Immigration Reform

Essay by Michelle CasugaHigh School, 12th gradeA-, April 1997

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Immigration Reform

At this time, the United States has allowed more immigrants to enter the country than at any time in its history. Over a million legal and illegal immigrants take up residence in the United States each year. Immigration at its current magnitude is not fulfilling the interests or demands of this country. With the country struggling to support the huge intake of new comers, life in America has been suffering tremendously. The excessive stress put upon the welfare system, overuse of the family reunification laws, and the exploitation of employment based immigration in the computer industry are reasons for immigration reform.

The United States welfare system has difficulties supporting the huge numbers of immigrants coming into the country each year. A majority of the immigrants are from poor countries and come to the U.S. looking for work. A research organization called Urban Institute revealed that immigrants use more welfare and earn lower incomes than natives, which results in immigrants paying less taxes.

The Urban Institute is a non-profit organization that investigates the social and economic problems of this country. Statistics from a Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) newsletter shows, ". . . the share of immigrant households below the poverty line (29 percent) is much higher than the share of native households that are poor (14 percent)--more than twice as high." Due to the large numbers of poverty stricken immigrants, they are more likely to take part in means-tested programs such as AFDC.

Family reunification laws generally do not serve the purpose implied by their name. These laws create a problem that researchers call chain migration. According to the FAIR organization, "because of chain migration--one immigrant sponsors several family members as immigrants, who then sponsor several others themselves, and so on. Since chain migration began...