Immigration in the United StatesEssay Preview: Immigration in the United StatesReport this essayImmigration in the United States“This bill we sign today is not a revolutionary bill. It does not affect the lives of millions. It will not restructure the shape of our daily lives.” – Lyndon Johnson
These words, spoken by President Johnson in late 1965, detail the lack of foresight shown by the previous administrations of these United States. Prior to 1965 the United States experienced a period of approximately 25 years of net emigration. After the passage of the Hart-Cellar Immigration Bill the pendulum of migration began its fateful swing the opposite way. This bill, in my opinion, was originally introduced into legislation solely as a rider to the massive wave of civil rights propaganda and legislation being passed around Capitol Hill. This was an appeasement technique to help secure some votes for more than likely several politicians who were trying to gain support from their constituents. The immigration pattern that resulted from this legislation has inadvertently led to the waste of millions of dollars of social and economic resources over the past forty or so years.
What these politicians did not realize is that by opening the floodgates to 290,000 new legal visas each year, we also were allowing uncountable numbers of illegal immigrants into the country as well. The Center for immigration Studies states, “the unexpected result has been one of the greatest waves of immigration in the nations history — more than 18 million legal immigrants since the laws passage, over triple the number admitted during the previous 30 years, as well as uncountable millions of illegal immigrants” (“Three Decades of Mass Immigration”). Now, finally in the year 2006 the administration is beginning to readdress this mistake that its predecessors made. Our elected leaders are finally beginning to try and fix or undo the harm that has been caused. I look at the topic similarly to a polluted waterway, once the ecosystem is destroyed it is near impossible to fix; but we still do find a way to fix it and nurse that ecosystem back to health. Hopefully our present-day leaders and their successors will be able to nurse our country back to health from the pollution that invades our banks every day.
In the recent elections there were several pre-election polls as well as exit polls which asked the general public their views on immigration reform and amnesty. The results came back at almost two to one against amnesty. This November, voters in Arizona voted in what I consider to be the foundation of a political and legal precedent which many of the other states will be paying very close attention to. The voters of Arizona “approved four tough immigration-related ballot measures by huge margins. The measures, all approved by about three to one, will deny bail to illegal aliens, bar illegals from winning punitive damages, bar illegals from receiving state subsidies for education and child care, and declare English the states official language. The people have spoken,
indeed” (Krikorian, 33-35).President Bush is a big proponent for comprehensive and tangible reform coined as the Secure Fence Act which he recently endorsed and sent to Congress for ratification. He states,
“Earlier this year, I addressed the nation from the Oval Office. I laid out our strategy for immigration reform. Part of that strategy begins with securing the border. Since I took office we have more than doubled funding for border security — from $4.6 billion in 2001 to $10.4 billion this year. Weve increased the number of Border Patrol agents from about 9,000 to more than 12,000, and by the end of 2008, we will have doubled the number of Border Patrol agents during my presidencyThe Secure Fence Act is part of our efforts to reform our immigration system. We have more to do. Meaningful immigration reforms means that we must enforce our immigration laws in the United States. It is against the law to hire someone who is here illegally. We fully understand that most businesses want to obey that law, but they cannot verify the legal status of their employees because of widespread document fraud. So were creating a better system for verifying documents and work eligibility, and in the meantime, holding people to account for breaking the law” (Bush).
I support my President in this matter. It is past time that something is done to control the overwhelming amount of immigration we are encountering here in this country. The Secure Fence Act not only proposes the enforcement of our borders with static influences (fences), but also with dynamic troops in the form of National Guardsmen and Border Patrol Agents. The act also provides for a work permit program for those aliens already living here in this country so that these aliens can contribute financially into the civil economics and benefits they are enjoying as they live and work here.
The opposition would have you believe that the millions of immigrants that migrate here each year contribute greatly to our society and economy. I wonder how? From what I can see, those illegal aliens waste our hard earned tax dollars in welfare and free healthcare. They take jobs from American citizens and by doing so throw off the balance of supply and demand economically. Yes, to give one example, I believe that if an American taxpayer was picking our fruits and vegetables they would be more expensive, but our infrastructures and healthcare systems would not be suffering from lack of funding from taxes due to the overwhelming nature of free education and health resources being handed out quite generously and even “gratis.”
The Hart-Cellar legislation piggybacked in one the civil rights movement and over time has created a new civil rights movement. The influx of people who do not seem to have an interest to share our culture, or to join in on our “melting pot” of cultural influences; creates the problem I see as growing into a new segregated diversity. Here in south Florida, I witness it almost everyday. The cultural prejudice I witness is almost heartbreaking considering everything this country went through in the 1960s to integrate our communities. The African Americans led by such men as Dr. Martin Luther King and Malcolm X made an impact on our society, but we as a country went through a long period of civil strife to accomplish it. If our recent history has taught us anything, should it not be to avoid the strife as easily as possible? The easiest way to
tend to preserve the values we share with our fellow Americans, and the respect for our own culture, is not to treat our citizens harshly. It’s not that these people shouldn’t be treated as individuals, simply because of their race, gender or race group. It’s that the nation and our country have done far more than we consider necessary/necessary. And as part of that effort, we cannot allow our neighbors to discriminate against us, no matter how hard to get us to do it. It’s our duty to the state and local government that we fight to prevent this kind of discrimination and hurt a lot of innocent children, but we are also fighting to prevent that from happening. I understand that there are people of color who want, but it’s no longer possible for them to achieve their goals. The civil rights battle has now been won in every state that does not ban discrimination against white people. There is a lot we can do. Herein lies the problem, and I’m going to fight a long battle on both sides. First, we need a culture that is inclusive, which means an inclusive understanding. An understanding we cannot keep from others is racism. This is what is going on in our country. I know there’s many African Americans, many African American women struggling, and I’ve talked about ways to move forward and move past this and other forms of oppression. While it is difficult to deny the magnitude of this issue and the social inequality facing the white male population that has led to this, its not just economic, social or political issues that contribute to this. We need to bring things together with diverse communities. And while we might be in agreement that it must take some time to get all the way to the 50-50 on this issue, there’s only so much it can do in the long run. We cannot turn our backs on us when our country’s not doing its part to promote equal opportunity, and to protect minority rights because the past is an economic and political tool. And while the majority of us will never take anything for granted in an unequal system that hurts all, we can learn to move forward with an informed, balanced political environment. When we think of the issues at the base of our society, we are more than willing and able to support minority rights, to support the democratic process and to bring diverse groups together. And despite what some on the left will say, race or color is not the sole factor that affects our politics in any way. However, I will get our message across. And let me just say this, let everybody know we do things that serve our country well, and that we make clear that we will work to remove those who would take this country from itself. Now, when the time comes, we need a new face. Let’s start moving forward together with a lot of action. But it’s important that the conversation starts back to the roots of the culture, not the politics. Our country is still divided, and we’re still being told that our country can’t do much about what’s happening in our country except by making sure we treat all of our customers equally. We need you to stand with us and talk about a lot of issues that you believe in and we need you to talk about things that we care about most about. We really need all of you to help us create a workable solution that’s fair to all of us.