Immigration in America

    Unlike most of the action projects this one had more leeway with what direction you took it. We were allowed to write a poem or a song or a speech. I chose to do a speech because I did not think I could realistically write a song about immigration. I also wanted to see how I worked compared to the last speech and to see what it taught me. This speech on Immigration helped further my understanding of rhetoric by strengthening my research ability and further my writing skills. I hope you enjoy.

    Our country is losing money almost as fast as it is making it, and illegal immigration is one of the causes for this. Illegal immigration is an issue in America that needs to be faced head on. According to The Washington Times, Last year there were more immigrants crossing the border with less deportations than the years before. With more and more illegal immigrants coming into America the government’s limited funding is going to keep being drained.To solve this crisis we need a system that allows immigrants to come over legally so  we only provide our countrys’ great benefits to our citizens.

    Homeland Security has said that they only have the funding to deport 400,000 immigrants a year(Washington Times), while we had an average of 800,000 immigrants coming over from 2000-2012 according to Migrationpolicy.org. That means that only half of the immigrants who are coming over are getting caught and deported. With an ever growing population of illegal immigrants now reaching 40.8 million we must do something otherwise our country is going to be stripped of its wealth as we continue to pay for more and more immigrants.

    In 2010 it was estimated that illegal immigrants only payed 11.2 billion dollars in taxes while ALIPAC (Americans for Immigration PAC) claims illegal immigrants are using 125 billion of taxpayers dollars. This means the roads are paved slower, reduced funding for government jobs, and there are less benefits for American citizens. How can we stand by and allow our tax dollars to be drained by someone who isn’t even a citizen? To allow them to reap the benefits of our country? We can’t.

“At the heart of much confusion about immigration is the notion that we “need” immigrants — legal or illegal — to do work that Americans won’t do.” Wrote Thomas Sowell. America does not need illegal immigrants to do these jobs. How did America do these jobs before illegal immigrants came? We did it. The wages for those jobs are currently just so low because illegals will do them for practically nothing. But if the wages were raised even slightly many more Americans would be doing these jobs.  

Illegal immigration drains the country’s limited funds while supporting another country. The Washington Post said, “immigrants living in the United States will send $45 billion to family members this year.” So all that money being sent home is money that should be fueling our economy not weakening it. If this money was spent at a local store we would have more money flowing through the community and creating more jobs instead we are losing jobs. How can we keep that money here? By creating a program that would allow immigrants to become full fledged citizens.

A program that gave immigrants citizenship would require a few guidelines and standards. One of these standards would be fluency in English and renouncement of their original citizenship. It would also be necessary to have their families do the same so that the money that is made stays in America and is not sent back home. This program will allow for families to become American citizens while also ensuring that the people pledge their allegiance to the US. The other criteria that must be met is that no one in the family can have a criminal background and there will be a probationary period where if you break the law your citizenship can be revoked. This policy will allow the US to grow our workforce with hardworking Americans who obey laws and will decrease our country’s spending.

Bibliography

Dinan, Stephen. "Illegal Immigration Up, Deportations down in 2014: DHS." Washington Times. The Washington Times. Web. 12 Feb. 2015. <http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/dec/19/illegal-
 immigration-deportations-down-2014-homelan/>.

"Undocumented Immigrants' State and Local Tax Contributions | The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP)." The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). Web. 12 Feb. 2015. <http://www.itep.org/immigration/>.

Williams, Krissah. "Immigrants Sending $45 Billion Home." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 19 Oct. 2006. Web. 12 Feb. 2015. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/18/AR2006101801756.html>.