In 2016, 43.7 million legal immigrants resided in the United States, making up 13.5% of our total population of 323.1 million people. However, among the shadows of those legal immigrants, hide the illegal immigrants. It is estimated that around 12 million unauthorized immigrants currently live in the United States, most of whom, according to our current president, Donald John Trump, are doing nothing but “bringing drugs...crime…[and rape]”. In an effort to undermine what the alt-right refers to as a crisis, Donald J. Trump has pushed Congress for the ramification of our border. He has made many Americans believe that our problems with illegal immigration will soon perish, and that, most importantly, he is actually doing something for the United States as president. In truth, Donald Trump’s plans to prevent illegal immigration will not ‘Make America Great Again.’ Building a wall will not stop illegal immigration, the mass deportation of illegal immigrants will harm our society, and the process of deportation will only cause problems, as it is both inhumane and unethical.

Donald Trump’s plans are highlighted by his certainty of reinforcing the United States’ border with Mexico. The Mexico-United States border is currently 1,954 miles long, with only about 700 miles of actual walls and fencing. It is a mix-match of tall and short fences, mechanisms implemented to prevent crossings by vehicles, and other surveillance tools, such as drones, cameras, and blimps, as well as natural terrain that impedes crossing, such as mountains and rivers. But even then, only 354 miles of fencing are designed to stop people from crossing, and natural terrain still will not do much to stop a determined illegal immigrant, leaving 1,600 miles of our border vulnerable to entry.

What Trump has proposed, is the construction of a “big, beautiful wall”. Its specifics have varied, for his campaign promises once claimed that it would stretch from “sea to shining sea”, but it is now believed that he will construct about 700 miles of border barriers. Some of these miles would be built in new areas, but the majority of them will be replacing past versions, estimated to bring its future length to 1,000 miles. In fact, he has already started working on it, so he says.

After acquiring $1.6 billion from Congress to replace parts of the existing border, fences, walls, barriers, and gates have already started construction. No, this is not actually part of the ‘great’ wall that Donald Trump plans on building, this bill was passed for the sole purpose of strengthening our border security, as opposed to what Donald Trump has tweeted: “Got $1.6 Billion to start Wall on Southern Border, rest will be forthcoming.” Regardless, what exactly is the reason for this desperation to close our borders?

Prior to delving deeper into the subject of illegal immigration, something has to be clarified. It is of the utmost importance in this day and age for us to comprehend what the term ‘illegal immigrant’ is referring to. An illegal immigrant is any foreign-born non-citizen who is not a legal resident of the United States. Emphasis should be added to the word ‘any,’ as it is a common misconception that the term ‘illegal immigrant’ refers to only illegal Mexican immigrants, when it does, in actuality, refer to anyone who resides in the United States without the government’s consent.

Moving on, the most prevalent factor in people’s urgency to virtually close our borders is illegal immigration. It is believed that the construction and implementation of new technologies along our border will keep Mexicans out, as well as all of the problems that they are supposed to bring, but that is simply impossible. There are various reasons as to why this is, and one of these is the fact that the majority of illegal immigrants are no longer crossing the border by foot, but instead through other methods.

One of such methods is the overstaying of one’s Visa. Temporary or nonimmigrant Visas are usually issued out to people who wish to come to the United States for a limited amount of time. Most of these are issued with a maximum validity of three years, during which the selected person is supposed to work, study, or simply visit. There also exist permanent Visas, or green cards. These are typically issued out to petitioned workers or family members of U.S. citizens. In any case, these Visas are commonly abused by immigrants, which turns them into fugitives.

The violation of these Visas most commonly occurs by violating its terms, such as by staying after its specified time of expiration (overstaying it), or breaking a law. In any way, violating the terms of a Visa cancels it, making its holder illegal and susceptible to persecution. But since a Visa allows foreigners to enter the U.S. legally, they are saved from the hassle of crossing the border by foot and trying to avoid border patrol, making this a preferred method of entry. In fact, according to the Center of Migration Studies, “two-thirds of those who joined the undocumented population did so by entering with a valid Visa, and then overstaying their period of admission.” Since 2007, the number of overstays have exceeded those entering illegally each year, with over half a million more overstays than illegal entries since 2007. And according to the same report, in 2014, “42% of all undocumented persons in the U.S. were ‘overstays’,’’ and this number could have done nothing but increased since then, as border security and policies remain lacking.

