Immigration Reform Pros and Cons List

Immigration reform, a commonly-used term for the changing of laws increasing legal immigration and decreasing illegal immigration, has been discussed for many years, especially in the United States of America. Throughout history, this issue has been brought up time and time again; the number of illegal immigrants in the United States has been increasing rapidly, and the number of legal immigrants appears to be decreasing. Many people are trying to find ways to reverse the ratios, so that there are more legal immigrants and less illegal immigrants in the country. Various laws have attempted to change these policies, including the guest worker proposal supported by George W. Bush, and the Gang of Eight bill that was passed in 2013. The following paragraphs will explain different aspects of immigration reform, and the various pros and cons that have been weighed.

List of Pros of Immigration Reform

1. Save Taxpayers Dollars
Opinions on immigration reform vary widely all over the nation. People in support of the reform believe that illegal immigrants are costing American taxpayers over three hundred billion dollars.

2. Stop Tarnishing Public Image
Proponents of immigration reform also believe that the illegal immigrants tarnish the public image of immigrants. They also say that both citizens and law enforcement officials are being jeopardized, especially along the border of Mexico.

3. Solve Current Discrepancies In The System
Despite all the recent activity, the concept of immigration reform has been around for many decades. The IMMIGRATION reform and Control Act of 1986 made it so that the hiring or recruitment of illegal immigrants was against the law. However, there was no non-immigrant visa system for the lesser-skilled workers who wanted to be in the United States.

List of Cons of Immigration Reform

1. The Figures Are Inaccurate
People on the other side believe that this truly large number is inflated, and that the actual number is a small fraction of what the proponents say.

2. Unable to Teach Agreements
Even proponents of the reform can take different sides; typical Republicans want the reformation to be step by step, while President Barack Obama and his administration want it to be a package deal, where many changes are made at once in the form of a large bill. A journalist named Roy Beck, who frequently comments on immigration, supports only portions of the agenda, which includes the ending of birthright citizenship. Congressman Tom Tancredo has been very outspoken for stricter controls on people entering the country without documentation.

3. Security Risks
After Obama’s Law was passed, over twelve million undocumented workers made it across the border. These illegal immigrants were estimated to make up five percent of the workforce in the whole country. This obviously led to complaints that foreigners were taking jobs from legal United States citizens. It was also estimated that seventy percent of this illegal workforce were Mexicans who came to the United States. Of course, with threats of terrorism and such increasing, more action is being taken in the 2000’s and 2010’s.

As you can see, there are many pros and cons, and a great number of sides to the issue of immigration reform; some want a step-by-step process, while others want a package bill to be passed; some want birthright citizenship to be passed, while others rather have the offspring of illegal immigrants be illegal as well. Some are only concerned about keeping terrorists out, while others are also concerned about the amount of tax money it is costing U.S. Citizens. But no matter what the opinion is, one immigration reform policy or another will try and stop those illegal aliens from barging in.