America Is A Nation of Immigrants

Voices of Ancient Philosophy. Ed. Julia Annas. New York: Oxford, 2001. 97-98.

(2013). Vicknair v. State. Web. 1 June 2015. http://www.leagle.com/decision/1983956670SW2d286_1945 Legal Information Institute. (n.d.).

While immigration for our country is good the ability to become a legal citizen has become insanely hard therefore leading immigrants to illegally cross our border, which negatively impacts our country. Immigration is positive for our country’s economics although illegal immigration is negatively impacting our country. Resolved to join the American way of life a large number of outsiders have ventured to this extraordinary land to have an existence based upon “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Determined to join the American lifestyle thousands of immigrants have journeyed to this great land to have a life based upon “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” This country’s backbone is immigration and it started when this

Every year, millions of illegal immigrants escape from their homeland to the United States to live an American Dream. Many believe that the U.S is the “land of freedom and opportunity” that can promise you a better quality life for yourself and family members. Its crucial to understand how difficult, one must struggle in order to live in America. The US current policy allows for “..merely 620,000 immigrants to gain citizenship per year” ( Goldsborough 2012) How can this be the land of opportunity if we're the land of no opportunity for citizenship? There are many positive and negative issues that occur with the immigration reform.

The Negative Effects of Illegal Immigration “An immigrant is a person who legally comes to a country to take up permanent residence. An “illegal” immigrant is a person who does so without following the established legal procedures of the destination country and who resides in that country without proper visas or other documents.” (source 1)Illegal immigration is changing the lives of many Americans today, and although all illegal immigrants are not bad and are not here by choice, or to hurt anyone, it still affects us each and every day. Illegal immigration has been a problem for many years, and it seems as if it is impossible to control, but according to former mayor Rudy Giuliani of New York it can be controlled. Giuliani stated “The technology exists to do it, the people exist to do it. Now we need the political leadership and will to get it done.” Something has to be done about it and there has to be some kind of control.

Many American citizens, although immigrants themselves, began to see  newcomers as a problem. Fear for the stability of the economy, of the spreading of diseases, and of foreign culture disrupting American ideals  were among some of the concerns. Prejudices also developed as a result of legal citizens seeing themselves as better than the average  immigrant. Fortunately, these fears did not develop into anything more substantial than minor regulations until the beginning of the twentieth century. Strict laws were soon put into effect, some more severe than   others, in an attempt to stop or at least slow the number of immigrants coming to America.

Many immigrants from around the world have wanted or are living in the United States. The government has heard complaints from the citizens about these immigrants and choosing whether or not to close the borders. Even though many people want to close the United State’s border due to the population increase, the United States should not because it already has laws in place to deal with the immigrants who come to the United States for freedom from oppression. There are many immigration laws in the United States (U.S.) such as the green card, the immigration bill, and the Gentlemen’s agreement. These helps protect citizens’ benefits from the immigrants that come to U.S.

Migration for “a better life” or to be with one’s family shaped the history of the United States since the beginning. In the US today there are 40 million immigrants and the U.S. Census Bureau estimates that there is around 11 million illegal aliens already living right here and are not authorized to live and work in the United States. It makes it hard to protect their right because they are in this country illegal. Immigrant are living in the US are in constant fear of being deported so they live in quiet hiding so that they go undetected by US officials. They are so fearful of deportation that they don’t report crimes against them or employers that take advantage of them or do not pay them for work.

A study done by Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government found that about 50 percent of American adults believe that immigrants burden the country because they, “take jobs, housing, and healthcare”, while the other 50 percent believe that, “immigrants strengthen the country due to their hard work and talents” (Delener & Ventilato, 2008). Over the past decade, “over half of the increase in the U.S. labor force,… was the result of immigration-l... ... middle of paper ... ...n the work force, not the other way around. References Card, D. (2009). Immigration and inequality. American Economic Review, 99(2), 1-21. doi:10.1257/aer.99.2.1 Delener, N., Ventilato J. M. (2008).

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