There should be Harsher Penalties for Illegal Immigrants
Introduction
The number of persons foreign-born and currently living in the US is projected at forty million. This figure is the highest ever in United States history. It is a representation of about thirteen percent of the overall population. The actual number, however of people illegally residing in the country is still unknown as they often maintain a low profile and also avoid documentation completely. In the laws of the country, unauthorized aliens refers to individuals overstaying their temporary visas as well as those who enter the borders secretly without undergoing inspection and those admitted on the basis of fraudulent documents. In all instances, aliens are often in contravention of the Immigration and Nationality Act as well as subject to deportation once they are discovered. This research paper will explain why There should be Harsher Penalties for Illegal Immigrants.
Public policymakers found across the political and social spheres hold the belief that the current high illegal immigration levels are a reflection of the current immigration policy regime. According to estimates, there are twelve million authorized aliens residing in the US. In the last 10 years, there has been an average of 500,000 individuals who enter the country unlawfully. If the policies in existence are not changed, it is likely that in future, the number will increase. For a longer part of the twentieth century, presence of such individuals was unofficially tolerated. However, after the attack by Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda on the US in 2001, extensive reforms have been carried out to secure the airports, ports and borders. The purpose of these measures was preventing terrorists from finding their way into the country. As from 2006, there have been a range of policies put into place to target aliens residing within the US borders.
Despite all these efforts, illegal immigration remains a major problem in the US administration. The number of people entering into the country illegally continues to increase. Still, policymakers have been unable to design an agreement system that can change status quo. The main objective currently is diverting illicit flow into legal ones. Mainly, the policy inaction is as result of partisan divide at Washington and the current economic reality that regardless of its flaws, illegal immigration has proven to be beneficial to a large number of employers. This is due to the fact illegal immigrants have the tendency of taking low paying jobs that majority of the legit Americans avoid. My argument in this paper is that illegal immigration has negative consequences that are far reaching to the US. Consequently, punishment for illegal immigrants ought to be harsher so as to deter illegal entry into the country.
Current Punishment for Illegal Immigrants
Various Nationality and Immigration Act provisions institute penalties for those living in the country contrary to the law as well as those who assist them. For example under section 275(a) of the Act, it states:
“Any alien who; (1) enters or attempts to enter the United States at any time or place other than as designated by immigration officers, or (2) eludes examination or inspection by immigration officers, or (3) attempts to enter or obtains entry to the United States by a willfully false or misleading representation or the willful concealment of a material fact, shall, for the first commission of any such offense, be fined under title 18, United States Code, or imprisoned not more than 6 months, or both, and, for a subsequent commission of any such offense, be fined under title 18, United States Code, or imprisoned not more than 2 years, or both” (Bruno 8).
Under the same act in Article 275(b), an alien who gets arrested while entering the country or attempting to enter at undesignated locations or time will be subject to a civil penalty that ranges from $50 to $250 for each entry or attempted entry. Those attempting to enter once more though previously they were fined will be subjected to double fine (Bruno 8). Article 275 (c) states any individual that intentionally enters into marriage to elude provisions of immigration laws will be incarcerated for a period of not more than 5 years, a fine of not more than $ 250,000 or both. Article 275 (c) states any individual that purposely establishes a profitable business in order to elude immigration laws provisions will either get incarcerated for not more than 5 years or get fined accordingly.
Repeat offenders face penalties that are harsher than those applicable to first time offenders. For instance, an individual previously denied admission, excluded and deported who makes the attempt to reenter and is discovered to be illegally in the country is jailed for not more than 2 years and fined accordingly. Meanwhile, an individual subject to previous removal as a result of a conviction for commission of three or more misdemeanors that involve crimes against a person, non-aggravated felony or drugs will be charged accordingly and/or get incarcerated for duration of not more than 10 years. In the same line, a person deported while they were serving a sentence and they reenter the country illegally have to serve the rest of their term without the privilege of conditional release or parole (Laws and Software 1). Such a person can be subjected to other penalties as well related to illegal reentry.
The above discussed penalties are not that harsh. For instance, fining an individual who attempts to enter into the United States illegally is a mere $ 50 that cannot deter them from making another unlawful attempt. Even when they do it and they caught, the fine will be $ 100 which can hardly deter an individual dreaming of earning so much more as well as living a better lifestyle than what they are accustomed to. What is more, an individual that enters the country successfully and unlawfully then gets caught is jailed for 6 months only. The penalty is simply very sympathetic. Whenever such a person gets deported but they manage to reenter illegally, they are imprisoned for 2 years only. This sentence is not harsh either as such, it cannot deter aspiring illegal immigrants. Harsher penalties need to be put into place in order to curb illegal immigration.
