I'm just going to get right into it - America does have an immigration problem. But, the United States government has a problem with how immigrants can become a legal citizen or extend their visa. Statistics have shown that most "illegal" immigrants overstay on an outdated visa - not because they cross the border, sneaking into our country. Yes, people still do that but it's not as bad as we have been made to think.
People illegally cross over the United States Border, but that does not make them an illegal human being. To be illegal, it has to be forbidden by law. A human is not forbidden by the law, but humans are forbidden by law to cross the United States border, or any border without a passport or visa for however long they stay. Immigrants are legal, human beings who breathe and live just like everyone else.
But most individuals in the United overstay on outdated visas - it is not a criminal offense but a civil infraction in which is a violation of a rule which someone can be fined a ticket. About 600,000 in the US have outdated visas.
According to the US Customs and Border Protection website, since 2000 illegal immigration, specifically, the southwest border since that's where the main focus of politics tend to go has declined to total in about 400,000 immigrants illegally crossing to the US in 2018. It's not the millions or billions that Trump oh so dearly likes to say, a bit of an exaggeration, you could say.
Over 27 million immigrants work in the labor force. They work jobs people have labeled "crappy" or refuse to do. No immigrant is stealing an American-born citizens job - they are doing the job you refuse to do in the first place. Immigrants help keep mine, yours and their economy afloat.
If mass deportation occurs of immigrants who are in found in violation of not being a documented citizen, our economy would plummet. Jobs such as farmworkers, construction, or factory would see the biggest hit to revenue due to a majority of undocumented immigrants working in those fields. Also, the US would lose spending revenue since those immigrants work and pay into the federal government each year when tax season rolls around.
Check out Business Insider's video from 2016 that shows how mass deportation would negatively affect the US.
And of those people who have overstayed on old visa's have been in the US for 20 or more years, and have raised children. And those children are natural born, US citizens. How would you feel if one day your mother has ripped away from? It can take anywhere from months to years for someone to become a legal US resident.
Immigrants are people who have left everything they have ever known to come to a nation to provide a better life for their family. Seeking asylum is a human right, migration is a human right, wanting a better life for your children is a human right. It's time for a fundamental change to happen with how the US processes immigrants wanting to become citizens.
Immigrants have made America great and they will continue to do so.
