Quoting, summarizing and paraphrasing - Essay Example

Immigration Illegal immigration is a problem, not only in the United s but also in several other countries. Illegal immigrants are those who either enter a country illegally or enter legally but subsequently overstay. Illegal immigrants enter a foreign country for a variety of reasons the most significant being to improve their quality of life. Although entering a country is full of risk and can sometimes even cost them their life, it is widely felt by these people that the risk is worth taking.

Illegal immigrants usually get low paid jobs in restaurants, hospitality, construction etc. Employers using the services of these people usually pay them much below the minimum wages. It should also be noted that not all illegal immigrants enter a country voluntarily. Many times girls from poor family are deceived into thinking that they will get good jobs in the foreign country and then smuggled into a country for prostitution. This kind of illegal immigration is a problem in Middle East and Europe (Illegal Immigration, http://www.

usimmigrationsupport.org/illegal_immigration.html).In recent years, the problem of illegal immigration has become a cause of concern in the United States. The state has stepped enforcement measures leading to many illegal immigrants feeling insecure. The Pew Hispanic Center carried out a survey in 2007 to understand the view of the Hispanics, the largest minority group in the US, regarding the recent tough stand of the administration against the illegal immigrants. The study found that “just over half of all the Hispanic adults in the United States worry that they, a family member or a close friend could be deported.

” Many Hispanics are also wary of the inability of the government to enact an immigration reform bill. It was also widely felt that increased public attention was making life more difficult for them and that they were less likely to use government services or travel abroad. As many is 75% of all the Hispanics surveyed opposed stepped up enforcement measures against illegal immigrants. However, non-Hispanics supported such measures and there was a “wide variance in the views of the Hispanics and the non-Hispanics.

” (Pew Hispanic Center). The survey also found that even within the Hispanic community there was significant variance between the views of native-born and foreign born Hispanics, with native born Hispanics having a view closer to that of the rest of the US population.These enforcement measures were stepped up after the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center. According to Weissinger (2003), traditionally the strategies adopted to enforce immigration laws actually encouraged an increase in alien population within the US.

Policy makers usually focused on the cultural and economic determinants of the illegal immigrants and despite opposition from general public, the elected representatives are lax towards enforcement immigration laws. Weissinger goes on to discuss the development of immigration laws in the US. The Immigration Reform Control Act of 1986 2.7 million alien to gain lawful permanent residence in the US. Although the Immigration Act of 1990, attempted to remove criminal aliens, the act was never properly enforced, a case in point being the Resendez case, who was not deported despite being in the custody of INS.

As a matter fact, INS seems to concentrate on low-level visa abusers rather than criminals and has “failed to locate at least half of deportable aliens in prison.One of the reasons given by Weissinger for this failure to enforce immigration laws is that INS defines the illegal immigration problem as a Mexican-US problem and focuses on Mexican national. He concludes that to tackle the problem of illegal immigrants a “completely new approach is needed.”ReferenceIllegal immigration. US Immigration Support.

Retrieved September 23, 2008, from http://www.usimmigrationsupport.org/illegal_immigration.htmlThe immigration debate: controversy heats up, Hispanics feel a chill. (2007, December 13). Pew Hispanic Center. Retrieved September 23, 2008, from http://pewresearch.org/pubs/659/immigration-debate.Weissinger, G. (2003, November 7). The illegal alien problem:enforcing the immigration laws. Immigration Technology Associates. Retrieved September 23, 2008, from http://www.immigration-usa.com/george_weissinger.html.