Illegal Immigration There Can Be

Illegal Immigration

There can be no question that illegal immigration is a serious problem in the modern United States. The current wave of undocumented immigrants places a burden on America's social resources, and also creates a very real risk that dangerous aliens are hidden with the masses of innocuous aliens that illegally cross the borders each day. Various people have proposed a wide variety of solutions to this problem, ranging from building a physical barrier between the United States and Mexico to the active and vigorous deportation of all illegal immigrants. However, this position seems somewhat un-American. Instead of fighting illegal immigration with a physical wall, America should find a way to compromise. By banning immigrants from crossing the border, deporting the ones that are already in the U.S., and not allowing pre-existing illegal immigrants the opportunity to obtain citizenship, America is creating a bigger catastrophe than the one created by the current illegal immigration boon. Allowing people of other nationalities to become Americans is not inherently bad; after all, every American citizen's ancestry consists of immigrants. More so than any other country, America is a country of immigrants, a land of opportunity with a history of welcoming people from a broad variety of backgrounds. As a result, America is a mosaic of different cultures, including food, languages, customs, and religions; this mosaic would not exist without immigration. However, many modern Americans seem to believe that the United States should no longer be a land of opportunity, but that the U.S. should strictly limit immigration and actively and stringently enforce immigration laws. Though those that oppose illegal immigration are against illegal immigrants from any ethnic background, the main targets of their efforts are immigrants from Mexico, and those from Latin America, Central America, and South America who use Mexico as a gateway to the United States.

However, blocking these immigrants by building walls and creating other physical barrier to immigration is not an appropriate solution. Instead, the proposed wall and its already-completed parts have led to some severe problems. First, the rate of immigrant deaths due to people making increasingly-difficult illegal border crossings has increased.

Second, the wall is prohibitively expensive. Third, the proposed wall does not cover the entire border, leaving gaps where illegal immigrants can continue to cross; even in places the wall does cover, immigrants have found ways to cross the border. For all of these reasons, the United States should abandon its plans to build a wall between the United States and Mexico.

The most serious consequence of the border wall and stricter scrutiny of illegal immigrants is that illegal immigration has become more dangerous. Prior to the proposals to build the border wall, the U.S.-Mexico border was experiencing unprecedented levels of legal and illegal immigration and trade. Illegal immigration from Mexico has not always been a problem. Until 1964, "the Bracero Program allowed Mexican guest workers to work legally in the United States." (Orrenius). However, when this program ended, illegal immigration from Mexico began to surge, and by the late 1960s illegal immigration from Mexico became a serious issue, and, despite increasing efforts to curb that illegal immigration, illegal immigrants are still crossing the border in droves. To put that in perspective, one needs to consider that "border apprehensions have grown from 200,000 in 1970 to more than 1.5 million in 1999." (Orrenius). As border controls have tightened, illegal immigrants have turned to increasingly dangerous ways to cross the border. For example, many of them use coyotes to cross the border:

coyote or pollero is someone who specializes in human smuggling, bringing people across the United States border from Mexico. Coyotes typically have extensive experience in smuggling people and other goods, and they use a variety of techniques to get their clients over the border, ranging from sneaking across the desert to hiding smuggled immigrants in trucks. Illegal border crossings are often extremely dangerous, and many coyotes command a high fee as a result; often, this fee must be paid up front, in case an immigrant does not make it across...Because of tightening restrictions at the border, the role of the coyote has gotten much more complicated, and for immigrants, the process has become fraught with danger. Numerous immigrants die trying to cross the desert each year, and while some are found, providing closure for their families, others are simply never heard from again. Immigrants have also died while trapped in trucks and shipping containers, and some have drowned while trying to swim the Rio Grande, while others have been shot by border patrol or vigilante groups. (Smith).

While it may be an undeniable that illegal immigrants are creating a major drain on U.S. resources, it seems equally undeniable that someone should not die trying to pursue the American dream.

Building a border wall is also prohibitively expensive. The cost for the border wall is estimated at $3 million per mile, which is $568.18 per foot. (Meyers). Not only is this a ridiculous amount of money to spend on an ineffective border device, but it may actually be a low estimate. For example, in Israel, the border along the West Bank has cost about $3.67 million per mile, and their labor costs are much lower than U.S. labor costs. (Meyers). Therefore, the total proposed border fence could cost upwards of $49 billion dollars; money that is desperately needed elsewhere in today's troubled economy.