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Running Head: Immigration

Immigration
Ali Apodaca
The University of Texas at El Paso

Immigration

Abstract
This research paper explains the major issue of immigration, which we as Americans
encounter today. Immigration is one of the most controversial topics throughout our country.
This paper will explain the unfair immigration system throughout the United States. This paper
will provide statistics of immigration, informal facts, real life events, and solutions to the issue of
immigration. This paper will also be related to the El Paso, TX community and give information
on how it is unfolding throughout their community. The issue of immigration should be
reevaluated and people that would like to live an American lifestyle should be able to have the
chance to. Immigration is a topic that is very important to many people and it should be
evaluated as such.

Immigration

Introduction
Immigration has always been a very controversial topic throughout our nations history.
There are over 11 million immigrants today in our country and more coming each and every day
(Camarota, 2015). A majority of the immigrants that are entering our country are originally from
Mexico. Other minor groups of immigrants are from Guatemala, Honduras, the Philippines,
India, Korea, Ecuador, Brazil and China (Salamon, 2010). Immigrants come to our country for a
various amount of reasons. Many come in hopes of finding a better lifestyle for their families,
while others come for better paying jobs and more freedom. The issue has gone back and forth
for years between politicians and a good solution has still not come from it. Immigration needs to
be given the attention that it deserves and have a permanent solution that will be in favor of
everybody. Immigration has effects on the economy, citizens of the United States and on the lives
of the immigrants.
Immigration and the Economy
A majority of the immigrants that are coming to America are coming in search of a better
and more stable job. According to "Facts about Immigration and the U.S. Economy," by Daniel
Costa, David Cooper, and Heidi Shierholz, "For the United States as a whole, immigrants share
of total output was about 14.7 percent over 20092011." (Costa, Cooper, Shierholz, 2014, para.
6). These statistics show us that immigrants do not have a major percentage of output in the
economy, but do have an increasing amount, compared to the U.S. born percentage of 85.3%.
Also, many immigrants who do come to the United States get involved with starting their own
small businesses. The amount of small businesses owned by the immigration workers is also
higher than American owned small businesses. Contrary to popular belief, many immigrants

Immigration

have high paying jobs, such as dentists and nurses, but there are a considerable amount of
immigrants that are living in poverty. A big debate today in America is that immigrants are taking
away American jobs. This belief is false, statistics have shown that in fact immigrants in the long
run do not decrease American-born jobs. Immigrants are most likely taking jobs that Americans
Figure 1

would not consider taking. (Costa, Cooper, Shierholz,


2014).
Immigrants and Citizens of the United States

America is a diverse nation with all different kinds of immigrants that are a part of our
everyday lifestyle. Immigrants bring all different kinds of ideas and help the American
population be very diverse. Overpopulation is also a concern from many American citizens.
According to CATO Institute, Americas annual population growth of 1 percent is below our
average growth rate of the last century. (Griswold, 2002, para. 9) These facts allow us to see
that immigrants are not causing any problems to our concerns of overpopulation. Another major
concern between all American citizens is our safety. The allowing of immigrants into our country
poses a threat on our nation. Even though a majority of immigrants coming to America have no
intention to pose any threat, it is very important to acknowledge the risks. According to Open
Borders, Foreigners whove carried out terrorist attacks have entered the United States legally
on immigrant, non-immigrant work/study, or tourist visas, (Open Borders, 2013, para. 2).
Although, the terrorists that have the intention of causing harm to us have most likely over
stayed their time allowed here. This calls for more strict rules and better background checks on
the people entering our country.
Immigration and El Paso, TX

Immigration

El Paso, TX has always been involved in the issue of immigration with it being so close to
Ciudad Juarez. The citizens of Juarez see El Paso as an easy gateway to get into the United
States, because it is just over the fence. According to The El Paso Times, El Paso has the
seventh largest percentage of foreign-born residents out of 104 metros in the United States.
(Valdez, 2015, para. 1). El Paso currently has about 215,239 immigrants and it is increasingly
growing each and every day. Local residents have very different opinions on the current status of
immigrants in their city. Some locals do not let the issue bother them, while others think we
should have a more secure border. Ramiro Cordero, a fellow native El Pasoan thinks that the
border needs to be more secure to ensure the safety of the people. He explains that the border has
strived for better security with the increasing patrols and the obstacles that the immigrants would
have to endure while trying to cross over illegally. Another major area that El Pasoans have seen
immigration is throughout their school districts. According to The Atlantic, In an effort to
improve state test scores at Bowie High School in the 60,000-student El Paso Independent
School District, administrators told some low-performingmostly immigrant studentsto drop
out of school, (Semuels, 2016, para. 2). Many would think that El Paso with its high percentage
of Latino citizens would be considerate and welcome of immigrant students throughout their
districts. The school districts main response was they could just not afford to offer extra help to
students in need, because of their budget cuts (Semuels, 2016). Overall the city of El Paso has an
increasing amount of situations involving the issue of immigration throughout their growing
community.
Immigration Solutions

Immigration

With so many people having different opinions on how immigration should be handled,
coming to a permanent solution will be very difficult. Closing our borders should not be a
choice. This would only decline the amount of tourists, causing us to loose beneficial money that
could be put back in our economy and help our nation. Also this would invoke a severe drop in
foreign students attending our wonderful universities (Griswold, 2002). According to CATO
Institute, The problem is not that we are letting too many people into the United States but that
the government has failed to keep the wrong people out, (Griswold, 2002, para. 11). This is a
very valid point and gives the United States a good basis as to what they should do about this
issue. The government needs to focus on knowing how to keep dangerous people out and
allowing peaceful people to come to our wonderful country. Closing our borders completely
would do nothing to enhance our security, it would only take away the joy from the current
hardworking immigrants throughout America.

Conclusion
Overall, immigration will always be a very controversial topic throughout our nation. The
number of immigrants will keep growing and something has to be done to ensure our safety and
allow people to have a chance at the American lifestyle. Immigration has many different
solutions, but we need to find a permanent solution that will be in favor of everyone.

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