Immigration is an incredibly complex issue. Illegal immigration is definitely a bad thing. Illegal immigrants use up tax dollars in filling jails, hospital bills, and schooling among other things. This is a huge problem and must be fixed. But should we allow legal immigration? This question leads to many important follow up questions. How many legal immigrants should we allow? Should their be any criteria to immigrate? Should there be a cap for certain ethnicities? Should immigrants have the same rights and privileges as citizens? Right now with a new immigration bill going through the senate. Both parties are criticizing the bill; Democrats don't like the skill based system, while Republicans don't like that illegal immigrant would have a path to citizenship. The big problem I have with how immigration is approached by this bill, is that an "immigrant" seems to mean Mexican to everyone. All immigrants should be treated equally. I will lay out the main points why I think ALL immigration should be either stopped or severely cut down.

Those who say that immigration is a fundamental part of America are correct. Many people preach the famous quote: "Give us your poor, your tired, your huddled masses longing to be free". All people have an inherent right to attempt to make a better life for themselves and their families. But a country has the right to sustain itself and the welfare of it's people. Sadly, what is good for humanity and what is good for the people of the United States is a completely different thing. Living in America is not a requirement to have a good life. Denying people the right to live here is hardly sentencing them to a life in poverty. Yes, it will probably be harder for them. But life is neither easy nor fair.

Another problem with unrestricted immigration is the character of the people who come to the United States. Easier paths to immigration means it will be easier for criminals and terrorists to enter the country undetected. Unless we require credentials and a background check for potential immigrants, people wishing to harm the country or it's citizens will easily be able to get in the country. Of course we will not be able to prevent all of these people from entering the country. But we will be able to stop some which could indirectly save American lives.

Currently the United States is in debt over a trillion dollars. Immigrants consume much need resources. If anyone could immigrate, elderly people would be entering the country who already would be taking money from social security. They would also be using money in hospitals and some of them, welfare. Americans born in the United States, pay taxes most of their lives. This money gives them the right to use the countries resources. What gives someone the right to use the resources of someone else who is a hard-working tax payer for his or her entire life?

Currently the unemployment rate of citizens above age 16 in the United States is at 4.5% according to the Department of Labor. This means out of about 300 million American citizens, a little more than 13 million people are without a job. Making legal immigration allowed, means millions more citizens in the country looking for jobs. The fact is that the majority of immigrants are poor and will work for lower wages. Hard-working Americans would lose their jobs to people who have given very little if anything to the United States. Many of the immigrants will be less skilled at these jobs as well. These factors combined will ultimately hurt the economy of a country already deep in debt.

Another important issue involving legal immigration is how it affects our culture. America has been called a "melting pot". In the past, immigrants would retain parts of their own culture as well as adopt parts of American culture. Many immigrants, especially Mexican ones, instead of immersing themselves in to our culture, keep their own cultures in their own isolated communities only speaking their own languages. Because many immigrants from the same country tend to live in the same areas, this forms places that do not speak English. English speaking workers of course cannot find jobs in these areas unless they speak the particular language of that area. This does not help our economy.

If immigrants want to retain their culture and not speak English so badly, then why not just stay in their own country and try to improve it? Many of the immigrants are intelligent; many doctors and engineers immigrate from Asian countries. If intelligent people leave their country for the United States, they are hurting their homeland. They should stay and try to improve their country and the lives of it's citizens.