Period C
5/17/13
Immigration Essay
Almost all of us can say we are children of immigrants. Either our great grandparents or grandparents came to America for a better life. We know that the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island are the symbols of that great dream that so many sought so many years ago. During a visit to Ellis Island last summer I learned that during the early 1900’s we encouraged immigration because it was a time when our country’s territory had grown and we needed more people to help with the continued development of our country. Today, however, we find that immigration is not seen as a positive for our country, but rather it is unquestionably considered a problem today in America. Immigration law is in the news a lot and immigration policy is a big topic discussed in congress; it is even a major issue for Obama’s administration. Some people in government believe that we should “close the door” and reduce the amount of people coming into our country; especially as it relates to the problems we have had with terrorist activities. But, I believe that the main problem with immigration is not the legal immigrants who come here following the rules, but rather it’s the illegal immigrants who sneak into our country over borders and then put a burden on our social services and do harm to our country.
So, what is the solution? Currently there are almost 12 million illegal immigrants in America and that makes it just too expensive and a big project to just deport all of them at one time, so we need a better plan; something must be done. Illegal immigration inflicts a great threat to America. Aside from the belief that illegal immigrants are stealing jobs from our own citizens and the legal immigrants, but some illegal immigrants are causing crimes. In a 2006 study from January 1999 to April 2006 about 260,000 illegal immigrants committed almost 1 million sex offenses in America. Also illegal immigrants today make up 30% prison