Dear Future President,

The United States of America is a great country, and in order to keep it that way, certain steps must be taken. The rising rate of illegal immigration into the country poses a threat to both the nation’s economy and the American workforce. Illegal immigrants harm the immigrants that took the necessary steps to be legal citizens, and the natural born citizens of the United States by lowering wages. This also causes jobs that could be given to said citizens, to be lost to the illegal workers. Not only is illegal immigration a burden to the national economy, it is unfair to the natural born citizens who are just trying to get jobs in these challenging times.

Illegal immigrants often look for jobs in the lower skilled area, which takes away from the natural born citizens that also look for these jobs as a starting opportunity. Dr. Vernon Briggs, a professor of Economics at Cornell University, said that the natural born African American citizens possibly suffer the most from illegal immigration because jobs that could be given to them are taken away by the illegal immigrants. The illegal aliens will often work for far less money than minimum wage, the amount set by the United States government. A personal witness to this is Richard Jones, a sheriff in Ohio, who stated that he knows of businesses that cannot compete with other businesses for contracts because they are being undercut by organizations that hire illegal immigrants for less than minimum wage. And although some economists argue that the immigrant workers benefit the economy, because they fill some of the demand from businesses for labor, it doesn’t benefit our economy enough to stay unaddressed. Illegal immigration does not just hurt the people in the market for lower end jobs, it affects the lives and businesses of many middle class citizens.

Something must be done to counteract the growing problem that illegal immigration poses to the American economy. One solution to the influx of illegal workers is simply to send them back to their home country, or in other words, deport them. Arguably, the cost of deportation of all illegal aliens would be great, an estimated two hundred and six billion dollars, but the financial benefits of sending them back would be greater. Edwin Rubenstein, president of ESR Research Economic Consultants, wrote that, “The fiscal benefits of deportation are thus estimated fifty one billion per year… at this rate, mass deportation would pay for itself in about four years.” Yes, the startup cost is large, but the long term benefits to the economy, the natural born workers, and America itself easily outweigh the negatives. Illegal immigration into the United States is clearly a vexing problem, so the question is, Mr. or Ms. President, what will be done about it?

Sincerely,

Paul Thomas

5th period

AP Language & Composition