Why there should be harsher penalties
Cost of illegal immigration
Data related to the American taxpayers cost from persons illegally living in the country and those immigrants not highly skilled has been collected for a long time. For instance, a report in 1997 by the national Research council approximated net costs (exclusive of taxes paid by immigrants) at $ 15 to $ 20 billion. The basis of the report was a survey done in 1994-1995 of immigrants in nine point two million homes (Smith & Edmonstoa 325). The Heritage Foundation, in 2004 approximated the net costs to be around $89 billion. The research was based on a survey done in 4.5 million homes. Of houses that were investigated, the discovery that some of the household have low skilled immigrants amounting to 15.9 million was concluded with 40% of the number being illegal (Rector & Kim 1).
A report in 2007 by the Congressional Budget Office indicated that tax revenues that were generated by the state and local governments from illegal immigrants did not offset the overall costs of services that were offered to them. Adjustments for inflation and United States population at that period, the 2 studies approximated net figures ranging from $ 29 billion to $ 98 billion. If such costs are shared by 105 million non-foreign households in the US, they equal to $ 276 to $ 933 per household annually. This implies the ordinary Americans are forced to part with hundreds of dollars every year for purposes of hosting illegal immigrants. The Federation of Americans for Immigration Reform carried out fiscal cost studies on 9 states and estimated net costs to range from $ 122 to $ 1,183 per native household. The calculation was based on incarceration expenses, education and emergency medical care. The figures approximate the cost in taxes of median income households with an income of $ 48,000-pay (Blondell 329).
A wages depression should be counted among the costs of moving into the US. Alan Tonelson, a research fellow with the US Business and Industry Council Education Foundation used wage data from the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) for workers in food services, hotel, construction industries and agricultural production. He approximated there would be a drop in wages between 2000 and 2005 of 1 percent and 2.2 percent for each of the industries. George Borjas, another economist in his calculations from 1980 to 2000 found immigration reduced wages of non-alien workers by 4 percent which amounted to $ 1700. For workers who are poorest, the approximate wage reduction was placed at 7.4% (Krikorian 198). These statistics are an indication of adverse effects of immigration labor to Americans.
Americans are forced to pay a large sum of money every year so as to host illegal immigrants. From trends seen recently, the number of persons unauthorized entering the US is set to increase. This is an indication the cost to natives and those living legally in the country will increase unless some stringent measures are put into place to address the influx. Penalties are currently not harsh enough for illegal immigrants. This has led to increase in the number of those illegally present in the country. However, if they are toughened they can deter a large number of illegal immigrants. Anyone interested in getting into the US will be forced to follow the legal channels to void repercussions of following other means that are unlawful.
Health risk
Reports indicate a quarter of people without health insurance are immigrants. This implies a significant number of aliens need Medicaid. The country, healthcare system, which is already ailing is affected by failure of acquiring health insurance (Nam 2030). For instance, between 1993 and 2003, 60 hospitals in California had no option but to shut down due to the fact patients were not able to pay for half of the services they offered (Cosman 7). The Active Labor Act of 1985 and Emergency Medical Treatment direct every emergency room is supposed to treat patients visiting the facility with emergency cases regardless of their incapability of paying even though they might be in the country illegally. The requirement is implemented strictly which means any hospital or doctor that does not oblige is fined up to $50,000. With the high number of aliens who live in America, hospitals are forced to deal with a rising number of patients incapable of paying for services offered. As a result, some of the institutions have even gone bankrupt.
Since illegal immigrants are not in a position to get health insurance, legal Americans have to pay for their health services. This ends up been an additional cost to the innocent American citizens who are dealing with a declining economy. For instance, estimates indicate each family that buys health insurance privately must pay an additionally $900 dollars in premium in order to cover the mandatory health costs for those who not insured (Krikorian 197). These people are not supposed to suffer on the basis of others’ fault.
