Thousands Of Illegal Immigrants example essay topic

"Immigrants are to hordes what sheep are to flocks, or lions to prides. They swarm rather than arrive, their faceless uniformity evoking the insect world and its ceaseless, relentless capacity to reproduce". Over the years many things have been done to try to stop the incoming flow of illegal immigration coming over the western border, but most everything has failed which leads to the millions of Mexican immigrants living illegally in the United States. Millions of Mexicans are living illegitimately in California and that number is growing by an estimated half million per year (Long 87; Center for Immigration Studies).

Illegal immigration is now a thing of the past. Years ago the flow of immigration was easily monitored and most Mexicans entering the United States were legal. Gradually things became worse and people began to hear stories of vans and cars full of Mexicans trying to cross the border being pulled over and taken to the border police; however no one really knew how bad the problem was or how much worse it would become. The two key factors that attract illegal aliens to the United States are jobs and family values. In Mexico, the average worker only makes about one tenth of what someone working in the same job in America would make (Scholsser 25). Many American companies are willing to hire immigrants because they can pay them a lot less than what they would have to pay a typical American worker.

Even this low wage is higher than most Mexicans would be making in Mexico. This is what makes the U.S. seem so great to the many Mexicans trying to cross the border. Another large contributing factor to the illegal immigration from Mexico are the community of legal immigrants who form networks to bring others across the border. These groups of people are what make it easier for many more Mexicans to cross the border illegal. They are "incubators" who worsen the problem rather than help by providing jobs, housing and entry into the U.S. for relatives and other Mexicans (Hanson 2). Once the illegal immigrants have been helped across the border it is overly easy for them to find jobs and even become "legal" immigrants.

Many illegal aliens are able to obtain green cards without passing through the many procedures to become a citizen of the U.S. This shows how illegal immigration is almost encouraged through legal exemptions. Many steps have been taken to try to stop the flow that pouring across the border such as the tightening of border police and different immigration policies that have been passed. Last year a law was passed to give partial amnesty to all illegal immigrants living in this country by allowing them to apply for U.S. residency. To do this they wouldn't have to leave the country but would have to pay a one thousand dollar fee. By the end of the April when the temporary amnesty law had expired, thousands of illegal immigrants had cheated the legalization process and became authorized immigrants. This is unfair for those Mexicans who crossed the border and had full intentions of becoming an authorized citizen the legal way.

Even with this amnesty thousands of immigrants still did not file for citizenship. Most believed this was because they didn't understand the rules or what they had to do to become authorized. President Bush now wants to extend that amnesty law and allow millions of more illegal immigrants to become legal. This uncontrolled flow of immigration that is crossing the Californian border is extremely harmful to our economy. With the millions of U.S. citizens who are unemployed already in United States the unneeded unauthorized immigrants are dangerous.

Bibliography

Boreas, George J. "Making it Worse". National Review. Academic Search Premier. CIS Immigration Information Page. The Center for Immigration Studies. web "Estimates of the Unauthorized Immigrant Population". January 2003.
Immigration and Naturalization Service. web Friedland, William H., and Dorothy N elkin. Migrant: Agricultural Workers In America's Northeast. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1971.
Gorman, Siobhan. "The Endless Flood". National Journal. Academic Search Premier. Hanson, Victor Davis. "California, Here They Come (and Come.) " National Review. 11 August 2003.
Academic Search Premier. "Illegal Immigration Turning Calif. Into 'Apartheid State,' Expert Warns". 20 August 2003.
web 200308 NAT 20030820 a.
html Long, Robert Emmet, ed. Immigration. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1996.
Samuelson, Robert J. "The Limits of Immigration". Newsweek. 24 Jul. 2000.
Academic Search Premier. Schlosser, Eric. Reefer Madness. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003.