Read/view multiple perspectives on the immigration reform debate and make up your own mind. This will be one of the topics for our debate rounds in the new year.
Question to Respond to:
How should we as a nation address the issue of immigration? Justify your response by citing evidence/arguments presented in the sources below. You must incorporate at least three four sources into your response for full credit. Due Monday 12/8/08
Specific areas of immigration you can address. These are but a few.:
Jobs
Cost to Taxpayers
Border Control
Illegal Immigrants
Effect of Population Growth
Additional Guiding Questions:
- On what issues do the various sides agree?
- What are the major points of disagreement?
The Arrival of Immigrants at Ellis Island - Brief look at immigration from a historical perspective.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7516216082856962759&q=immigration+site%3Avideo.google.com&total=1484&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=3
By the Numbers - (Numbers USA - Advocacy Organization) What is this organization advocating? Are there flaws in the interpretation of the "Numbers"?
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4094926727128068265&q=immigration+site%3Avideo.google.com&total=1484&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0
Immigration and Hispanics Forum - (NDN - Advocacy Organization)
Beginning to 19:00. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) - Introductory comments
23:00 to 39:00.Simon Rosenberg - President of NDN - Changing demographics and the hispanic voters.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8440058738521148171&q=immigration+debate+site%3Avideo.google.com&total=111&start=20&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=1
States' Immigrant Policies Diverge
In Differences, Some See Obstacles For a National Law
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/14/AR2007101401266.html?referrer=emailarticle
Benefits of Immigration
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8520758607235721123&q=immigration+benefits+site%3Avideo.google.com&total=127&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0
Minutemen: The Immigration Debate
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=347017415491805038&q=immigration+debate+site%3Avideo.google.com&total=111&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0
English only debate over immigration in Carpentersille, Illinois. A small town grapples with immigration.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5371119415173542897&q=immigration+debate+site%3Avideo.google.com&total=111&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=8
The above videos and stories are but the tip of the iceberg. Do some of your own research.
28 comments:
I think that immigration is a big problem in America. Since the United States were established, we have been known for letting in foreign immigrants. Our entire nation would not even exist, if it was not for immigrants. When we first started letting people in, through Ellis Island, it was our first was of having some system for allowing foreigners into our country. Although it was hectic, it seemed to work. But even then, there were many people sneaking in illegally. In the present day, to many foreigners to count, sneak across the border on a daily basis. It has become a very large problem. They are taking over our jobs and our living areas, and basically our entire country. Now it seems alittle hypocritical for any American to say that we should not have immigrants living in our country, but I think that most American's would agree that we should, as long as the are legal. But then some people would still argue, that it is almost immpossible for a foreigner to become an American citizen. Never mind all the paperwork and such, the test alone is enough to make ones head spin. I think that we should make it easier for people to become citizens, so then foriegners would not sneak in, and illegal immigration would be less of a problem. Now we will still always have racism, and ethnic fighting, but we should take it one step at a time, to make the whole process easier.
Each nation needs to address the issue of immigration differently depending on their specific needs. Living in the United States of America, we have been hearing and living with immigrants our whole lives. Although we may not be 1st generation immigrants, chances are that none of us would be here had our parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents decided to come here at some point. Immigration has been considered a problem since it first began, way back with the Indians. They said, “We don’t want foreigners ruining our culture,” and look at them now, if you can find them! That is exactly what is happening to us at the moment, but at a much larger scale. What took a hundred years to displace Native Americans, will take a mere 22 years (by 2030) according to an individual study. If we do not lower the percent of immigrants allowed into the country significantly, the number of immigrants living here will be off the charts, literally. While I am not against immigration, it is evident that there needs to be a big change in immigration rates in this country. We most definitely need to secure our border with Mexico, but we should not send away the illegal immigrants living here because they contribute a great amount of labor for our produce, which would become impossible to run efficiently and hurt the economy if 2 million workers suddenly disappeared. I think that for the next 5 or so years, we should only grant immigration rights including work visas and such, to those who need to be granted political asylum. While almost everyone who immigrates here comes for better opportunities, those people would benefit the most, and therefore they should be the only ones allowed in over a certain period of time. That would drastically decrease immigration rates, and give the country a chance to settle in. As for other countries, they need to asses their individual needs and focus on what is best for them. For example, Mexico may want to focus on a way to keep natives in the country by creating programs such as the former CCC which would increase job availability, hopefully motivating workers to find jobs within the country.
