Dear Next President,

Illegal immigration is causing a divide to occur in America. A part of this country’s population is agreeing with immigration, since they either receive the government related privileges, or they believe everybody should be able to live like an American, even if they are not legally one. Many American citizens are absolutely for immigration, since they believe the illegal citizens can successfully contribute to our country’s government and economy, by simply filling in the gaps of what legal Americans will not do. Americans today tend to believe that “There are too many people with anti-attitudes about immigrants, social reforms, and economic disadvantages for the working class. People seem to be turning on each other instead of embracing what has made our country great over the centuries,” (North). Illegal immigrants are taking away the previous image of America, and creating a new one. With them, more and more people are starting to depend on the government, instead of working for everything we own, which is what many people for years have done in the past. This topic of illegal immigration should be a big concern for the next president of the United States, because they should be able to address this issue and put an end to it.

Illegal immigrants that are travelling into America are not benefiting nor helping the economy, due to the fact that they are not fit for many jobs in this country. Illegal immigrants do not have the skills that are needed by American businesses today. The author of an article focusing on illegal immigration states that “However, when the nation is flooded with immigrants in skill categories without genuine shortages — shortages where, for example, employers simply cannot find enough qualified applicants or the wages they would have to pay are too high to keep their doors open — illegal immigration drives down wages and increases unemployment, especially for America’s lowest-paid workers,” (Morici). Not all of the illegal immigrants can be hired, and that causes problems to occur which can affect the economy. One problem that will occur due to all of the immigrants hoping to find a job with a small skill set, is that the unemployment percentage will increase because not many jobs are hiring. One other problem that is caused by the entering of illegal immigrants as it relates to our economy, is that they result in wages having to be lowered for many people and many businesses. That occurs because the businesses that the immigrants work for have to lower their wages because they can only have so many people working for them and still have an open and operating businesses. According to the Washington Post, “The report, based on a five-year study from 2007 to 2012, found that the size of the illegal immigrant workforce has remained at 5.1 percent of all workers, even though the total number of illegal immigrants has fallen from a peak of 12.2 million in 2007 to about 11.2 million in 2012,” (Constable). That quote explains that out of all of the illegal immigrants that are in the United States, not that many of them are actually working or employed. That is causing problems for the economy because they cannot receive money for themselves through working, and because of that, the government feels they should contribute money to them so they can support themselves. The money that the American government is giving to the illegal immigrants is coming from taxpayers. Not every single taxpayer agrees with where their money is going, since they do not want part of their paycheck going towards someone who is not even working. They would prefer their money to go towards something that will benefit them and make their country a better place, instead of having part of their paycheck being given to an illegal immigrant. InfoWars states that, “In one recent year, taxpayers in Los Angeles County spent 600 million dollars on welfare for children of illegal immigrants,” (Snyder). All of that money is coming from people’s paychecks, and that hard earned money is being given to someone who does not have a job at all. The author of an article that consists of facts on illegal immigration states that “It has been estimated that U.S. taxpayers spend $12,000,000,000 a year on primary and secondary school education for the children of illegal immigrants,” (Snyder). This quote shows another example of how the money of taxpayers is being used towards something that benefits illegal immigrants, and something the taxpayers do not have a say over. The taxpayer’s money is being used to fulfill the lives of illegal immigrants and their education, while it should be used for something else.

