United States should fund immigration

Nick Johnson
Editor-in-Chief
Nobody truly knows how many illegal immigrants there are in the United States. I thoroughly enjoy reading the various internet comments and blogs about this fact; some say there are 13 million, some say there are three million and I’ve read just about every number in between. These all supposedly come from some “reliable” source like the U.S Census Bureau. However, it’s a nonfactor.

Whether there are three or 13 million illegal immigrants living in this nation, there is definite cause for concern, as these people are evading the laws and conduct of our country to service themselves.

But where most people see a problem in millions of non-tax-paying people migrating here every year, I see a tremendous opportunity for our nation (even as we struggle through hard economic times), and it’s buried by the complicated legislature and racist opinions surrounding illegal immigration: Let them come.

The United States is at one of its worst economic states in its history, yet Hispanics (who make to the majority of illegal immigrants) are flocking to this country. Why? Because the entire geographical realm of Central and South America is a tragic landscape of poverty and political indifference, and even the U.S at its worst offers them a chance at their dream life.

But the process to become a U.S citizen is complicated, expensive and (depending on an immigrant’s personal situation) may take as long as the better part of a decade to complete. Even if a potential immigrant has relatives who are U.S citizens, he must wait for their immigrant visas based on a “preference system,” which first grants visas to unmarried adult children of U.S citizens, then spouses and married adult children, and finally adult brothers and sisters.

The lower preference a potential immigrant is, the longer he waits. All of these citizenship road blocks make immigrating illegally all the more appealing.

Simplification of and mass funding for the U.S immigration process would dramatically reduce, if not crush, the incentive for illegal immigration. The Department of Homeland Security’s Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) should start by cutting any and all fees for application documents, fingerprinting and other essential elements for immigrating. A big chunk of federal funding should be allocated to the USCIS to open up dozens of new immigration processing offices across the country.

In addition to providing thousands of jobs for out-of-work Americans, more of said facilities would put a massive dent in application turnaround time, allowing more people to immigrate here legally. Also, the “preference system” of selecting relatives of U.S citizens should be abolished, and they should lump every category of U.S citizen relation together in one yearly quota.

The result of such large-scale action would be more people paying United States taxes (aka putting more revenue in the federal coffers), job creation in an ailing economic climate, and hundreds of thousands of new United States citizens willing to work for and invest in American businesses.

A greater exodus of people may also incur governments of povertystricken nations to act more swiftly to retain the confidence of their people.

The United States of America should use immigration to its advantage: to strengthen its economy and set a cultural example for the world by providing the opportunity for a decent life to as many people as it possibly can.