Illegal Immigration

Illegal immigration is an issue that affects all American citizens. There are more than one million illegal immigrants arriving into the US each year, which have a huge effect on the American lifestyle. New immigration plus births to immigrants add up to about 80% of the total population growth. Many adults who arrive into the US illegally have little education, which is a primary reason for many of these people living in poverty. My teammate already had mentioned some problems that develop, but some others are public education rights and rising crime rates. Controlling the flow of illegal immigrants into the country will provide Americans with more opportunites.

In an ideal world, public schools would not have to educate illegal immigrants. However, in the real world, many schools have students who are illegal immigrants. These illegal aliens take fiscal resources that could be used to better benefit the US. Many public schools are struggling to educate the students who are enrolled LEGALLY. This is due to the overwhelming amount of illegal aliens flooding the already stressed schools. The Pew study found that in 2008, “children of unauthorized immigrants make up 6.8% of the students enrolled in kindergarten through 12th grade.” Children of illegal immigrants who attend public schools account for more than 1 in 5 students. A study is shown that 47% of illegal immigrants in the US are parents with children. The enrollment of unauthorized children distracts from the quality of educational programs available to US children.         

When there are more students attending a public school, this increases taxes that citizens must pay. Illegal immigrant families do not contribute to support the public education system, which makes it more expensive for citizens to attend school. It is shown that “states and the government spend $12 billion annually to educate illegal immigrants.” California spends $7.7 billion on illegal immigrants to attend public schools, and Texas spends $3.9 billion. To maintain the current cost per student, the public education system would have to increase taxes tremendously. Why should we allow the undocumented immigrants to continue to steal and abuse our public education system? These children are not legal citizens. It is proven that “public education is NOT a right granted by the Constitution.” Therefore, the right to an education is an alienable right that can be taken away. The US Constitution states in the fourteenth amendment that, “No state shall deny any person within jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” Due to illegal immigrants NOT being US citizens, they are not supported by this document and its amendments. Many US families value education, and without a proper education system, our children will not be as successful with illegal immigrants overpopulating our schools.