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ENGLISH 1010
FALL SEMESTER 2014
IEP RESEARCH PAPER
By Joel Kongolo Ilunga

Illegal Immigrants
Introduction

As I am writing this paper myself I am an immigrant here

in the United States which means I do have some
experience on this issue. Many people come to the United
States to have a better life because where they are from
theres poverty. But not all of the immigrants were living
below the poverty line some of us are coming here just for
education because we dont have good colleges or
universities in our countries. Some of us are coming here
because there are wars in some of our countries and they
are just refugees. This is a controversial issue in America
because it has some good and bad things which come with
it. Immigration is a big thing which involves many aspects
such as the economy, the country safety, the culture and so
on. But I think what is important is that America is a
country made up by immigration for centuries, we all came

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from somewhere and made this country what it is today. I

would like to find out how much changed will America be
if they grant legal status or citizenship to illegals?

Body

Pro-immigration system to be reformed

I started with looking for a source that discussed
reasons why illegal immigrants should be deported. I
conducted a search using google and with the search
words illegal immigrants and this brought up several
articles and the one that struck my attention was a
newspaper article entitled "Who Should Be
Deported?" was written by John Sandweg and
published in the Los Angeles Times on 27 Mar. 2014.
The purpose of this article is to inform readers about
the important issue of immigration and deportation.
His intended audience includes: Political Newspaper
readers. In his article Sandweg writes about why noncriminal illegal immigrants should not be deported. He
writes that many of the people who have been

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deported have been in the US for decades and usually

have U.S citizens Spouses, children and were
convicted criminals. He suggests a solution which he
thinks is better and which will not solve all the
problems but will make the U.S immigration program
become a more humane system. This is a credible
source because first of all it is an academic text and
secondly was also published in the Los Angeles Times
which is one of the most read newspapers in America.
This source is useful to me because at some point it
helps me see the issue in another perspective which I
did not know before and I think thats the all point of
me choosing it. I think I agree with the author when he
writes that the ICE should focus on removing
criminals for securing the borders than on removing
non-criminals and immigration fugitives because I
think by doing that they wont do it correctly because
its a big amount of people and will take them more
time and energy at the same time when they could
focus their energy on a specific group and also
providing security to the integrity of the nation (see
figure 1 below.
I learned that focusing on removing illegal immigrants
is a waste of time. But what the government needs to
do is to focus on removing criminal illegal
immigrants. This article is valuable for my issue

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because it was published in one of the most read

newspapers in America which is the Los Angeles
Times and the author has also some experience on the
issue he presents in this article as he worked in the
same domain. I think whats missing is that this article
doesnt have the opposing view point because it was
written by a pro-democrats which is more likely to
agree on the fact that the immigration system has to be
reformed.

Figure 1 Picture of Illegals being deported

Source: New York Times >>>>

Negative viewpoint
For this second article I wanted to find a source that
discussed why the US government should not
promise amnesty to illegals. I did a search using the
database Sirs issues researcher and with the words

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illegal immigrants and this gave me a bunch of

articles and the one that grabbed my attention was a
newspaper article entitled Put Enforcement Ahead
of Amnesty was written by Drew Ryun and Daniel
Horowitz and published in the USA Today on February
4, 2014. The purpose of this article is to persuade and
inform readers the important issue of immigration
and promising broad amnesty. Their intended
audience include: Political Newspaper readers. In
their article, Ryun and Horowitz write that to stop
illegal immigration the US has to eliminate the
magnets that keep attracting people to the US. They
also note that promising broad amnesty, long before
the fence is built and visa-tracking is implemented,
and will encourage millions more to flow over the
border and overstay their visas to benefit from the
inevitable suspension of deportations. Ryun and
Horowitz conclude by noting that the US has to
secure their borders not just talking about securing
them. This is a credible source because first of all it is
an academic text and secondly was published in the
USA Today which is one of the most read newspapers
in America. This is useful for me because it shows the
other side of the first article I had. In this article the
authors are more likely against the government and

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everything they do not agree with to protect the

borders. I dont really agree with these authors
because they seem like they do not want anyone to
come to America. But I think at some point those
illegal immigrants are more likely to take any work
they find and at low wages. In this article I learned
that the fact that the government doesnt secure the
borders, the number of illegal immigrants keeps
increasing (see figure 2 below. The value of this
article is that it shows me the opposing viewpoint of
the issue which helps me learn more on the topic and
understanding it. I think whats missing is that the
article discuss the fact that the government needs to
protect the borders not just talking about it but what
if those people are also useful to America? I would
like to find an article where it does discuss what
would America benefits if they let them stay in the
country and provide them legal status.

Illegals crossing the

border.

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Source: www.nationalreview.com

The impact on the US economy caused by illegal

immigrants

As I was carrying on, for my third source I thought

that I should find an article that discussed what will
be the impact of providing illegals legal status or
citizenship on the US economy. I conducted a search
using Opposing Viewpoint and by typing the words
illegal immigrants and this offered me several
articles and I chose the web article entitled Granting
Illegal Immigrants a Path to Citizenship Would Boost
US and State Economies was written by Robert
Lynch and Patrick Oakford and published online in
2014. The intended audience includes online blog
readers on political issues. In the online article, Lynch
and Oakford claim about the positive impact of
granting illegal immigrants legal status or citizenship
on the US economy. Lynch and Oakford write that
legalization and citizenship facilitate the labor-market
mobility of the undocumented, which boosts wages
and Improves economic efficiency. They also note
that this will have effects in Investment in Education

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and Training, Labor Mobility and Efficiency, Legal

Protections, Access to Better Jobs and Fostering
Entrepreneurship. This is a credible source as its an
academic one. And the article itself is a case study.
This source helps me to kind of see in a perspective
that illegal immigrants can be a good thing for
America, in the way that they will have a considerable
impact on the economy. In this article I learned that
illegals dont really contribute to the US economy
because their status is not legal. But once they get to
have a legal status or citizenship they will contribute a
lot to the economy because they will pay taxes on
their higher wages and they will spend their increased
earnings on the purchase of goods and services
including food, clothing, and homes. This increased
consumption boosts business sales, expands the
economy, generates new jobs, and increases the
earnings of all Americans. This has a great value
because it shows how granting legal status or
citizenship to illegal immigrants would have a positive
effect on the economy. This article tend to be more
likely focus on how will be the economy once those
11 million are grant a legal status or citizenship and I
guess It misses to show what will be the crime rate
which is also important.

