Persuasive Essay On Illegal Immigration

Our country was founded on the principle of immigration. However, at this point in time, reform is crucial. There is currently no control over the numbers of people immigrating. There is a critical amount of immigration which is putting a huge strain on our economy and resources. Additionally, it is putting our country at risk for terrorist attacks. It is my belief that immigration should be allowed but something needs to be done immediately to have better control over our borders. Immigration reform is necessary to control the massive influx of both legal and illegal immigration. We must reduce immigration and channel proper resources to ensure thorough screening and vetting.
Immigration is the movement of people from one country to another. The people who move are called immigrants. Ever since the beginning of immigration, immigrants historically have faced a number of challenges when settling into a new country. The word immigration is a modified form of the word ‘migration’ and comes from the Latin word ‘migratus,; which essentially means "to move from place to place." Immigrants usually go through a formal process in order to be lawfully accepted into the new country. Recently, a topic of much debate is illegal immigration, where people settle into a
new country without the approval of the government of the country they are entering.
Immigration laws need reforming in order to settle the legal status of approximately 11 million undocumented immigrants, to ensure national security by properly guarding the borders, and to ensure that legal immigration is sufficiently robust to benefit the economy. Americans are also concerned that reform is necessary for immigration laws to reflect American values more precisely and that the practices have to be changed from mere enforcement to an overhaul of current policies. When politicians gather to discuss immigration reform, they refer to amnesty, cheap labor and open borders. The problem is that we are putting the needs of other nations ahead of our own. That needs to change and fast. Real immigration reform puts the needs of working people first. All countries in the world face the problem of controlling migration. This is seen mostly in advanced industrial democracies. It is obvious that the majority of legal immigrants chose to come of their own accord for many different reasons usually because family members request them. “They are not selected by the United States to advance some national interest” (Frum, 2015). Illegal immigrants, on the other hand, are entirely self-selected, just like asylum seekers. Even the refugee process, which supposedly is the most tightly screened, operates to significant extent outside national control. “In addition to its impact on domestic politics, the increasing international mobility of workers and their dependents has had a dramatic effect on international relations. The major labor importing states have scrambled to find ways to consult with each other and coordinate policies to control migration, especially refuge flows” (Hollifield, Martin, and Orrenius).
Immigration has recently become a hot topic in politics and public policy.
In the United States, especially, it is a very potent electoral issue because we are having huge issues with controlling immigration. The immigration issue is one of the main reasons Donald Trump was elected. Unfortunately, his complaints that immigration is out of control are very true. “Nobody is making conscious decisions about who is wanted and who is not, about how much immigration to accept and what kind to prioritize—not even for the portion of U.S. migration conducted according to law, much less for the larger portion that is not” (Frum). I believe legal immigration should be allowed but with control and
restrictions.
Our country is in danger of terrorist attacks. By not controlling immigration, we are putting ourselves at risk to allow people into the country who have intentions of harming us. Since the incident on September 11, the United States has accepted 2-3 million immigrants from countries where there are radical terror organizations. Due to the immense volume of immigrants, vetting is virtually impossible. The United States is a prime target for terrorists. This was demonstrated when hijacked planes destroyed the twin towers in New York City on 9/11/2001. Since then, we have suffered the terrorist attack at the Boston Marathon, as well as, the San Bernardino and Orlando shootings. These incidents reveal that the United States must take the security of its people more seriously. We still frequently read of planned terror attacks in the U.S. that were impeded by law enforcement. It seems that policies adopted by the Obama administration with the stated intent of focusing on terrorists and criminal aliens may actually be creating a more hospitable environment for would-be terrorists.