However, overstaying a Visa is not the only way for illegals to migrate to the United States. So far, people have been detained trying to cross or transport illicit substances through tunnels, catapults, drones, sail ships, and even scuba diving. This only proves that foreigners are determined to get into the United States, that they will keep trying, and that a wall will do nothing to impede their entry.

Another reason that constructing a wall will not stop illegal immigration significantly is that there are less and less illegal immigrants each year. With more and more immigrants using different illegal methods to gain entry into the United States, less are crossing our border by foot. But even then, after compiling statistics of rates of illegal immigration, researchers have proven that the total number of illegal aliens, through all methods of entry, has been in decline. States such as California have lost 367,000 illegals, and in 2016, the United States, lost a total of 935,000 people from its undocumented population. What will any of Trump’s policies do, let alone his wall, if there is no illegal immigration to prevent?

If you are in need of more proof of this, according to Migration Policy, from 2000 to 2014, the amount of illegal immigrants in the United States fell from 29.5% of our population, to 27.6%, and the number of illegals went down 8%. And in 2017, the Department of Homeland Security claimed that our Southwest Border was “more difficult to cross illegally than before,” with more illegal immigrants leaving, rather than entering the U.S.
Apart from those statistics, Mexicans no longer make up the clear majority of illegal immigrants. Yes, Mexicans do make up most of the illegal immigrants currently in the United States, but since 2013, India and China have been the largest countries of origin for many illegals. The decline of actual immigration combined with the rest of them coming from different places and through different routes will definitely decrease the use of a wall significantly, if not render it useless. If most illegals come in through planes with valid identification, why would you waste billions on border fortification, if that is no longer the problem? It could possibly be implemented if it were a cheaper option, but as of now, $18 billion seems like an unnecessary amount of spending.

Another one of Donald Trump’s reasons for pushing for increased border security is for the security of our economy. He believes that illegal immigrants are harming our economy by taking American jobs and stealing our money through government benefits. To prevent this, he has turned to deportation. As one popular quote of his says, he apparently wishes to “Get ‘em outta here!” in an effort to solve this economic black hole. This solution could not be farther from helpful, as the majority of illegals work, which contributes to our economy, and they work typically non-white jobs, leaving the positions that the native-born normally acquire alone, and illegals, of course, also buy American products, fueling our economy.

According to an evaluation by the Migration Policy Institute, 69% Mexican immigrants work in the labor force. Of the rest of the foreign immigrants, 66% worked, and of the population of native-born people, 62% worked. From a study by Harvard in 2013-14, it was discovered that 87% of male illegal immigrants worked, compared to a mere 74% of American men. And from these numbers, it can’t be denied that statistically, the immigration population works more than even the native-born population, the ones accusing them of being ‘no-good wetbacks’. This proves that undocumented people, specifically Mexicans, our government’s main target, are truly focused on making a living and being good, hard-working citizens, rather than doing drugs and extorting people for money.

Other than earning money by working stable jobs, rather than what illegals are usually accused of, drug-dealing, they also work typically non-white jobs. Since illegal immigrants are illegal to hire, they have a hard time looking for work, especially as most have never received a proper education. Most of the companies that illegals end up working for are in the production industries, which include construction and farming, typically non-white areas of employment. These types of jobs require a lot of workers, so employers hire these immigrants because they know that they will be cheap and easy to abuse, because of their illegal status. This results in illegal immigrants being forced to work in horrible conditions for low-salary jobs, just to get enough money to survive.

