Public Opinion on The Problem of Illegal Immigration in America

In the U.S. As of today, there are about 11 million if not more immigrants in America that are here illegally. All of these immigrants that are currently in the U.S. are coming from places all around the world like Mexico for an example. The main question is: should the government give immigrants a path to U.S. citizenship. With that in mind, many people across America continue to debate over the idea of what to do with all the illegal immigrants in their country and the laws involving this topic though with the big contrast in ideas and believes there is still no official action as of so far. Immigration to America is not something that is new to many, it has been happening for more than 100 years.

In 1875 America passed its first immigration law which was “The Page Act of 1875” which made it so any immigrants coming from Asia to America was to become a forced laborer. Also, immigrants have been coming into America for years now it’s not like all of a sudden in 1 year, 11 million people showed up at America's door, but it is true that the amount of immigration happening today is increasing much more than any other time in history. Actually, the most amount of immigrants that were in America was in 2007 with 12.2 million immigrants.

However, that is not the issue for this passage, but rather the conflict between the people who want immigrants to be American citizens and those who don’t. Immigrants, by many, are believed to deserve American citizenship or at least a path to it and for years many politicians have spoken out about this. First of all, in 2016 there was a Gallup poll that showed that 72% considered immigration okay and 84% wanted immigrants to have a path to citizenship. Of course, this doesn’t fix everything it is only the majority of people that want this, and people will stand in those people’s ways, though this could possibly be a sign of what may end up being the finishing decision. Even President Barack Obama has said "We have to deal with the 11 million individuals who are here illegally. We all agree that these men and women should have to earn their way to citizenship”. In addition, more people have also had a word in this debate other than Barack Obama and as many as 84% if not more could agree with them.

Lots of supporters have gone around claiming things that may be true or false if immigrants were given a path to citizenship. One of these people is Esther Yu-Hsi Lee, MA who says "Legal status would boost the economy, but the resulting productivity and wage gains would be much higher if the vast majority of the undocumented population are granted citizenship.” This shows that this claim may be true, or who knows what it may even crash the economy instead, but this person believes he has the facts right and has made this claim. Also, this might as well be the biggest backup support that these people have brought up, especially when you consider that on the internet there lies multiple websites talking about just that. Unfortunately, even though the majority is on this side, it is obvious that the only reason this is a debate in the first place is that there are 2 opposing sides in which there is.

There is still a good amount of people in America that stand up to prove the fact that illegal immigration is illegal for a reason and want to show these immigrants out the door of American citizenship. Some of them don’t really consider immigration bad but they know it’s illegal and they don’t want immigrants coming into their country. One of the biggest people that comes from this side is current U.S. president Donald J. Trump saying “A nation without borders is not a nation. There must be a wall across the southern border.” Donald, of course, has said it himself during his own campaign in 2016. Another person who has also spoken out their beliefs is John Boehner, who says “There will be no special path to citizenship for individuals who broke our nation’s immigration laws – that would be unfair to those immigrants who have played by the rules and harmful to promoting the rule of law.” Many spoken arguments can be found there, but clearly, people can see where this man is coming from.

Though what does this all mean in the grand scheme of things? Well, maybe looking at some actual backup support could show what this side's argument might as well be. So far a few people's words have been shown as of right now, though what are these people’s true arguments. Though one author has written in his full-on opinion with backup support and reasoning on why illegal immigration should not be allowed especially when rewarded with citizenship. This man is author Peter K. Nunez and he says stuff like how we keep awarding immigrants with their basic needs and if that continues only more immigrants and illegal immigration will continue. His words do put up a strong fight within this debate and all of it could be agreed with. So with all of this in mind, it is clear to see why this has come to be a debate in the first place. Americans have many different views on whether or not immigrants first off should be allowed in America and if they deserve a path to citizenship. Supporters would say stuff like how these people need to be taken care of and that we are all people.

While the opposing party would argue that these have come here illegally and don’t deserve special rights and shouldn’t be staying within U.S borders. In all people can see that there still lives a fiery debate that has shaken the face of America between what should be done with the illegal immigrants in America and what shall be the rules in the future involving this issue.