Who Is Really Here?

Have you ever stopped to think about who is really here in America? Who makes up the nation's population? You may be surprised to know that a great portion of our population base is thanks to immigrants choosing to live in our great free nation.
Interesting that we thank immigrants for helping to make America what it is today, for helping to make it a great nation when they settled here, yet now we erect fences to try and keep immigrants out (The Secure Border Initiative) -- but that's another article. The point here is that immigration law and trends are based on the fluctuations in the immigration population. And of course, politics tend to play a large part in anything dealing with immigration.
Right now the biggest problem politically speaking is the estimated numbers of illegal immigrants in the U.S. – hence the reason for the erection of the fence along the Mexican/U.S. border. The numbers you hear will vary, but one estimate puts the number of illegal aliens in this nation at over 12,000,000. Of course it is not just illegal Mexicans living in the U.S., as there are immigrants from other countries.
History does have a way of repeating itself and immigration issues are certainly not something new. However, with the increasing numbers of illegal immigrants these days, the issue has taken on a new perspective, and that perspective deals with issues like incoming immigrants taking jobs that could go to other Americans. It goes far deeper than that, but that is just the tip of the iceberg.
You may recall the Reagan illegal immigrant amnesty program in the 80s that allowed 3,000,000 illegal immigrants to take a course to become legal citizens of the U.S. As you likely noticed, the numbers of illegal immigrants has climbed significantly and the debate centers on how to handle this kind of influx. It's fair to say the debate actually "rages" on, as there has been no real solution identified. Suffice it to say that a fence along the border between the U.S./Mexico won't help this debate any.
Is there really any viable solution to the number of illegal aliens in the United States? Hard question and one that is difficult to answer. Turfing illegal aliens out when they make a significant contribution to the overall economy tends to cause a pregnant pause.

Sally Odell - Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com.