Immigration: A Current Issue in America
Rhonda Ham
SOC/315
October 19, 2010
Patricia Kelsaw, MSW
Immigration: A Current Issue in America
When you look at the various immigration issues in the United States today, problems can be seen in many different cultures across the nation. Some areas of the country tend to deal with the smaller groups of immigrants entering the United States. However, when looked at on a large scale approach, there are groups who have increased at such large rates that their population is rising all across the country. With so many immigrants entering at this critical time, the unemployment rates are skyrocketing in many states. The focus of this assignment will be to discuss the historical framework, political context, and my specific perception of the issue of Latino immigrants in America.
Immigration by Latino’s in America has risen heavily over the past millieum. The US population in 1900 was about 76 million; today, it is about 310 million, of which about 47 million are Latinos. This would account for more than a 50% increase just in the Latinos population. The percentage of Hispanic students in Denver public schools has risen quickly, to 54 percent and Public housing in Denver is filled with both legal and illegal immigrants. When considered along the political or governmental aspects, we can see how much this is actually costing America. Nationwide, 20 percent of our prison space is occupied by foreign-born inmates, disproportionately Latinos. Many of our hospitals and government agencies are filled with people seeking assistance with from the government who may have not been born in the US, but have children who were.
Richard Lamm, who was governor of Colorado from 1975 to 1987, has proposed several options to slow or deter immigration, both legal and illegal. The first crucial step is to tackle the so-called amnesty issue. First, a bipartisan, commission must certify (1) that our borders are under control, and (2) that...