Jillian Moruzzi
To fully address the issue of immigration, we must take into consideration both illegal and legal immigration. First, I would like to address illegal immigration. We learned that there are currently twelve to fifteen million immigrants in America. There are many people who are strongly opposed to illegal immigrants and who feel anger towards their law-breaking lifestyle. However, I feel that this anger is misdirected. We mustn't feel anger towards those who are seeking a better life, but towards those who are employing illegal immigrants. If employers did not hire illegal immigrants, then illegal immigrants would not come here at all because they would have no way to sustain a life, and illegal immigration would not be a problem. I believe that our first order of business when tackling the immigration issue is to increase employer penalties by an extreme amount. This increase should be so outrageous that no employer, no matter how wealthy, would dare break it. If an employer does break the law by hiring illegal immigrants and then repeats the offense, they will have to pay the original fine with an additional penalty, and will face a year in prison. To be more specific, I believe that employers who employ illegal immigrants should be required to pay twenty percent of their yearly income to the government for their first offense. For repeated offenses, there should be an added five percent to the fine (25% to 30% to 35%, etc.), and a year long jail sentence. To address the legal immigration issue, I am in favor of many of the policies that are a part of the recent immigration bill. For example, I agree completely with requiring immigrants to pass an English test. I have great sympathy for immigrants, which I believe all Americans should (considering we are a nation built upon immigration), I feel that, in order for someone to make this country their home, it is necessary that they learn the culture of their new neighbors. To keep this country running smoothly, we all must be able to understand one another. Also, I believe that we must limit the number of immigrants allowed into our country. Because there are so many immigrants, we have had to build twice as many schools, roads, and sewage plants. The needs of our country are doubling because of immigration. Therefore, each year, we should only allow a certain number of immigrants. Immigrants leaving danger should have first priority. All other immigrants should have to write a letter explaining why they want to come here, and the life they seek in America. Therefore, we will hopefully be able to allow into our country only the people who truly deserve to come here. I believe that if these measures are taking (employer penalties and immigration quotas), immigration will no longer be a problem. We will only successfully solve the immigration problem if we address it with both our minds and our hearts.
Immigration is a major issue that is plagueing our country. it is my personal opinion that we are not only letting in too many immigrats a year but we are also letting those who enter illegally get away with it. I firmly believe that if we end the desire for employers to hire illegal immigrants then such immigrants wouldn't want to enter our country. If they know they arent going to get hired then they won't bother coming here. Along with this, i think that a harsher punishment for such employers is necessary in order to end this trend. While watching the immigration videos, it was apparent that both sides agreed on an immigration reform that protected the borders and a process for legalization. it is my personal opinion that the test taking process should remain the same if not made harder. The easier you make the tests the more immigrants will come. The easier it is to enter our country, the less grateful the immigrants will be for being allowed to live and work here. I understand that the journey to becoming a legal citizen is not an easy one, but if you accomplish it you certainly won't take it for granted. i was disgusted by the charts that Roy Beck presented. Those numbers were staggering and decreasing the number of immigrants allowed to enter our country legally each year is a must. As a nation we need to recognize this and realize that yes immigrants are hardworking but too many immigrants only hurts our country as a whole. Larry Craig may believe that immigrants are the solutions to our nation's problems, but the problem of today is the number of immigrants
Immigration has always played a big roll here in America, in both good and bad ways. Immigration is what built the U.S, but now it is simply out of control. In a video we watch during class, there was a graph showing the amount of immigrants in this country. I thought it was very startling to see the amount of immigrants, and I’m sure more than half of those were illegal immigrants. In less than three years I will be a paying citizen and I would like all the job opportunities available to me as possible. I wouldn’t want to not get the job I want because an illegal immigrant has it. Also, it seems today to get a job you need to know both English and Spanish because there are many immigrants living here that do not know English. I think part of the problem of there being so many illegal immigrants is the test immigrants have to take. I’m willing to bet most Americans today can’t pass one of those tests. Not to mention how long it takes to get a green card since there are so many people trying to become a citizen.
I believe that immigration should be regulated, with higher incentives for people who comply with the government, and stricter punishments for those who refuse the government’s immigration programs. Currently, the system is too weak. Immigrants can easily come across the border and work illegally. If they do get caught, they are simply sent back, where they try to cross again. I would prefer a system that tells future immigrants, “comply or suffer the consequences”. There should be no loop holes, no bribes and no gaps in security. And, this cannot be achieved through a wall or tightened security at the border. This simply makes immigrants try harder. What we need to do is crack down on business owners who harbor illegal immigrants. We need regular inspections and more staffing. If immigrants are caught illegal, there needs to be severe punishments. But, along the same lines, we need to make amnesty more accessible for immigrants. This will make it easier to do the right thing.
Though I do believe in a regulated system for immigration, I do not believe that it is as big of a problem as some make it out to be. In “Immigration by the Numbers” the speaker presents a chart depicting how far immigration will go. But one look at his charts, and we can see that they are flawed. Anyone who has taken an algebra or statistics class can say they he uses a linear regression line to extrapolate data for the immigrants (red), and a quadratic regression to extrapolate data for the non-immigrants (green). These types of predictions use few data points (one or two) and are not good for extrapolating data. Population growth as so many variables; it is near impossible to chart it long term with such a simple prediction. The types of regression he uses are flawed from the start, and are only used as a scare tactic. Immigration is not as bad as it may seem.