The illegal immigrants who are entering the country are not only causing problems for our economy, but they are also threatening people’s safety. They pose a threat to our country because the immigrants have started gangs and cartels that bring very harmful drugs across state lines. Not only are they using welfare, they are using it for drug-related reasons. The illegal immigrants are causing and encouraging more crime to happen in this country, and because of that, Americans are concerned. These gangs are unfortunately encouraging because some people may be influenced by them, and will want to join them, and have their bad influence spread even more across the country. As an author of an article states, “According to the Justice Department’s National Drug Intelligence Center, Mexican drug cartels were actively operating in 50 different U.S. cities in 2006. By 2010, that number had skyrocketed to 1,286,” (Snyder). The fact that cartels are bringing drugs across the border is dangerous and frightening. The drug cartels are taking advantage of the open borders, and are threatening Americans. Over the years, as more illegal immigrants have entered America, people have realized how convenient it is for them to actually live in this country illegally. Due to that, the Mexican drug cartels are considering that offer, and are coming in the country with drugs in hand. As the idea of illegal immigration has grown overtime, so did the idea of Mexican cartels and gangs. According to the InfoWars website, “Overall, more than 55,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence in Mexico since 2006. That same level of violence will eventually show up in major U.S. cities unless something dramatic is done about illegal immigration,” (Snyder). Mexican gangs have caused too much danger in their own country, and will soon have the desire to let the same problems occur here, in America. The gangs do not only cause problems with drugs, but they also cause problems with weapons. According to Snyder, “It is an open secret that Mexican drug cartels are openly conducting military operations inside the United States. The handful of border patrol agents that we have guarding the border are massively outgunned and outmanned,” (Snyder). Illegal immigration is unfortunately increasing the chance for violence to occur in the United States because there are too many immigrants entering the country with weapons. As they enter this country illegally, they are creating their own military groups to threaten people. This is not a good situation, considering the fact that this quote explains how the immigrants have more weapons than the actual people of the border control do. Due to that, more immigrants will come into the country if nothing is done about this, because the people operating the border are unnumbered. Snyder himself writes, “According to the FBI, there are approximately 1.4 million gang members living in our cities. Illegal immigration has been one of the primary factors that has fueled the growth of these gangs,” (Snyder). The problem of gangs has reached such a high level, that the FBI has to come in and try to end this problem. Our country has put itself into a very unfortunate situation, because we have unfortunately encouraged illegal immigration. This problem is not good for our country, and should really have an end put to it soon.

Some people believe that illegal immigration is not a problem for our country because they believe that the immigrants are actually good for our economy and government because they will take the lower paying jobs, and because of that, they are adding more money to our economy. People also believe that the immigrants will benefit society because they will help Americans to have better lives, due to more convenient jobs being taken up by others. They think that illegal immigrants should be allowed to have the same privileges as a citizen of the United States because they are human too, and they have a family that needs to survive in this country. Some people are too kind to not keep immigrants out of our country, because they believe immigrants should be able to eat and go to school. Illegal immigrants should not be allowed into this country because they cause our government and economy to have problems. Their desperate need for jobs is causing the percentage of unemployed people to rise, and is causing many salaries to decrease overtime. The government is suffering due to that, and due to the fact that it has to give out money to immigrants because they are not working. Legal citizens of America who are actually working are forced to give out part of their hard earned paycheck to someone who is not even a legal citizen of the country, and someone who does not even work at all. Not only are the illegal immigrants causing the government and the economy to suffer, they are also posing a threat to the Americans. Since our government is allowing immigration to happen, people are coming into our country with drugs and weapons that will cause crime to occur. The crime rate will increase overtime since the violent groups are encouraging people to join them, and nobody will be able to put a stop to it.

