РефератыИностранный языкAnAnalysis Of The Immigration Problem Essay

Analysis Of The Immigration Problem Essay

, Research Paper


Analysis of the Immigration Problem


The world has gone through a revolution and it has changed a


lot. We have cut the death rates around the world with modern medicine


and new farming methods. For example, we sprayed to destroy mosquitoes


in Sri Lanka in the 1950s. In one year, the average life of everyone


in Sri Lanka was extended by eight years because the number of people


dying from malaria suddenly declined.


This was a great human achievement. But we cut the death rate


without cutting the birth rate. Now population is soaring. There were


about one billion people living in the world when the Statue of


Liberty was built. There are 4.5 billion today. World population is


growing at an enormous rate. The world is going to add a billion


people in the next eleven years, that’s 224,000 every day! Experts say


there will be at least 1.65 billion more people living in the world in


the next twenty years.


We must understand what these numbers mean for the U.S. Let’s


look at the question of jobs. The International Labor organization


projects a twenty-year increase of 600 to 700 million people who will


be seeking jobs. Eighty-eight percent of the world’s population growth


takes place in the Third World. More than a billion people today are


paid about 150 dollars a year, which is less than the average American


earns in a week. And growing numbers of these poorly paid Third World


citizens want to come to the United States.


In the 1970s, all other countries that accept immigrants


started controlling the number of people they would allow into their


countries. The United States did not. This means that the huge numbers


of immigrants who are turned down elsewhere will turn to the United


States. The number of immigrants is staggering. The human suffering


they represent is a nightmare. Latin America’s population is now 390


million people. It will be 800 million in the year 2025. Mexico’s


population has tripled since the Second World War. One third of the


population of Mexico is under ten years of age, as a result, in just


ten years, Mexico’s unemployment rate will increase 30 percent, as


these children become young adults, in search of work. There were in


1990 an estimated four million illegal aliens in the United States,


and about 55 percent of them were from Mexico.


These people look to the United States. Human population has


always moved, like waves, to fresh lands. But for the first time in


human history, there are no fresh lands, no new continents. We will


have to think and decide with great care what our policy should be


toward immigration. At this point in history, American immigration


policies are in a mess. Our borders are totally out of control. Our


border patrol arrests 3000 illegal immigrants per day, or 1.2 million


per year, and Two illegal immigrants get in for every one caught. And


those caught just try again!


More than 1 million people are entering the U.S. legally every


year. From 1983 through 1992, 8.7 million of these newcomers


arrived-the highest number in any 10-year period since 1910. A record


1.8 million were granted permanent residence in 1991. Because present


law stresses family unification, these arrivals can bring over their


spouses, sons and daughters: some 3.5 million are now in line to come


in. Once here, they can bring in their direct relatives. As a result,


there exists no visible limit to the number of legal entries.


Until a few years ago, immigrants seeking asylum were rare. In


1975, a total of 200 applications were received in the U.S. Suddenly,


asylum is the plea of choice in the U.S., and around the world, often


as a cover for economic migration. U.S. applications were up to


103,000 last year, and the backlog tops 300,000 cases. Under the


present asylum rules, practically anyone who declares that he or she


is fleeing political oppression has a good chance to enter the U.S.


Chinese are almost always admitted, for example, if they claim that


China’s birth-control policies have limited the number of children


they can have.


Right now, once aliens enter the U.S., it is almost impossible


to deport them, even if they have no valid documents. Thousands of


those who enter illegally request asylum only if they are caught. The


review process can take 10 years or more, and applicants often simply


disappear while it is under way. Asylum cases are piling up faster


than they can be cleared, with the Immigration and Naturalization


Service falling farther behind every year. At her confirmation


hearings at the end of September, Doris Meissner, Clinton’s nominee as


commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Services, conceded,


‘The asylum system is broken, and we need to fix it.’


Adding the numbers of legal and illegal immigrants, 50 percent


of all U.S. population growth comes from immigration. While Americans


try to have smaller families, immigration threatens our nation. If


immigration rates continue to be this high, more than seventy million


people will be added to the United States population in just fifty


years, with no end in sight. We are taking in more people than all of


the rest of the world combined. As have all the other countries of the


word, America needs to control its borders. As every house needs a


door, so every country needs a border. And yet, our borders are full


of holes. We have clearly lost control over our future. Our children


will pay the price of uncontrolled immigration.


The United States is no longer an empty continent. In 1886,


when the Statue of Liberty was built, there were 58 million people in


the United States. In 1984 there were 240 million people, that’s four


times the total population in less then a century The U.S. cannot and


should not be the home of last resort for all the world s poor,


huddled masses. We are not doing a good job with our own poor, as we


see more people without jobs.


Supporters of immigration use many arguments to support their


side. Let’s look at a few of these arguments: Illegal immigrants take


jobs no Americans want. The fact is that the average illegal immigrant


arrested in Denver, Colorado, made more than seven dollars an hour.


Many were making over 100 dollars per day. Denver identified 43


illegal aliens making 100 dollars per day as roofers, while 438 people


were registered in their employment serv

ices who would have loved


those jobs. The average illegal immigrant arrested in Chicago makes


$5.65 an hour. More than thirty million American workers make less


than that.


