Imagine a life where you wake up every day thinking this country is yours and you identify yourself as a United States citizen. I know the Pledge of Allegiance word for word, I stand and place my hand over my heart, this is my country and this is where I want to be. I was born here and stayed here all my life. My parents came here to provide a better life for my brothers and I. Should we have to suffer because of the decision that our parents made? They only wanted to make a better life them and their children. It was not an easy decision for my parents to make, leaving behind family, jobs, and homes they built.
Immigration is a hot political topic in the United States of America today. Many people have different perspectives about this topic, some think that immigrants should come in to the United States legally and be processed by the United States government. While others think they should just be deported and never able to come back into the country. Immigration is not just about the people that enter in illegally, there are many that come here, get a work visa, green card or are trying to do the right thing to become a citizen. I believe that if you have a clean criminal record and report to the ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), you should be able to stay in the United States and become a legal citizen.
Many immigrants that migrate to the “land of the free” come in search of better jobs, this can help boost the economy in many ways but also can hurt many people that are already here working, “In 2014 about 27 million immigrants were working in the U.S. making 17% of the total civilian workforce, they alone accounted for 5% of the civilian labor force.”(Pew Research Center) In my opinion immigrants do the worst jobs that many americans feel are to low of standards for them, like picking fruits and vegetables or working construction (Pew Research Center) Many immigrant workers do not pay into social security and the bosses they work for do not provide any benefits to them.
Some immigrants come for a darker reason, they are on the run. The current president of the United State has vowed track down the estimated two to three million gang members, drug dealers, and criminals that are currently in the country.(Chishti) In a 2015 report there were approximately 820,000 out of 11 million were illegal convicted criminals.(Chishti) ICE authorities have been focusing on immigrants convicted of crimes and those who are a threat to the security of our nation.(Haugen) Chances are that if they were breaking the law in their own country then I am sure they will do the same here in our country. They did not come here for a better life they came here to escape conviction and prison. Their intentions are not pure.
As you can tell there are many reasons for immigrant of all countries to want to live in America. Lawmakers need to figure out a way to help those in need and still keep out the criminals and drug dealers. I just hope that they can do it soon.
