It goes without saying that immigration has been and will continue to be one of the most heavily debated topics among politicians and citizens in the United States. There are many arguments on the topic; ranging from job security to increase in crime, the debates never seem to exhaust. There are solid arguments for both sides of all arguments that can guide your views, whatever they may be. One of the main arguments that Americans have is that the illegal immigrants are taking jobs away from legal Americans, and that can coincide with the amount of immigrants that are coming into our country. We have laws that are set in place that are supposed to help regulate this increase, but it does not seem to be working quite as well as they had hoped. .
Immigration is what founded our great country. The men and women that came over from Europe help to influence and guide this country into what it is today. Immigrants are more than twice as likely to found a company as native-born citizens. They started 28% of all new U.S businesses in 20111, despite accounting for just 12.9% of the population (Alsever 2014). Since the 1970's immigration has been the primary driver of U.S population growth (Hurlbert 2013). Since 1965 leagal annual immigration has increased by more than 300%. However, illegal immigration is another part of the story. More than 11 million people are living in the United States illegally, approximately 120,000 living in Alabama (Issues and Controversies 2012). This number is up from 5,000 twenty years ago. According to the Department of Homeland Security, an estimated 3 million undocumented immigrants entered the country in the five year period between 2000 and 2004 (Kotkin 2012). .
States like Alabama wish to see that number lowered, and have passed HB 56, which influences illegals to self deport by lowering their overall quality of life, in the hope that it would open up jobs for U.
