What's Really Going On Now

In the past, many Americans were opposed to any form of immigration to the United States of America. Now however the focus seems to have shifted toward illegal immigration. Many Americans are extremely opposed to illegal immigrants in our country and feel that they will be the downfall of the United States. There are many people trying to fight to keep our borders closed to everyone. These people feel that all illegal immigrants should be deported and that America should stay for Americans. In "Illegal Immigrants Should Not Receive Social Security Benefits”, the author, Paul M. Weyrich argued that illegal immigrants should not be eligible for social security when they retire even if they worked in the US. Weyrich felt that because these people are not American citizens they should not get to benefit from the money that Americans have deposited over the years. According to Weyrich there is no reason for illegal immigrants to benefit from Social Security because they have not done anything to deserve it. Others like Weyrich believe that illegal immigrants are taking away money from Americans and the American government. Steven A. Camarota wrote an essay entitled "Illegal Immigrants Create a Drain on the U.S. Government." He gathered many facts about the national deficit such as "Households headed by illegal aliens imposed more than $26.3 billion in costs on the federal government in 2002 and paid only $16 billion in taxes, creating a net fiscal deficit of almost $10.4 billion, or $2,700 per illegal household." Facts like these cause many people to be opposed to illegal immigration. They see illegal immigrants as people who sneak into this country, take away jobs from Americans, and do not repay the country for the opportunity they have taken. Now with the economy the way that it is, even other illegal immigrants in this country are starting to get upset. In New York City for example, illegal Polish immigrants are starting to lose their work to illegal immigrants from Latin America. Even though it is illegal, the day labor market that the illegal immigrants have created is being threatened by other illegal immigrants. "The Hispanic women may be willing to accept less money -- $7 or $8 per hour -- than the Polish women, who generally charge $10." This undermining of the Polish day labor market in New York City is causing not only Americans to fight against illegal immigration, but now other illegal immigrants are frustrated with the number of people entering this country illegally each year. It is clear that as the number of illegal immigrants rise each year, the amount of frustration in the hearts of Americans will increase as well.