As always, there will be skeptics in our society. For those who suggest that somehow, the huge number of cheap employees, which are illegal immigrants, lower the wages of their native counterparts, please stop exaggerating. Yes, from a 2008 research by Gordon H. Hanson at the University of California along with the National Bureau of Economic Research, it can be proven that illegal immigrants do impact our economy, but in a very miniscule manner. According to Politico Magazine, a 10% increase in the number of illegal immigrants only lowered the wages of other groups by 1%. Other studies also demonstrate that an influx of illegal immigrants increased the unemployment of Native high-school dropouts, although their worth in our society is just as questionable as those of the supposed “drug dealers...criminals...[and rapists],” entering our country at this very moment.
One other way in which the deportation of illegal immigration will negatively impact our society is that it will decrease the amount of consumers in our economy. Of course, illegal immigrants work, but many people seem to forget that they have to pay for things as well. From rent (because even illegals need a place to live), to bread for lunch, illegal immigrants help circulate money within our economy.

There is also the argument that illegals drain taxpayers’ money. This is said to occur by them using federal funded services, such as hospitals, and using government benefit programs, such as food stamps. But the truth is, illegal immigrants cannot even use these services. Because of their undocumented status, these immigrants are not eligible for services such as Medicare and Medicaid, and the only reason that they would be connected with these services would be if they had children or relatives who were legal.

Another misconception of illegal aliens is that they do not pay taxes. Opposedly, many of them do. Even though illegal immigrants don’t have the required documentation to pay taxes, they find a way to do so. Most of them get their hands on an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN), which is issued out to people without a social security number (illegals), or they fill out a form through their employer, and file their taxes through them. Our government sees these returns as from anonymous people, and collects them, because what catches our attention? Money.

In 2014, the government received about $13 billion from 3.4 million illegal immigrants. That is about half of the 8 million immigrants in the work force, and a third of the 11 million total undocumented people who were in the U.S. at that time. And yes, various studies have been conducted that show that the taxes paid by illegal immigrants do not cover the debt that they rack up, but they end up paying that debt, and even causing a surplus, through other means. These include buying American products and using other American services, which creates a huge demand, which, if taken away, would greatly reduce the size of our economy.

A fear of terrorism is another reason for our urgency to close our borders. Since September 11, 2001, when the Twin Towers were attacked, our attention to border security has heightened. Especially on airlines, inspections have become stricter and more frequent, in an effort to maintain these unholy terrorists out.

Likewise, Donald Trump has tried to enforce security along our southern border to prevent terrorists, such as drug dealers and smugglers, from entering, but this is unnecessary. There have been no studies that prove that illegal immigrants or other any foreigners are incarcerated at a higher rate than the native-born population. Much to the contrary, research actually shows that areas with a higher population of immigrants actually have lower crime rates.

Elaborating on Donald Trump’s policies which plan on lowering the amount of illegal immigrants, comes up the topic of deportation. Deportation has, rightly so, been a highly debated topic. Not only is deportation inhumane, but it only puts our government deeper into debt.

To commence, by deporting people, our government is only separating families. Think of the illegal immigrants who have children, legal children, in our country. Not only will separating these children from their parents put copious amounts of emotional stress on them, but also on our economy. If the children had no other relatives, they would have to live in orphanages and foster homes, and have to be funded by the government. Imagine how much time and money that would cost, especially if those parents had conceived more than one child.
Of course, if those children did have other legal relatives, they could go live with them, but living without their parents would still put them under tremendous emotional stress. But if you don’t care about their well-being, at least care for economy, and of how much money it would lose without those parents constantly paying for food, shelter, and the rest of their needs.

Apart from separating families, deportation violates basic human rights. Typically, deportees are unalerted to their deportation. Wherever they are discovered to be illegal, they are incarcerated until a court hearing (reminder, the government has to pay for that inmate’s food). After that court hearing, they are almost certainly deported, and that is it. They are given no time to get their things in order, gather money, or prepare in any way for the journey which awaits them, and this creates even more problems.

