Every immigrant, documented or not deserves the same rights as citizens in the United States. Not every immigrant comes with the intentions to become a criminal, drug-dealer, or rapist. Instead, they come to take opportunities not offered in their countries, or to better the lives of their families and live the American dream.

First of all, many wonder why most immigrants come from Mexico. Simple, they’re being pushed to come into the states. Pushed, a meaning described as “...forces in the country of origin that encourage or drive people to leave...forces have come in part from great economic suffering”, claimed by Herbert M. Levine, author of Immigration (Levine, 9). Well, this is exactly what is happening in Mexico. With their economy being so horrible, it creates no jobs, low salary rates, corruptions, and no support for their people, they are obviously being pushed to come here. However, not everything is fun and games in the U.S.. A study conducted by ACLU (Immigrants’ Rights Project) states “ In 2013, 83 percent of people deported from the United States were not given a hearing before a judge”, (Immigrants’ Rights). This goes to show not everyone is given the same chances. In fact, many undocumented immigrants must use a fake SSN in order to apply or a job. This is completely ignorant considering they have benefited the country economically and yet they don’t receive the same benefits. To prove this, Nina Roberts claims “...undocumented immigrants contributed $13 million into the social security funds in 2016 and $3 billion into Medicare”, (Undocumented Immigrants Quietly Pay Billions into Social Security and Receive no Benefits). Giving immigrants the same rights as citizens just makes the country’s economy improve and it benefits them in a way that gives them opportunities to provide for the country.

Second of all, some immigrants want to come to the U.S. and are willing to immigrate because they believe it will benefit them. Herbert M. Levine would describe this as “Pull refers to the opportunities in the chosen land that encourage immigrants to leave their home country”, (Levine, 9). They come here to work for a better future. An interview done with Arturo Bolivar claims he came here for a more superior life “I came here at age 17 not knowing any english to earn money, make a family and give back to the one I have back home”, (Interview With Dad About Immigration). He later goes to explain how it wasn’t easy, but was grateful to president Ronald Reagan for believing immigrants should have a shot at the American dream. Immigrants come with the intention to spread their culture and participate in the American society. It’s hard to do that when they could be at danger of being deported when all they want to do is be part of something greater and bigger. How can something be taken away at any moment when all they want is to succeed and all they know is the american lifestyle. For example, a child growing up in the states their whole life with an undocumented parent and them being deported one day just because they weren’t given a fair chance puts the child in a simple yet complicated situation. Either they stay without their parent or completely leave the only life they know. This isn’t a made up scenario, it’s an everyday life situation “Children make up the majority of these U.S. citizens; almost 6 million citizen children under the age of 18 live with a parent or family member who is undocumented”, (U.S. Citizen Children Impacted by Immigration Enforcement). Giving the same rights to those who have earned it can stop something horrible from happening.

Finally, immigrants don’t always benefit our country. Every single day there is always more people coming in the country documented or not. This is already a problem, for one the U.S. is overpopulated and two the country is slowing running out of resources. For example, there is newborns every single hour of the day and some of those children come from an immigrant “Immigrants and their U.S.- born children currently account for 75 to 80 % of our annual population growth”, (The United States Is Already Overpopulated). With the population growth so high, this only leads to a bigger problem, decrease in resources. With limited space, this creates a problem for overcrowding, loss in natural resources, pollution, energy, etc. Losing resources is rough and causes the country to pull from others “We now depend on foreign imports for 28.8 percent of our energy consumption”, (The United States Is Already Overpopulated). Now, do immigrants really deserve a chance in the american society when it’s causing damage and could continue to make it worse?

Every immigrant documented or not deserves the same rights as citizens in the U.S.. They provide opportunities to make the country economically and culturally better, or do they cause damage? Having freedom is a very fortunate thing, do they really deserve it?   

Works cited page  

Levine, Herbert M. Immigration. Raintree Steck-Vaughn, 1998.

Liberties Union , American Civil. “Immigrants' Rights.” American Civil Liberties Union, 2019.  

Roberts, Nina. “Undocumented Immigrants Quietly Pay Billions into Social Security and Receive No Benefits.” Marketplace, 15 May 2019.

Jawetz, Tom. “Immigration Priorities in the 116th Congress.” Center for American Progress, 8 Jan. 2019.

Paul, Ehrlich, and Holdren John. “The United States Is Already Overpopulated.” Federation for American Immigration Reform, Sept. 2009.

Council , American Immigration. “U.S. Citizen Children Impacted by Immigration Enforcement.” American Immigration Council, 26 Mar. 2019.

Bolivar, Devaney. “Interview With Dad About Immigration.” 15 May 2019.