A Broken Policy

Dear Future President,

11 million people. 12 billion dollars. 1 broken policy. In 1990, 400,000 undocumented immigrants lived in the U.S. By 2004, that number jumped up to 3.9 million. Then in March of 2016, 11 million illegal immigrants were living in the U.S. What happened? The U.S immigration policy started to lack in the means of control. Then, our border control did the same thing. Illegal immigrants are freely entering the U.S and causing economic and security problems for the government because there is not enough enforcement for border control, therefore we should create better programs for border control to protect the security of the United States.

Imagine this: You are a legal U.S citizen and you lost your job, so now you’re officially unemployed. You apply for a job and get interviewed. Someone else applies for the same job and got the job that you needed to support yourself and your family. You are very disappointed and go home to your family with no good news. But, you later find out that the person who got the job you applied for was an illegal immigrant. How does that make you feel? That someone that is not even legally registered in the U.S got the job before you did. This situation happens all the time in the United States.

The problem is our immigration policy and border control. Right now, the U.S is still held up in the post WWII immigration policy, which is allowing almost everyone to come to the U.S with background checks, except our border control is lacking the control. The reason the number of illegal immigrants is so high is because they are sneaking in due to the lack of border control to stop these immigrants from not having a background check. Once they are in the U.S they try and find a job. But, again, there is a problem with that. There are tons and tons of American citizens that are unemployed and these illegal immigrants are getting these jobs instead. This is where the economic problem jumps in. Professor Martin of University of California-Davis states exactly what is happening and what will keep happening to the U.S economy if we don’t have a reform to the immigration policy, “Immigration reform must be enacted soon, before the ‘availability of low wage immigrant workers become a resource that gets capitalized into the values of land and business assets’. Already ‘some of the service establishments, factories and farms of the most sophisticated economy in the world are dependent on the most remote Mexican or Central American villages for unskilled labor”-- with serious distortions occurring to each of those economies’. The American Labor Market, will have more jobs and businesses if illegal aliens are allowed to freely enter and work in the U.S. Tolerating heavy illegal immigration introduces distortions into the economy that are difficult to remedy, while imposing environmental and social costs that must be borne by the society as a whole.” As more and more undocumented immigrants freely enter the U.S the economic problems occur. The U.S border control and immigration policy must be changed for the sake of the U.S economy and security.

Not only will there be economic problems, but there are social problems as well. With our lack of border control, the security of the U.S decreases. Fear starts rising in losing jobs, terrorism, etc. President Bush stated in a 2004 speech that, “ instead we see many employers turning to the illegal labor market. We see millions of hardworking men and women condemned to fear and insecurity in a massive, undocumented economy. Illegal entry across our borders makes more difficult the urgent task of securing the homeland. The system is not working, our nation needs an immigration system that serves the American economy and reflects the American dream.” The information in this speech is still relevant to today, Americans are terrified and angry of losing their jobs to an illegal immigrant and not being able to find another one. Our immigration system needs to be more secure, and if otherwise, like president Bush said, “insecurity” rises. Without a strict, securing immigration policy and border control, immigrants will continue to freely enter the country and do as they please.

Now, there has been debate on whether we should keep allowing in illegal immigration or we shouldn't. Many people say yes and no. My question is why let illegal immigrants stay? Why continue to let them stay illegal and participate in illegal activity and take jobs that documented citizens should have? My answer to all of this is if those illegal immigrants want to stay, then should become documented. But if they are doing illegal activities then they should be punished just as anyone should. If they want to be treated like American citizens, then they should be punished when they break the law just as American citizens are. The problem with that is there isn't one illegal immigrant that is going to throw themselves under the bus. Then what happens is the government pays more for immigrants education and health care and eventually pays more attention to them then they are to their own people. From the article “politics of immigration vs reality of immigration, the author states, “the lack of a clear and comprehensive migration policy could confuse potential migrants and refugees abroad, and encourage divisive proposals of dubious legality at home. Unaddressed worries about the costs of providing welfare, education, and health care for immigrants could spark a backlash and create a permanent class of U.S residents with neither government rights nor protection.” So, the U.S people are not happy that they are not the top concern when it comes to health care, education and welfare.

There are many solutions to this problem, but I think that the U.S should change their immigration policy and make it more strict and clear to migrants and create more securing and protective border control to filter out individuals who contribute to terrorism. Another thing that could work well for the U.S concerning the illegal part of the immigration process is having a tamper resistant identity card for U.S workers that would be in the form of a computer readable social security card. So this will make it stronger and more secure by allowing the government to be able to tell the difference between legal and illegal citizens.

We need a change in our immigration system, otherwise the United States will just keep going in the wrong direction for the welfare of the American citizens. Please save your citizens from having the doubt in the system. Hopefully, through your presidency this reform will happen effectively and save the U.S from going any more downhill. Thank you and congratulations for winning the presidential election.

Sincerely,

Mary G.

Source Citations: 

 Williamson, Chilton Jr. “Illegal Immigration and the colonization of the American Labor Market.” National Review 23 May 1986: 48. Student edition. Web. 21. Oct. 2016

“Deadly Crossings: Is Illegal Immigration out of control?” Current events, w Weekly Reader publication 22 Apr. 2005: 1+. Student Edition. Web. 21. Oct. 2016

Tomasi, Lydio F. “The politics of Immigration vs the Reality of Immigrants.” Migration world Magazine 21.5 (1993): 44. Student Edition. Web. 21.Oct. 2016.