7 November 2016

Dear Future President:

Illegal immigration is a heavily debated upon topic within our country today. It is a serious matter that you need to address. There are multiple major discussions about this issue. The legalization of unauthorized immigrants can actually provide a positive effect on our country and its economy. For example, they carry large workloads that common American citizens do not want to carry, and they also put a great amount of money into our economy. Immigrants should be granted citizenship if they meet the necessary criteria to do so because they deserve to live here just as all other American citizens do. Shutting our borders to migrants is just as horrible as shutting our doors to those who are in need of help. They can deliver a vast improvement to parts of our economy to which US citizens are not dedicated. Illegal migrants will affect our country’s economy in positive ways. In support of my opinion that illegal immigrants should be granted citizenship in the US, many statistics show how immigrants can have positive effects on our country.

Many political officials argue that illegal immigrants can only hurt our economy but they actually put more into the economy than they take out. According to UCLA, legalizing our undocumented migrants and reforming our legal immigration system would provide $1.5 trillion to the U.S. GDP over a decade. Also, the prolonging of the solvency of the Social Security Trust Fund was contributed to by the immigrant’s input into the economy. Unauthorized immigrants even pay taxes. Professor Raul Hinojosa-Ojeda came to the conclusion that tax benefits from legalizing immigrants would fall between $4.5 billion and $5.4 billion within the first three years of legalization. This is a very large benefit that can come solely from migrants.

Illegal immigrants tend to be blamed for the lack of jobs for our American citizens. Migrants account for one in every twenty people in America’s labor force. This means that Americans cannot blame the lack of jobs available on unauthorized migrants. Because they account for a small percent of the work force, unauthorized immigrants cannot take money away from our economy. According to Daniel Griswold, the majority of immigrants do not compete with American citizens and that immigration generally leads to the increase of wages for Americans. Immigrants are willing to do jobs that Americans do not want because of low wages or the amount of work. There is simply no evidence that unauthorized immigration increases the unemployment rates in the United States.

Unauthorized immigrants deserve to be given a chance. They deserve a chance to be free citizens, happy people, and successful workers. Immigrants deserve to become our brothers and sisters as American citizens. Many people doubt that legalizing immigration is safe because of the threat of terrorism but the probability of terrorist becoming citizens is very low. Unauthorized immigrants should not be deported, but welcomed into the USA with open arms. Why would we shut our borders to those who can improve our nation’s economy? There is no factual evidence that illegal immigrants take away jobs from natural-born U.S. citizens. So, let them in! Immigrants are a net positive to our economy. It is difficult to control the anti-immigrant groups that are devoted to hiding the reality that immigrants are makers, not takers. It is important that our country respect everyone who wishes to enter our nation and become a citizen.

Sincerely,

Emily

Bibliography

Fitz, Marshall, et al. "Legalization of Unauthorized Immigrants Would Benefit the US Economy." Immigration Reform, edited by Noel Merino, Greenhaven, 2016. At Issue. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, ic.galegroup.com/ic/ovic/ViewpointsDetailsPage/ViewpointsDetailsWindow?disableHighlighting=false&displayGroupName=Viewpoints&currPage=&scanId=&query=&prodId=OVIC&search_within_results=&p=OVIC&mode=view&catId=&limiter=&display-query=&displayGroups=&contentModules=&action=e&sortBy=&documentId=GALE%7CEJ3010962209&windowstate=normal&activityType=&failOverType=&commentary=&source=Bookmark&u=lafa43079&jsid=af0c117a4d590f1a6af80fa24037713c. Accessed 11 Nov. 2016.

Griswold, Daniel. "There is No Evidence That Illegal Immigrants Take Jobs from Americans." Immigration Reform, edited by Noel Merino, Greenhaven Press, 2015. Opposing Viewpoints. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, ic.galegroup.com/ic/ovic/ViewpointsDetailsPage/ViewpointsDetailsWindow?disableHighlighting=false&displayGroupName=Viewpoints&currPage=&scanId=&query=&prodId=OVIC&search_within_results=&p=OVIC&mode=view&catId=&limiter=&display-query=&displayGroups=&contentModules=&action=e&sortBy=&documentId=GALE%7CEJ3010226400&windowstate=normal&activityType=&failOverType=&commentary=&source=Bookmark&u=lafa43079&jsid=23b1179d650d944099c22b4ffb176e5e. Accessed 11 Nov. 2016.

"Mass Legalization for Unauthorized Immigrants Is a Bad Idea." Immigration Reform, edited by Noel Merino, Greenhaven Press, 2016. At Issue. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, ic.galegroup.com/ic/ovic/ViewpointsDetailsPage/ViewpointsDetailsWindow?disableHighlighting=false&displayGroupName=Viewpoints&currPage=&scanId=&query=&prodId=OVIC&search_within_results=&p=OVIC&mode=view&catId=&limiter=&display-query=&displayGroups=&contentModules=&action=e&sortBy=&documentId=GALE%7CEJ3010962207&windowstate=normal&activityType=&failOverType=&commentary=&source=Bookmark&u=lafa43079&jsid=998af36660eb96e06046900ca7c2eb73. Accessed 11 Nov. 2016.

"Unauthorized Immigrants: Who They Are and What the Public Thinks." Immigration Reform, edited by Noel Merino, Greenhaven Press, 2016. At Issue. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, ic.galegroup.com/ic/ovic/ViewpointsDetailsPage/ViewpointsDetailsWindow?disableHighlighting=false&displayGroupName=Viewpoints&currPage=&scanId=&query=&prodId=OVIC&search_within_results=&p=OVIC&mode=view&catId=&limiter=&display-query=&displayGroups=&contentModules=&action=e&sortBy=&documentId=GALE%7CEJ3010962202&windowstate=normal&activityType=&failOverType=&commentary=&source=Bookmark&u=lafa43079&jsid=bf1e85ee9f08bdfff03839f458c50426. Accessed 10 Nov. 2016.