Illegal Immigration In The United States :: Immigration and Politics

Why does the issue of immigration divide American opinions when the United States is a country built by immigrants? The online encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org defines immigration to the United States as "the permanent movement of foreigners to the United States." This online encyclopedia also states that immigration to the United States has been a major source of population growth and cultural change throughout American history." In order to establish an objective and well thought out viewpoint on this very sensitive subject, I thought it would be best to discuss as many different viewpoints as possible. However, my research indicates that is seems like everyone in the United States and abroad has his or her own stance. So I will limit this discussion to two viewpoints; they are as follows: • Those who oppose illegal immigration and want the immigrants to be forced back to their originating countries. • Those who oppose illegal immigration but would prefer that illegal immigrants that reside within the United States are granted citizenship options. There are obviously quite a number of people that are opposed to illegal immigration. In order to witness this reality today, all you really have to do is turn on your TV and search for a news channel that is covering current politics. You will definitely hear something in reference to the current issue of illegal immigrants within the United States as well as numerous videos or images of activists protesting or supporting the residential status of immigrants within the United States today. No decision has been made on what will happen to the millions of illegal immigrants that currently reside in the United States, but I am sure that the heated debate will become more heated when presidential elections occur. I think this will be the ultimate driving factor for a decision on what will happen with the illegal immigration issue we are witnessing today. There are numerous reasons why people oppose immigration. Some have antiracially motivated objectives. They simply reject imm igrants because of racist notions. Another reason why people opposed both legal and illegal immigration is because they believe that the population levels will increase severely, which will ultimately cause joblessness and an increase in famine and crime within the United States.(1) These reasons are more socioeconomically related. One could say the ultimate reason is due to fear of a negative impact at an individual level as well as a deteriorating environment.