Today, our immigration policy is one of the most significant problems facing our country. We have one of the most open immigration policies in the world. According to recent polls, American name immigration as the biggest problem currently facing the United States. Our current immigration policy not only affects many aspects of the lives of U.S citizens, but also the lives of people that wish to immigrate to our country. Overall, there are two broad categories of the consequences resulting from not reforming our immigration policy: those related to illegal immigration and border security, and those related to our current policy. Consequences of not reforming the current system include, but are not limited to, a detrimental effect on our economy, increase in crime, a decrease in the amount of innovative entrepreneurs and a negative effect on the lives of immigrants.
Currently, our immigration policy is primarily based off of The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 and The Immigration Act of 1990. When a foreigner wishes to come to the United States for a period of time greater than 90 days, that person is required obtain a visa. There are two types of visas; temporary and permanent. Temporary visas are granted to athletes, students, journalists and other people that wish to stay in the United States temporarily.  There are two main ways through which foreigners can obtain permanent visas. The first is by being a refugee, or a person fleeing persecution. The number of visas given to refugees, which is set annually by the president and congress, was 70,000 in 2013. Of those 70,000, the highest percentage was given to those from from Eastern Asia. The second way is through the quota system, which regulates the number of visas granted to 675,000 each year. Within the quota system, a certain number of visas go towards different causes. The first is the unification of families, which is granted 480,000 visas a year. This form of immigration gives preference to direct relatives of a U.S citizen over immigrants sponsored by a Legal Permanent Resident and those who are more distantly related to their sponsors. Employment-based immigration is allocated 140,000 visas annually, with the goal being to obtain entrepreneurs who will generate jobs and “persons of extraordinary ability”. Out of this 140,000, only 5,000 visas go to unskilled laborers. The final 55,000 visas go to the Diversity Visa Program, in which applicants from countries who have received 50,000 or fewer visas in the past five years are put into a random drawing to be granted visas. Regardless of the category by which immigrants come to the United States, no more than 7% of immigrants in any given year can come from one particular country.   
Perhaps the most consequential effect of not reforming our current immigration policy is the effects that illegal immigration have on our economy. Illegal immigrants easily reach our country by slipping through our 1,200-miles with Mexico that is not protected by any barrier. Today, it is estimated that these illegal immigrants pay only $16 billion in taxes while costing the United States upwards of $26 billion through their use of public services such as schools and hospitals. When these illegal immigrants reach our country, they send a portion of the money that they earn back to their homes in a cash transfer called a remittance. These remittances are estimated to result in $18 billion leaving the U.S annually and reduce our GDP. Although the usage of a single public service every now and then may seem insignificant when thought about in the greater scheme of things, the costs of these public services eventually add up. Throughout the lifetime of an illegal immigrant living in the United States, it is estimated that the illegal immigrant cost the country a shocking $100,000! When that figure is multiplied with the 12 million illegal immigrants that live in the country now, the resulting number no longer seems insignificant at all.
In addition to the detrimental effects that illegal immigration has on our economy, illegal immigrants who slip through our borders have been linked to higher crime rates. It is estimated that 4.5 million illegal aliens drive cars regularly, and the majority of these drivers do not possess licenses. Because many illegal immigrants know very little English, they cannot read signs along the road. On average, illegal aliens kill 13 people a day, which amounts to over 4,500 deaths a year. Despite crime rates falling across the country, according to Arizona Sheriff Paul Babeau, this trend does not applied to immigration-related crimes. “Pinal County has followed the trend of the majority of counties across the United States,” says Babeau, “so we have seen most of our major crime statistics drop during the past few years. The one area we have not seen drop — which has seen dramatic increases in fact — is crimes tied to illegal immigration. Our high-speed vehicle pursuits have rapidly increased each year from 142 in 2007 to 340 such incidents in 2010. Marijuana seizures have spiked from a low in 2008 of about 19,600 pounds to over 45,500 pounds in 2010.” Because immigrants are easily able to slip through our borders, Mexican-based gangs have expanded to the United States. One of these gangs, MS-13, was named as “the world’s most dangerous gang” by National Geographic and has expanded its presence from 33 states in 2005 to 42 states in 2012. This rapid expansion is largely due to illegal immigrants, which account for a majority of gang-members in the United States. The biggest business for these gangs is illegal drugs, and the numbers on this rapidly-expanding industry are astounding. The illegal drug industry has become a multi-billion dollar industry, and is fueled by the 2.2 million kilograms of cocaine and 11.6 million kilograms of marijuana that are smuggled across the border annually.