While in the US illegal immigration is on the rise, the duration of waiting in emergency departments is also at an increase. Individuals in urgent need of medical attention are at a high risk. For instance between 1997 and 2004, waiting times for emergent illness and injuries that could be dealt with in not more than fifteen minutes rose on average from ten to 14 minutes (Wiper et al. 90). This is an indication that close to half of the cases that were serious did not get addressed with the time suggested. For example, waiting times for diagnosed heart attack cases (acute myocardial infarction) rose from 8 to 20 minutes. This has been attributed to crowing as a result of closure of emergency department and increased visits which only include those by illegal immigrants. In an unsystematic stratified test in 2001 of thirty departments in 2001when cases of immigration were very high in the state the median waiting time was thirty eight minutes. Significantly, this was longer than the national mean standard which was 25 minutes. Meanwhile, forty two percent of Californians were forced to wait for over 1 hour to receive treatment (Lambe et al. 42).
Illegal immigrants pose a serious threat to the healthcare system in the country. A large number of them use services they are not able to afford. Since hospitals do not have a choice when it comes to treating them, a large number have gone bankrupt. As a result of this, some Americans are also denies the opportunity of seeking medical assistance. What is more, this also places strain on the health facilities that are remaining. The increased waiting times are also seen as a health risk for individuals that seek urgent attention. In some instances, the difference between life and death might be 3 minutes that they are forced to wait before they can access treatment. This proves that the country urgently needs measures that are tougher against illegal immigration. Introduction of penalties that are tougher might discourage aliens from sneaking into the US.
Illnesses
Foreigners entering the US illegally are screened always for infectious diseases. An individual found to be sick is prohibited from entering the borders of the country. This means legal migrants are not likely to carry any contagious diseases into the country (assuming the process of screening is not compromised). Illegal immigrants, on the other hand are not subjected to any form of screening. As such, any with communicable disease brings it into the country as such, infecting legal Americans in the course of interaction. As a result of illegal immigration, diseases that had vanished in the US such Hansen’s disease, Tuberculosis, dengue fever, cysticercoids and Chaga’s disease have started to recur (Murphey 450). Regions that are most affected include those that have a high number of immigrant populations such as areas in southern border.
The US also experienced an epidemic of TB between 1985 and 1992. In subsequent years, the tuberculosis rate amongst individuals who are foreign born was estimated to be 9.5 times higher than that of those born in the US. It ought to be noted 1.2% of over 10,000 cases of TB reported in 2005 were multiple resistant forms of the disease. Importantly, 82 percent of these took place among individuals born outside the US. Treatment of such forms of TB cost over $ 250,000 and the treatment last for 2 years (Blondell 335).
For the American citizens’ safety to be assured as well as that of individuals legally residing in the country, it is important that all the people entering the country should be extensively screened for infectious diseases. Those evading such screening are supposed to be severely punished as they endanger the lives of hundreds of millions of people. The existing penalties are punitive as such, there is need to make them harsher.
Poverty and other social vices
Camarota, in his analysis found that illegal immigrants and their children who are born in the US have a high chance (23 percent) of living below the federal, official poverty line compared to their US native citizens’ chance of 11.5 percent (p.1). Some of the scholars have also discussed that illegal immigration remains the major reason for poverty persistence in the US. For instance, Gregg Easterbrook argues poverty among native born Americans has declined constantly in the last 40 years. As such, once immigrations gets factored out, inequality rise will disappear. His view gets support from Krikorian who estimates that 75 percent of the increased poverty cases is as a result of immigrants and their children.
Reports indicate that 30% of the illegal women immigrants in the US are children and they have a baby (Cosman 8). Taking into consideration that a baby will automatically become a United States citizen by virtue of their birth as such, majority of female aliens get encouraged to become pregnant once they arrive in the US. They do this in the hope of attaining US citizenship. In this quest, majority of aliens get children out of wedlock, which is a detriment to their well-being as well as that of the children. Arguably this provides an explanation on why there is an increase in the number of single parents. Children who are born under these conditions are also likely to end up as school failures or criminals. Meanwhile, there is increased pressure on welfare services. Vices like teen pregnancies, homelessness and prostitution thrive under such circumstances (Dwyer 37).
Conclusion
According population projections made by the Center for Immigration Studies, the US population is expected to reach 458 million by 2057. This figure however would be 358 million if it were not for immigration. At the same time, a quarter of the overall population will be comprised of immigrants and their children. While there is nothing wrong with people seeking to have a better life as that promised in the US, they should do this in a legal manner. A large number of immigrants enjoy better standards of living while in the US. However, there are some illegal aliens that have disrupted the wage system in the country, social well-being as well as healthcare system. Hosting such individuals proves costly to the ordinary Americans. Therefore, heavier penalties are supposed to be imposed on such people in order to discourage them from illegally gaining entry into the country.