For the past several decades, immigration has become a problem and as the years go on immigration continues to be a growing problem in America. Illegal immigrants hop American boarders’ everyday and we don’t do much to stop them. The ones we do catch are just sent back over the boarder, and have a chance to hop the boarder the next day until they finally get across. America needs to find a punishment for these immigrants because if they don’t receive any consequences they will continue hopping the boarder. The video with the charts that we watched in class showed the increase in immigrants over the decades, and what will become of America if we don’t stop immigration now. Though I doubt that the number of immigrants will ever reach as much as he said it would, they number of immigrants will increase. If immigration is a big problem now and we don’t stop it now it will continue becoming a bigger problem for America to handle. America is a nation built off immigrants, but they are legal and they went threw Elise Island or immigration to get there paperwork and become legal. Its not fair that other people had to go threw that hassle but Mexicans can cross the boarder illegally and find a fulltime job and live in America without having to pay taxes or go throw the hassle of becoming legal Americans.
Immigration has become one of the most widely debated issues in our country today. While there are a few that believe there should be no limit on immigration, most people agree that both legal and illegal immigration has become a problem and must be dealt with. The question then becomes what to do about it. Author Roy Beck, reports that about 176,000 immigrants were entering the United States between 1925 and 1965. Today there are 1,000,000+ immigrants coming into the country, but only about 400,000 are legal. Critics argue that these immigrants are taking jobs away from Americans. Illegal immigrants are mainly crossing the borders in order to find work. Many U.S. companies take advantage of the cheap labor, thus encouraging more illegal immigrants to sneak over. One way to crack down on illegal immigration would to be to more closely monitor these companies and prevent them from hiring illegal workers. Consequences should be waiting for those to choose to break these laws. However, many also argue that by doing so, we would be destroying the American economy. They say that our economy depends on the cheap labor done by these workers. Something as simple as picking oranges can have a dramatic impact on the economy. People say that these workers will do the jobs that many people do not want to do, but need to be done. So what does the U.S. sacrifice, our economy, or our principals and high regard for justice. The United States is by no means attempting to prevent these people from entering the country entirely. Though the process is slow, these immigrants must go through the steps to get into the country legally. It’s only fair and it is the only way to prevent overpopulation of the country. I think that cracking down on illegal immigration requires an increase in border patrol. A fence is not going to keep people out. It’s only going to waste a large amount of vital money. We should focus that money on border patrol, consequences for offenders, and reform in the immigration process. If we want to prevent our country from turning into an overpopulated slum, we must take the necessary precautions to assure a bright future.
Immigration is a serious problem in America right now. Hundreds of illegal immigrants from Mexico are simply walking across the border and entering the US each day. This influx of immigrants is causing serious concerns to many American citizens today and is an issue that must be dealt with immediately.
The increase of illegal immigrants in the US has created much opposition within the nation and citizens are looking for a sound solution in dealing with this problem. One of the things that must be done to fix this problem is to put more patrol on the America-Mexico border. As stated in “Immigration by the Numbers”, the problem in not in immigration itself, but the numbers of immigrants. I believe that by posting more border patrol the numbers of illegal aliens crossing into the US will hopefully decrease. Also, punishment should be given to illegal immigrants that try to cross into America because, if no penalty is given, they will just try entering over and over again. I feel America should work out an agreement with the Mexican government to find a way to dissuade the numbers of immigrants from illegally crossing the American borders.
The current aliens within the US must be dealt with as well. I think ending the “sanctuary cities” located within America will deter illegal immigrants from entering the US and help in ending the immigration crisis. Also, I believe employers who are openly opposing the law by hiring illegal immigrants must be punished because they are part of the reason why many aliens are still continuously entering America. I feel however that current aliens within America should not be deported but put on an immediate list to be granted legal migration into the US.
Though immigration is a major concern within America today, as said in “The Benefits of Immigration”, the United States is made up of people who have migrated here from some foreign country since the establishment of our nation. America should continue granting visas to legal immigrants so we can continue to be a light of hope for people in other countries that are seeking a better future. I believe reforming the American government to become more efficient and faster in legalizing immigrants will help us find a secure solution to the immigration problems that we are currently facing.
Immigration has been a topic of much debate lately, especially illegal immigration. The United States was essentially founded upon immigration to this land. The question everyone has to keep in mind is when is it too much. I’d have to say that too much is just about now. We have hundreds of thousands coming into the country legally. But we have millions coming in illegally. Amnesty should not be granted to immigrants. If they had the idiocy to break our laws and enter this country without permission, there is no indication that they will follow any other laws. But still more needs to be done. After watching the videos, I am in full agreement that something must be done in order to stop employers from giving illegals jobs, and in essence their purpose for coming here. Instead of a slap on the wrist to employers who hire these illegals. The employers should face more severe consequences.