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Crimes committed by illegals

As it written in my second body paragraph that

illegals are more likely to commit crimes; I wanted to
find an article that discussed the crimes illegals have
done so far. I conducted a search using google and
with the search words illegal immigrants and this
brought up several articles and the one that struck
my attention was an online article entitled illegal
immigration = more identity theft, more murder,
more rape and more drug dealing was written by
Michael Snyder and published on his blog end of the
American dream on 24 June, 2013. Snyders purpose
is to inform his intended audience which includes
Americans who really care about immigration. In the
online article, the author claims that illegal
immigrants are more into crimes. He notes that illegal
immigrants have been stealing money from the
federal government by filing fraudulent tax returns or
that some of them usually attack adult women and
rape or keep them as a sexual tool. This a credible
source because the author is an undergraduate in
Commerce from the University of Virginia, and

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possesses a law degree with an LLM from the

University of Florida law school. And he has launched
several blogs as a testament to his raging insane belief
that the world is about to end. This is a useful article
because it shows the dark side of illegal immigrants.
This is what America least expect from these people
because at some point if these people are more likely
to commit crimes why would America grants them
legal status or citizenship. I both agree and disagree.
Firstly, I agree to the fact that he states that America
has made it difficult for people who immigrate here
legally but more easier for illegal immigrants, because
those legal immigrants will be paying taxes, buying
goods, some of them studying as an example of
myself. As an international student my tuition and
fees is way more expensive than citizens or residents.
Secondly, I dont agree to the fact that all illegal
immigrants commit crimes because some of them do
but many of them dont because they do have a
better reason to not do so. For example, many of
them migrated here to have a better life for their
children so why would they commit crimes when they
know that they are threaten of deportation? They will
do everything possible to avoid criminal records. I
learned that America has made difficult to immigrate

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here legally but easier for those immigrating illegally

which I did not know before. This article has a great
value because it shows all the bad things illegal
immigrants have been doing in this country which
support one of my two points on this topic which is
whats good and bad about illegal immigrants?

Final decision taken on the immigration issue

For this last source I wanted to find an article that

discuss some of the directives taken on the issue. I did
a search on google and with the words immigration
system and this brought me many articles but the
one that grabbed my attention was the newspaper
article entitled Obama, Daring Congress, and Acts to
overhaul Immigration written by Michael D. Shear
and published online in the New York Times on
November. 20, 2014. The Purpose of this article is to
inform Americans actions taken by Mr. Obama on the
issue of immigration. The authors intended audience
includes: political newspaper reader. In his article, the
author is discussing Mr. Obama's speech in which he
took actions himself on Immigration without the
congress approval. He writes that Mr. Obama said

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that deporting millions "is not who we are" and cited

scripture, saying, "We shall not oppress a stranger for
we know the heart of a stranger, we were stranger
once too". This is a credible source because it was
published in the New York Times one of the most
read Newspaper in America. And the author is a
White House correspondent for The New York Times.
He joined The Times in September 2010 as a lead
writer on The Caucus blog. This article is useful for me
because it helped me understand the reasons why
Mr. Obama really wanted to reform the US broken
immigration system. I agree with the fact that Mr.
Obama said "we were once stranger too", because
that's the truth America is made of Immigration. Then
why would other immigrate refuse others to
immigrate to the land where they also immigrated? In
this article I learned that Mr. Obama's actions are not
only lawful, but they are the kinds of decision taken
by every single republican and democrat presidents in
the past.

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Conclusion

What is true is that it would be better if the

immigration program gets reformed because many
people will come here, illegal immigrants as well as
legal immigrants. And if some of these people get
residency or citizenship they will be working with
higher wages, they will be paying taxes, and they will
get all the different types of insurance, some others
will be married to Americans and they will have kids
who will be Americans who will have to get an
education and more others things. Some others as if
we take the example of International Student as Im
myself will be paying for their tuitions even more
than citizens or residents, they will be renting
apartments or houses, and they will also be paying
taxes. With all this it is clear that each state
government will increase their annual incomes
because of immigrants.

Works Cited

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Sandweg, John. "Who Should Be Deported?" Los

Angeles Times. 27 Mar. 2014: A.19. SIRS Issues
Researcher. Web. 21 Jul. 2014.
Ryun, Drew, and Daniel Horowitz. "Put Enforcement
Ahead of Amnesty." USA TODAY. 04 Feb. 2014: A.6.
SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 21 Jul. 2014.

Lynch, Robert, and Patrick Oakford. "Granting Illegal

Immigrants a Path to Citizenship Would Boost US and
State Economies." Immigration. Ed. Debra A. Miller.
Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press, 2014.
Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 04 November
2014.

Snyder, Michael. Illegal Immigration = more identity

theft, more murder, more rape and more drug
dealing. American Dream. Michael Snyder. End of
the American dream 24 June, 2013.

Shear, Michael D. Obama, Daring Congress, Acts to

overhaul Immigration. New York Times.com Nov. 20,
2014