Paper

Introduction-Thesis: The United States borders should be permanently and securely closed to illegal immigration.


The United States Representative of California, Elton Gallegly once noted, “Hospitals are closing across the country due to the burden of illegal immigration, college students find that summer jobs have dried up due to illegal immigration, and wages across the board are depressed by the overwhelming influx of cheap and illegal labor.” Illegal Immigration is one of the biggest issues affecting the people of America today. Undocumented workers are detrimental to many aspects of the society and their negative impacts far out weight their benefits. The three main reasons why the borders should be permanently closed to illegal immigration is that if we don’t the United States are opening ourselves up to terrorism and the drug trade, they are draining health care and our school systems, and they are lowering the wages of workers and creating a lot of low income housing.

Statement of Facts

Why issue is important: This issue is so important because it affects the lives of all American citizens and all aspects of society.
Argument
Point 1:
By leaving our borders open we are welcoming the already existing drug trade and the possibility for terrorists to enter through the Mexican-American border. It is no secret that is it very easy to purchase illegal drugs in America. Many of these narcotics are coming in through illegal drug smuggling over our southern border. This is damaging to our economy and increases the levels of crime and violence present on the streets. Drugs also harm the health of it users and ruins the lives of many young people. If we decreased immigration, the amount of drugs being filtered into our society would greatly decrease along with it. Once these dealers are in our country they only continue to break the laws. The New York Times noted that “federal immigration agents arrested 3,168 immigrants who had been convicted of crimes or had repeatedly violated immigration laws.”(Online) This statistic alone proves that a large majority of illegal immigrants don’t just “work and keep to themselves.” Drugs are not the only things being smuggled into this great country. Given the lack of major security at our boarders, terrorists could also come into American through Canada and Mexico just like illegal drugs do. This is extremely unsafe and would have devastating and lasting effects on Americans just as 911 did. The last thing we need is another attack on American soil.
Point 2:
Michael Welch once said, "Voters overwhelmingly supported California's Proposition 187, a measure intended to deny most basic services to anyone suspected of not being a citizen or legal resident, including education, health care and social services." (Online) Illegal Immigration also drains the wealth of society. When they become ill they have to go to the hospital to receive care instead of a local physician. Because they don't have health care, we, as American citizens, have to pay for them to receive care through our taxes. This is not fair because we work for everything that we have and then they benefit from our hard work. Providing universal health care to everyone deprives citizens of adequate needed care and the service received greatly decreases. Citizens shouldn't have to wait on extremely long lines to access the doctors they need. Many will also begin to hesitate to become doctors because they don't like the environment they would be working in.

Point 3:
Although most people refuse to admit it, it is no secret that illegal immigrants drain American resources. They deplete many institutions such as school systems, health care, jobs and the depression of wages, law enforcement and the criminal justice system. Jeff Lukens once noted, "the installation of a physical barrier between the two countries is the first, most important step in addressing the problems associated with illegal immigration. Without a fence to stop the flow of immigrants, they maintain that other programs addressing issues such as employment and identification, such as E-verify or the REAL ID Act, will be ineffectual." (Online) Illegal Immigrants steal jobs from American citizens. Many live in low income housing and decrease the selling prices of the neighborhood houses surrounding these areas. Since there are many immigrants living within one apartment, they can easily combined their resources and afford to pay the rent. As a result, the rent is inflated and it becomes too expense for one working citizen to live in the same sized apartment. The only way to make housing affordable for citizens is to decrease illegal immigration. The school systems are also affected because schools must add extra classes into the regular curriculum in order to teach the English language.


Refutation
Many people think that when illegal immigrants come to America, all they are coming to do is work and escape persecution within the country of their birth. If this is the case then they should have no problem achieving this legally. In reality, illegal immigrants expect to have the same benefits as citizens without having to contribute to the organizations offering these benefits. It is true that a majority of American citizens are immigrants from another country. America is made up of people from other countries trying to seek safety within the open arms of our boarders. The only difference is from today's situation is that those people came here legally. Many traveled by boat and then passed through Ellis Island in order to come within our borders. Our ancestors didn't sneaked under or over a fence and hide here illegally. The United States of American used to be a melting pot of many different kinds of people coming together to make one Great Nation. Now it is replaced by many divided cultures. Immigrants are no longer interested in assimulating. They maintain their own individualy culture and benefits off of what America has to offer without contributing to it.


Conclusion
The United States borders should be permanently and securely closed to illegal immigration. Undocumented workers are detrimental to many aspects of the society and their negative impacts far out weight their benefits.


Citation

Lukens, Jeff. "Strengthening the US-Mexico Border Is Essential to Stopping Illegal Immigration." Illegal Immigration. David Haugen and Susan Musser. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2011. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from "Just Finish the Dang Fence." American Thinker. 2010. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 12 Apr. 2012.


Welch, M. (2003). Ironies of social control and the criminalization of immigrants. Crime, Law and Social Change, 39(4), 319-337. http://search.proquest.com/docview/216165354?accountid=28076


Document

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Document URl
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/03/us/immigration-officials-arrest-more-than-3100.html?_r=1&ref=illegalimmigrantsr=1&ref=illegalimmigrants


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