Legal immigration, on the other hand, is a completely different story. I feel that encouraging people to embrace the American way of life and be given their freedoms is what we should be doing. We just have to make sure that these people are doing it under the guidance of our government. In other words, they need to be paying taxing and abiding the laws. As great as giving everyone their freedoms is, we still can’t just let everyone in. With that said I support legislation to make immigration tests harder and make an English test required. I can’t tell you how much seeing a sign in English and in Spanish bothers me. We speak English in America. If the test is more difficult we will have a more controlled and dedicated group of immigrants coming in.
The illegal immigration struggle is an increasing issue concerning the United States economy and national security. Many will ask why I mention economy. Since the rise of illegal immigration, the aliens (as they are referred to as) are able to use our hospitals and send their children to our schools, both of which are supported primarily or subsidized by taxes. Because the immigrants are not registered citizens of any state or this country, they are not paying taxes. In short the illegal immigrants are spending tax payers' money with out paying from their own salary.
The debate of national security is well supported with evidence of loose border control which could result in unwanted terrorists entering this country threatening many lives. The border patrol at both the Mexican (the core of the problem) and Canadian borders is increasing rapidly. Now one needs a passport to enter Canada from the United States. Originally only a birth certificate was needed. The Mexicans are also strengthening their border patrol by inspecting those entering their country. At one time, one only had to pass over a speed bump when entering Tijuana. Our borders have become more secure, but will this stop illegal immigration?
The answer to this question is "no." The fact of the matter is that nothing can stop people from entering this country when they really feel they have to escape Mexico. Many people and politicians agree to build a tall, double layer fence crossing the length of the southern most borders. In actuality, human ingenuity will find a way to cross a fence; after all convicts are able to escape from maximum security prisons. So manned border patrol, used extensively now and hopefully in the future, and even a fence will not stop illegal immigrants from entering this country. So what will ease the concern of the US economy and national security?
The answer is not simple, but feasible. The system by which people legally enter this country can be simplified. As of now it is very difficult to obtain visas, green cards, and God forbid a citizenship. If the system was completely changed to allow Mexicans and others seeking a better life in America more easily than waiting years to just obtain a visa, then we could have recorded immigrants, which could include some terrorists. Now why would we want terrorists in this country in any way? Well we obviously do not, but at least this way we will have a record. By granting more visas and green cards, these immigrants will hopefully be tax paying citizens boosting our economy with their strong work ethic. As far as I am concerned, the Mexican immigrants are hard working, religious, good people. They would be held in a much higher regard if they were not referred as "illegal" or even "aliens."
Well that’s all I have to say about illegal immigration.
-Paul Iannone, conservative extraordinaire
I believe immigration is a very serious problem in the United States, there are too many illegal immigrants in this nation. The biggest problem with the immigration in this nation is that it is increasing at a very fast rate. Currently there is not a plan strong enough to slow down this increase in the immigration rate. I believe that a lot of the immigrants are employed and their citizenship is not getting questioned. Therefore I believe that if employers were more cautious about checking the background of their employees, it would help greatly in finding illegal immigrants. I believe that building a fence around the borders is not going to help the immigration at all because there are already an excessive in the country. Therefore we need to work on getting all of these illegal immigrants out first and at the same time we need to be more observant of who is entering the country. Also I think that if there is any suspicion of an individual not being a legal citizen than actions should be taken to resolve the suspicion. Another idea is to limit the amount of people that can legally be let into the country. We need a control system when it comes to letting people into the country. If we have a system to follow, so there is so kind of consistency in what were trying to achieve. I feel as though right now there is not set plan or resolution for the immigration problem. Because we’ve already let in so many illegal immigrants we need to work on getting them out and catching them.
Caroline Koshis
I think that immigration is a big problem in our country. im not saying that we need to just close our borders to everyone who wants to come in. I big reason i think we need to stop illigal immigrants is because now on everything you see there is english and spanish. Our main language is becoming spanish slowly because of all the immigrants leaveing mexico and coming here illigaly and being unable to speek english. Im not saying to stop all immigration compleatly, but if there is an illigal immigrant found then they shoudl be deported and have to reapply the legal way. Since we will have them on record we can jjust deny them amnisty. To become a legal person in the US, they should be able to speak english at least. Another reason why illegal immigration needs to be stopped is that it represents a security threat. There are over 500,000 illigal immigrants crossing ourborders each year, and every year the number goes up. With this many people come some who will want just a better life, but there are also the ones who leech off our government, and some who are terrorist. Like one story i read, was about 100 russisn illigal immigrants who durring the 1st day of elementry school, came in a wounder over 700, and killed nearly 400 people. No matter how many times the police and swat team tried to go in it never worked. They had set up wire bombs in all the hallways, and staircases. When some people would excape and run to the help outside, they had people on top of the school roof with guns who would kill anyone who tried to leave. Just this story alone of how illigal immigrants can cause over 1000 people including women and childern pain and suffering is not right. Now if they were to enter the country legal they would have been screened, and this tragitry would not have heppened. there for it is my beleafe that we need to close our borders to everyone, unless they are tested and allowed to come in legaly
Illegal immigration is certainly a major problem in the United States today. It is both an economic, and a security problem. It is a serious economic problem because illegal immigrants do not pay taxes, and use many government services. Since they are entitled to free emergency care, many illegal immigrants routinely go to the emergency room for minor health problems because it is of no cost to them. These visits cost American hospitals over two and a half billion dollars each year which is bad. Also, over forty percent of illegal immigrants receive aid money from the government which is part of the reason why each illegal household costs the government an average of two thousand seven hundred dollars annually.
