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Marcus Hallett AP Human Geography Immigration Essay 07 February 2011
How Should Politicians Decide on Illegal Immigration Issues? In the United States, immigration policy decisions are capable of gaining or costing this country trillions of dollars. Political choices now could change the future of millions of lives. Choices opposing immigration could cost the U.S. countless jobs, including those of native U.S. citizens and naturalized immigrants. Consider how Texas, Connecticut, Florida, and North Dakota handle this controversial issue. First, consider how Texas, a state on the Mexico-U.S. border, deals with immigration issues. It is estimated that 1.7 million unauthorized immigrants reside in the state of Texas. (CNN, 2010) The state is currently considering new laws to require all immigrants to have proof of citizenship on their person at all times. This would also allow law enforcement officers to arrest anyone appearing to be from another country (racial profiling) who do not carry citizenship papers with them. (The Huffington Post, 2010) Judging from local comments on the NBC Dallas-Fort Worth political news page, the overall view from citizens and politicians alike seems to be against immigration. (NBC Dallas-Fort Worth, 2010) Now consider the immigration laws in Connecticut. In the city of New Haven, beginning in 2007, illegal immigrants were able to obtain ID cards from the local government. New Haven
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was the first United States city to offer this. (US Immigraton Support)Also in 2007, Connecticut became the eleventh state to offer illegal immigrants that graduate from high school eligibility to pay the in-state resident tuition to attend any of the state’s public colleges. (Medina, 2007) This shows that the government in Connecticut seems to be fairly tolerant of illegal immigration and may be inclined to vote for immigration reform in support of increased immigration and
References: Casteneda, R. (2007, December 6). Five Questions for Rosa Castaneda. Retrieved from http://www.urban.org/toolkit/fivequestions/RCastaneda.cfm CNN. (2010, February 10). Fewer unauthorized immigrants in U.S. in 2009, government says. News, . Retrieved February 6, 2011, from http://articles.cnn.com/2010-0210/us/illegal.immigrants_1_unauthorized-population-unauthorized-immigrants-pewhispanic-center-report?_s=PM:US Liston, B. (2010, August 11). Florida AG proposes tougher illegal immigrant curbs. Reuters. Orlando. Retrieved from http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/08/11/us-usa-immigrationflorida-idUSTRE67A2XS20100811 Medina, J. (2007, June 2). Bill to Reduce Tuition for Illegal Immigrants Passes in Connecticut. The New York Times. New York. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/02/nyregion/02conn.html?_r=1 National Milk Producers Federation. (2009). THE ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF IMMIGRATION ON U.S. DAIRY FARMS (Survey). Retrieved from http://www.nmpf.org/files/file/NMPF%20Immigration%20Survey%20Web.pdf NBC Dallas-Fort Worth. (2010, April 28). Texas Rep Wants to Import AZ Immigration Law. NBC Dallas-Fort Worth. News, . Retrieved February 6, 2011, from http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/politics/Rep-Wants-AZ-Immigration-Law-in-Texas92305354.html StateMaster.com. (n.d.). Estimated number of Illegal Immigrants (most recent) by state. StateMaster.com. Retrieved February 6, 2011, from Illegal Immigration Issues 6 http://www.statemaster.com/graph/peo_est_num_of_ill_imm-people-estimated-numberillegal-immigrants#source The Huffington Post. (2010, November 10). Texas Immigration Law Under Proposal Would Resemble Arizonaʼs Hard-Line Approach. The Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/10/texas-immigration-law-wou_n_780933.html US Immigraton Support. (n.d.). Immigration to Connecticut. US Immigraton Support. Retrieved February 6, 2011, from http://www.usimmigrationsupport.org/connecticut.html Marcus Hallett Digitally signed by Marcus Hallett DN: CN = Marcus Hallett, OU = Comodo Trust Network - PERSONA NOT VALIDATED Reason: I am the author of this document Location: Morristown, Tennessee, USA Date: 2011.02.06 21:51:47 -05 '00 ' © 2012 Marcus Hallett. All Rights Reserved.