Legalizing Illegal Immigrants In America

Legalizing “Illegal Immigrants” in America There is a controversial debate and emotionally driven argument about “illegal immigrants” being legalized in America. There is a common misconception of what an illegal or legal immigrant is, many people believe that it’s an easy process and that the government grants a visa at no cost and that the immigrant is able to potentially work their way to becoming a resident or a citizen. The alarming truth is that the process is much more difficult than many Americans can understand and with the laws and regulations that are being enforced by the government gives some immigrants no other choice but to enter the United States illegally.

There are many immigrants that want to contribute to America and society

The categorization of illegal and illegal immigrant is morally and ethically wrong due to someone being criticized or harassed due to the nationality. Many states have implemented laws against people living in the United States that allows law enforcement and other agencies to profile an individual by skin color alone. Law such as Arizonas S.B 1070 where an individual can be pulled over or questioned by a police officer due to the appearance of the individual. Unfortunately the law was targeted towards Hispanic individuals only, the law allowed police officers to harass any individual by skin color alone even if that person did not commit a crime. Louisiana also implemented the “Prevention of Terrorism on the Highways Act, which includes the felony of operating a vehicle without lawful presence. Specifically, this crime consists of being an "alien student or nonresident alien" who "operate[s] a motor vehicle" without "documentation demonstrating that the person is lawfully present in the United States." The law has been used consistently to target Latino immigrants initially stopped for minor offenses such as speeding, malfunctioning brake lights, or driving with an expired license plate.” (qtd. In Cravens 162). The act gives a police officer’s probable cause to search the person without ever being questioned to the real reason the person was

If the economic deficit was really an outcome due to the amount of illegal immigrants in the country the government should establish acts and bills to help generate taxable income from immigrants. According to the Urban institute there was an estimate in 1995 that illegal immigrants paid about $1.9 billion in taxes in the seven states studied ($732 million to California) and, in fact, accounted for a marginal fiscal surplus at the aggregate level (qtd. in Nadadur 1049). Further, the study found that legal immigrants paid $15.1 billion in income and payroll taxes in 2004 a significant increase when compared to the amount illegal immigrants paid. With a bill that allows immigrants to enter the country and work as legal residence or at least having a tax ID number so that they are able to be taxed for their wages the government could start to close the economic deficit. Illegal immigrants that are given a tax ID number or temporary residency will help the countries’ economy by eliminating business owners from hiring illegal immigrants which causes them to pay the taxes they wouldn’t be paying if they were hiring them