Amnesty for Illegal Aliens - Essay Example

 Amnesty for illegal aliens is merely a reward for law-breaking and by whatever name, causes ever escalating future illegal immigration.

“No system depending on a strict regard for the rule of law can treat law-breaking so casually” (Erler, 2004). Those who favor amnesty for illegal aliens, specifically those crossing the southern border do not seem to realize that a crime has been committed and not, as they might have you believe, one without a victim. The massive numbers of illegal aliens pouring across mainly the southern border have and continue to cause substantial economic, social, and physical harm to legal citizens.

These harms occur predominantly to those who are among the most vulnerable segments of the population, minorities, children, and the poor. Simply enforcing the laws presently on the books and deporting illegal aliens is an economic necessity that would also result in decreased crime rates. Illegal immigrants receive more from public monies than they contribute which lowers the standard of living for legal citizens. Illegal immigrants contribute greatly to the overall population growth and health care, education and employment are the most impacted.

Salaries are driven down by illegal immigrants willing to work for much less while their children, illegal and legal, overcrowd the schools. It’s the U.S. taxpayer who is sent the bill for their health care services as well. In addition, the large influx of illegal aliens burdens the already inadequate number of units classified as affordable housing and other welfare resources such as energy, water, and land usage (“Illegal Immigration”, 2003). If Congress were to put the country’s interests ahead of its own, it would pass an illegal immigration bill that grants no amnesty.

Congress should also pass legislation amending the Immigration and Nationality Act to eradicate the idea that children born of illegal aliens are automatically citizens. That privilege should be reserved for children of legal immigrants. Congress should also criminalize illegal entry into the United States which would force government administrators and health workers to report these people to the authorities. Laws should be enacted that bring criminal charges against all those who aid illegal aliens to gain entry into the country and against those employers who hire them.

All social benefits, including medical care, education, and welfare for illegal immigrants should be eliminated with the only exception being medical treatment given when first contacted before deporting the criminal. If the U.S. can’t secure its own borders, what confidence does this instill in the world’s view when it tries to police other areas of the globe? The U.S. can hardly be seen as credible when helping to solve other countries’ problems when it can’t solve its own immigration dilemma, a problem many other countries don’t seem to struggle with. The U.S. could consider adopting similar immigration regulations as in the U.K. where a person cannot immigrate without first securing employment.