ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION: Washington believed it was important for the immigrants to assimilate into American culture, so that they would become “one people.” Washington said: [T]he policy or advantage of [immigration] taking place in a body (I mean the settling of them in a body) may be much questioned; for, by so doing, they retain the Language, habits and principles (good or bad) which they bring with them. Whereas by an intermixture with our people, they, or their descendants, get assimilated to our customs, measures and laws: in a word, soon become one people. [George Washington, November 15, 1794]. Alexander Hamilton also felt that [T]he safety of a republic depends essentially on the energy of a common national sentiment; on a uniformity of principles and habits; on the exemption of citizens from foreign bias and prejudice; and on the love of country which will almost invariably be found to be closely connected with birth, education, and family. Thomas Jefferson feared that immigrants who brought different ideas and refused to assimilate would cause discord in society. He warned that “These principles, with their language, they will transmit to their children. In proportion to their numbers, they will share with us the legislation. They will infuse into it their spirit, warp and bias its direction, and tender it a heterogeneous, incoherent, distracted mass.” Such an effect would be to destabilize and fracture society. As opposed to legal immigration, illegal immigration occurs when foreign nationals enter and/or remain in another country in violation of the law. Immigration in conformity with the laws of the United States is to be supported and encouraged, but those who break the law should not be allowed to stay. Rewarding law-breakers only encourages them to further ignore and flaunt our laws and policies. Illegal immigration to the United States is a tremendous problem. It has been estimated that between 11 and 20 million illegal immigrants live here. The illegal immigrant population in 2008 was estimated by the Center for Immigration Studies to be about 11 million people. That is more than the number of legal immigrants. The majority of the illegal immigrants are from Latin America. According to a 2005 Pew Hispanic Center report, 57% of illegal immigrants were from Mexico and 24% were from other Latin American countries. According to journalist and author, Peter Brimelow, “This type of mass influx is simply too much to handle. What weve had since the disaster of the 1965 Immigration Act will take 100 years or more to absorb.” Illegal immigration is devastating local economies, schools, health care facilities, and public safety across America. The economic burden of illegal immigration on taxpayers is staggering. The Center for Immigration Studies found that illegal immigrants cost taxpayers about $10.4 billion a year. According to former Representative from Florida, Ric Keller, taxpayers shell out about $45 billion a year for health care, education, and incarceration expenses of illegal aliens, The burden of illegal immigration is forcing hospitals across the country to close. Harvard economist, George Borjas, said that illegal immigration causes a “huge redistribution [of wealth] away from [unskilled American] workers to [American employers] who use immigrants.” Many college students cannot find summer jobs and wages “across the board are depressed by the overwhelming influx of cheap and illegal labor,” according to Elton Gallegly, Representative from California. Research by Borjas and Robert W. Scrivner, Professor of Economics and Social Policy at Harvard University, and Paul Samuelson, Nobel Prize-winning economist from MIT has shown that illegal immigration has substantially reduced the economic status of poor people in the U.S., while benefiting the middle class and wealthy. Research by Borjas, Jeffrey Grogger (the Irving Harris Professor in Urban Policy in the Harris School at the University of Chicago), and Gordon H. Hanson (the Director of the Center on Pacific Economies and Professor of Economics at UCSD) indicated that a 10-percent immigrant-induced increase in the supply of a particular skill group reduced the wages of African-Americans by 4.0 percent, lowered the employment rate of African-American men by 3.5 percent, and increased the incarceration rate of African-American men by almost one percent. The country’s immigration laws are disrespected both by those who cross our borders illegally and by the businesses that hire those illegal immigrants. Identity theft is associated with illegal immigrants who use social security numbers that do not belong to them, in order to obtain fake work documents. Penalties for employers who hire illegal immigrants range from $2,000-$10,000 and up to six months imprisonment. However, these penalties must be enforced to be effective. Illegal immigration has also devastated the environment. According to Mike Coffeen, a biologist with the Fish and Wildlife Service in Tucson, Arizona, It has been estimated that the average desert-walking immigrant leaves behind 8 pounds of trash during a journey that lasts one to three days if no major incidents occur. Assuming half a million people cross the border illegally into Arizona annually, that translates to 2,000 tons of trash that migrants dump each year... A few years ago, there were 45 abandoned cars on the Buenos Aires refuge near Sasabe, Arizona and enough trash that a volunteer couple filled 723 large bags with 18,000 pounds of garbage over two months in 2002. [Environmental Damage] Illegal immigrants crossing the U.S. - Mexican border in southern Arizona are suspected of having caused eight major wildfires in 2002. [Environmental Damage] The fires destroyed 68,413 acres (276.86 km2) and cost taxpayers $5.1 million to fight. [Environmental Damage]
Posted on: Tue, 28 Oct 2014 20:05:01 +0000
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