Illegal Immigration

  

Is It Only Our Dream?

The majority of Americans define illegal immigration as a nuisance for our country. They complain that illegal immigrants do not pay taxes, they are the stemming cause of increased crime rates, and they are taking all of our jobs. In reality, most of these key issues can be argued in favor or against illegal immigrants within our country. Yet this appears to be a huge pressing issue in Arizona as the state recently passed a new strict law on immigration.

Arizona now has the toughest law against immigration in our nation. Its aim is to identify, prosecute and deport illegal immigrants. According to the article, “The law, which proponents and critics alike said was the broadest and strictest immigration measure in generations, would make the failure to carry immigration documents a crime and give the police broad power to detain anyone suspected of being in the country illegally. Opponents have called it an open invitation for harassment and discrimination against Hispanics regardless of their citizenship status.”

This means that any normal citizen, or non-citizen, can be casually strolling down the street and might be pulled over and questioned of their citizenship if he or she happens to appear to be of Hispanic dissent. This is wrong on so many levels because for instance: a mother could be walking her children to school one morning and then be pulled over and if she happens to not have her citizenship papers on her person then she might be hauled away for questioning even in front of her children. The line of right or wrong has to be drawn somewhere and we have to really consider if our laws are still moral.

Also, the author of the article informs that Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles said the authorities’ ability to demand documents was like “Nazism.” During World War Two the Germans would force villagers to wear large identification cards on their person to be able to tell the distinction between the person being of Jewish dissent or not. In my opinion I believe Arizona’s laws are not too far away from reaching this point and there were probably more rational suggestions for the lawmakers to consider first.

I feel the laws shouldn’t be so harsh because in a way, even though it might be small, illegal immigrants do pay help. Every time they purchase something at the store they pay the same sales tax as us, so in a way they are still contributing to the economy and helping maintain some of our basic infrastructure which keeps America running at full efficiency. Yet, assuming if they get paid under the table for their work what they do not pay is the social security tax, state tax, and any other tax/fee that is withheld from our checks. However, if they did somehow fraud their way onto the company's payroll then they do pay these taxes just like the regular citizens.  Finally, let’s be honest most of the jobs that they do get are the ones that are not our first choices of careers and in the end they are just chasing the same American dream as us.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/24/us/politics/24immig.html