by S. Koontz

Created on: December 05, 2007

Illegal immigration has increased drastically in the last 15 years. According to Peter Katel, author of "Illegal Immigration", "There are more than 10 million illegal immigrants in the United States, and that number continues to increase every day" (Katel 1). The United States of America was built on immigration, but now citizens are complaining about the people who have kept our country running this far. These people have come to our country in search of a better life, but once they cross our borders, they are subject to even more hardships. Yes they may have broken a law to enter our borders, but they are contributing to our economy, and making this country better. Illegal immigrants have as much right to be in our country as we do.

The United States had a completely open immigration policy for over a hundred years, meaning everyone was welcome. Around the 19th century the first laws were made regarding immigration, and it reflected mainly on those who were seen as a financial burden (Katel 4). Chinese immigrants were brought in to build railroads and then excluded in the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 (Katel 4). The United States has a history of being quite unfair when it comes to immigrants. We take advantage of them when they are needed and then throw them back when they are done. Katel points out that, "Laws in 1921, 1924 and 1929 capped overall immigration and limited influxes from certain areas based on the share of the U.S. population with similar ancestry, effectively excluding Asians and Southern Europeans" (Katel 4). Today the government has laws in place to restrict illegal immigrants, but they are loosely enforced in some areas. The government does little to find and remove these illegal immigrants from our country because they are doing jobs others will not. The government fears what would happen if there was no one to do those particular jobs when the immigrants are gone.

One of the major complaints of American citizens is that immigrants, illegal or not, are taking jobs away from us. What these citizens do not take into account is that the majority of the jobs taken by immigrants are ones they don't want. If they were to consider the statistics taken from the U. S. Department of Labor, they would see that in the four states where the majority of illegal immigrants reside the unemployment rates continue to go down, not up ("Unemployment" 1). Illegal immigrants accept jobs with pay rates American citizens would not even consider, and the fact

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