Annotated Bibliography
Blondell, Jerome. “Adverse Impacts of Massive and Illegal Immigration in the United States.” The Journal of Social, Political, and Economic Studies 33.3 (2008): 328-50.
In the peer reviewed article, Blondell reviews past literature by discussing how issues in the US like education, cost to Americans, poverty and health are affected by immigration. In the attempt to make a compelling but objective views, he cites works of previous books, researchers as well as reports from government organizations. The paper finds a lot of relevance in this article. For instance, pertinent information regarding the cost of illegal immigration to Americans as well as the prevalence and cost of treatment of multiple-drug resistant TB was found in the article. Such statistics helped the researcher provide statistics that make the argument regarding illness more compelling.
Bruno, Andorra. Unauthorized Aliens in the United States. New York: DIANE Publishing, 2010. Print.
This book is short and was sent to the Congressional Research Service and in it, Bruno reviews the condition of illegal immigration in the US. Some of the important topics discussed in the book include the rate of immigration, how the constitution defines an alien, the current policies, punishments and removal of aliens. The book was of great use in writing this research paper as it gave a verbatim explanation of illegal alien as well as some of the punishments they may be subjected to once found to be illegally residing in the country. Through the book, the researcher is able to uncover the fact the existing penalties are not harsh enough.
Camarota, Steven A. “Immigrants in the United States, 2007.” Web. 7 Dec. 2013. <http://cis.org/immigrants_profile_2007>
Camarota, in his research article provides a social, economic and demographic profile of both legal and illegal immigrants. He uses official government data to develop this profile. In it, he shows way of life enjoyed by individuals once they reside and set foot in the US. By studying the profile carefully, the researcher is able to find opportunities for immigrants who are poor and those natively born in the country. For this reason, the researcher is able to compare chances of poverty between these two groups. The comparison results to realization that immigrants have a high chance of being poor.
Cosman, Madeleine “Illegal aliens and American medicine.” Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons 10.1 (2005):6-10.
Madeleine Cosman in his article talks of how illegal immigrants are able to access healthcare in the US and how this affects the healthcare system. Since these foreigners avoid documentation at all costs, it is unlikely they can access health insurance. What is more, since majorities are poor, they are not capable of meeting costs for treatment. As a result, they access healthcare in ways that are complicated. This article is of great use as it provides details of how aliens negatively affect the manner in which hospitals perform with some forced to close. It also discusses the survival tactics employed by aliens.
Dwyer, James. “Illegal Immigrants, Health Care, and Social Responsibility.” The Hastings Center report 34.1 (2004): 34-41.
The focus of this peer reviewed article is on the relationship among healthcare, illegal immigration and social responsibility. The researcher however was interested in relationship between social responsibility and illegal immigration. Dwyer argues illegal immigrants have the tendency of being socially irresponsible. For instance, they are promiscuous. Precisely because of this, they are likely to experience teenage pregnancies a large number of children born out of wedlock. The researcher found the article to be of great use as it provided information related to social vices arising from illegal immigration. The arguments regarding prostitution and increased dependency on the social welfare programs of the country were built from this article.
Krikorian, Mark. The New Case against Immigration: Both Legal and Illegal. New York: Sentinel, 2008. Print.
This book makes the attempt of explaining why legal and illegal immigration needs to be addressed especially in a country that is affected hugely by these two aspects. Krikorian makes the argument compelling by using previous data from governmental agencies and researchers to showcase the manner in which ordinary citizens are affected by immigration. For instance, he discusses the manner in which the phenomenon depresses wages for the native workers. In the same line, he writers that the ordinary American is forced to bear healthcare costs provided to the illegal aliens. The general theme of the book is related closely to this paper’s thesis. As such, its arguments are extremely relevant.
Murphey, Dwight D. “The Changing Face of America.” The Journal of Social, Political, and Economic Studies 31.4 (2006): 447-58.
The US had undergone numerous transformations in its history. Some of these changes have far reaching impact while others are temporary. What is more, some of the changes have transformed the country positively while others have done so negatively. This paper looks at America’s changing face in point of this view. For the last 40 years, the number of foreigners who go to the US has risen such that now it is a major part of the populace. This has come with several consequences. For instance, he discussed the infectious diseases that persist as a result of constant entry of unscreened individuals, an argument that is of great importance to this paper.
