Position Argument

Immigration
By Brock Sorenson

Cost of Immigration

According to
Federation for
American Immigration
reform illegal
immigrants alone cost
Americans 100 billion
dollars in taxes.

Although according to
americansfortaxfairness.org that
america has lost over 1.3 trillion dollars
through offshore baking and tax loop
holes. So I ask you what is the real
problem with the tax system? Poor
immigrant families or rich billionaries?

If we all paid our fair share in taxes immigration would not

be a burden but a contributing factor to our successful
society.

 When I lived in Texas I met a man and his family that were political refugees from Iraq. They
in every sense of the word wanted to be and were Americans. They flew a big American flag on their
porch. They wanted to be a part of society so bad. The familys last name was Al Zubidy. The mother
and father spoke Arabic and a little broken English. They had two sons that lived with them who were
both in American universities. The sons both spoke English very well and would help translate so we
could all communicate. The mother and father would read children books by Dr. Seuss each day to try
and learn English. They were so grateful to be here but felt the racial sting very often. Whether it was
comments on the streets or discrimination while looking for jobs they felt punished for being who they
were but fought for the desire to become who they wanted to be. Which simply put was American.
They did all they could to contribute to society. Both the sons had jobs and went to school and at the
time the parents were immersing themselves in the English language. This illustrated to me that
people dont want to change America to where they are from; they simply want to bring the good they
have and add on to our culture. We have seen a large increase in the number of immigrants from North
Africa and the Middle East. 2.5% of the immigrant population is form the Middle East or North Africa
and the numbers are project to continue to rise according to migrationpoicy.org. Making the U.S. the
number two destination for immigrants from these areas only behind France. Pewgolobal.com states
that in just the last ten years (2005-2015) the number of immigrants in the Middle East has more than
doubled. Many landing here in the U.S.

 There is a reason people are pulled to America and its the

same reasons our ancestors were pulled here many years ago. At
different times we have shunned all groups, a society of have and have
nots. Irish were looked down upon, so were the Italians and many
others. Eventually we accepted those groups and they became part of
the haves. We then quickly found another group who were part of the
have nots , and our discrimination continued. My ancestors came
from Denmark in 1836 and settled in Garden City, Utah. My great-greatgreat grandma died without knowing how to speak English. My grandpa,
whose mother that was, who died this past summer was part of the first
generation of Sorensons who were born in the U.S. On my grandmas
side her great-great-great grandpa came to the U.S. as a German
Hessian solider during the civil war. After a short time fighting he
defected from the army and went west. Talk about an illegal immigrant
but me and my familys future generations are so grateful for that. We
can all trace our linage back to another country unless you are a Native
American. I feel too often we forget that.

 We have progressed so many

ways in our society and I feel this
is another hurdle we have to
overcome. We cant get selfish
and be so worried about
protecting whats ours, but
willing to share what we have
with so many people who are in
need. We are a beacon of hope to
so many lets not let them down
when they get here. They have
already been pushed and in some
cases forced to leave their own
countries. Lets show them the
compassion people showed our
ancestors and come together to
help them.

Works Cited
Batalova, Jeanne and Zong, Jie Middle Eastern and North African immigrants in the United States
Migrationpolicy.org June 3, 2015
http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/middle-eastern-and-north-african-immigrants-united-states
Connor, Philip Middle East Migrant Population More Than Doubles Since 2005 pewglobal.org October
18, 2016 http://www.pewglobal.org/2016/10/18/middle-easts-migrant-population-more-than-doublessince-2005/
FAHMY, DALIA Expensive Aliens: How Much Do Illegal Immigrants Really Cost? ABC News. May 21,
2010. http://abcnews.go.com/Business/illegal-immigrants-cost-us-100-billion-year-group/story?
id=10699317

Kohli, Sonali, Why US Colleges Should Welcome Undocumented Immigrants. The Atlantic Jan 31,
2015.
http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/01/why-us-colleges-should-welcome-undocument
ed-immigrants/385049/
americansfortaxfairnes.org
https://familysearch.org/