Illegal immigration has been a controversial topic for many years. Every year, tens of thousands of people flood into the United States from Mexico in order to try to build a better life for themselves. Though their plight is somewhat pitiable, the huge wave of people coming in with seemingly no end in sight is causing huge problems for American citizens and legal residents of the United States. Immigrants are not coming here to try to fit in and assimilate to American society; they are coming simply to penetrate the American workforce so they can send the much stronger U.S dollars back to Mexico. Briggs predicted the peril America is now in in his 1977 article, “The Problems of Illegal Immigration.” Even back then, it was clear that immigrants are “seeking better income opportunities than are available in their native lands. In some instances this quest leads illegal aliens into lives of crime” (Briggs 171). Alden agrees with Briggs’ view on immigrant crime and states so in his article “Immigration and Border Control.” Aldan writes, “More people still wish to come to the United States— One consequence is an expanding organized crime problem” (Aldan 108). Illegal immigrants are causing an increase in crime; furthermore, illegal immigrants are draining the country’s resources, causing legal citizens and residents to suffer and this is unfair to the tax payers. Therefore, the flow of illegal immigrants into the USA should stop immediately.
The main problem with illegal immigration is that immigrants are not respecting the laws of the country that they are coming to. Scott describes the absolute mess and carnage they cause on their way into the United States, describing vast amounts of litter: “Discarded diapers, water bottles, and sundry filth everywhere” (Scott 498). Scott paints a further grim picture of illegals coming into the country, reporting that they tend to contribute to “lots of stolen property that isn’t tied down” (498). Theft and an increase in gang violence has been steadily increasing in border states such as California, Arizona, Texas, and New Mexico disrupting the lives of American citizens who had been living peacefully and then suddenly having a large influx of people settling down in or passing through their backyards often not caring about the safety and property of the people who are already living there, and this is unfair and jeopardizes the safety of American citizens and this should not be permitted. Aldan claims unrestricted immigration would “further enrich criminal enterprises engaged in producing increasingly sophisticated false documents to evade the system” (Aldan 117). It is the duty of a government of a country to protect its legal citizens and residents from outside threats. Even though illegal immigrants are not declaring war on the United States, it doesn’t make them any less of a threat if theft and gang violence is rampant and is allowed to continue unchecked in American neighborhoods.
Perhaps the main problem concerning immigrants is their huge drain on the resources of the country in general. Since former governor Gray Davis “strangled Proposition 187 in April 1999” (Scott 502), illegal immigrants have been allowed to claim benefits as legal permanent residents and legal citizens. Illegal immigrant children are permitted enrollment in the public schools, even further inflating already overcrowded classrooms. Uninsured illegal immigrants (with no rights or social security status) and their children are allowed free health care while lower income citizens and permanent residents have to pay sometimes very high amounts for insurance for basic health care, and it is not fair, just, or right how American legislation has decided to reward people for illegally coming to the country and then makes legal citizens and permanent residents who were born on American soil or went through great lengths to follow the rules of this country to migrate here the correct way are punished by having to pay more money so that the people who have come the wrong way can leech off the system. Something needs to be done, and quickly. Illegal immigration needs to be stopped.
The problem of illegal immigration is worsening because currently not enough is being done because too many people are simply choosing to look the other way because they desire the influx of cheap labor. Aldan asserts that “ill-conceived or poorly implemented border controls will do lasting damage to the U.S. economy” (Aldan 122). Briggs saw it years ago when he predicted, “Some people believe that illegal immigration is a phony issue because the aliens do jobs that citizen workers will no longer do. This contention is a self-fulfilling prophecy” (Briggs). Of course citizens or permanent residents will shun hard labor or less desirable jobs that pay low wages if they are given a “free pass” to do so by having illegal immigrants right there to fill in for them. However, if there were no illegal immigrants, some of these same positions would become more desirable, as employers would be forced to raise wages for these types of jobs and thus people would receive a good living wage for doing jobs that are now very low paying because supply is so greatly exceeding demand. Scott asserts that the problem of illegal immigration would be curbed considerably if steps could be taken to “prosecute employers who hire illegal aliens” (Scott 500) If no one offers illegal immigrants jobs, then they would have no choice to give up and go back to their own country. However, this is not being done. Scott reports that the “Justice Department is hardly lifting a finger in this area” (Scott 500), Aldan also claims that a solution “unfortunately still appears to be a long way off” (Aldan 120) but the issue of illegal immigration is continuing to snowball out of control, and it needs to be stopped. 6 million people are already illegally in the country and the USA simply cannot keep accepting more.
Illegal immigration can, should, and must stop immediately. American citizens and permanent residents who pay their taxes and do things the right way should not continue to be negatively affected by increasing crime and by paying higher taxes and health care costs while people who are crossing the border but who care nothing about laws and customs continue to be rewarded for their wrong decisions. It is not right, fair, or just, and because of these reasons illegal immigration must be swiftly brought to an end.
Works Cited
Aldan, Edward. “Immigration and Border Control.” Cato Journal. Date of Publication. Web. 10 Mar 2016
Briggs Jr., Vernon. “The Problem of Illegal Immigration” Cornell University Journal. Aug 1977. Web. 10 Mar 2016.
Scott, Michael. “America Must Take Stronger Measures to Halt Illegal Immigration.” Title of Collection. Ed. Editor's Name(s). City of Publication: Publisher, Year. 498-502. Print
