegal immigrants per day, or 1.2 million per year, and Two

illegal immigrants get in for every one caught. And those caught just try again!

More than 1 million people are entering the U.S. legally every year. From 1983

through 1992, 8.7 million of these newcomers arrived-the highest number in any

10-year period since 1910. A record 1.8 million were granted permanent residence

in 1991. Because present law stresses family unification, these arrivals can

bring over their spouses, sons and daughters: some 3.5 million are now in line

to come in. Once here, they can bring in their direct relatives. As a result,

there exists no visible limit to the number of legal entries. Until a few years

ago, immigrants seeking asylum were rare. In 1975, a total of 200 applications

were received in the U.S. Suddenly, asylum is the plea of choice in the U.S.,

and around the world, often as a cover for economic migration. U.S. applications

were up to 103,000 last year, and the backlog tops 300,000 cases. Under the

present asylum rules, practically anyone who declares that he or she is fleeing

political oppression has a good chance to enter the U.S. Chinese are almost

always admitted, for example, if they claim that China’s birth-control policies

have limited the number of children they can have. Right now, once aliens enter

the U.S., it is almost impossible to deport them, even if they have no valid

documents. Thousands of those who enter illegally request asylum only if they

are caught. The review process can take 10 years or more, and applicants often

simply disappear while it is under way. Asylum cases are piling up faster than

they can be cleared, with the Immigration and Naturalization Service falling

farther behind every year. At her confirmation hearings at the end of September,

Doris Meissner, Clinton’s nominee as commissioner of the Immigration and

Naturalization Services, conceded, ‘The asylum system is broken, and we need to

fix it.’ Adding the numbers of legal and illegal immigrants, 50 percent of all

U.S. population growth comes from immigration. While Americans try to have

smaller families, immigration threatens our nation. If immigration rates

continue to be this high, more than seventy million people will be added to the

United States population in just fifty years, with no end in sight. We are

taking in more people than all of the rest of the world combined. As have all

the other countries of the word, America needs to control its borders. As every

house needs a door, so every country needs a border. And yet, our borders are

full of holes. We have clearly lost control over our future. Our children will

pay the price of uncontrolled immigration. The United States is no longer an

empty continent. In 1886, when the Statue of Liberty was built, there were 58

million people in the United States. In 1984 there were 240 million people,

that’s four times the total population in less then a century The U.S. cannot

and should not be the home of last resort for all the world s poor, huddled

masses. We are not doing a good job with our own poor, as we see more people

without jobs. Supporters of immigration use many arguments to support their

side. Let’s look at a few of these arguments: Illegal immigrants take jobs no

Americans want. The fact is that the average illegal immigrant arrested in

Denver, Colorado, made more than seven dollars an hour. Many were making over

100 dollars per day. Denver identified 43 illegal aliens making 100 dollars per

day as roofers, while 438 people were registered in their employment services

who would have loved those jobs. The average illegal immigrant arrested in

Chicago makes $5.65 an hour. More than thirty million American workers make less

than that. A common belief is that aliens fulfill many of the least desirable

jobs. However, most experts agree that in today’s economy,there is no shortage

of Americans competing for many of these same jobs. Actually, many Americans

already work in these low-paying jobs. For example: the poor black woman, who

works as a seamstress, Her boss asked her to train a new employee, an illegal

immigrant. As soon as she finished training her new charge, she was fired. Her

position, of course, went to the illegal immigrant, who was willing to work for

less pay, and under deplorable working conditions. This is one example of how

illegal workers depress wages, and slow, stall or prevent unionization or

improvements to working conditions. Another myth cited by supporters of

immigration is that illegal immigrants work hard, pay taxes, and do not go on

welfare. Thesad truth is that these folks seem to learn the ropes of the welfare

system with incredible speed. Today’s illegal immigrants apply for and receive

benefits from the government that citizens need. According to Donald L. Huddle,

an economist at Rice University in Texas, legal and illegal immigrants cost the

nation a net 42.5 billion dollars in 1992.The Huddle study also found that in

1992, more than 2 million Americans were displaced from their jobs by illegal

immigrants. This resulted in an additional 11.9 billion dollars in public

assistance. In California alone, they cost more than 18 billion dollars a year.