A solution that can be done to alleviate the problem would be for the American government to work with the Mexican government to try and keep their citizens in their country, and out of ours. Our government could also try to encourage their government to update their schools and try to make more jobs for their citizens that are unemployed and have families to support. One other solution that could be put into place is that our government could create a new program that will already have jobs lined up for immigrants before they come into our country, and that can occur through our government and the Mexican government working together. Since the job will already be lined up for them, they will feel encouraged to buy a visa and actually enter the country legally with their family. The job will be able to support and help them, and they will not even have to work off of welfare! The author of Top 10 Solutions to Illegal Immigration in the U.S.A. states that, “As we all know, there are millions of illegal immigrants in the country looking for better employment and opportunities, and with the different solutions that most debaters propose in order to stop this problem, we rarely hear about job-related proposals,” (Anderson). Since people realize how sought after jobs are for illegal immigrants, there should be a solution to this problem that could help them find jobs. Anderson states, “Debates on the subject always center about amnesty, enforcement immigration laws, and border security. We forget to realize that the main reason why these people flock here is because of job. And isn’t it just fair to give these people a chance who's the only reason for illegally entering the country is to have a better life for themselves and their families?” (Anderson). Many people are trying to solve the problem of illegal immigration, but they are thinking of the wrong ideas. The solution to this problem should deal with the government helping people find a job, instead of just putting up more border patrol. The next solution to the problem of illegal immigration in the United States is for our government to make an effort to send the immigrants back to their country once their visa has expired. If the immigrant is not part of the program where they have a job lined up for them, they could be sent back to their country once their visa expires. Due to the fact that they will be deported back to their country, they will be encouraged to get a job that they will receive through the government, and with that, they will be a legal citizen. ListLand states that, “The government should implement a better system that will effectively track down people who overstay their visas. Even if it means spending more funds and hiring more people, the government should push it in order to stop illegal immigration. Another solution is to implement much more strict immigration rules, including interviews, background checks, verification of employment, etc,” (Anderson). A great solution to the problem of illegal immigration is having the government crackdown on who has stayed in the country longer than their visa allowed them to. When this program comes into place, not that many illegal immigrants will be left in nor encouraged to come in the country, due to how the American government will look into this problem. Anderson argues that, “As many as half of them arrive with legal documents, including passport and visa, that permit them to enter the U.S. territory. When their visa expires, they simply not leave the country and become illegal aliens,” (Anderson). Illegal immigrants think that they can get away with not being legal when they secretly realize they have overstayed their visits in this country. But if a program is in place, the immigrants will become more alert, and realize their situation. The program will encourage them to return to their own country, because it is illegal for them to simply overstay their welcome in a country that they did not come from.

Illegal immigration is causing many troubles for the United States, both economical and political. Our weak border patrol is causing our country to be populated with too many illegal citizens that do not work or help to contribute to the well being of this country at all. Illegal immigration is a large growing problem here, because more and more of them are deciding to not work or contribute to our economy, but instead just decide to take money from an economy that is not even theirs. Illegal immigration is a problem for our country and should definitely be dealt with, because not only are the illegal citizens not helping our economy or government, they are also bringing drugs and violence into our country. Many gangs that are related to the problem of immigration are increasing rapidly over time due to the weak amount of border patrol our country has. Over time, more and more immigrants and gangs come into our country either hoping to find a job, or to encourage violence to happen in a country that does not need it at all. Our government will continue to deteriorate if nothing is done, and our country will lose what it has worked so hard for over the years. As John F. Kennedy once said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country,” (Kennedy).

Works Cited

Anderson, Dave. “Top 10 Solutions to Illegal Immigration in the USA.” ListLand, 1 Dec. 2014, http://www.listland.com/top-10-solutions-to-illegal-immigration-in-the-usa/.

“AZ Quotes.” AZ Quotes, http://izquotes.com/quote/284155.

Constable, Pamela. “ Majority of Undocumented Immigrants Work in Low-Skill Jobs, Report Finds.” The Washington Post, 26 Mar. 2015, https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/majority-of-undocumented-immigrants-work-in-low-skill-jobs-report-finds/2015/03/26/dada9f2a-d3bc-11e4-a62f-ee745911a4ff_story.html.

Morici, Peter. “The Real Cost of Illegal Immigration.” The Washington Times, 6 Sept. 2016, http://grabpage.info/t/www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/sep/6/the-real-cost-of-illegal-immigration/.

News Staff. “2016’s Top Legislative Issues to Watch.” Governing, Jan. 2016, http://www.governing.com/topics/politics/gov-2016-legislative-issues-to-watch.html.

North, Anna. “The Biggest Challenges of 2016.” The New York Times, 6 Jan. 2016, http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/01/06/the-biggest-challenges-of-2016/?_r=2.

“Should the Government Allow Immigrants Who Are Here Illegally to Become US Citizens?” ProCon, 26 Sept. 2016, http://immigration.procon.org/.

Snyder, Michael. “19 VERY DISTURBING FACTS ABOUT ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION THAT EVERY AMERICAN SHOULD KNOW.” InfoWars, 10 Aug. 2013, http://www.infowars.com/19-very-disturbing-facts-about-illegal-immigration-that-every-american-should-know/.

“Top Voting Issues in 2016 Election.” Pew Research Center, 7 July 2016, http://www.people-press.org/2016/07/07/4-top-voting-issues-in-2016-election/.