Immigrants: America’s Backbone Julio Moya August 21, 2008 Economics Mr. Donnelley Immigration has been a key issue in the United States for several decades. Every year millions of people, mainly from Mexico and Central America, migrate north towards the United States searching for higher wages. The United States benefits greatly from the presence of these immigrants, but unfortunately some connotations of their presence, including the reality of the monetary hindrance that they have on US social services because of their relatively low and usually unreported salaries. A fighting attitude is shared by millions of legal and illegal immigrants, and it is now becoming more clear that there is a need for a new policy, one which involves reasoned compromise on both sides, yet one that unquestionably begins to allow amnesty and intelligent pathways to citizenship. Given the current circumstances surrounding immigration, there is no question that a compromise should soon be reached, and if both sides are fair enormous benefits for each will result. There is no question that the issues surrounding illegal immigration have been a key issue in American politics and are constantly in debate. According to a recent USA Today/Gallup poll, fully 35% of Americans rate illegal immigration as an “extremely important” issue (“Immigration”). Additionally, according to a recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal Poll, 46%of Americans polled believe that immigration helps America more than it hurts it. This poll makes it clear that a large portion of Americans are intelligent, realistic people and realize that, without immigration, our country would be in a far worse situation. It seems that the opinions of the Americans is not even particularly significant, especially given the reality that the entire economy could potentially collapse if illegal immigration were to be enforced to 100% accuracy. According to a recent article in the International Herald Tribune, “growers' associations...