The same leftist camp keeps chanting its rhetoric for "comprehensive immigration reform with a path to full and equal citizenship". Yeah, sure, immigration reform will definitely solve the problems caused by mass illegal immigration. The problem with immigration reform is that it not only affects legal and illegal immigrants, but it also affects American citizens. If we wanted to close our borders right now, we could. However, leftists bully the conservative right every time the topic of immigration is brought up. Trump's statement that Mexican undocumented immigrants are bringing criminals and rapists was ridiculed by the largely liberal media. Trump was labeled a bigot and a racist xenophobe for describing what is a real, statistically evident immigration issue. About 80% of undocumented immigrant females were raped while crossing the border. Also, in data gathered by the U.S. Sentencing Commission, illegal immigrants, who represent 3.5% of the U.S. population, make up 7% of sexual abuse, 9% of murder, 12% of assault, and 30% of kidnapping convictions. 1.4 million pounds of marijuana were also confiscated from crossing the border. This just further justifies that Trump is not a racist for saying that undocumented immigrants are more likely to be criminals and rapists.
The 3.5% of illegal immigrants in our country accounts for about 11.2 million people. Many of these people will inherently be crossing the border to receive government handouts. Yes, in a "welfare-free" society, open borders are okay. However, with welfare, Obamacare, and food stamps, an open border is not a good idea. When you give out free things, people will take advantage of the system. For example, California, the state with the highest number of illegal immigrants in the nation, pays over 30 million dollars to illegal immigrants, while taxpayers in the entire U.S. pay over $40 billion a year. American citizens and legal immigrants are paying taxes to support immigrants who are not even citizens, who have crossed the border illegally to sit in a hammock all day. Citizens are paying to educate and support these undocumented immigrants. Illegal immigrants are clearly a burden to taxpayers with twice the poverty rate of natives.
The intention of many undocumented immigrants is not the issue here. Most illegal immigrants are probably looking to work and make money for their families to make their futures better. However, they burden legal immigrants and U.S. citizens because more than half of them are unskilled workers who use the welfare system. It is no longer an excuse to keep our borders open, compromising the welfare of legal immigrants and citizens at the benefit of undocumented immigrants.