The southern border of America is leaking like a levee. Thousands of immigrants cross our nations border illegally bringing with them numerous problems. We should eliminate illegal immigration and strengthen our borders because they pose a serious threat to society shown by higher crime rates, they do not contribute to tax paying and exploit our education and healthcare systems. An illegal immigrant is any admission into another country without formal permission or allowance. I do not feel like they come here to purposely reek havoc, however, as a result of illegally entering another country comes complications. An opposition would most likely be a businessman because businesses exploit the work from undocumented workers. They do not need to provide illegal immigrants with any of the benefits that a citizen gets, they are not going to complain to the cops in fear of being deported, and they cost about one-third of a documented worker.
First off, higher crime rates are positively correlated with illegal immigration. Thousands of immigrants cross America's southern border illegally each and every day. Common crimes committed by unauthorized migrants include trespassing, identification theft, drug dealing and even murder. Arizona is home to some of the most highly populated cities of illegal aliens. According to an interview conducted by CBS Evening News, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer points out that Arizona law enforcement have found deceased bodies in the Sonoran desert. Also, law officials have repeatedly found these bodies beheaded (Whitaker). These undocumented aliens will do anything to get across even resort to barbaric murder.
After the new Arizona immigration law has been in effect, crimes rates and violence in the cities are way down. Governor Brewer goes on to say, “Illegal immigrants are just seven percent of Arizona’s population, but make up nearly 15% of the state’s prison population. They represent 14% of all inmates jailed for manslaughter and murder, and 24% of inmates on drug charges“ (Whitaker). Thus proving that they are committing crime and consequentially filling up our already full jails. This leads to another problem coming from the law-abiding citizens pockets.
Secondly, illegal immigrants cost citizen taxpayers over one hundred billion dollars over the course of a year. Single handedly the greatest cost to our government of undocumented workers is spent on schooling their children. As stated by the US Immigration Support, the cost of illegal immigration in California alone is greater than 10 billion dollars a year (Illegal Immigration in California). This figure accounts for California only, which makes you wonder what the national figure stands at. According to Fox News, an estimated $52 billion dollars of taxpayers’ money is spent to harbor grade school kids of immigrants (Barnes). This money mainly goes to providing for dual language programs, meals and books. This is only becoming a greater problem for future generations by making America’s education system worse than it already is. This staggering amount cripples our budget deficit and ultimately leading to more serious problems.
Lastly, illegal immigrants essentially receive free healthcare, ultimately costing taxpayers. It is illegal to deny emergency care and ask about immigration status, therefore, illegal immigrants can receive emergency care through Medicaid. According to USA Today, illegal aliens cost hospitals over $1.3 billion a year (Wolf). For instance, a costly way illegal immigrants burden our nations economy is by having babies called “anchor babies.” Combine this figure with national figures and you can see how costly illegal immigrants can be. Moreover, I personally believe it is unfair and ethically wrong to place this burden on hard-working and honest American citizens and any governmental funding system on healthcare for illegal immigrants does just that.
An opposing arguer would most likely state that illegal immigration is good for our international economy. They would go on to say that illegal immigrants offer cheap labor and do the jobs that most Americans would not. The reason behind illegally immigrating into a foreign country is because the new country offers a better life and financial opportunities. Ultimately, a pro-illegal immigration activist would be in favor of compassion over legal justice.
In the case of illegal immigration, the bad outweigh the good. As long as political and economic conditions do not develop and reform in the native countries of illegal aliens, they will progressively cross America’s southern border. By reducing the amount of illegal immigrants would reduce crime rates, taxes and budget deficits. Therefore, we should eliminate illegal immigration and strengthen our border regulations. The United States is not just a place, but it is a nation. The people in America are not just residents, but they are citizens.
Works Cited
Barnes, Ed. "Illegal Immigration Costs U.S. $113 Billion a Year, Study Finds -
FoxNews.com." FoxNews.com - Breaking News | Latest News | Current News. Web.
11 May 2011.
"Illegal Immigration in California." United States Immigration: Green Card, Visas and
U.S. Citizenship. Web. 11 May 2011.
Whitaker, Bill. "Does Illegal Immigration Lead to More Crime? - CBS Evening News –
CBS News." Breaking News Headlines: Business, Entertainment & World News - CBS
News. Web. 11 May 2011.
Wolf, Richard. "Rising Health Care Costs Put Focus on Illegal Immigrants –
USATODAY.com." News, Travel, Weather, Entertainment, Sports, Technology, U.S. &
World - USATODAY.com. Web. 11 May 2011.
