Project Two Paper Illegal Immigration

Illegal Immigration in the United States Society

In recent years, the number of illegal immigrants from Mexico and other Latin countries into the United States has been rapidly increasing, creating tension and frustration between the immigrants and the U.S citizens. This crisis is occurring in many cities and towns throughout New York, California, and Texas. Many Americans feel that the presence of these illegal immigrants is negatively impacting the quality of their lives by making their towns unsafe and undesirable to live in. Their frustration is turning into hate, and some have even resorted to racist acts involving violence. In order to lower tensions and create tranquility in areas where illegal immigration is generating a problem, the blame must be taken off the immigrants and pressure must be placed upon the government to enforce immigration laws.
Currently American citizens view illegal immigration as a serious problem with the number of Hispanics entering the country rising. Hispanics are becoming America’s largest minority group; in 1990 the number of Mexicans in the U.S labor force was 4,298, 000, the largest of all the foreign countries (Coronado). In light of these numbers, it is not surprising that the culture of America is being changed by the influx of illegal immigrants. Social change is manifested in the increase in Spanish language radio and television stations, as well as popular music and ethnic foods. Although this influence of immigrants broadens the diversity and enriches the culture of the United States, many citizens are beginning to feel threatened. Americans fear that Spanish will challenge English as the dominant language. As Heer states, after collecting data from immigrants from many different countries that are currently working in the U.S., “Almost all immigrants gave Spanish as their native tongue; less than half were native born citizens of Mexican Descent considered English their native tongue” (197). This shows that most of the Hispanic immigrants still feel very strong ties to their homeland. The increasing number of illegal immigrants into the United States has potential to impact the future of the U.S., creating concern in many citizens.
One town where the issue of illegal immigration is causing great controversy is in Farmingville, New York where there has been an increase of illegal aliens. In Farmingville, racial tensions have become so high that there have been hate acts, protests, and even a documentary filmed illustrating how severe the problem is and how much attention needs to be drawn to the issue. The citizens’ anger stems from the fact that illegal immigrants take the jobs of the U.S. citizens, do not pay taxes and increase the citizens’ taxes. Landscapers and construction workers hire illegal immigrants as cheap labor making less job opportunities available for Americans (Woodbury ). Because most of the day laborers are not documented and work off the book, they do not pay taxes (Woodbury). When they get injured their hospital bills must be paid off by the citizens causing taxes to be raised (Woodbury). Some Americans feel that the increase in illegal immigration is tied to an increase in crime. Illegal immigrants often loiter on street corners in search of work, and there have been reports of them harassing woman and committing criminal acts. Also, many illegal immigrants live in highly overcrowded houses, which often become unkempt. Loitering and unacceptable housing conditions make the neighborhood less desirable to live in, and decrease property values. Similar to the situation in Farmingville, many towns in the U.S. are experiencing controversy over the impact of having large amounts of illegal immigrants. The building frustrations in towns that occur because of uncontrolled immigration, and the hate crimes that result from this tension should not be ignored by the U.S government.
As a result of the problems that have arisen because of the increase of day workers, many place the blame on the immigrants instead of the government. As a result of prejudice, many acts of hate have occurred. There was an incident in Farmingville where two illegal immigrants were looking for work and instead taken to an abandoned warehouse and beaten by two white men. As Leduff states while discussing this occurrence, “ The confrontation which police are investigating as a bias crime has become the talk of the hamlet of 15,000, which was already electric with racial tensions” (Para. 10). Another hate act that occurred was the firebombing of a house in Farmingville where a family of illegal immigrants lived. Although these specific incidents were reported to the police many bias crimes go unreported because illegal aliens are undocumented and fear they may be deported. As Coronado and Pias state, “It is widely known that immigrants are both more likely to be victimized by crime and less likely to report “ (4). It is devastating to think that society is only aware of a small portion of the crimes that immigrants are subject to. Immigrants are just trying to support their families; they should not be targeted (Lambert). Illegal immigrants come to the U.S. in order to send money back to their families in their homeland. Because they come from such poor countries, even the worst and lowest paying jobs can change their lives. The citizens of the U.S should realize that most illegal immigrants are not here to hurt anyone or ruin towns, but to help their families survive. Anger for the towns’ problems should not be directed at the immigrants, but instead pressure should be placed on the government to enforce laws and find solutions.
The government has the capability to solve many of the problems that result from illegal immigration. The government needs to enforce existing immigration laws. The Federal Government needs to make border control stricter, which would decrease the number of illegal immigrants entering the country. Local governments could create workstations where the immigrants could be picked up for work, which would help eliminate loitering. These solutions would make the towns safe and could help bring up property values (Jacoby). Also, the government should enforce housing laws and monitor hiring practices of landscaping and construction companies. The simple act of insuring that housing laws are enforced would increase property values because less people would be living in the houses. If the companies were forced not to hire illegal aliens, the number of them in the U.S. would probably decrease because jobs would not be available to them. The government needs to enforce immigration laws and take action to lessen tension in towns in the U.S.
Since there has been a heightened number of Illegal Immigrants of Hispanic decent entering the country there has been increased hostility between the U.S citizens and illegal aliens. Hispanics have become the largest minority group in the United States, creating fear in many American citizens over the influence these immigrants will have on the future of the country. In many towns similar to Farmingville controversies over the impact of illegal immigrants have created frustration that sometimes leads to racist acts. Blame should not be placed on immigrants, but instead pressure should be placed on the U.S. government to improve enforcement of immigration laws. To reduce tensions in many U.S. towns and to improve the quality of life the government needs to take more action on immigration polices.