A common belief is that aliens fulfill many of the least


desirable jobs. However, most experts agree that in today’s economy,


there is no shortage of Americans competing for many of these same


jobs. Actually, many Americans already work in these low-paying jobs.


For example: the poor black woman, who works as a seamstress, Her boss


asked her to train a new employee, an illegal immigrant. As soon as


she finished training her new charge, she was fired. Her position, of


course, went to the illegal immigrant, who was willing to work for


less pay, and under deplorable working conditions. This is one example


of how illegal workers depress wages, and slow, stall or prevent


unionization or improvements to working conditions.


Another myth cited by supporters of immigration is that


illegal immigrants work hard, pay taxes, and do not go on welfare. The


sad truth is that these folks seem to learn the ropes of the welfare


system with incredible speed. Today’s illegal immigrants apply for and


receive benefits from the government that citizens need. According to


Donald L. Huddle, an economist at Rice University in Texas, legal and


illegal immigrants cost the nation a net 42.5 billion dollars in 1992.


The Huddle study also found that in 1992, more than 2 million


Americans were displaced from their jobs by illegal immigrants. This


resulted in an additional 11.9 billion dollars in public assistance.


In California alone, they cost more than 18 billion dollars a


year. California currently has an estimated 300,000 illegal immigrants


now attending grades’ 0-12. This will costs the California tax payers


an estimated 1.5 billion dollars. This is 10 percent of the students


currently enrolled in our elementary schools today! California has


49.8 percent of the countries illegal aliens, therefore, California


pays multiple costs for its leaky borders.


Providing health care for illegal immigrants costs California


tax payers 400 million dollars annually. Illegals drain about two


billion dollars a year for incarceration, schooling and Medicaid from


the budgets of such major destination states as Texas, Florida and


California. For California alone, a 1993 study by the California


Legislature estimates criminal justice costs involving illegal


immigrants to be 385 million dollars to the state, with an additional


112 million dollars to local or county government. This is a total


cost of 497 million dollars, paid by the California tax payer, each


and every year!


Illinois did a study showing that it paid 66 million dollars


in unemployment benefits to illegal immigrants in one year, despite a


law that was supposed to stop illegal immigrants from getting


unemployment benefits. Los Angeles estimates that it spends 269


million dollars in social services on illegal immigrants each year.


Every person added to our population drains our natural resources and


contributes to the destruction of our environment.


In a Pulitzer-Prize-winning study, the Des Moines Register


found that for every person added to our population, 1.5 acres of the


richest farm land goes out of production to make way for new houses,


roads, and shopping centers. If this continues, the United States will


stop shipping food to other countries shortly after the year 2000. How


can the United States feed the hungry people of the world?


The national majority now says it favors cutting back on legal


immigration. A TIME/CNN poll determined last week that 77 percent of


those surveyed felt the government was not doing enough to keep out


illegal immigrants. For years now, the battle has raged between the


federal authorities who are supposed to police the borders and the


states who pay the price if they fail.


In an attempt to reduce illegal immigration, Nevada Senator


Harry Reid, has introduced a bill that would establish an annual limit


of 300,000 newcomers, including ”immediate relatives,” and a


national identification card. Congress passed legislation in 1986 that


stipulates fines and other penalties for employers who knowingly hire


illegal aliens. The bill includes provisions to grant amnesty to


illegal aliens who were in the United States prior to January 1, 1982,


and to aid farmers who have relied on illegal aliens to harvest their


crops.


Does anyone benefit from the rising tide of illegal


immigration? Businesses that can profit from employing illegals at low


wages do. And many illegals are better off here than in their own


countries. But many others are exploited by dishonest employers and


are treated like slaves. These immigrants are denied the rights and


privileges we want every person in the United States to enjoy.


In closing, we must all realize this issue will not go away.


Other generations of Americans made great sacrifices so that we today


can enjoy the freedom, the quality of life, and the standard of living


that we have. When I think of what uncontrolled immigration will do to


the dreams of my parents and grandparents, what it will mean to the


future of my children, I realize that we will find a way to control


immigration. Because we must.



Primary And Secondary Sources


(These listings are in order of their importance, in category.)


"Immigration: Identifying Propaganda Techniques"


Bonnie Szumski & JoAnne Buggey, Ph.D.


College of Education, University of ‘ Minnesota


(Greenhaven Press 1989)


"Immigration-Opposing Viewpoints"


David Bender & Bruno Leone, Series Editors


William Dudley, Book Editor


(Greenhaven Press 1990)


"The Essential Immigrant"


Dan Lacey


(Hippocrene Books 1990)


"Immigration"


Kelly C. Anderson


(Lucent Books 1993)


"Immigration-A pictorial History of"


Oscar Handlin


(Crown Publishers 1972)


"Immigrants, Refugees, and U.S. Policy"


Grant S McClellan


(H. W. Wilson Company 1981)


"Immigration and Illegal Aliens"


Mark A. Siegel, M.A., Ph.D.


Nancy R. Jacobs, B.A., M.A.


Patricia A. Von Brook, B.A., M.S.


(Information Plus 1989)


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