Illegal Immigrants Research Paper

Jared Houghton
Rhetoric & Research
Dr. Reneslacis
4/13/07
The Invasion of Illegal Immigrants The United States has been invaded—not by a conquering army or some world superpower. These invaders take on a different form. They have no leader, no weapons of mass destruction, and no militaristic plan of attack. Yet these invaders pose one of the greatest threats to America’s future. Who are these dreaded invaders who pose such a threat? They are illegal immigrants. In the past few years, illegal immigrants have become a major topic in the political realm. Peter Katel, the author of “Illegal Immigration” and many other well known political articles, is a highly respected author and correspondent in Newsweek’s Miami Journal.
These illegal aliens do not pay taxes, and yet they still receive the benefits of government-funded programs such as education, medical care, and welfare. These programs are funded by taxes paid by citizens of the United States (Barlett-Steele 5). Some proponents of the open-borders suggest that illegal immigrants add more to the economy through their labor than they take out in services and programs. This is simply not true. A recent study from the Center for Immigration Studies shows that illegal aliens “use an estimated $2,700 more per year in services than they contribute in taxes.” This cost the federal government $10.4 billion in the year 2002 (“Open-Border Lobby”). When illegals take advantage of government-funded programs and services without doing their fair share to support them, then the tax burden that falls on the legal citizens increases. In addition, many illegal workers from Mexico (America’s largest source of illegals) work and earn money, but then send a majority of that money back to Mexico. This has a large impact on the economy because money is being earned in the workplace, but that money is not being put back into the economy. In fact, $13 billion dollars was sent to Mexico by immigrant workers in the year 2003. This is Mexico’s third largest source of income behind oil and manufacturing
The government spends billions of dollars and a great deal of manpower (11,000 officers) on border control, just trying to keep out the illegal aliens (Katel 5). In one deportation program implemented in July of 2004, approximately $13 million dollars was spent on transporting illegal immigrants back across the Mexican border (Barlett-Steele 6). Also, because of the large percentage of illegals that are incarcerated for criminal activities, the government must commit larger funds to the penal system. Where does the government get all this money to pay for these illegal aliens—from American tax dollars! (MacDonald 4).
How does illegal immigrants affect the American