My Opinion on Politics, Race, and Gender Discrimination

Immigration

As an immigrant, and human being, I felt I needed to bring attention to this issue. America was built by immigrants. Immigrants are the most hardworking people you'll ever meet. Immigrants are risk-takers. They put everything on the line just for the chance of getting into America. Isn't that American? But yet, time

and time again, the issue of immigration seems to be something we all debate over. It seems simple to me. Before you assume that I'll say, let in everyone, no. I do not believe the US should have open borders. I believe that there should be more pathways to citizenship. I believe that every person's asylum application should be looked over. I believe that if you were brought to America as a child, and call America your home, you should be allowed to live in this country. And I believe that your children do not belong in cages. Still, immigration keeps getting politicized, so let's do that. Let's analyze immigration from a political standpoint.
Immigrants are 14% of the American population. Immigrants and their US-born children make up 28% of America's population. Immigration means that you are coming from another country. Just forget the Mexican stereotype in your head. It is an immigrant. Although 25% of the immigrant population is Mexican, 27% come from East Asia. The immigrant act of 1924 put restrictions on immigration, so immigration decreased in that area, but peaked in 1965, as seen in the chart below.

Undocumented immigration has been on the rise in recent years. Ever since the economic crisis of 2008, undocumented immigration has surged. Was this a bad thing? Who knows? Donald Trump and his many associates have led you to believe that immigrants only want to steal your jobs, which is not true. Immigrants, sadly, have to do the jobs other people won't do. It wasn't you're job, to begin with. People aren't going to fix their roofs. People aren't going to pick their strawberries. People aren't going to take care of their children. Undocumented immigrants carry America and get barely any recognition. Undocumented

immigration has very few negative effects on the economy. More than half of undocumented immigrants have been living in the U.S.A for more than a decade and they have been stimulating the economy since day one. 1⁄3 of undocumented immigrants are the parents of U.S born children. A study reports that from 2010 to 2017, more people overstayed their visas, than crossing the border illegally.
On the topic of legal immigration, 1.1 million people were granted permanent residence in 2018. 2⁄3 were admitted based on family reunification. The chart below shows the percentage of residency admissions for each legal immigration category. Notice how 44% of immigrants with immediate relatives in the U.S were admitted.