The deportation of illegal immigrants creates another layer of problems for the illegal immigrant once it is deported for many reasons. For one, many of them have been living in the United States for more than a decade. As you can imagine, many illegal immigrants abandoned their old lives once they crossed the border. They sold all of their holdings in their home country in order to live the ‘American Dream’. This leaves them with no money,
property, or ability to work for a living once they got back home, as most are very old, leaving them practically dead. Additionally, since Donald Trump’s regime has seemingly had no luck finding hazardous immigrants, it has started deporting anyone without authorization to live in the United States. Yes, they are still unauthorized, but what is the need to deport people who have made a living in the United States, who have worked hard their whole time here?

Again, many people probably don’t care about the well-being of illegals, which is just cruel, how could you support someone dying? But for those, I have to say that deportation, as many other of Donald Trump’s policies, will negatively impact our economy. Deporting a single person costs about $10,000, when you multiply this by the almost 12 million illegal immigrants in our country, I can promise that you will be wishing for a better solution.

Instead of wasting money on a useless wall, and on deportations, our government should try its hand at other things, if it so wishes to ‘Make America Great Again.’

The most unpropitious way that our government could possibly prevent illegal immigration would be to help the countries from where most of them come from. These Include China, India, and Mexico, and we could help them financially and socially. Many illegal immigrants come to the United States because of poor living conditions or for a chance at becoming wealthy with our ‘larger’ wages. By providing these countries with financial help and soldiers, we could boost their wages as well as domestic tranquility, eradicating their reason for migrating illegally into the United States However, this solution is a bit hypothetical, and very unlikely to occur, since we typically do not like to hand out money for free, especially as it seems like a major fraud just waiting to occur.
A more probably way through which we could prevent illegal immigrants and but prevent our economy from suffering would be to implement laws. Probably the most controversial change would be to grant our current population of illegals with citizenship. Not only would this motivate them to follow our laws even more, as to not jeopardize their legal status, but we would also be able to keep track of them. This would occur because our government would be able to keep them in its databases, since they have valid paperwork which they can monitor through their registrations for things and such, something which it can not do with illegal people, as they do not have any valid papers to keep track of. Going back to this prompting illegals to follow laws even more religiously, granting them citizenship or even residency would encourage them to engage more in our society. And additionally, making them legal would require them to pay taxes, which is one of the biggest problem of their illegal statuses.

Even if granting all, or most of our illegal population with citizenship is not possible, hurrying up the speed of immigration courts and granting more work Visas would prevent the amount of illegal immigration. Yes, there would still be overstays, but according to Insider Sources, when Congress increased the number of temporary work Visas in the 1950’s, border apprehensions dropped by 95%. This goes to show that granting more illegal immigrants with paperwork does not, indeed, encourage it, but prevent it.

If our government were to take a more heartless approach, however, it will continue deporting people. This will not succeed in ridding us from our problems with illegals for the various reasons previously provided in this research paper, but I suppose that offering some alternatives would not hurt anyone, except for the illegal immigrants, of course. If we were to try to deport our undocumented population, as Donald Trump is planning to do, we would need to enforce our interior regions of the United States more, which would include strengthening our ICE task force. This would require a lot less money than building a law would, but only expanding our amount of them will not help. As movements have already started, Donald Trump would have to close in on sanctuary cities. These include cities such as San Diego, where a large portion of residents are illegal, and some work towards the elimination of our undocumented population could actually be completed.

More than a year and 3,000 tweets after taking office, Donald John Trump has arguably done little for our country. He has not yet acquired funding for his ‘great wall,’ and does not seem like he will be able to anytime soon. America is a melting-pot country, a place like no other, where cultures join and create the concoction that is our American society. Though unwanted, it would be false to say that illegal immigrants have not contributed positively to our rich history and society. Not only will none of Donald Trump’s plans stop illegal immigration, but preventing illegal immigration is not, and never will be, the sole solution to all of our problems; it will not stop rape, assault, or school shootings. Ridding our country of illegal immigrants will only result in a worse state for our country, both economically and socially, not taking into account that this would be a great sin. When will our politicians realize just how small of an issue illegal immigration actually is, and instead focus on the things that truly put our society in peril?