Miguel Castrejon

Writing
May 4th, 2015
Immigration
The United States has been faced with many Immigration problems, which are yet to be
resolved. Immigration has been with it since the beginning of history and people were even let to
come freely into the United States to settle its empty land. But its now time to do something
about it! Many families are often separated and destroyed thanks to Immigration Laws.
Immigrants come to this country for a better future for their children, but are faced with the true
that you cant do much without a Green Card. Theyre often scared of what might be of them
and wont get involved in everyday things most Americans do. Today, I would like to say that
Im an undocumented student, or even an Illegal Alien. I know how this affect us all, its not as
easy as other people think.
As Ive have already said, Immigrants come to the United States, to escape from their
countrys violence, to be in a place where their children could be raised in an orderly manner,
where they wont have to stress about their future and for their own safety. During the month of
August in 2014, a poll among 1,566 Americans was conducted and it clearly showed that most,
51%, Americans said that immigrant children should be taken care of and be given shelter until
any problems in their native country is taken care of and theyre guaranteed a good life without
having to fear for their own lives. As for myself, my father wanted to give us a better future and
keep us living together and thats why he brought us all here to the United States.

Lets think about the benefits that Americans get by having Immigrants here in the United
States; People like Mr. Wright, president of the 300-farm Southeast Milk Cooperative(P.2), say
that he's about ready to leave the Republican Party if it doesn't push hard for immigration
reform this year.(P.5) Why? Without anyone to milk their cows, which is probably
Hispanic/Immigrant workers their companies would go into bankrupt. Business Owners want to
ensure that workers continue coming into the U.S. to fill jobs they say Americans dont want, but
why dont business owners hire people from their own country? Well thats the thing, we as
immigrants, believe that were here to get a much better place for us to live in and we will do
anything to reach this goal. Most Americans cant do much in a farm, since they think its too
dirty, or just simply outrageous. Without Hispanic workers, these jobs would never be filled, and
in the worst cases we wouldnt have the raw materials we have nowadays. Im not saying that
Americans are just lazy people wanting to get the best job without getting their hands dirty, but I
work in construction and if you go there, most people are Hispanics and do most of the dirty
jobs. Americans are usually inside doing electrical stuff and having to wait for a lot of people to
take something up the stairs, while I could probably take it up by myself.
On the other hand, it seems like many Americans say that we, Illegal Aliens, are stealing
their jobs, and I really can see why. We usually work more for a lot less of a pay. Were usually
the ones that stay in the same workplace for a lot more days than Americans who get paid double
for half the job we do.
As a student I can say that even though I know that it will be hard for me to keep up after
Im done with college and that I really dont have a secure future, I will always try my best no
matter what. Why? for the same reasons my parents decided to come here, because I want a
better future. Ive been living here in the United States for about 7 years now, thats a bit more

than 1/3 of my entire life, its hard to think that someday I could be deported and never see this
land again. Why if Im a good student wouldnt I be able to stay here in the United States?
Maybe because Im seen as a criminal and people feel like they have to pay more taxes because
of me.
Hispanics are usually seen as criminals with nothing else but wanting to get what they
want however they can. They would steal if they want to, but remember that not everyone is that
way and there are those who just want to have a normal life, here in the United States. ICEs
regulations have separated many families and they will keep on doing so. However, making this
population a priority detracts from ICE's ability to track down and arrest the increasing number
of much more serious public safety threats the agency identifies.(P.1) I believe not everyone
should be identified as a criminal and thrown out because of this.
Lance T. Izumi, a researcher at the Pacific Research Institute, argues that schooling illegal
or undocumented students is making a great impact on U.S. taxpayers. According to a study
released last year by the Pew Hispanic Center, as of 2008, 11.9 million illegal immigrants lived
in the United States, more than triple the 3.5 million who lived in the country in 1990. These
students live with their parents, of course. More than 40% of immigrant households consists of
parents with children more than the 21% of whites with children, relating back to the exponential
growth in immigrant population. The U.S. Census Bureau just released 2008 figures showing
the national average total per-pupil funding from all revenue sources was $12,028(P.3), now if
you multiply that by the number of immigrant students, which is roughly 3.7 million, then we get
a national total funding of $44.5 billion. This is more than half the $72 billion funding for k-12
education for the whole nation! But wait a minute; this is only school level... if you want to think
about food stamps, health care, etc. Currently, the amount current unlawful immigrants would

receive $9.4 trillion in government benefits and services and pay more than $3 trillion in taxes
over their lifetimes (P.5) says Jim DeMint and Robert Rector, in their paper The Burden of
Amnesty leaving the United States in a deficit of $3 trillion. For them to fix this they would
have to raise their governments debt or by increasing U.S. taxes. Yes, having immigrants in the
United States can be expensive, but I believe this is only true for those that dont try to be part of
this country. A study conducted by the White House says that immigrants help strengthen the
U.S. economy, by starting businesses, immigrants are 30 percent more likely to start a business
in the United States than non-immigrants; create jobs for American workers, these jobs employed
an estimated 4.7 million people in 2007; develop cutting edge technologies and companies,
immigrants have started 25 percent of public U.S. companies, and Immigrants are our engineers,
scientists, and innovators. According to the Census Bureau, despite making up only 16 percent of
the resident population holding a bachelors degree or higher, immigrants represent 33 percent of
engineers, 27 percent of mathematicians, statisticians, and computer scientist, and 24 percent of
physical scientists. Additionally, according to the Partnership for a New American Economy, in
2011, foreign-born inventors were credited with contributing to more than 75 percent of patents
issued to the top 10 patent-producing universities.(P.2)
The amount tax payers have to pay for immigrants, like me, seems a bit outrageous and
they should do something about it, I would like to contribute to this country, but without
anything that would give me the permission to work lawfully, I will never be able to do so.
Immigration has been a vital piece to this nations health and it will always be, but I believe that
if we really wanted to work here and have a better future, then we should do it lawfully that way
it wouldnt impose any additional fiscal costs to current tax payers.

RESOURCES
DeMint, Jim, and Robert Rector. "The Burden of Amnesty." Washington Post. 07 May
2013: A.17. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 12 Mar. 2015.
Izumi, Lance T. "Educating Illegal Immigrants Costly." Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 18
Aug. 2010: A.13. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 12 Mar. 2015.
Furman, Jason and Danielle Gray. Ten Ways Immigrants Help Build and Strengthen Our
Economy July 12, 2012: White House. Web. 02 May, 2015.
Semuels, Alana. "Business Owners Getting Vocal on Immigration." Los Angeles Times. 23
Feb. 2013: A.1. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 12 Mar. 2015.
Richinick, Michele. "Most Americans think immigrant children should stay in US." 08
November, 2014: A.17. MSNBC. Web. 02 May, 2014.
Ryun, Drew, and Daniel Horowitz. "Put Enforcement Ahead of Amnesty." USA TODAY. 04
Feb. 2014: A.6. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 12 Mar. 2015.