Another reason why illegal immigration needs to be stopped is that it represents a major security threat. With over half of a million unidentified people coming into the country each year it is clear that terrorists or other enemies of the nation could very easily infiltrate the country.
The borders need to be secured to prevent more people from entering the nation illegally and efforts should be made to deport those individuals who are already here. Additionally, the process of entering legally should be simplified, but we still must be very selective over who to let into the country.
Illegal Immigration is a rising issue in today’s American society. Government and state officials have expressed many views as to what should be done in order to control this problem before it really gets out of hand. I agree with those who say that illegal immigrants are important because they help boost the economy but I feel that our nation should start regulating the ways in which they come in and the amount that we allow in each year. According to Roy Beck, of Numbers USA there are too many people immigrating into our country each year, way up from the numbers of previous years. The problem, he says, is not the immigrants themselves, but rather the government officials who haven’t done anything and have let the numbers accumulate to their current figures. He uses a bucket of gumballs to explain the current situation with each gumball worth 1 million immigrants. Even if we allow 1 million immigrants in per year there is still an entire bucket full of gumballs (immigrants) who are waiting to get into our country. There aren’t enough jobs and opportunities in this country for all the gumballs in the bucket. Therefore we need to limit the amount of immigrants we allow in to a fixed number and focus on helping these people in their own countries instead. The people that we do allow in each year will help boost the economy like Senator Craig from Idaho talked about without creating a situation in which we become overpopulated. He gave a statistic saying that America will witness a shortfall of 10 million workers in the coming years and that the immigrants are poised to fill in these positions and keep our economy stable. While we should limit the amount of immigrants coming in, there really is nothing we can do about those who have already crossed our boarders illegally. It would be too difficult to round everyone up as it would create situations in which entire towns are torn apart because of the deportation of important workers in the community. This was discussed in the debate over immigration in Carpentersille, Illinois where public officials talked about making English the official language of the town alienating everyone who wasn’t of American descent. The article in the Washington Post further talked about ways in which states, as well as smaller delegations are enforcing new measures towards the immigration issue because of the inability to reach a national solution. Because each state can have vastly different laws illegal immigrants can just migrant from one location to another avoiding any prosecution. Therefore we need to develop a national plan that limits the amount of immigrants allowed in and strengthens boarder security. In doing this we can control this rising issue while still reaping the economic benefits that we have already gained from our foreign friends.
I believe there are several actions our nation should take with regard to immigration. First of all, I think that border patrol and border security should be increased. This way our nation will be more secure and fewer people will come into our country illegally. The Minutemen video quoted one man as saying, "We don’t know who’s coming across the border or what they’re bringing." This is a real national security issue that I think can be better managed by increasing the number of border patrol agents and improving border security.
I also think that America should give worker visas to allow people to come into the country to work legally. They fill a necessary job market and help support our economy. A report by the Pew Hispanic Center showed that these workers mainly have jobs in farming, cleaning, and construction. These are mostly manual labor jobs that need to be filled but are not always wanted. Granting work visas means people won’t be here illegally and we will be able to track the number of people coming into the country. Also, they may not want to stay in the U.S. permanently if they are able to move back and forth across the border more easily.
I agreed with Roy Beck from Numbers USA when he said that America isn’t really helping developing countries by allowing a million or so people to immigrate each year. There are millions of people in those countries who need help. I think America should focus on giving aid and creating jobs in these countries. If a country is safe and thriving, a person would be less likely to immigrate to the United States.
After watching Senator Craig speaking about S2454, the Senate Immigration Bill, I realized I agreed with three out of the four main points of the bill. I believe in increased border security, increasing border patrol, and allowing for guest workers. I didn’t agree with the legalization, or amnesty, of the people here illegally.
