yes

“I have personally never understood the need for essentially telling Hispanics they aren’t allowed in America when the only thing most of them wanna do is provide for their families. Not just simply provide for their families but allow their children and themselves to have more and better opportunities. In addition to wanting better for their families they are also in danger where they are currently living. According to (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/ wp/2018/06/20/why-do-some-families-risk-crossing-the-u-s-border -because-if-they-dont-theyll-be-killed/) a woman and her family had to leave immediately because of a local gang. According to the woman one of the gang members had become obsessed with her and wanted to date her even though she was married. She of course didn’t wanna be with him however the gang member was going to kill her if she didn’t. When reading about this woman and her family it broke my heart all she wanted and wants to do is protect her family.However some Americans don’t want her and many other Hispanics here because they feel that Hispanics are “criminals” or that they might ” take their jobs”. Which doesn’t make much sense I mean if you really just stop and think about that statement. Why would they take things from you much less be “criminals” when they know how it feels to have things taken from them? Some Americans feel we have the right to deport them because they didn’t come over here “correctly”. How do you come to a country correctly? Especially when that country is supposed to be based upon dreams,and freedom? All Americans are so privileged and never put themselves in someone else’s shoes. Imagine if your family was in danger because of a gang. Or maybe you parent(s) wanted better for you so they “illegaly” came to America but were sent back because they didn’t enter the “correct way."”

Marissa from Oklahoma

no

“Illegal immigration is a crisis that has already swept through Western Europe and is becoming a bigger issue in the United States. According to Prospect (https://prospect.org/health/two-sides-immigration-policy/), anywhere between a third and a half of all illegal immigrants are unskilled or lower-skilled. Many do not even have a high school diploma. As a result, a big number of illegal immigrants are used as cheap, uneducated labor, driving entire industry sections’ wages down. Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) reported that when examining every low-skilled occupation separately, the wages are shown to significantly decrease due to immigration (https://cis.org/Report/Wages-Immigration). Meanwhile, Americans cannot work in these jobs not because they do not want to, but because they are limited by minimum wage laws and other labor restrictions that illegal migrants do not have to adhere to. Deporting unauthorized immigrants, therefore, would both increase American wages and open up more job opportunities for Americans, decreasing unemployment. Furthermore, illegal immigrants receive a lot of resources from the federal and state governments in the form of education, prisons, and medical services. Heritage.org (https://www.heritage.org/immigration/report/the-fiscal-cost-unlawful-immigrants-and-amnesty-the-us-taxpayer) estimated that in 2010, the average unlawful immigrant household received around $24,721 in government benefits and services while paying some $10,334 in taxes. This generated an average annual fiscal deficit of around $14,387 per household, which amounts to a total of $54.5 billion annually. Economic costs of illegal immigration, therefore, outweigh the benefits. Legal immigration is extremely beneficial to a country’s economy – after all, the United States has been built on the backs of immigrants, who continue to play an important role in the melting pot. Illegal immigration, on the other hand, is mostly harmful, but by no means should it be dealt with in immoral ways. Immigration needs to be limited and controlled, but conditions in detention centers must still improve, and family separation during deportations is unacceptable. While it is important to ensure the safety and economic well-being of the native populace, unauthorized immigrants are humans whose dignity should always be respected.”

Artem from Illinois