This is a new post of how I feel about immigration at this point because I'm not entirely sure but I may have deleted a whole post (while only trying to delete a comment) so I will see if I can remember what I wrote:

At the point of this post I was in a transitional mode of thinking. I was still entirely against immigration but I was beginning to feel different about it. In this post I was giving stats to emphasize the harmfulness in the increase of immigration. Numbers changed drastically from 1820 when number of immigrants were at a low of 8,385 to in 2006 with the number rising to 1,226,264. This change would seem to correlate with the increase level of poverty and jobs around the nation. Statistics are often used to make situations seem worse than what they are or show the harshness of what they are describing. In looking at this website:
http://immigrationcounters.com/
How do u feel? Are these stats demeaning of the real-life situation or demonstrating exactly what's happening? Does this website make you change your views on how you feel about illegal immigration or help to emphasize your feelings towards the subject?
I would like to add some facts that I didn't previously know. In 2004 a million people immigrated legally into the US. There were specific reasons they were allowed to do this. A few would include:

• employment preference such as certain skills they could provide
• family preference
• relationships with US natives
• diversity
• refugees.

Implications

As I have noticed the progression through my research, illegal immigration is not going to stop unless drastic measures are taken. It is obvious through Bush's actions, the government does not want immigration to stop completely but to be better controlled. With the further increase in border security that is supposed to occur in 2008, the number is going to decrease but not completely stop. I did read something that was confusing to me from two different sites because they were contradictory. One said that immigrants did pay taxes while another said that they knowingly fill out their W2 and W4 so the money they give is given right back. I'm a stifle bit perplexed on that but I believe in the future if immigration isn't at a halt and they refuse to get involved in the steps of becoming citizens, that there will be measures taken to see how long they stay. Sometimes they still play the system by leaving before their allotted time is up just to come back and do the same thing to avoid paying taxes. I think things like this will be better tracked and therefore they will be forced to pay taxes. Assimilation is increasing; English proficiency is growing and there is a decline in poverty.
Immigration is growing and will continue to do so whether we think it's harmful or beneficial. Cultures around American will be blended and jobs will get completed no matter if by native hand or foreign. It's up to citizens to decide how to deal with the increasing number of immigrants because it doesn't seem to be slowing.

look at how much i've grown!!!

At the beginning of this assignment, I thought this would be a straightforward assignment that would cause me little difficulties in deciding a certain aspect on. Immigration, to me, has always been disadvantageous to American citizens because of what we imagine we have to give up for them. My primary views and opinions may have distorted the facts of this topic. When re-analyzing this "predicament", I began to see the perspectives of both sides of the spectrum. This caused me to be more on the fence about my topic rather than completely biased about the situation we are currently having. I'm certainly glad that I was shown another light through research of the topic because it caused me to write more impartial to my feelings. This was through much time, research and conflicting comments on my blog. I will definitely never agree with the way that immigrants don't have to pay taxes. I feel that if they are here for a lengthy amount of time, immigrants should help in the payment of educating their kids among other things. Jobs will always be a debatable subject in this issue. I've changed enough from my previous ways of thinking to realize that they do deserve a better life. This is currently not possible in Mexico and Americas is the next best option. I don't, however, think they should stay here indefinitely. Overpopulation will become a problem that once it is accomplished will be hard to return from. This problem is definitely occurring in California recently. I hope that in my indecisiveness I haven't confused you on how exactly I feel. I want immigrants to have the opportunities of everyone else but not be allowed to stay unless they are involving themselves in the process of becoming a citizen. Although I do believe in the leniency of the government towards immigrants so that they can have better jobs, not all people have the same opinion as me. Numerous amounts of people think that these immigrants are taking jobs from older people that should go to our next generation and not to them. They feel as if immigrants are given extra advantages that citizens don't. This would include lower tuition rates and jobs. In essence, its not unusual to be hesitant to pick a side on a difficult topic as this because apparently the government is also. In 2006, the Senate passed a reform to have tighter border security and yet decided to have legalization for those who live in America illegally. This was voted against by the House but this proves the different feelings people have towards it. Many Americans feel complete opposition to the migration to the states because they feel as if they take advantage of us of our generosity. Immigrants have had major effects on America. It is difficult to accurately say what effects have been due to the increase of immigration or if any other factors caused it. They do, in fact, lower wages for citizens. It has been proven that the wages for low-skilled native workers were reduced by 2.4 percent after the arrival of immigrants but no changes were found in professional workers. America is the great melting pot and we welcome different cultures, lifestyles, languages because that's what makes America such a great place to live in. And as our national anthem ask, "does that star spangled banner yet wave O’er the land of the free, and the home of the brave?" It only can if we let it.