The issue of immigration is an issue that will greatly affect our country's future. The first and most important step that needs to be taken is to limit the amount of immigrants that come into our country each year. As Mr. Beck stated in his speech, 40 years prior to 1965 the average number of immigrants coming into our country was 178,000 compared to over 500,000 after the year 1965. Our country is not able to handle this great increase in numbers every year, and in order for our country to be successful we must limit the number of immigrants coming into our country each year. The question comes to be, how can we limit the number of immigrants each year? As Senator Craig stated, increased border control. It is in my opinion much to easy for illegal immigrants to come into our country, and the only way to limit this is to increase border control, and create punishments for those who attempt to enter our country illegally. If punishments are not made, what is stopping the illegals from attempting to come in year after year after year? Increased border control and the limitation of immigrants into our country are two key factors into solving the immigrant crisis.
Another aspect which is a necessity to fixing this issue is to get all states to feel the same way about the immigrant issue. For instance, in an article from the Washington Post discussing laws passed by states for illegal immigrants, the state of Oklahoma had the law stating it is a felony to transport or harbor any illegal. Meanwhile New York is giving our drivers liscenses to illegals battling cancer. Now i am not sitting here and saying that cancer is an easy thing to deal with, but all states must treat immigrants the same way. Some states like New York cannot support the illegals cause, where others are 100% against it. All states need to be for limiting immigrants, and getting rid of all illegals. Another aspect of this, but more on an individual level is the people. Senator Bob Menendez who is the first latino mayor and representative of his state of New Jersey feels the many people in our country do not accept those immigrants that here here, whether it be legal or illegal. To me, this needs to be fixed immediatly in order for our country to prosper and work as one. In conclusion, the process to fix the immigrant issue should include, limiting the number of immigrants, increased border control, getting all states to have the same views on the issue, and getting as many U.S. citizens as possible to accept those immigrants who are here.
The flow of immigrants needs to be dammed and slowed soon. The immigration is causing unwanted and unimaginable population booms. The population booms put stress on all parts of America from the jobs, to cost, to resources. Beck showed that the amount of immigrants we let in each year does very little to change the overall population of poor third world nations. However, the population that is introduced grows on its own and more is added each day driving the population of America through the roof. Becks graphs show that at the current rate of immigration the population will quadruple by 2030 causing much uneeded stress.
Illegal immigration also causes a large problem. Since no national law on how to deal with illegal immigration states have had to make their own legislation. The Washington Post artical states that the individual state laws has caused immigrants to migrate from states that are creating strict laws to ones that accept illegal immigrants. This is causing overpopulation in some states and a lack of population in others so a national law needs to be established.
According to diversity alliance dot org the numbers of immigrants is causing social security, health, and welfare problems because there was not enough money set aside originally to account for helping the large numbers of immigrants.
I feel that as a nation we need to take control of this issue. After watching Beck's arguement I realized the severity of the issue of immigration; and I now know that it must get taken care of. Beck shows charts in his segment that tell the viewers that due to immigration our population is very out of control. He makes a very good point, that by taking one million people in doesn't help the real problems going on in the countries people are moving from. He argues that what we need to do is, do all we can to better impovrished countries to help the problem. I agree with him on this point; and I feel that, that is exactly a part of what we need to do to begin to control immigration.
The S 2454 is the Senate Immigration Bill that is adressed by Senator Larry Craig. His arguement is that we need to increase border control to eliminate illegal immigrants. I support this arguement, because on top of the legal immigrants there are about 12-14 million estimated illegal immigrants living in the U.S.; this must stop. However, I do not agree that the bill he is discussing whishes for the legalization of the 12-14 million illegal immigrants living amung us. I feel that they should be kicked out and not be allowed to apply for a citizenship for X amount of years.
Lastly, according to the, "States' Immigrant Policies Diverse" article, there are states that asist the illegal immigrants in having an easier life here. This is where i think the line should be drawn. These immigrants are called illegal because, they are not supposed to be living here. Therefore, it should be against the law for states like New York to grant them a drivers license or medical coverage. It is hard enough for some citizens to get these things, it shouldn't be allowed at all for people living here illegally. When being granted a drivers licence all people should be required to show proof of citizenship. I feel that Oklahoma and Tennessee are on the right track. In the same article the strict new immigration laws for these two states are summarized as, the toughest in the nation. These laws include, all law enforcement officers were voted to act as state immigrant police in Tennessee, and in Oklahoma it is now a felony to transport an illegal immigrant.
In Conclusion, as you can see I believe there are many different approaches to how we can begin to handle the issues of legal and illegal immigration here in the United States. The biggest is that we need to start limiting how many people we let in each year. And by limiting I mean significantly cutting down on the amount of immigrants let in. Next we need to let it be known how serious of an issue this is for our population and we need to come together and come up with plans to help better society in other countries. We must do this because, taking people here and there only makes problems worse for the countries people are leaving from. Lastly, an increase in border control is amung the most important of many things that must be done to eliminate illegal immigration.
