Illegal Immigration
How we can take steps towards a safer border with more legal citizenship cards
The ongoing issues regarding immigration have dated back to the start of the thirteen colonies. From fighting for more land to fighting to get rid of any supposed “foreigners” the same fight is going on today, at the Mexican-American borders. The land of America was stolen by immigrants, yet some refuse to believe we should accept immigrants into this country.
Between the severe corruption in Mexico, to the terrorism within Mexican countries, millions of refugees are fleeing their homes in hopes of a safer start in the United States. Since, Barack Obama’s presidency, immigration has been a heavy topic previous presidents and the current president have shined their true stances on. Barack Obama stated, “…But today, our immigration system is broken — and everybody knows it.” He was known to have to give out millions of green cards, making him have the lowest illegal immigrant count in years. However, the presidents all still have the same conflict on how to truly prevent the undocumented from entering the United States, and how we can be giving green-card statuses out at the rapid rates some are looking for.
Specifically, during Donald Trump’s presidency, the “build a wall”(at the Mexican-American border) phrase was widely adopted amongst some Americans. But did building a new wall actually work? Or has this only made drug smuggling and severe criminal violence more secretive? In 2018 alone, the count of undocumented immigrants hit an all-time high at 10.9 million, California being home to the majority of the undocumented. According to brookings.edu, there are approximately 12.8 million undocumented immigrants in the United States as of today.
So what can really be done to help both prevent illegal immigration? From the sky-rocketing amount of illegal substances to gun violence that lingers over the border, we need better security to protect our citizens. Stricter border policies will steer immigrants away hopefully, yet easier green card status will make people want to become citizens the legal way. According to the US Customs and Border Protection, as of December 12th, 2021 over 913,000 lbs of contraband was seized at the border thanks to new better-sensor technology. But that is limited to the amount that was seized, there are still millions of cases where people were not caught. This can result in deaths and violence amongst our own, unfortunately in our own backyards.
This topic will most likely never be uncontroversial to most, and that can become an issue in deciding how to handle the immigration system’s flaws. As a country, it is important to keep each other safe and give those the opportunity to a safer start in life. We must do this the legal way, with stricter boundaries. It is time to find important ways to let more people into the country, the legal way.
Hannah Benson, Grade 12. Interests/hobbies include running, shopping, executive council, going to Avalon, worldwide traveling, and spending time with friends. ...
