Overcrowding America by Immigration
Uploaded by kyra666 on Mar 06, 2002
All over America, some places more than others, immigration has become a major debate for everyone. More than one million people are coming into the United States legally and illegally. According to the US Immigration Guide, written by attorney, Ramon Carrion, legal immigration means people coming into the country with their temporary or permanent visas given out by the government’s consent. And illegal immigration means anyone who crosses over the border without proper documentation of the government’s consent, and staying for any period of time (xii). On one hand, the experts are saying those loose borders are very good because it helps out with the nation’s economy and ethnic diversity. But on the other hand, loose border can have a negative effect on the nation by overcrowding, keeping the wages of working down and drug importation.
America is a nation built on immigrants from all over the world. However, numerous actions have been taken to slow down the rate of immigration. For example, in 1924 congress passed the Johnson-Reed Act, which allowed fewer immigrants to come to the United States legally and strengthened the borders. And in 1996, congress passed the Illegal Immigration and Immigrant Responsibility Act to toughen the borders and deportation procedures (Masci 579). Currently the top three countries of origin for immigrants admitted into the United States are Mexico, China, India, in that order, Mexico being the highest with 131,575 people in 1998. China being the second highest with 36,884 and India with 36,482 people, both also in 1998. Plus, the United States admitted over 40,000 people from Africa in 1998 (Masci 576). And these numbers are increasing rapidly. In the 1980’s there were approximately 6.3 million immigrants legally admitted to the United States, compared to the 1990’s when 10 million were let in. And in 1998, approximately 1.51 million immigrants came into the United States illegally and 1.54 came in 1999, according to the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) (Masci573). Now the Center for Immigration Studies says 68 million people have been added to the population since 1970, and a lot of that has to do with immigration since the fertility rate of American families has decreased since then. An estimation by the National Research Council says, “that by 2050, current immigration policies will cause the population of the United States to be fully 80 million larger than without immigration, triple the population growth that would take...