Dear Future President,

The United States is known for our freedom, but now we are thinking to rid our country of illegal immigrants. We can’t let these people suffer anymore than they have, which is way more than anyone should have. We can increase border security if we need to, but we need to take down any existing wall, moat, or barricade trying to prevent illegal immigration.

These immigrants, mainly coming from Mexico, are being refused entry because we don’t want people we think will ruin our economy in our country. In the article “The US Should Provide Better Evidence its Borders are Secure,” by Edward Allen, it states,“In 2000, the number of arrests was almost as high, driven by the strong U.S. economy and rising numbers of young workers looking for higher wages in the United States. Arrests have dropped sharply since then. Only 463,000 were made in 2010, the lowest number since 1972.” The amount of arrests have lowered because people aren’t coming to make our country bad. They want shelter, or to be able to live freely. They don’t even have much privacy in their country. “Drone, Sweet Drone” by Micah Zenko says,“Although the Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection has been flying drones above U.S. borders for seven years, the drones' current uses, and potential expansion thereof, are now a contentious political issue.” All of these people are being terrorized outside of our country, so we need to to take them in and keep them safe.

Many United States citizens still think every single immigrant is going to cause trouble in the country, but they actually do just the opposite. John Lee’s article, “Secure the US - Mexico Border: Open It,” states that border control has decreased since 2008, but there have been less and less problems with immigrants. The article also says that over 70 drug smuggling tunnels have been shut down since 2008. If we keep our border security up we have a better chance to stop illegal products coming into the country. The people who look to bring these products to our country should get a second chance. These people maybe weren't brought up like you or I, and there mind got corrupted somewhere in their life, but they deserve another chance to prove themselves worthy to our country. If we take down any obstacle on the border, a wall, moat, bridge, other immigrants who just look for a haven will think they are welcomed to our country. These immigrants also take on jobs the average american citizen would refuse. Immigrants are farming, cooks, homecare aids, and taxi/truck drivers. The article “Most Common Jobs Held in Each US State” by Dora Mekouar shows that the most common job for immigrants in Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, and Maine are actually college teachers. All these jobs have a positive effect on our country’s economy. We need someone to do these jobs and the immigrants are willing to, so we should welcome them and their families to our country.

Even though these immigrants bring many good values into our country, a large amount of people still want to rid all immigrants in or from our country. They generalize all immigrants, saying every one of them smuggle drugs or illegal items into our country. They say we should build an enormous wall across the US - Mexico border, to stop anyone from coming in. Peter Schrag’s article, “Strengthening the US - Mexico Border Will Not Stop Illegal Immigration,” implies “Opponents of increased border security contend that strengthening the border leads to unintended consequences and distracts attention from the real problems with current immigration policy that encourages illegal immigration.” These people aren’t seeing that these immigrants aren’t a very big problem, but thinking we need to abolish every one of them at once. If they spend too much time on brainstorming ideas to end illegal immigration, they won’t be focusing on larger ideas like our growing economy, or terrorism issues. Border control is handling immigration at the moment, so the government should be focusing on these larger issues, rather than neglecting them and dealing with immigrants themselves.

During the span of the past 100 years the United States has seen immigration as a problem, and tried many methods to stop it. None of these methods, whether it is a wall, moat, fence, or river won’t stop or even slow down illegal immigration. The most recent, a wall, has done nothing because, many immigrants are digging holes under it, or climbing over it. Peter Schrag’s article also quotes, “‘Show me a 50-foot wall,’” Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said when she was governor of Arizona, “‘and I'll show you a 51-foot ladder.”’ This means no wall is going to stop immigration. Moats have never been used, but they were considered throughout the 1900’s. Even if they were used, I don’t think immigrants would have any problem rafting over them. Even if we place a new wall or moat on the border, it will cost us about 4 billion dollars a year. We already owe ten countries over 530 million dollars, so we can’t afford a huge useless wall. If we take down the wall, we will save billions of dollars, and be able pay off our debts to other countries, which is more important than quickly building a large wall. Once we gain back our money, we can pay for more border security to stabilize the border and keep any illegal products out of the country. This may not end illegal immigration as hoped for, but it will satisfy that requests of many, and build a stronger relationship with the Mexican government.

Immigration isn’t as big as a problem as it seems to be in our country, and I hope you see that in the way I do. I really appreciate you taking an amount of time out of your heavy schedule to listen to my thoughts on illegal immigration. I understand the importance of what you do, and I would like to thank you for serving our country as our president. Again, I thank you and wish you great success leading our country.

With great admiration and respect,

Adam Greene