Letter To Barrack Obama

November 20, 2008

Dear Barrack Obama:

As you have said countless times, change is what America needs. One of the changes that America desperately needs is its immigration system. That is why I propose that in order to fix the immigration problem you must first fix the immigration system. What I mean by fixing the immigration system is making it so some groups of immigrants have a better chance to become legal citizens. For example, I can attest that families that have paid their taxes, have not broken any laws, and have been good citizens only have a 5% chance of becoming legal citizens. Don't get me wrong I'm not proposing that the system be so lenient that anybody can obtain legal status. I’m proposing that only the people that constitute the group of good immigrants be allowed to obtain legal status.

If the group of good immigrants were to get legal status with the new system than it would show future immigrants that if they play by the rules than they too can become legal citizens and obtain the better life that they desire. This is the change America needs.

Sincerely,

Daniel

Statistics

(businessweek.com)

In these statistics that I found from an article in 2004 at businessweek.com it shows a lot of information about illegal immigrants. One of the graphs shows what percentage of all immigrants in the United States are illegal. Another graph shows what the difference is between the income of a family that is illegal, a family that is legal, and a family that is native born. These statistics are related to my topic because they show where most immigrants come from and in what field of work do most illegal immigrants work in.
While looking at this data something that surprised me was that the percentage of legal permanent residents is the same as the percentage of illegal immigrants. In my mind I would have thought that the percentage of illegal immigrants would be higher.

Article

As I was looking for an article I came upon an article in Upfront magazine. The article was named “Mexico & the U.S.: What kind of border?” This article briefly talks about the impact of 9/11 on immigration and about a fence in Imperial Beach, California which allows people on both sides of the fence to see and talk to each other.

This article states that at Imperial Beach, California there is a park that allows people on the Mexico side of the border fence and people on the U.S. side of the border fence to talk and see each other. One of those people is Manuel Meza who travels three hours to the fence to see his wife who is in Mexico because of immigration troubles. He attests that when he is there he shares lunch with her and that even though they are both in different countries their love has grown stronger. Many people like Manuel travel Friendship Park to see and talk to love ones that are on the other side of the fence.

Before 9/11 Americans and Mexicans had high hopes for the immigration situation because George Bush was elected president. This was because he was in favor of the guest worker program that would have allowed Mexicans to come and work in the United States legally. After 9/11 the United States chose to enhance the security along the border by passing a bill that would add 700 mile of fence to the border.
This article show people how families are torn apart by the fence at the border. This article showed me that there is a place where people can see each other even though they are on opposite sides of the border.

Source:
Archibold, Randal C. "Mexico & the U.S.: What Kind of Border." The New York Times Upfront 1 Dec. 2008: 6-7.

A Day Without A Mexican

A Day Without a Mexican is a movie about how the state of California would be affected in a hypothetical situation if every Latino in the state disappeared. The movie was directed by Sergio Auro who has also directed movies such as Harvest of Empire and Plan B. The movie stars actors John Getz and Maureen Flannigan. This movie won best screenplay at the Cartagena Film Festival in 2004. This movie is a comedy but lacks jokes.

In my opinion A Day Without a Mexican is a movie that people should watch if they would like to know how the agricultural industry would be affected if there were no illegal immigrants. This movie also gives you some facts about illegal immigration that people may not have known.

What happens in the movie is one day all the Latinos suddenly disappear except for one. Then the state of California goes into turmoil because there is nobody to work in the agricultural business and that means that the people that are left can not get any fresh produce. So then people want the Latinos back and they start experimenting on the only Latino left to try to see where they went and to get them to come back. to know the rest you should watch it.

Source:
"A Day Without a Mexican." Wikipedia. 25 Nov. 2008 .

Debate

When it comes to immigration there are to sides to it, there are the people that oppose it and the people that agree with it. When asked if illegal immigrants are good for the U.S. economy Walter Ewing of Immigrationpolicy.org is agrees and Mark Krikorian of Cis.org does not.
Walter Ewing attests that illegal immigrants account for 5 percent of the United States total labor force and that immigrants pay taxes to help fund social security and Medicare even though they are not eligible for these programs. He also states that illegal immigrants constitute $18 billion in the Texas economy and that if the United States were to grant them legal status their contribution to the economy would be grater because they would be able to get better jobs which means they will earn more money (Ewing, 2008)
Mark Krikorian states that illegal immigrants are bad for the economy. This is because they pay little taxes. He says that illegal immigrants pay little taxes because they a little amount of money. He also states that because most illegal immigrants are high school dropouts they cannot support their families so they go on welfare. (Krikorian, 2008)
Walter Ewing and Mark Krikorian present valid arguments. Walter Ewing says that they are good for the economy because they pay their taxes and help fund governments services. Mark Krikorian says they are bad because the pay only a little amount of taxes and they force low skilled Americans out of their jobs.

Source:"Are Illegal Immigrants Good For the U.S. Economy." The New York Times Upfront.