When you hear the word immigration what do you think about? Do you think about all the jobs they have taken? Do you think about overpopulation? Do you think about how many crimes they have committed on U.S. soil? Immigration has been a problem ever since the Progressive Era over 100 years ago. Immigrants came from all over the world to America in hopes of finding a better job and place to live to escape the poverty in their home country, but they often were talked bad about because they couldn't use the machines properly or they were not seen as “white” compared to Americans that were already working and settled there. From that time period until the present day immigration has still been a problem. We as a country need to do something about it and make a stricter immigration system into our country before it causes anymore problems.

People come from all over the world to America that's why they call us “The Melting Pot”. When people come from other countries they dont always come with only good things. Over 700,000 immigrants come to America each year and over 10 million illegal immigrants live in America already. Americans today battle with losing their jobs to immigrants who simply migrate to America to escape the violence or living conditions in their home countries. According to International Business times “in 2015, 51% of Americans feel like they are fighting for their job against immigrants that don't even have a work permit.” These American citizens worked hard for their jobs just for them to be taken away. When they immigrate they are also bringing that violence and bad living conditions over to where we live. With the most recent data available the approximate number of illegal immigrants not even counting immigrants is 296,000. They are filling up our jails and bring over more homelessness and even drug wars. Also with the amount of immigrants still coming into our country and rising we will be overpopulated and fight for resources to feed our families. A researcher at susps.org said that “By the year 2020, if current population trends continue, the U.S. will add enough population to create another New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Baltimore, San Francisco, Indianapolis, San Jose, Memphis, Washington D.C., Jacksonville, Milwaukee, Boston, Columbus, New Orleans, Cleveland, Denver, Seattle, and El Paso - plus the next 75 largest cities in the U.S”. Over 100 years ago we were having these same problems. We had immigrants coming from all over the world to come work in the factories and live in the cities hopes for a better life than what they had back home. Immigration at some points became very bad especially for the Chinese to the point where our government passed the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882. We are fighting with immigration into our country just like we did during the Gilded Age and Progressive Era and it's only getting worse.

Now as you can see immigration has brought some bad to our country. We, as a nation need to think again so we can put an end to immigration as a whole. Our past president lowered the amount of apprehensions at our border from a high of 1.6 million to 229,000 and we need to continue to decrease that number. My proposed solution to this problem comes from heritage.org it says “All guest workers in the U.S. should be identified biometrically. Existing migrant workers should have incentives to register with the guest worker program. U.S. companies need incentives to make the program work. Guest worker status should not be a path to citizenship and should not include rights to U.S. social benefits. Efficient legal entry for guest workers is a necessary condition for compliance. Efficient legal entry should be contingent upon a brief waiting period to allow law enforcement agencies the time needed to screen incoming workers. Provisions for efficient legal entry will not be amnesty, nor will they "open the floodgates." Such a system will actually encourage many migrants to exit, knowing that they will be able to return under reasonable regulations. Government agencies should not micromanage migrant labor. The guest worker program should not be used as an excuse to create another large federal bureaucracy. Bonds should be used to promote compliance after entry. Guest workers should be required to find a sponsoring employer within one month. Day laborers should be required to find long-term sponsoring employers. Migrants and employers who do not comply with the new law should be punished. All migrants should respect American law and traditions.” This is a very good solution and great first step towards our goal, but it will take time. But in the end maybe you might think differently about the questions I asked you before you started reading.