80% of illegal immigrants in the U.S have committed serious crimes in addition to immigration violation and 40% have violent crime histories. So why should the United Sates grant illegal immigrant amnesty? Amnesty is an act that forgives all past violations and gives an illegal immigrant a clean slate with legal status as an American citizen. The U.S. should not grant amnesty to illegal immigrants because it shows that the U.S accepts illegal activity, it is unfair for those immigrants who migrated legally, and it would be very costly for the government.
If amnesty is granted to illegal immigrants, it shows that the United States accepts illegal activity. Politician Richard Lamm agrees when he writes, “Amnesty is a big billboard, a flashing billboard, to the rest of the world that we don’t really mean our immigration law.” Basically Lamm is saying that with amnesty in place it shows that the U.S. is all bark no bite, that we talk the talk but do not walk the walk. This is bad because it can be a weakness that other countries can take advantage of, such as coming to America the illegal way instead of going through the legal process. Randy Neugebauer states, “Amnesty is a bad policy and sends the message that immigrants are better off breaking our laws rather than respecting them.” Neugebauer is insisting that illegal immigrants are disrespecting our laws and should respect them. The United States laws should be respected. Amnesty is unfair to American citizens because why should we have to go through punishment for breaking a law, but the illegal immigrants are waived for breaking a law and are rewarded with legal citizenship. Why aren’t the citizens of the U.S. forgiven of their past crimes? This shows that the American people are not valued and not thought highly of in their own country. I believe that anybody of any legal status should pay the time if they commit the crime, it is only fair.
Amnesty is unfair to those immigrants who have migrated to the United States the legal way. James Sensenbrenner agrees when he states, “Illegal aliens should not be granted amnesty and a path to citizenship. This would be a slap in the face to all those who have followed the law and have come to America legally.” A slap in the face to immigrants it is indeed. With the granting of amnesty, it could make an immigrant who struggled to come to the U.S. through the long process of documentation to become a citizen feel as if they have wasted their time and money. In fact, it costs $675 per person for an application/filing fee and $85 for biometric fees, which is all paid directly to the USCIS. That is $760 in total. A very costly expense in order to become a citizen. Not only did the immigrants pay so much, they also had to take tests on the basics of U.S. history and government and be able to read, speak, and write simple English. However, even though they went through that process, they also have to wait x amount of time to obtain citizenship. It can take as little as 6 month to as long as 20 years depending on one’s case. As you can see this is a long process in becoming a citizen, which can discourage someone who went through that daunting process when they see how millions of immigrants can easily obtain legal status without cost through amnesty.
With amnesty granted, it could increase the cost of government spending. This is because when the illegal immigrants become citizens, they will most likely depend on welfare to get by in the economy, since they probably will not have a high opportunity in obtaining a well-paid job due to high unemployment in the U.S. It