I believe that immigration is a problem that our country must deal with as soon as possible. The person who I believe had the best argument was Roy Beck in By the numbers. I agree with his position, that us taking 1 million people from different countries each year will not help the growing population who is unemployed and in poverty. More and more people are being added to the population each year, and the one “gumball” we take is doing nothing. Immigration is severely effecting the United States also. The Washington State Post reported that states that are passing individual laws restricting illegal immigrants is actually causing more problems, because this is causing illegal immigrants to migrate to states that welcome them, rather then turn them away. Which means some states have booming populations of immigrants, like Florida and Texas, rather then other states that have small populations of immigrants.
One of the main problems that we are facing today is border control. I agree with the S 2454 border security bill, that we should increase border security, along with ICE and other federal agencies that deal with illegal immigration. However, I do not agree with legalizing the 12-14 million people that are already in America. The guest worker program I do agree with, and if work visas were administered to migrant workers, the illegal immigrant population could actually decrease. Illegal immigration is something that our country must deal with soon, and the more strict the laws the better this country will be in the long run.
I believe that the issue of immigration will greatly affect of countries future. One of the first steps that we need to take is limit the amount of immigrants we let into our country. As Beck said in his speech, in 1965 there were 178,000 immigrants. His charts showed that by the year of 2030 we will have about 36 million immigrants.This will leave many americans job less and the immigrants will be using our health care. I feel as we must do something to stop this because our country cannot have the stress of this population boom.
I feel Senator Craig made some good points on improving border security, border patrol, and guest workers. I dont feel that immigration should be legalized or be given amesty rights. Also i think that border security will help decrease the amount of immigrants, and they should be given a punishment for trying to enter.
The Washington Post artical states that the individual state laws has caused immigrants to migrate from states that are creating strict laws to ones that accept illegal immigrants. This is causing overpopulation in some states, so i feel as there needs to be law established to end it.
Immigration is causing many issues in our country, and we need to have laws to stop it, and also i feel that border security would help greatly.
Immigration is definitely a problem that should be taken care of. If people are here in the United States, they should have all the responsibilities as every other American. Since they aren’t technically pronounced legal, they are technically invisible to the government. What this means is that they don’t pay taxes, or any other required expenses, while most every hard-working American is. Some people complain about how these illegal aliens are taking the jobs of Americans and doing them for much less than a legal person would. But the jobs that these immigrants take are many that most Americans don’t want to do; such as farming, “gopher” work, mainly manual labor. And less and less people are taking these jobs because they are all specializing and going into more specific fields, however, these jobs are still there and need to be filled in order for many companies to run. I think a solution to the immigration problem is that it is not eliminated but just regulated. The aliens that are already here can register, but they are charged a fine. If they refuse, then they get deported. I think that that is a reasonable resolution.
The issue of immigration is a topic of great controversy within our nation. Some people feel that immigration is a threat and needs to be restricted because the number of people living in the United States is dangerously increasing. (“By The Numbers”). Others feel that immigration is beneficially and a huge contribution to the American Economy. Like Senator Larry Craig states in the video “Benefits of Immigration”, I agree that immigration is “ a national challenge… not a threat”. I feel that we as a nation should address the issue of immigration with the realization that most Americans belong to a family that came from somewhere else. We also need to realize how beneficial immigrants really are to our nation and how much they contribute to our economy. Many countries such as Japan are dealing with the problem of a shrinking work force. The work force is growing older and there aren’t enough “new members” coming in. Immigration in the United States has kept us from this problem. Having motivated people who have a dream to succeed coming into our country is greatly helping our economy. Immigrants are hard workers who are grateful for the opportunity to come to America. When discussing the issue of immigration we need to ask ourselves, Do we really want to get rid of theses people that are keeping American young? On the other hand, I do not agree with allowing illegal immigrants to pass through our boarders. This is a great security problem and like explained in the video “The Immigration Debate”, it is a violation to the constitution in that the people are not being protected from invasion. I feel that immigration is extremely beneficially to our country, as long as it is occurring in an organized and secure manner. It is important for us to know that the people coming into our country are going to contribute to our country rather than harm our country. The issue of allowing illegal immigrant into our country needs to be changed by enforcing stricter laws and tighter boarder security needs to be established. Overall, I feel that we as a nation need to try to reach a “national solution” rather than having each state have different immigration laws. Allowing immigrants to come into the United States through the legal process is extremely beneficial to our country and does not need to be stopped.
