I am simply shocked at how people are reacting to the fact that the government wants to criminalize ILLEGAL immigrants. Don’t get me wrong, but aren’t you a criminal when you commit an illegal act. Therefore, all ILLEGAL immigrants are already criminals. Now, does this mean we should round up all the illegal aliens in the United States and ship them back to their prospective countries? No. What I do believe is that the new bill H.R.4437 offers the best solution so far. For those of you who do not know, this bill will grant ALL illegal immigrants amnesty. They just need to do three little things: 1. Pass a background check (How dare they ensure we aren’t allowing dangerous criminals into the US) 2. Pay back taxes (For once they will have to pay taxes just like you and I) and 3. Learn English (enough said). The problem most have with this bill is not the granting of citizenship, but the increased penalties after the bill passes. Some of the provisions include: Increased penalties for aliens reentering illegally and alien smuggling, crackdown on alien gang members, aggravated felony provisions and barring terrorist aliens from naturalization. To me, all of these things sound like they should already be enforced. The fact is that illegal immigration is a problem in the U.S.. This bill simply strives to prevent further illegal activity from happening, and to fix the problems we have. My biggest problem has to deal with the amount of money spent on illegal immigrants. Although they take advantage of some of the social services in the United States, such as schooling and hospital care, they don’t put money back into the economy through taxes like other Americans. I have no problem if they are over here, but if they are, simply pay for the right to be here just like the rest of us. I work hard for my money and pay my taxes. It’s not fair for me to have my tax dollars going to people that don’t pay themselves.
Matthew Neal
Aerospace engineering junior