Naiylah Hines

Green
Global Studies
27, September 2022

Immigration Final Essay

The United States needs to step up ad provide a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants.

Millions of immigrants come to this country illegally from Mexico and Latin America for a

better life. Once they settle in the U.S., having a family, and building their life comes at a cost.

This risks trauma and depression to children if their parent(s) gets deported. Not only that

gaining citizenship in the U.S isn’t easy. It can cost hundreds to thousands of dollars just to apply

and go to school for English. Some even have to pay for immigration lawyers which costs a

fortune. This makes it nearly impossible for poorer immigrants to gain citizenship in the United

States, because of this the government should build a better path to citizenship for immigrants

helping them stay with their families and have a better future.

Immigration can heavily affect the economy in the U.S. in a positive way. The research

center states

“12.2 million in 2007, but roughly triple the estimated 3.5 million in 1990. The estimate

includes 1.5 million or more people who have temporary permission to stay in the U.S.

through programs such as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and

Temporary Protected Status (TPS)”

(Pew Research Center).

Having this many undocumented immigrants in the U.S. costs more money with more people to

feed, and because of that they help profit the U.S. economy. Since, the people are paying for

housing, food, clothes, etc. As stated in an article “More immigrants becoming citizens will have
a positive impact on tax revenue and help improve the finances of the Social Security and

Medicare systems” (The Immigration Debate). Through this quote, you can see that coming

immigrants can help our economy flourish. Without these immigrants, our economy could risk

crashing because a mass amount of them are paying and making money for the United States.

Putting these undocumented people on a path to citizenship would increase the U.S. Gross

domestic product by up to 1.7 trillion dollars.

Even with all these benefits that come out of paving the way to citizenship for

undocumented immigrants ICE is still heavily in effect. Nolo once said, “ICE is required by law

to serve you with an NTA within 72 hours, but some officers neglect to do this, or issue a blank

or only partially filled-in NTA instead”.This represents just one of the struggles immigrants have

to deal with, making this a prime example of injustice. For this reason, the U.S should make a

better path toward citizenship for undocumented citizens. American immigration once talked

about the consequences of illegal immigration “As many as half a million U.S.-citizen children

experienced the deportation of at least one parent from 2011 through 2013”(American

immigration council). This can negatively affect and even traumatize the child not knowing

when they’ll be able to see their parent(s) again. This leads to depression in the family. Yes, some

may say they brought it upon themselves leading to the next section.

It is very easy to jump to the conclusion that all undocumented immigrants are hurting

the U.S. financially and beneficially. As stated in an article “A 1994 study of unemployment and

immigration … found that higher rates of the foreign-born population historically have

corresponded to lower unemployment rates”(Immigrants and the Economy). They’re saying that

because of undocumented immigrants moving in and taking jobs is leading to more unemployed

U.S. citizens. Although some may see that as a negative it helps America economically. Without
undocumented immigrants, the U.S. would fall apart. If they were to be legally documented

using the path to citizenship it would make an even greater impact.

This brings us to the struggles many immigrants have to deal with concerning them

becoming U.S. citizens. Becoming a citizen is highly expensive as said in the article “725 just to

apply, plus hundreds or even thousands more if you need English classes or consultations with

immigration lawyers”(Immigration Lab). This is a prime example of the financial difficulties of

trying to gain citizenship. Many undocumented immigrants come to the country in hopes of

being financially stable making this request for money to become a citizen nearly impossible.

Quoting Universal “long processing time, …The requirements of USCIS are also very complex

and may not be understandable to outsiders.” (Universal Translation Services). Many incoming

citizens won’t even be able to completely understand the process of getting their citizenship. Not

only that but it's a long process that can take up to years.

Although there are still many U.S. citizens who are highly against the idea that illegal

immigrants should be able to become citizens the arguments show differently. They completely

deserve to be citizens of our country. America’s economic system relies on them which is one of

many reasons why they should have an easier path to citizenship.

Sources:

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/04/13/key-facts-about-the-changing-u-s-un

authorized-immigrant-population/

https://www.americanprogress.org/article/citizenship-undocumented-immigrants-boost-u

-s-economic-growth/

https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/us-citizen-children-impacted-immi

gration-enforcement

https://www.aclu.org/other/immigrants-and-economyhttps://www.aclu.org/other/immigran

ts-and-economy

https://immigrationlab.org/project/lifting-barriers-to-citizenship/

https://www.universal-translation-services.com/how-hard-is-it-to-become-a-u-s-citizen/a

mp/