Illegal Immigration

Essay- Illegal Immigration in the United States

Illegal immigration is a huge problem for the United States. The country`s economy is severely hurt by the millions of illegal immigrants that enter the country every year. People pass the border and start living there without paying taxes. (wvwnews Para 1) Mexicans that live illegally in the United States send billions of dollars out of the country and into Mexico. (wvwnews Para #3) Also, it is estimated that U.S taxpayers spend over $12,000,000,000 every year on primary and secondary education for the children of illegal immigrants. (wvwnews Para #6) Another major cost for the United States that affects its economy are the billions of dollars used annually to imprison these illegal immigrants that shouldn`t be in the country in the first place. It is estimated that about 30% of the total prisoners in federal, state and local prisons are illegal immigrants. The total cost of incarcerating them is more than $1.6 billion annually. (wvwnews Para #17) As you can see, illegal immigrants have a huge impact on the United States` economy, especially when you consider that almost 99% of these immigrants don`t pay taxes. (wvwnews Para #20)

Another big problem that illegal immigration causes in the United States is that it causes violence, gangs and it increases the drug-dealing business. The region along the U.S and the Mexican border has become an open war zone. Just across the American border, there is a city called the city of Juarez. This city is considered one of the most dangerous cities in the entire planet because of the horrible drug war that is occurring there. In fact, the city of Juarez is called the “murder capital of the Western Hemisphere.” (wvwnews Para #8)

This drug-war that has been going on can be described as a bloodbath. The Mexican government estimates that as many as 28,000 people has been murdered by drug cartels since 2007. (wvwnews Para #11) This war between both sides of the border is unimaginably violent. For example, one Mexican assassin, known as “the soupmaker,” confessed that he dissolved over 300 bodies daily by throwing them into acid baths. The problem is that there is no type of protection that keeps people like “the soupmaker” from crossing the U.S border. (wvwnews Para #14) Sadly, this violence is now starting flow into the Southwestern United States.

Many Mexican drug cartels are conducting and manipulating the security along the borders, and they outnumber the United States` border patrol agents in numbers and in guns and weapons. (wvwnews Para # 12) Federal border officials say that Mexican drug-dealers have not only set up shops in American territory, but that they also have look out bases on strategic locations in Arizona. In some places where these points are located, it is very dangerous and signs have been posted to warn the American citizens. (wvwnews Para #13) The Mexican are also warning the police in Arizona that if they try to interfere with the drug trafficking in their area, they will be killed or kidnapped by the drug cartel. (wvwnews Para #15)

As we all know, drugs bring violence. This violence comes from criminal gangs that are formed in the drug trafficking business. A huge percentage of young, illegal immigrants end up in gangs. Nowadays, there are over 1 million members involved in these groups. According to federal statistics, these 1 million people are responsible for up to 80% of the violent crimes in the United States. Most of the famous gangs in the country are principally made up of Latinos. (wvwnews Para #9)

Illegal immigrants also affect American citizens directly. One of the main problems these immigrants cause is that they take over jobs that were supposed to be filled by American workers. It is estimated that approximately 7.7 million illegal immigrants were employed in 2008. (wvwnews Para # 7) In addition to this, another review by the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics and Census Bureau data said that both legal and illegal immigrants gained over a million additional jobs between 2008 and 2010. At that same time, millions of Americans were losing their jobs. (wvwnews Para # 1)
These people are also affecting the citizens of the United States by taking advantage of privileges only Americans and legal immigrants should have. They don`t pay a single dollar in taxes, but they are receiving tens of billions of dollars worth of free education benefits, free health care benefits, free housing benefits and free food. (wvwnews Para # 4) A state in specific that has suffered with this problem is California. This state`s health care system is about to collapse. Dozens of hospitals and emergency rooms have been obligated to shut down because they couldn`t afford to stay open. Hospitals are saturated with illegal immigrants that aren`t able to pay for the services they are receiving. As a result, the health care system in California is overloaded, which leads to brutally long lines, lack of ambulances and un-necessary deaths of patients. (wvwnews Para # 6)

Illegal immigration is a huge problem that affects the United States. It promotes drugs, violence and gangs. It has a negative impact in the country`s economy and it also affects American citizens directly. Immigrants disturb the country`s peace. They are living freely in a country that is not theirs, they are not paying taxes and they are taking advantage of the privileges the American government gives them. All of this crime and violence is costing millions of dollars to the United States` economy. To prevent all of things from happening, this flow of illegal immigrates that enter the country every year has to stop.

In my personal opinion, I think that United States is doing an embarrassing job at handling the situation. The border police are very weak. But, Barak Obama says he has a plan. He says he is going to save the day by providing education and health protection to all of this people so that in about 10 year they can become American citizens. He refuses to ship 12 million people back to their country. He thinks that America is not about putting people on busses and ripping families apart. His plan is to bring this people “out of the shadows” and make them pay fines. But, how many illegal immigrants are going to step up and pay a fine? How many of them will attend the English classes Obama would like to provide them with? All of them are just going to laugh and keep doing what they want. Also, Obama has said that the Americans have to make life comfortable for these immigrants, and that young children in the U.S should learn Spanish. I do not agree with Obama and I think that all of the immigrants living illegally in the United States should be shipped back to their country.

Another thing that I find ridiculous is that the United States is always helping other countries and getting into wars between countries in the other side of the world. I think that instead of spending so much money and soldiers on that, the United States should prioritize its own problems first. United States is literally leaving its border completely open to millions of criminals, gang members and drug dealers.

"On Illegal Immigration: The Trouble You Risk." - Legal Regulation Review. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2013.

Sutton, Benjamin. "The L Magazine." The L Magazine. The L Magazine, 06 Apr. 2010. Web. 22 Feb. 2013.