Persuasive Essay On Illegal Immigration

The state of California possesses nearly 32% of the illegal immigrant population in the

United States. The debate of our border with neighboring Mexico has grown into one of

the biggest issues facing the United States in the last few years. Unfortunately, there has

been no reform in our border policy and as a result California citizens suffer more

economic burden each year this problem continues. Education, medical care, and

incarceration of illegal aliens are costing the California taxpayer 10.5 billion dollars per

year and that is not even taking into consideration welfare and other government

assistance programs. California citizens are continuing to suffer the expenses of illegal

immigrants because of the
failure of the U.S. government to secure our borders.

Educating children of illegal immigrant families costs the state of California 7.7

billion dollars per year with illegal immigrants making up about 15% of students in

kindergarten through 12th grade. California also allows illegal immigrants to pay in state

college tuition costs saving the student thousands of dollars in tuition costs. Supporters

say helping illegal immigrants reach their full potential and become more productive

taxpayers of society.
However, according to the Illegal immigration reform and

immigrant responsibility act of 1996 this practice of allowing illegal immigrants this

break in tuition costs is illegal if not also offered to U.S. citizens.

California taxpayers are funding the health care for illegal immigrants costing a

estimated 1.4 billion dollars per year. The state ranks first in the funding of medical care

for illegal immigrants with emergency room visits and extended health care spending. .

The hospitals must provide care for these illegal aliens regardless of their illegal

citizenship status. One of the largest expenditures of medical care is the birth of

approximately 300,000 to 350,000 babies of illegal immigrants per year in California

that are then automatically granted citizenship of the United States.

Illegal immigrants constitute 40% of California's prison system population with a

total cost of 1.4 billion dollars per year. Once these criminals are let out of the prison

system they are not sent back to their own country instead they are released amongst the

general population to commit more crimes.

Employers willingly hire illegal immigrants because of the cheap labor
they

provide. This practice takes more jobs away from legal tax paying citizens because they

must compete with the illegal immigrants, who are willing to work for low wages.

Supporters of hiring illegal immigrants believe that no one else will be willing to work

for low wages and that the government benefits from the taxes on fake social security

numbers.

Californians should not be forced to endure the burden illegal immigrants impose

on them because our government has failed them. Should the government and businesses

continue to benefit from this while each legal citizen of California pays over $1800

annually to support illegal immigrants? There needs to be stronger punishments for

employers who hire illegal immigrants and the government needs to increase the number

of border patrol agents and resources along the border. .

Steven A. Camarota (1998) The Impact of Immigration on California
Summary and Analysis of Immigration in a Changing Economy: California's Experience. Retrieved March 6, 2006, from http://www.cis.org/articles/1998/IR32/impact.html The Costs of Illegal Immigration to Californians: Executive Summary
Retrieved March 6, 2006 from http://www.fairus.org/site/PageServer?pagename=iic_immigrationissuecentersffec