Dear Future President,

An issue that America is constantly talking about is illegal immigration. Illegal immigration has been the center of many a presidential debate, and all I feel that I’m hearing is one thing: we need to build a wall. The truth is a wall is not the solution. We need to create a faster more efficient path to citizenship for the illegal immigrants that already live in America. We should also make it easier for immigrants to get here legally.

First of all, a wall would not exactly have the impact most people would think. In fact, it’s not even the majority of illegal immigrants that walk across the Mexican-American border. According to MigrationPolicy.org, only 60 percent of illegal immigrants are from Central and South America. I know that still seems like a lot, but 40 percent of South American and Mexican illegals get to America by plane according to Politifact.com. This means only 36 percent of illegal immigrants cross the border to get to the U.S… If you still think that’s a lot, think about how much it will cost the American people to build and maintain. The Washington Post estimates that just building the wall would cost over 25 billion taxpayer dollars. Building the wall wouldn't even be paid off in your lifetime, so our children would be stuck paying for it. Plus, the American people would be stuck paying for maintenance forever.

My second point is that we should not deport the illegal immigrants already living in America. Most illegal immigrants abide by the law other than being here 'illegally'. Only 5 percent of state inmates are illegal immigrants. As a matter of fact, illegals pay a nationwide effective tax rate of 8 percent. To put this into perspective the top 1 percent of tax payers that are citizens pay only 5.4 percent. The Washington Post's studies show that 35 percent of illegal immigrants are homeowners so they pay property taxes; over 50 percent pay federal income tax, and 75 percent pay for the social security system. Why would you want to keep these honest taxpayers out when they contribute so much to our economy? Instead we should make it easier for them to become citizens.

Lastly, we should make it easier for people to migrate to the United States legally. Immigrants come to the land of the free for various reasons. Sometimes it's to escape an oppressive government. Sometimes it's to practice their religion freely. Some immigrants just want their children to have more opportunities than they had in their country. America was supposed to stand for a better place and opportunity.

In conclusion, we shouldn't build a wall. We should embrace these fellow human beings with open arms. America is a place for all people of different skin and ancestry to come and exercise their basic rights and freedoms. By building a wall you would be sending the opposite message, and you would be tarnishing the American dream.

Sami M. Lawrenceville Georgia.