It would be a lie to claim that immigration has not made a large impact on the formation of the United States; the effect it has had on citizens for its last two-hundred years of existence has been too great for any scale to measure. Aside from the thirst for freedom, immigration has led the country to where it is today, as many Americans themselves are descendants of migrants. However, within the past thirty years, there has been a spike in so-called "illegal aliens", particularly from Latin America and parts of Asia. Because of the millions already living here with citizenship, either by birth or naturalization, the increasing numbers have become harder to control and monitor—some illegal immigrants have even been reported abusing the system by collecting benefits much needed by American veterans and citizens who are disabled. There must be changes made in the current immigration laws because if there is not, illegals will continue to threaten healthcare, abuse Social Security benefits, and receive unfair subsidized college tuition that could be used for hard-working American students who are citizens.
With an increased number of people living in the United States every year, including some 12 million illegal immigrants, lack of border security has become a threat to public healthcare in the country. One reason is that more often than not, immigrants without prior medical care bring contagious and potentially deadly diseases into this country that healthcare providers are not prepared to deal with, including tuberculosis and polio.
A statistic from as recent as 2006 states that 43 million US citizens' lives are at risk due to lack of medical insurance, as seen in Illegal Aliens and American Medicine. This is a big implication to be considered regarding illegal immigrants, who may not have received proper care (that include vaccinations) in their countries of origin and may be carrying diseases many are not prepared to deal with.
Aside from this, it is due to the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution that all babies born on American soil are automatically citizens—according to Madeline Pelner Cosman, a medical lawyer and president who contributed to the same publication, illegal alien parents have taken advantage of this by welcoming "'anchor babies.' Illegal alien women come to the hospital in labor and drop their little anchors, each of whom pulls its illegal alien mother, father, and siblings into permanent residency simply by being born within our borders. Anchor babies are citizens, and instantly qualify for public welfare aid."
There is another major problem here with more babies being born to illegal immigrant parents—aside from more people to take care of under a healthcare system that some US citizens cannot even afford, it gives illegals more of an excuse to abuse the system and get income from Social Security Income or disability.
Yet on the flipside, senior writer Andrew Romano forNewsweek argues that healthcare should be made available to all who live here, including illegals; "Given that illegal immigrants have, by definition, broken our laws, it makes sense that large numbers of upstanding citizens oppose any measure that would encourage more foreigners to sneak into America or make their lives easier."
That is the problem, is it not? The fact that they are willing to break US laws, but not be responsible and work to pay for insurance? It is not like many citizens can afford insurance, either, but the fact that the government would be willing to freely give health insurance to people who are not even citizens is proof that there is something that must be done to change immigration laws and limit what they get until they become naturalized.
For years, Social Security has provided the disenfranchised with a living to make their way either long-term or until they no longer need it; however, with illegal immigration, it seems to be a big problem because, as previously mentioned, many illegal alien parents have their children on American soil to make them citizens and therefore have an excuse to collect benefits—these benefits would better off being given to US citizens such as veterans who need it.
However, those who disagree, such as Edward Schumacher-Matos from the Washington Post, say that: "the contributions by unauthorized immigrants to Social Security—essentially, to the retirement income of everyday Americans—are much larger than previously known, raising questions about the efforts in many states and among Republicans in Congress to force these workers out…by 2007, the Social Security trust fund had received a net benefit of somewhere between $120 billion and $240 billion from unauthorized immigrants".
However, there is a hole in this logic because in order to pay taxes, one must:
1.) have a job
2.) most job applications require a Social Security number to be put down along in order for the government to collect taxes
So where would they happen to be getting these if they are not here legally in order to obtain them through the proper channels? More importantly, are the popular claims of illegals abusing the social security benefits true?
Rachel Alexander, a contributor to the Intellectual Conservative, argues with a mind-boggling population statistic: "Nearly 90 percent of immigrants arrive with income and social service levels less than one-tenth of those in the U.S…about 10% of immigrants in California were on welfare, compared to 8% of the total amount of California residents. The bloated U.S. welfare state cannot continue expanding, even without the influx of illegal immigrants, the cost of citizens dependent upon U.S. social programs is escalating out of control…at some point, social welfare programs have to admit that it is their philosophy that is turning illegal immigration into a crisis". This just goes to show that if the country cannot even afford to support its own people, then it should not be investing in anyone who do not deserve to have them, and that includes illegals. Most American citizens with jobs already work hard enough, and their taxes go toward Social Security and welfare so that it can be possible at all; if illegal immigrants keep abusing the system, there will be none left for those who truly need it.
College is just one step for many American youth as they carve out their own paths and ultimately strive for the so-called "American Dream", but with costs and competition, it can be hard for some to get into even a decent institution. One would think that for immigrants, legal or no, that it would be harder for them to get an education—but they are wrong.
Ward Connerly, a journalist for The Washington Times and former student of the UC (University of California) system, gives his testimony on the matter of subsidized college tuition for illegal immigrant children or children of illegals: "As a regent of the UC system, I know that the citizens of my state, as well as federal taxpayers, subsidize each graduate and undergraduate student's tuition to the tune of thousands of dollars each year…California residents pay $3,859 in yearly tuition to attend UC, while out-of-state students pay nearly $15,000 for the same education. I am not unsympathetic to the millions of individuals throughout the world who want to come to California to earn a decent living and pursue opportunity and freedom, but our federal laws are crystal clear about illegal immigration. These laws should not be ignored or even given a big wink. It is wrong to confer a benefit on illegal residents that we do not confer on our own citizens. This is a shameful devaluation of the privilege of American citizenship, to say nothing of the inducement to greater illegal entry into the United States". Not only is it wrong to cater to those who are not even citizens when we cannot do the same for our own people, but it will only make matters worse because more migrants will want to come to the United States and take advantage of "free education". There are also thousands of college alumni who are still paying off loans they had to take out for school, which is another major implication of how unfair subsidized college tuition is on American citizens. Those who oppose this view often ask, why not send them to college anyways to give them legal status as citizens?
The answer to that can easily be seen in the words of immigrant attorney David Bennion at the Nationalities Service Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who claims that "each year, about 65,000 undocumented students graduate from high school in the United States…Many colleges and universities will not permit them to enroll. Even if they are admitted, most financial aid is not available to them. In most states, they will pay prohibitively expensive out-of-state tuition rates, regardless of how long they have lived in the state". On the contrary, many illegals end up finding jobs while still in high school and stick with it until adulthood because their families are usually too poor to let their child just not work; plus, employers at convenience stores and fast food chains are more than willing to get their use out of any youth who is desperate to find a job.
Bennion later mentions in the article the founding of DREAM, a foundation dedicated to granting citizenship to undocumented youth and providing college expenses for them—again, why would the government pass a bill enabling this when they cannot even afford to accommodate a good majority of the citizens already living in the United States? This is yet another reason why changes must be made in the system so that it is not being wrongly taken advantage of.
There are many reasons besides abuse of welfare systems, threats to healthcare, and unfair college tuition that the laws surrounding immigration should be enforced more firmly or even changed. Everyone does deserve an equal opportunity at happiness and success in a new country, but only if they go through the proper channels and work hard to achieve a naturalized status in the United States. It is said that the things we work hardest for that will reward us the most; therefore, immigrants who wish to live here must do so legally and work hard to obtain legal status if that is the case.
Source : articlesbase.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment