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Berenisse Arreaga
Professor Batty
English 28
13 December 2016
People not Aliens
When I hear people talking about illegal immigrants I think of my family. Not my mom,
dad, brother and son; but my many aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. Being hispanic and in the U.S.,
many people have extended family members who werent born here but still hold them dear to
their hearts. But what happens when illegal immigration is a huge topic for this years election?
Elected President Donald Trump does not want illegal aliens here but Hillary Clinton believes
they should stay. Why do they call them aliens? Some people believe they dont belong here.
Which brings me to why Im on Hillary Clintons side and believe she should have been elected
president. I agree with Hillary Clintons immigration policies that illegal immigrants should be
allowed to stay in the U.S. because immigrants make up a lot of the total U.S. population,
immigrants take up all the minimum wage jobs that nobody would settle for permanently, and if
immigrants were to be banned from the U.S. they wouldnt give up on trying to get in no matter
the risks and/or consequences.
Family is everything, family is what keeps us going and brings us happiness and supports
us. Now whether you see each other often or not is something you can deal with, but what if that
family isnt even supposed to be here in the U.S.? There are approximately 11 million people
who are living in the U.S. illegally (Gore, Robertson, & Keily). Just imagine if all 11 million
were to vanish. If illegal immigrants were to be removed from the U.S. millions of families
worldwide would be teared apart by force. Children would be taken away from their parents and

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vice versa. Peoples lives would change drastically and theyd be left with nothing because to
them everything is here in the U.S., this is the home they had always dreamed about and worked
for. The number of immigrant children in the U.S. is also very large. The book Enriques Journey
by Sonia Nazario is about a 17 year old boy who travels to the U.S. to find his mother and goes
through terrible things in his journey, he risks his life trying to come to the U.S. Like it says in
the book, millions of people cross the border everyday including very young children and teens.
All those kids come over here either looking for a better life or looking for their family, and to
send them back or stop them from coming? That would make a lot of people lose hope for a
better life altogether. Hillary believes families should stick together and I believe she is right. In
contrast, Donald Trump sounds reasonable when he says that everyone agrees that we take out
the bad ones (Gore et al.) because criminals have never been a good thing to have around and
they threaten society, however so do the criminals that are here legally. A crime is a crime and no
matter what, who it was committed by shouldnt determine who gets the greater penalty, but
everyone knows that.
Then theres jobs, low paying but hard working jobs. Illegal immigrants make up most of
the minimum wage jobs that nobody would settle for permanently. About 8 million out of the
total illegal immigrants in the U.S. are in the workforce working minimum wage jobs, according
to recent statistics(5 Facts About). In California alone, almost 2 million jobs are occupied by
undocumented people. Immigrants working these jobs struggle with the minimum wage to be
able to get through life and support their families, they push themselves because they know its
better than where they came from. Hillary Clinton wanted to pass comprehensive immigration
reform in order to help those immigrants stuck with complicated jobs, not just because it is the
right thing to do, but because it strengthens families, our economy, and our country (Hillary

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Clinton (D)). The U.S. depends on immigrants, they have been coming to the U.S. for
generations. They are loyal, hard working and they dont give up.
Enrique from Enriques Journey made eight attempts to his dangerous journey across the
border into the U.S. before he succeeded. Children like Enrique dream of finding their mothers
and living happily ever after (Nazario 191). People come into the U.S. for many reasons, no
matter what they are the risks are worth it if they have even a slight chance of making it. And if
at first they dont succeed, sure enough theyll try try again. In the book Nazario says, In spite
of everything, Enrique has failed again-he will not reach the United States this time, either. He
tells himself over and over that hell just have to try again (Nazario 60), which demonstrates to
us just how determined a person can be. The people trying to come over to the U.S. know its
risky; they know they run the possibility of dying on their way over here, they might fail their
mission, they might not even come close, but that doesnt stop them from trying. Illegal
immigrants are very determined people, Hillary and Trump know how many immigrants are here
and how many come every year, but is getting rid of them fair? Illegal immigrants work so hard
to try to come over here; they spend all the money they have to hire a smuggler to help get them
across, the evade the government and authorities, they leave everything they have hoping what
they come to in the U.S. will be worth it, they push themselves towards a better future. Is it up to
us to decide whether their dreams should come true or not? Hillarys policies on immigration
were the only ones who gave those illegal immigrants a chance to be here, she would have
helped the illegal immigrants who come here become legal instead of deporting them.
Hillary Clinton knew what was best for all the illegal immigrants and I know she would
have done everything in her power to help them if she would have been elected president. For all
the reasons I stated, and for countless others, illegal immigrants deserve to be here in the U.S.

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They come here for valid reasons, they dont come to cause harm or make other peoples lives
harder, on the contrary theyre just tired of whatever life they were living back home. We can
enjoy the freedom of our country together with the immigrant aliens because theyre no
different from us; the only difference is our legal status. Were all just people trying to live a
good happy life and they belong to be here as much as we do.

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Work Cited Page

1. Cohn, DVera and Krogstad, Jens Manuel and Passel, Jeffrey S. 5 Facts about
illegal immigration in the U.S. Pew Research.org., 3 November 2016. Web. 5 October
2016.
2. Gore, DAngelo and Robertson, Lori and Kiely, Eugene. Fact Checking Trump
on Immigration FactCheck.org, 30 August 2016. Web. 30 October 2016.
3. Nazario, Sonia. Enriques Journey. New York City: Random House, 2006. Print.
4. ProCon.org. "Hillary Clinton (D)." ProCon.org., 29 Sep. 2016. Web. 6 November
2016.