D Block 1/24/12 Caitlin, Annika, CJ Immigration D Block 1/24/12 Caitlin, Annika, CJ

Background Immigration is the process in which moving to a new country, usually for permanent residence. Immigrants are legally allowed to stay in the USA if they are an actual citizen or if they contain a green card. Illegal immigrants cross the border-line secretly. Usually these people are in need of help and are looking for jobs or dealing drugs. The US admits 660,000 legal immigrants every year. The Immigration Act of 1990 allows for 480,000 immigrants with family in the US; 140,000 immigrants in needed employment fields; and the rest under per-country limits and diversity limits. 55% of illegal immigrants come from Mexico 40% of the illegal immigrants, move to California. Our immigration population grows by 275,000 people per year.

Issues Surrounding Legal Immigration How many new immigrants should we admit to the U.S. every year? The citizenship process can take a long time, and some of it is unnecessary. Would creating a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants be a good idea?

Citizenship Process It can take anywhere from five months to two years t,o receive a US citizenship First of all, you need to fill out an application and collect all the required documents if you want to become a US Citizen. Afterwards, you have to get fingerprinted. Next, you are sent to get interviewed. You have to take tests to prove that you are worthy to become a citizen. Finally you take the oath to become a U.S. citizen.

Issues surrounding Illegal and legal Immigration Illegal Immigration What happens to the children of illegal Immigrants? Should states have to pay for the education of illegal immigrants? Some laws designed to prevent illegal immigration can promote racial profiling. How should we deal with illegal immigrants? Deportation? Do these immigrants pay taxes? Should we create a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants? Legal Immigration How many new immigrants should we admit to the U.S. every year? The citizenship process can take a long time, and some of it is unnecessary. Would creating a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants be a good idea? This question is often asked, the usual answer is no. illegal immigrants come to the US for pay, drugs, and health. Every year millions of illegal immigrants come the USA, if we were to grant them with citizenship this would gain more illegal immigrants and therefore a huge increase in people, money, and health care.

Legal and Illegal costs Getting a legal student visa can reach up to $1000 and to get a citizenship is about an extra $300 with legal documents. Every year legal immigrants come over with not enough money and are forced to leave. This is because they are in huge debt and can’t support their families of themselves. Illegal Costs The cost of illegal immigrants can reach $ 15 billion per year. An average of 10,000 illegal immigrants cross the border every day. $8 billion is annually spent on illegal immigrants. The money is spent dealing drugs, legal documents, and health care. Not only is Illegal immigration extremely expensive, drugs that are passed along through the border can cause millions of dollars worth of drugs.

Democratic and Republican views on Immigration Democratic Views We should enable children of illegal immigrants a path to citizenship. The AZ law promotes racial profiling since they police usually only pull over Hispanics. Supports sanctuary cities- cities that do not inquire about immigration status. Republican Views Illegal immigrants should be deported. English should be the single official language of the U.S. (currently there is no official language) and bilingual education should be terminated. Support an AZ law allowing the police to check anyone for papers, if they believe they are undocumented. We should build a wall along the entire southern border.

Future of legal Immigration Immigrants can cause over population in our country. People will have to build new cities to accompany the demand of residency of new legal immigrants. These immigrants compete with American born citizens for everyday jobs. Immigrants that speak other languages could start a community of that foreign language virtually ostracizing any other citizen from that area. We can’t trust these immigrants… what if, we let them use our public schools and they refuse to pay mortgage and federal taxes.

Future of illegal immigration Immigrants that cross the border without inspection can carry dangerous drugs which harm our legal citizens. Some illegal immigrants can also carry contagious diseases that can affect other people of the United States. For Example, The black plague came from Europe in the 1900’s and killed hundreds of US citizens. This plague wasn’t brought illegally but it does show that foreign diseases can spread from immigration. Illegal immigrants can also commit dangerous crimes and possibly hurting legal us citizens.

Citations www.ontheissue.org www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook28.asp www.fairus.org/site/News2 www.immigration.org/illegal/costs/2355/html