Along with the problems related to illegal immigration and our borders that come as a result of not having comprehensive immigration reform, there are also many issues that come as a consequence of our poor visa system and other aspects of our immigration policy. The first aspect of how the system is flawed is seen through our visa system, particularly as it relates to student visas. As it stands now, our current immigration policy discourages foreigners studying abroad from staying in the United States. In fact, as the current policy stands, if an applicant mentions that he hopes to stay in the county after obtaining his degree, he would not be given a hisa. In this way, our country restricts itself from acquiring the most innovative minds of the day . Although some may claim that Americans are innovative enough to hold their own against the other nations of the world, the facts strongly point against it. Forty percent of our Fortune 500 companies, including Pfizer, Google and Ebay, were founded by immigrants. Also, of the 35 American students that Technology Review named in 2009 as the most innovative students in the field of technology, six went to high school in the United States. Just four of the eight American nobel prize winners in 2009 were born in the country. Science and engineering, seen by many as two of the most important fields of learning, have also taken a hit as a result of our puzzling visa system. Since 1989, the number of PhDs in science and engineering in the United States has stayed constant at 26,00, while China has seen their number of PhDs in science and engineering skyrocket from only 1,000 in 1989 to over 12,000 today. Similarly, 16 European and Asian countries have a higher percentage of 24 year-olds with degrees in science and engineering than the United States. During his state of the union address this past year, President Obama gave a fitting summary of this specific aspect of immigration. “When people come here to fulfill their dreams -- to study, invent, and contribute to our culture -- they make our country a more attractive place”.
Lastly, our immigration policy is extremely harsh towards immigrants. The reason why many foreigners immigrate to the United States illegally is that they have little chance at doing so legally. Even though undocumented immigrants are vilified by the American people, the life of an immigrant is far from easy. Illegal immigrants live a life in fear of being caught and deported and are forced to work long hours in harsh conditions for relatively low wages. Even getting across the border is a challenge for these immigrants; an average of 500 people a year die while attempting this feat. A more lenient policy would not only benefit immigrants, but it would also aid us in our crusade to reduce illegal immigration and the detrimental effects that come with it. According to Jagdish Bhagwati, a professor of economics and law at Columbia University, no matter how much we do to prevent illegal immigration, as long as there is a law, there always will be be people who break it. “The government can send as many Elliot Nesses to Chicago to nab as many Al Capones as it wants,” says Bhagwati, “but the bootlegged liquor will keep flowing through the Canadian Border as long as Prohibition remains in place”. Finally, the naturalization process for immigrants is both difficult as well as long. In order for immigrants to apply for citizenship, they must have been in the country for five years and fall within the limit of citizens allowed from their country. If an applicant meets these requirements, then the applicant must then take a rigorous test, which half of native-born citizens fail, and sit for an interview that tests applicant’s ability to speak, write and read English. Including the hefty fee required to apply for citizenship and their travel costs, this whole process can cost immigrants thousands of dollars which they can ill-afford to spend. All in all, without reform, our current immigration policy will continue to negatively affect the lives of immigrants.
Altogether, our immigration is in desperate need for reform due to the multitude of issues that it causes. If not altered, our current immigration policy will continue to detrimentally affect many aspects of our lives as United States citizens as well as those of immigrants. If the United States fails to reform its immigration policy, the current policy will continue to negatively impact our economy and result in increased crime rates, while also depriving our country of innovation and making the lives of illegal immigrants incredibly difficult.