Illegal Immigrants Are a Problem

On March 25, 500,000 people, mostly Hispanics, marched in the streets of downtown Los Angeles in protest to a bill that congress is attempting to pass that would make being in the U.S. illegally a felony. Many are outraged over the proposal of the law, they believe it keeps people from living out their dreams in this nation, they also say that the illegal immigrants do jobs that Americans refuse to do. These two arguments have truly been over exaggerated and it's about time that our nation addresses the sensitive issue of illegal immigration. I don't understand why everyone is getting upset that we are finally putting our foot down as a nation and saying "this needs to stop", today there are over 12 million undocumented people living in the U.S., there isn't even 12 million people living in Cuba, so what does that say about the issue? If you live in a nation that has more than 12 million people living there that are not documented then it is not only irresponsible on the United States part, but it's dangerous as well.

What if one of these undocumented people rapes somebody, murders somebody or commits any other kind of crimes, what is the basis in finding these people and I must say that it's quite easy for these people to commit a crime and run to their native homeland and it does happen quite a lot. I'll give an example, two years ago, my neighbor who is Mexican was shot in the back with a shotgun by another person in the neighborhood who was also Mexican, luckily my neighbor did not die, but the boy who shot him didn't face any charges because his family had him immediately pack up and go to Mexico to stay with some other relatives of theirs. Another example was when I was coming back from Sylmar and a guy hit my grandmother's truck, she pulled over to exchange information with the man, but the man drove away and my grandmother chased him down in her car where she found the car that he was driving abandoned with a six pack beer with about four drank and two unopen in the back seat. We found the guy in about two hours and we found out that the car was stolen and that he was an undocumented immigrant. So since the car was stolen and he was undocumented that meant he couldn't pay to repair the damages that he had done as a result of being drunk so she had to pay for it.

Another argument people try to use to justify illegal immigration in recent years is that, this is a nation of immigrants. That is indeed true but it is also true that when the immigration boom was taking place in the late 1800's and early 1900's this country wasn't as prosperous as it was today, it was still in development it was still being built so those people lent a helping hand into turning America into what it is today. Whereas today's immigrants are coming here today and looking at America as a business opportunity, that is not what this nation is, a place to make money and fly another country's flag. Today America is over populated, the job market is tough and there just isn't anymore room for competition in the American workplace. Americans who are not of Latino descent are growing more hostile toward immigrants because they're losing jobs to them because they are willing to work, but they're losing because jobs are being outsourced to Latin American countries who have laborers who will work for half the wages that they are willing to accept.

Another thing that we must remember is that here in the U.S. we treat immigrants much better than other countries do. Mexico is not very fond of illegal immigrants coming into their nation, just recently a group of Cubans were discovered busted, jailed and sent back to Cuba and if you don't already know it, Cuba is much more of a nation to run away than Mexico is. Not even the U.S send people back to Cuba once they reach the shore, but Mexico does. I understand coming from foreign countries in Latin America is a struggle but when over one thousand people are attempting to hop a fence into America everyday we must stop it. But if a Chinese family had to cram into a crate and board a cargo ship and ride for two weeks with no food and water, I couldn't ever imagine turning them away, swimming in freezing water with your baby in one arm and your wife in the other coming from Cuba or Haiti, I couldn't turn any of those people away. But out of twelve million illegal immigrants I am positive that ten million of them are either from Mexico or El Salvador, while the other two million are everything else.

The point that I am making is that it is much easier to come from Mexico, El Salvador or Guatemala than it is to come from one of the countries like China, Cuba or Haiti, these countries have corrupt governments and can't support their people. China and Cuba are communist nations and Haiti is just extremely impoverished with leaders taking everything they can out of it and when these people are caught and sent back to their respective nations they are jailed. That to me is a struggle that lawmakers admire, but immigration from Mexico, El Salvador and Guatemala is not usually like this, while some come to start a whole new life with their family, which I respect, others come to make a quick buck.

Most Latinos think that the law that congress is attempting to pass is racist, when in fact it's not. They see it this way because the majority of the people doing the migrating is Latino. It's not that at all it's just that now, the issue is too large to overlook, Americans are complaining about it to the point where you have citizens taking it into their own hands and going out and conducting their own round up of illegal immigrants, like the minute men. I think having the law is both more lawful and less dangerous, than having a large group of disgruntled men with shotguns go out and patrol the borders themselves. The issue mostly is causing an issue amongst Americans and lawmakers because of the dire economic situation many of Americans are facing today, national security and the general safety of the American public.

Another way to look at the issue is, if someone is not ok with the state of their nation do they expect to go to another nation where there is already millions of people being laid off and fighting for the few jobs that are open and just be accepted with open arms by the masses? As good as that sounds the real world doesn't work that way and probably never will. I couldn't imagine twelve million Americans heading up to Canada and trying to compete with Canadian citizens over jobs and expecting to be loved and accepted in such a competitive environment especially if we try to fly American flags high and proud and say how much we are proud to be Americans (like a lot of immigrants in America do), if you're proud of your country stay in your country and make an opportunity available for yourself there, the third richest man in the world sure managed to do that for himself, Mexican billionaire, Carlos slim Helu and others in nations besides America, Russia which was under harsh Soviet rule until 1991 today has 27 billionaires, the third most billionaires in the world and they just got the opportunity to make money and get out of the bread lines just fifteen years ago. So the whole notion that there is no way to make money in your own country is completely false, it's just like coming to America and finding an opportunity here, you have to learn to do the same in your own nation. Under certain circumstances is immigration ok, like I mentioned earlier coming from an impoverished nation like Cuba, China or Haiti, where the opportunity doesn't even exist because you're either under communist rule, where you can't be financially prosperous or your country is so poor that it can barely feed its people.

Another important thing we must ask is, if we allow all of these illegal immigrants to pour into the nation illegally and just accept them then what do we tell those people who want to come over here but do it the legal way or the people who are trying to obtain their citizenship? This is a huge slap in the face to those who abide by the law and try to get over here legally. People can complain and say we're wrong for not allowing them to just come in here illegally, but the fact is that it's illegal. They should have to get in the line and wait with the rest of the people who are trying to become an American citizen. The rallies on March 25, were truly touching because it was wonderful to see all those people stand together for a common cause but I can and never will stand and protest against a government that is simply asking illegal immigrants to stop strong arming their way into the country and take the right route to getting over here and gaining citizenship.

There are millions and millions of people around the world, not just Latin America, that dream of coming to America, they go to bed at night and dream about it. They wake up in the morning and pray to God that if he grants them one chance to come over here, that they will fly the flag of the United States high that they will respect our nation and our laws and most of all they will be proud to be called an American. Those are the people I protest for the ones who do it the legal way, not the ones who do it illegally and get upset when they're deported.