California currently has an estimated 300,000 illegal immigrants now attending

grades’ 0-12. This will costs the California tax payers an estimated 1.5 billion

dollars. This is 10 percent of the students currently enrolled in our elementary

schools today! California has 49.8 percent of the countries illegal aliens,

therefore, California pays multiple costs for its leaky borders. Providing

health care for illegal immigrants costs California tax payers 400 million

dollars annually. Illegals drain about twobillion dollars a year for

incarceration, schooling and Medicaid from the budgets of such major destination

states as Texas, Florida and California. For California alone, a 1993 study by

the California Legislature estimates criminal justice costs involving illegal

immigrants to be 385 million dollars to the state, with an additional 112

million dollars to local or county government. This is a total cost of 497

million dollars, paid by the California tax payer, each and every year! Illinois

did a study showing that it paid 66 million dollars in unemployment benefits to

illegal immigrants in one year, despite alaw that was supposed to stop illegal

immigrants from getting unemployment benefits. Los Angeles estimates that it

spends 269 million dollars in social services on illegal immigrants each year.

Every person added to our population drains our natural resources and

contributes to the destruction of our environment. In a Pulitzer-Prize-winning

study, the Des Moines Register found that for every person added to our

population, 1.5 acres of the richest farm land goes out of production to make

way for new houses, roads, and shopping centers. If this continues, the United

States will stop shipping food to other countries shortly after the year 2000.

How can the United States feed the hungry people of the world? The national

majority now says it favors cutting back on legal immigration. A TIME/CNN poll

determined last week that 77 percent of those surveyed felt the government was

not doing enough to keep out illegal immigrants. For years now, the battle has

raged between the federal authorities who are supposed to police the borders and

the states who pay the price if they fail. In an attempt to reduce illegal

immigration, Nevada Senator Harry Reid, has introduced a bill that would

establish an annual limit of 300,000 newcomers, including ”immediate

relatives,” and a national identification card. Congress passed legislation in

1986 that stipulates fines and other penalties for employers who knowingly hire

illegal aliens. The bill includes provisions to grant amnesty to illegal aliens

who were in the United States prior to January 1, 1982, and to aid farmers who

have relied on illegal aliens to harvest their crops. Does anyone benefit from

the rising tide of illegal immigration? Businesses that can profit from

employing illegals at low wages do. And many illegals are better off here than

in their own countries. But many others are exploited by dishonest employers

andare treated like slaves. These immigrants are denied the rights and

privileges we want every person in the United States to enjoy. In closing, we

must all realize this issue will not go away. Other generations of Americans

made great sacrifices so that we today can enjoy the freedom, the quality of

life, and the standard of living that we have. When I think of what uncontrolled

immigration will do to the dreams of my parents and grandparents, what it will

mean to the future of my children, I realize that we will find a way to control

immigration. Because we must.

6e2

Primary And Secondary Sources (These listings are in order of their

importance, in category.)"Immigration: Identifying Propaganda

Techniques" Bonnie Szumski & JoAnne Buggey, Ph.D.College of Education,

University of ‘ Minnesota(Greenhaven Press 1989)"Immigration-Opposing

Viewpoints" David Bender & Bruno Leone, Series Editors William Dudley,

Book Editor(Greenhaven Press 1990)"The Essential Immigrant" Dan

Lacey(Hippocrene Books 1990)"Immigration" Kelly C. Anderson(Lucent

Books 1993)"Immigration-A pictorial History of" Oscar Handlin(Crown

Publishers 1972)"Immigrants, Refugees, and U.S. Policy" Grant S

McClellan(H. W. Wilson Company 1981)"Immigration and Illegal Aliens"

Mark A. Siegel, M.A., Ph.D. Nancy R. Jacobs, B.A., M.A. Patricia A. Von Brook,

B.A., M.S.(Information Plus 1989)