One Opinion on Illegal Immigration

The United States of America was created as a land where everyone, from around the world, could find a new life, full of opportunity and freedom. Along with that freedom and opportunity, however, comes a great deal of responsibility. For those who choose not to follow the legal process that is set up for people to legally come to the US, however, illegal immigration has become an everyday occurrence. In my personal opinion, I disagree with illegal immigration; I think illegal immigrants need to go through the process and become United States citizens; I feel they cost taxpayers more money, and overall, have a negative impact on our economy. This is more than simply my opinion, however. In this paper, I will present outside sources and information that reinforce my opinion.
The Facts Speak for Themselves

When this paper began, it was mentioned that the unfavorable consequences of illegal immigration were my opinion; however, this goes far beyond my opinion based upon additional research which shows that illegal immigration is unfavorable for many reasons.

First, and possibly most importantly, the security of our nation is a top priority in the present day because of concerns about terrorist acts taking place within the US, terrorists themselves being able to enter the US without being noticed, and so on, not to mention the bad effects that all other types of criminals can have when they enter the country without having been prescreened (Washington Times). Due to illegal immigration, literally thousands of people can enter the US daily uncontrolled and the consequences of this are clear. The country will either be destroyed by terrorists, overrun with criminals, or flooded with even more illegal drugs than would occur anyway. With crime, terrorism and drugs out of control, this country will become worse than the countries from which illegal immigrants are escaping anyhow, which is a negative for the economy because of criminal justice costs, etc.

The economy of the US is harmed by illegal immigration even when the illegal immigration itself is the only crime that is committed. For example, if someone comes to this country illegally from anywhere, and commits no other crime, their financial cost to the lawful citizens and legal immigrants is unbelievable from several viewpoints. Research indicates that illegal immigrants, even if they do not realize it, fail to pay their fair share, if any, income taxes. Yet, these same people also are typically those who seek government assistance in the form of subsidized housing, medical care, and other benefits (West). It is not too difficult to see the economic problem- when people are not contributing to the economy, and are also taking away a huge amount of money from the economy, a deficit exists. This deficit does several very bad things: first, it can make it difficult for those who are following the law to get government benefits if they need them because they have been "beaten to the punch" by illegal immigrants who have taken all the benefits for themselves. Second, illegal immigrants give the impression that obeying the law is not important, and many innocent people can turn to crime because they believe that breaking the law is the way to get what they want. Overall, no economic good can come from illegal immigration.
Conclusion

In this paper, an important opinion has been proven-specifically; illegal immigration is simply bad for the US, any way that anyone looks at the topic.

References
Rethinking Illegal Immigration. (2006, November 10). The Washington Times, p. A17.
West, W. (2003, September 30). Illegal Immigration Threatens U.S. Future. Insight on the News 56.