Dear Mr. Trump,

I am a concerned student and American citizen. Our world is plagued with many problems and America is too. One issue that I really care about enough to write to you about is the immigration process. America is a promised land to many because we are such a great country. I think the immigration process is very hard. I may be highly opinionated on this topic but I do have facts to back me up. Now many people say if people wait their turn then they will become legal immigrants but I can be so much simpler than that and it should. That is why immigration should be made easier because the country was founded by immigrants and immigrants are hard workers who deserve good and simple lives in an incredible country filled with promise.

To back up a claim, there must be facts and here I will provide them. One article I read was a blog written by a fellow Californian, in (Cela Voice) Michael Marsh ( October 15, 2013 ). What Marsh has said in this is that 1/10 workers in California are undocumented immigrants. These people are given hard jobs involving heavy labor and terrible jobs. People who employ illegal immigrants take advantage of the fact that they are “ aliens “ in this country. They refuse to take responsibility for what happens to these hard working employees. Deporting illegal immigrants could also harm the economy terribly. You in this year's election said you would deport all illegal immigrants. If you do this, this would be a terrible hit to our economy. We would lose so much tax money that is paid by immigrants. This isn’t my opinion, though, this is a fact. According to an article written by Andrew Soergel for US news, it says that America would lose 12 billion dollars paid by immigrants. Even if you , Mr. Trump pulls in all the money you said you would off off-shore funding, that would still send our country spiraling into an abyss of debt. Add that to what we owe other countries and we are completely screwed. The simple way to stop this, don’t deport immigrants and give them jobs. That would add more taxes and it would help cover the hard labor that they do.

When doing research for this topic of immigration being made easier I came up on several websites saying that immigrants are terrible for our country. One website that I remember very well was a blog written by Alex Nowrasteh from the Cato Institute was about a list of common arguments on immigration and why it is “ killing “ America. Some of the arguments that I was really compelled by and that I wanted to address were “ Immigrants will take our jobs and lower our wages, especially hurting the poor “, “ Immigrants are crime prone “ and lastly “ Immigrants abuse the welfare state “. The first argument I found completely baffling. In an article I read on heritage.org written by Robert Rector was one very true article. He said that most Hispanic immigrants, legal and illegal, suffer from poverty. The jobs that immigrants take are also terrible. In a study I read on businessinsider.com was about the types of jobs that immigrants take. The leading concentration of jobs they take is from the agriculture, forestry, and hunting industry. These people are working hard labor jobs that nobody will work and people are saying that immigrants are stealing jobs. It's honestly crazy. The next argument is another one that is really baffling to me because of how untrue it is. The same website that I found this list on I found the rebuttal to this. A little paraphrase of what it read was basically saying that it was a myth. It hasn’t been true for many decades and while some do commit crimes, it is highly unlikely that all of them do commit crimes. The last argument was that immigrants abuse the welfare state. This involves the medical care they get and what they receive in America. It turns out that these people don’t get any privileges at all. Turns out all things healthcare related are not being offered to them other than emergency Medicaid. The war on whether healthcare is a right or privilege is has been waging on and probably won’t stop, but for people who are hard workers and barely get breaks they should be treated like basic humans and be given something.

To conclude, immigrants are very important to this country. Mr. Trump I want you to please take everything into consideration. Immigration is a great thing that this country offers to so many people . My parents are immigrants, my grandmother is an immigrant, and my brother and I are first generation Americans. Being an American is a great thing and I want other children to feel like me and be American citizens with their parents. This country was founded by immigrants and is a haven for so many. It is a place that offers work, shelter, and opportunities that are incredible. This is something that is very important to me so please let America be the haven for people that outsiders see when they look in because this is a great place.

From Concerned Citizen/Student

Ayan Mani