The United States was formed by the immigration of many people throughout the World. Legal immigration to the United States can easily be handled and welcomed by most Americans. Immigration has been around since the later half of the twentieth century.
Many of the first new immigrants to our country were young males working in agriculture or other low wage jobs. Over time the young men would make multiple trips to work, and absorbed knowledge and experience of the United States. With this experience and knowledge more of these illegal migrants decided to permanently reside in the United States. After the young men had settled, wives, children and relatives came soon after. (Nadadur 3)
People came in other ways too, Ellis Island, the New York portal for immigrants, opened in 1892 and became the nation’s premier immigration station. New arrivals were required to prove their identities, answer a series of questions, find a friend or relative who could vouch for them, and were scanned for physical ailments. When it ended operation in 1954, Ellis Island had processed over 12
Davis 2 million legal immigrants. However we have a growing problem of Illegal immigrants especially from mexico. Many americans think that this influx of - illegal immigarnts are placing a growing srain on the government at the local, state, and federal level.Many people believe immigrants are nothing more than potential criminals and terrorists. According to procon.org, with at least eight million illegal aliens obtaining a residence in the United States and nearly one million new immigrants each year the potential for these people going under the radar is very high; most of the people coming into the U.S are from Mexico. Most illegal aliens are gainfully employed, pay taxes, and many of them have started families and developed roots in our society, but others really do pose a potential threat, some may be terrorists and criminals. This has made it difficult for border patrol to be able to focus on the terrorists, criminals and felons coming to the United States. (“Does Illegal immigration pose a terrorist threat to the U.S?”)
Another major problem with illegal immigration is the costs, being paid for by tax paying Americans. A new study from the Center for Immigration Studies is one of the first to estimate the impact of illegal immigration on the federal budget. Based on The Census Bureau data, the study estimates that households headed by illegal aliens used more than 10 billion dollars more in government services than they paid for in taxes in 2002. These figures are only for the federal government; costs at the state and local level are also likely to be significant. The Center for Medicaid Services at the Dept. of Health and Human Services reported that for FY 2001, the health care costs for illegal immigrants in
Davis 3
California was over 648 million dollars. 60 billion dollars are earned by illegal aliens in the U.S. each year.
One of Mexico's largest revenue streams, after exports and oil sales consists of money sent home by legal immigrants and illegal aliens working in the U.S. Economists say this will help Mexico reduce its 17.8 billion dollars deficit and that may strengthen the peso. 10 billion dollars are sent back to Mexico annually. That figure equals what Mexico earns annually from tourism. This massive transfer of wealth from America - essentially from America's displaced working goes directly to Mexico.
Even though many Americans don’t like the potential risk that these people are placing on our country, our government still wants to help. Especially at a local level, in California, and many other states they want to help these illegal immigrants go to college. Nearly 20 years ago, California became the first state to crack down on immigration when voters approved a measure that cut off education, health and other benefits to illegal immigrants and their children, but now the democratic governor Jerry Brown is considering signing a bill that would give financial aid to illegal immigrants attending state colleges and universities. This would be in addition to laws that allow some illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition and let them accept privately funded college grants. As states like Arizona, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina push hard against illegal immigrants.