Nam, Yunju. “Welfare Reform and Older Immigrants’ Health Insurance Coverage.” American Journal of Public Health 98.11 (2008): 2029-34.
Yunju Nam, in this article analyzes insurance coverage of immigrants who are older and suggests welfare reforms in order to make sure the coverage increases. Aliens’ insurance coverage is the hottest topic among public health practitioners. This is due to the fact a large percentage of them are unable to afford cover. By virtue of anonymity, illegal aliens are not able to buy cover though they are not able to keep themselves from getting sick. This article is of great importance to this research paper as it shows how significant the number of aliens has caused to health insurance. It also discusses lack of cover hence putting pressure on the health system.
Rector, Robert, and Christine Kim. The Fiscal Cost of Low-Skill Immigrants to the US Taxpayer. Heritage Foundation, 2007. Web. 7 Dec. 2013. <http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2007/05/the-fiscal-cost-of-low-skill-immigrants-to-the-us-taxpayer>
Heritage Foundation remains the foremost non-partisan organization concerned with social issues that affect US citizens. In the research, Rector and Kim provide authoritative account of how existing immigration policies hurt ordinary citizens. The two researchers make the argument that these policies increase the Americans burden as they are forced into paying for the illegal aliens. The article contains important points that help in writing this paper. More importantly, it gave me the precise cost figure Americans are forced to pay to host both legal and illegal immigrants.
Smith, James, & Edmonstoa Barry. The New Americans: Economic, Demographic, and Fiscal Effects of Immigration. Washington, D.C: National Acad. Press, 1997. Print.
This review is comprehensive regarding the effects of immigration to the US. Among other aspects, it focuses on economic, demographic as well as fiscal effects of the entire process. Drawing on academic findings and research, the book shows how illegal and legal immigration affects the social and economic well being of the ordinary citizens. Particularly, this book was important as it analyzed such effects during 1970s and 1980s. Consequently, I have used the figures to make a comparison of recent figures in order to see the trends. For instance, along with numbers Kim and Rector provided, I was able to find the cost of hosting immigrants has risen.
Works Cited
Blondell, Jerome. “Adverse Impacts of Massive and Illegal Immigration in the United States.” The Journal of Social, Political, and Economic Studies 33.3 (2008): 328-50.
Bruno, Andorra. Unauthorized Aliens in the United States. New York: DIANE Publishing, 2010. Print.
Camarota, Steven A. “Immigrants in the United States, 2007.” Web. 7 Dec. 2013. <http://cis.org/immigrants_profile_2007>
Cosman, Madeleine “Illegal aliens and American medicine.” Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons 10.1 (2005):6-10.
Dwyer, James. “Illegal Immigrants, Health Care, and Social Responsibility.” The Hastings Center report 34.1 (2004): 34-41.
Krikorian, Mark. The New Case against Immigration: Both Legal and Illegal. New York: Sentinel, 2008. Print.
Lambe, Susan, Donna L. Washington, Arlene Fink, Marianne Laouri, Honghu Liu, Jessica Scura Fosse, Robert H. Brook, and Steven M. Asch. “Waiting times in California’s emergency departments.” Annals of emergency medicine 41.1 (2003): 35-44.
Laws and Software. Immigration and Nationality Act (2011). Web. 7 Dec. 2013. <http://www.lawandsoftware.com/ina/INA-276-sec1326.html>
Murphey, Dwight D. “The Changing Face of America.” The Journal of Social, Political, and Economic Studies 31.4 (2006): 447-58.
Nam, Yunju. “Welfare Reform and Older Immigrants’ Health Insurance Coverage.” American Journal of Public Health 98.11 (2008): 2029-34.
Rector, Robert, and Christine Kim. The Fiscal Cost of Low-Skill Immigrants to the US Taxpayer. Heritage Foundation, 2007. Web. 7 Dec. 2013. <http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2007/05/the-fiscal-cost-of-low-skill-immigrants-to-the-us-taxpayer>
Smith, James, & Edmonstoa Barry. The New Americans: Economic, Demographic, and Fiscal Effects of Immigration. Washington, D.C: National Acad. Press, 1997. Print.
Wilper, Andrew P., Steffie Woolhandler, Karen E. Lasser, Danny McCormick, Sarah L. Cutrona, David H. Bor, and David U. Himmelstein. “Waits to see an emergency department physician: US trends and predictors, 1997–2004.”Health Affairs 27.2 (2008): w84-w95.
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