The Impact of Illegal Immigration on the United States

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Immigration is one of the hot topics in today’s society: legal and illegal. According to, Philip E. Wolgin in his article, “Immigration Polling Roundup: Americans of All Political Stripes Want Congress to Pass Immigration Reform,” there are 11.7 million unauthorized immigrants living in America today. From 1990 to 2007, immigration increased from 3.5 million to 12.2 million. Since 2007, immigration has decreased and fluctuated from 12.2 million illegal immigrants to 11.7 million illegal immigrants. In the article, “Splitting the Difference on Illegal Immigration,” Peter Skerry states that, included in the eleven million illegal immigrants, there are more than one million children under the age of eighteen. He also said that the illegal immigrants make up roughly four percent of our nation’s population, five percent of the work force, and twenty-eight percent of the foreign born residents. There are a lot of negative connotations that most people connect with illegal immigration. Some people will say that illegal immigrants take away from the economy by using government services and not paying any taxes. However, some also say that quite a few of illegal immigrants will take the lower paying jobs that most Americans do not want. These two reasons are both negative and positive effects of legal and illegal immigration. Likewise, when people think about immigration they usually think just about the Mexicans that come over from Mexico, since Mexico borders the United States, but immigration does not just include Mexicans, it also includes, Asians, African Americans, and many other ethnicities. There are quite a few positive and negative aspects in regards to illegal immigration.
Regarding our economy, there are a few opinions of how...

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...scal and Economic Impact of Immigration on the United States. Center for Immigration Studies. Retrieved May 3, 2014, from http://cis.org/node/4573
Davidson, A. (2006, March 30). Q&A: Illegal Immigrants and the U.S. Economy. . Retrieved May 2, 2014, from http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5312900
The Social Effects of Illegal Immigration. (n.d.). Social Effects Of Illegal Immigration. Retrieved
May 3, 2014, from http://immigration.laws.com/illegal-immigration/illegal-immigration effects/social-effects-of-illegal-immigration
Skerry, P. (2013, December 1). Splitting the Difference on Illegal Immigration > Publications > National Affairs. Splitting the Difference on Illegal Immigration > Publications > National Affairs. Retrieved May 3, 2014, from http://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/splitting-the-difference-on-illegal- immigration

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