Dear Future President,

I am attending my last year at Buena Vista Middle school. With the elections coming up there has been a nonstop chatter of immigration and our borders. I believe that this is a huge problem in our country and it needs to be taken care of soon before it starts causing bigger problems. The U.S. needs to enforce the border, as well as immigration laws more strict.

My grandparents came to California from Ireland. They had to go through lots to get here, and it wasn’t easy. They had to learn about a new country, struggle with expenses, get jobs, find a home, and do tons of paperwork. To come here, they had to pay lots of money, which I think is a big reason people don’t get their citizenships. The total cost to get your citizenship is $680. It cost $595 for naturalization and an $85 biometrics fee. People say they come to America to get jobs and make more money to provide for their families because they are struggling with what they have now. I believe if the price was lowered dramatically this would not intimidate, or scare off people from getting their citizenship and make them resort to coming here illegally. It is also important for them to get citizenship because they will learn about the U.S. and this may lead them to feel connected to our country and respecting it more.

If the borders laws were enforced more strictly, we wouldn’t have such a large amount of people coming into the country illegally, and therefore this would encourage them into getting a citizenship so they can come to the country. 65 countries have walls or fences up protecting their borders. I'm not saying we should block out all people from coming into our country, but I think it would be a smart idea if we had one.

Some people think that there is no problem with our border and immigration. People think that we should let people in so they can start over. I agree with that, but I also think it is important for them to get citizenship. People believe that immigrants are paying their taxes, but actually, a majority are sending the money they make back to their families.

I believe that it is very important to get this problem and make sure that the people coming to our country are getting our citizenship and were treated like any other U.S. citizen.

Sincerely,

Maggie Roche