class links

Abortions, legalization of marijuana, stem cell research, and gay households are some of the discussions written about my class members. All of them are quite interesting and worth audience participation because of the thought-provoking way they constructed their blogs. One that caught my eye was about a usually popular subject by students in college and high school. It is the topic of legalization of marijuana and it was completed by two people in my class. This are both worth visiting so that you can observe the different viewpoints that college students have on this topic. The last one is about under-age drinking so as you can tell my favorite topics are one that include ways that would include helping college students feel better!!
The first one can be found at: http://elizabethpot.blogspot.com/
This is mostly done on the argument that the drug needs to be made into prescription medicine so that it can be used by people who need it. Its obvious that the use of this drug illegally will probably never cease but the author doesn't believe that it should be completely legalized. As said on the blog, lots of diseases could be helped by the uses or the treatments of marijuana to these illnesses. The author does an excellent job of describing each disease that could be treated by marijuana and what kind of effects would occur.
The second one is at: http://www.whatyouknowaboutmaryjane.blogspot.com/
This author, unlike the first, believes strongly that marijuana should be legalized. They do agree, however, that it should definitely be legalized for the medical aspect of it. This person does an outstanding job on showing the effects of marijuana compared to the effects of tobacco. In my opinion this blog can make anyone into a believer!!
The next blog has nothing to do with marijuana but it did catch my eye. It can be found at: http://alcohol101.blogspot.com/
It is believed by the author that drinking at a younger age would prevent further complications when older because we would have learned what we needed to do by then. Drinking does cause problems with the liver but it is helpful (in small amounts) to other problems like Alzheimer's. He believes that the age doesn't really matter in the issue of accidents because we all are subject to getting behind the wheel for an accident. This blog, along with the others, make really good points in defending the topic at hand. They deserve to be visited because they are unbiased but they show many different views that should be put into consideration.

Theory on Immigration

Illegal immigration is, and always will be, a very heated topic. Opposing sides will probably never really come to agree on numerous problems that arise. Jobs is the number one issue when it comes down to whether Americans think illegal immigrants shoud be here or not. Many different sites help to illustrate my feelings on this subject because the authors can't distinguish between the help and the harm they provide for America and its economy. This argument could be eliminated if laws were constructed to assure salary wages have a limit as to how much the employers can lower them. In essence, this would help both native born and foreigners. Equal opportunity for both and no one would be forced to live in poverty.This would be appreciated on the opposing sides because immigrants would have the same chance to get a job and work for a better life for the family and citizens couldn't be mad because they will be no discrimination against those who would want higher salaries. The prices that the immigrant are working for are still keeping them in poverty. In 1999 native born people accounted for 11.2 percent of poverty while 16.8 percent of people under poverty level were immigrants. And an alarming 25.8 of Mexican immigrants were living in poverty. They have much lower incomes than that of natives. It begs the question of why immigrants are here if they are facing some of the same things that happened in their home countries. And once again to solve this problem would be to issue a mandated high or higher salary of what they have now. But this isn't going to happen if the government is continuing to be influenced by employers who benefit so much by these actions.

Links Posts (10)

These links helped me to research the disadvantages and advantages of illegal immigration. They helped me realize crucial view points on both sides of the argument. These are most efficient in deciding the good and bad of illegal immigration because they are credible; not just some one's emotionally driven opinions.

http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre2007090700

http://www.apatheticvoter.com/Immigration.htm

http://www.newsbatch.com/immigration.htm
(This one involves the helpful and harmful effects immigrants have on the working industry)

http://www.becker-posner-blog.com/archives/2006/03/the_new_america.html


http://www.snopes.com/politics/immigration/taxes.asp

These links display the history of immigration. They are insightful because they tell of the struggles of immigrants. They helped me because I didn't see what hardships people in Mexico, Latin America, and other places had to go through before they decided to try harder in life. Here they are:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/07/AR2006050700721.html

(My blogs are mostly about immigrants from Mexico and this website is well-rounded including the history of all immigrants like Germans and Italians.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_economic_crisis_in_Mexico

http://www.cbp.gov/xp/CustomsToday/2003/june_july/ins_history.xml

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/07/AR2006050700721_2.html


http://www.pbs.org/kpbs/theborder/history/timeline/20.html

Assimilation

Assimilation is the process of cultures being intertwined. This occurs when many ethnicities blend in the community. Americans have mixed feelings about this process. The ones that oppose it believe immigrants should leave their customs and ways for those of the natives here. Cultural pluralism is when minorities try to participate in the society with the use of their cultural differences. This are some of the many ways that immigrants, those that want to, blend in to the American ways and yet hold on to their old ways of life. I guess in reading my comments this can be seen as a total loss of identities for these people. America is a melting pot of different cultures, customs and languages. Should they be asked to amalgamate into a society for the sake of their right to live here?