Liora Mor
Period 4
It is an issue that citizens, and politicians consider each day: immigration. But is it really an issue? Roy Beck seems to think this in his "By The Numbers". He mentions that immigration is creating an exponential increase in population and if not regulated back to the traditional level of 178,000 people as from 1925-1965, our country will become extremely overpopulated. It is impossible to have such a low number when the world population is exponentially growing as well. What Roy doesn't mention is that America's economy as well as structure is largely held together by immigrants. As senator Mandez mentions in the "Immigration and Hispanics Forum", Latin Americans make up a significant percentage of people fighting in the army. Larry Craig in "benefits of immigration" also touched on the fact that immigrants make up much of our agricultural work force. People may argue that immigrants are taking over our jobs, but in reality most of these jobs that immigrants hold are jobs that no American would think of having. Immigrants also benefit the country by paying takes just as citizens do, allowing for lower taxes. Immigration is key to keeping the base of our economy strong.
If there really are too many immigrants effecting our population as Roy Beck may argue, there should be regulation, but not as strict as he proposes. I believe that there should be a "lottery" system that allows for a certain number of immigrants to come in each year. A proposed number of how many immigrants our country can take should be set, and the families of those that have come here should also be allowed. In supporting my thought, a family of 15 people is nothing when thinking about the millions of people let in each year. As for illegal immigration, it should be controlled for the sole fact of national security. it is not right for the country to have undocumented persons, but for the illegals already in the country, the government should have the right to send them back. The government should not put the responsibility onto the people as in the Washington Post article: people that 'harbor'or 'transport' an illegal immigrant is illegal. This means that a school bus driver, or a church pastor can possibly do time. If the country really wants to control illegal immigration there should be committees set up for the sole purpose of finding illegal immigrants and only they can decide their fate. A police officer, or a simple citizen should not have the burden of throwing a person out of their home.
I believe that our country does not accept immigration for the gift it really is. America would not stand strong had it not been for our immigrants. In our poor economy today we cannot blame the hard working immigrants, but the gluttonous Americans that let recession fall upon us. Without immigrants our work force would decline, jobs would be unfilled, and even more recession would fall upon our country. It is important to remember that it is only the new immigrants that take the "simple jobs" of our work force. As generations succeed, these immigrants become more educated and move up the social ladder. It is important to keep letting in new immigrants each year to fill these necessities. Immigration is a gift not a burden. Who knows what would have become of us without it.
-Nancy Bobrysh
Period 4
The issue of immigration is about the numbers of immigrants coming into America. The U.S. is allowing for many immigrants to come in legally, but is having a hard time trying to control the amount of illegal immigrants that are crossing our nation’s borders. Allowing so many immigrants into our nation, is causing problems for Americans already living here and also causing problems for our government. For example, in response to the number of immigrants coming into our country, some places have had to build twice as many schools, sewage plants, and roads and streets to keep up with the growing numbers. Many feel that immigrants are destroying our social fabrics of society and are destroying our environmental resources because of their large numbers, and they ruin any possible chance for lowered skilled people to get a job.
However, some people think that immigration is still a great thing for this nation but we just need to lower the immigration levels, by bringing the levels of immigrants allowed into our nation back down to what they were in 1965.They believe that immigrants represent solutions to problems both now and in the future, they are hard workers, friendly people, are liked by others, and are sources of new ideas.
I feel that immigration could be positive for our country if we reduce the numbers of immigrants allowed into our country to help resolve some of the economic stress that they put on our country (i.e. the extra road building and school building). This will still allow for immigrants to get jobs within our nation alongside other Americans. They will still help replenish our workforce, as the workers are getting older and the workforce is becoming smaller. To help bring immigration under control, I feel the government needs to add more border patrol officers, and security needs to be reinforced. These will both help with lowering any potential terrorist threats on our boarder, and the smuggling of any potential drugs into our country. I believe that there are both pros and cons to immigration into the U.S.; but how the U.S. government deals with the situation, determines the outcome of how people feel about the situation.
~Kathleen DeVylder
Per. 4
Immigration is starting to become a problem because the rate of immigration into the United States has drastically increased in the past couple of years. There are some benefits of immigration. Idaho Senator Larry Craig spoke about how immigration is a challenge, not a threat. The immigrants represent a solution to many of our nation’s problems. By 2010, the United States will be 10 million people short in the workforce. The immigrants are needed. Immigrant labor is behind the significant growth of this country’s economy. Most people see immigrants as taking away job, but most immigrants work the jobs that others do not want to.
There are some downsides to immigration, especially illegal immigration. There is the problem of security. The illegal immigrants can be dangerous and may want to inflict pain and chaos in the United States. Illegal immigrants also take away jobs from the legal immigrants and even Americans. This is because the illegal immigrants agree to work for little money. Illegal immigrants also make the census hard to make accurate and they use this country’s health and other benefits at the cost of this nation. (The Conservative Brotherhood)
We as a nation should place quotas on the number of immigrants from different countries. We should tighten border security so illegal immigrants do not enter the United States and take unfair advantage of the jobs and health benefits. Immigration has both good and bad aspects. Both of the sides need to be taken into consideration when talking about the issue of immigration in the United States. (The Washington post)
-Hima (period 4)
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