Immigration Debate

In history class I debated a peer of mine on the topic of immigration. I was given the side that argued that illegal immigrants should not be given full time residence in the US. I argued that if illegal immigrants were given this right of permanent residence, this will open the floodgates for more and more people to come to our nation illegally, that we will be rewarding those who break the law, and we will be making it easier to allow people who are not contributing to society to live in out nation.
According to two peers I lost (32-34 and 36-35). According to David I tied 36-36.
I could have asked better questions and been more confident in my use of facts.

The essay was hard to right because it took a lot of research to come up with good facts that back to back up my thesis. If I had to choose I would say that everyone who is already here should be able to have permanent residence. However, in order to prevent the floodgate to open we have to.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tkIdCHtPrs

Elonis Debate

In history class, I debated one of my peers over the case of Anthony Elonis whose case is currently being heard in the Supreme Court. This case is over whether or not Anthony should have served the three years in jail that he was sentenced to after posting death threats towards his wife who had just walked out on him on Facebook. This case of cyber bullying vs. free speech is an unprecedented hearing on the part of the supreme court in the sense that they have never heard a matter of this intent.
The more I researched this topic, I realized how scary words can be and how they can affect others. If I had to decide right now, I would say that he was guilty and should have gone to jail.

My side was to argue that his jail time was not lawfully given. I argued that his intent is not known, that his comments were used as a coping mechanism, and I argued that this infringed on his free speech and that if the supreme court sees him as guilty then what does this mean for future people? Where will we draw the line between safe and threatening?

The way that I could have seen a more successful outcome was if I asked better questions.

According to one peer I lost 35-32 (out of 36). According to another peer I won 36-35. According to my teacher I tied 36-36.

Autobiographical Poem

I was so a small child

Unaware of a larger world

Homeschooled all the way through 6th

Best friends were those related

Jack and I would would work in Gaston

Then take a break head to the stairs

Dismantle couch, make a slide

Crashing down the wooden steps

I would go to my dad’s office,

This happened from fifth grade on

Tutors would meet us there

We would take breaks on the lawn

When there was little lunch to be eaten

And I needed something sweet to eat

Into the sugar box Jack and I would feast

Whole sugar packets

Into our mouths

Spit out the paper

Come for more later

I started school at the Gabel

Life was really quite stable

Colored pants every day

C team bball all the way

I grew 14 on the 24th of October

Eighth grade came along

And with it came its ups and downs

MESH, language, and of course PE

The teachers teaching what they know best

ST. George and all the other 8th grade perks

There is no time for shenanigans says Skrapits

The year is going by in a speedy manor,

28 weeks left to school

And it will all be over too quickly

Immigration Essay

Hank Sanders

David Ellenberg

History 8

Pink

Undocumented citizens should not have permanent residentship in the United States

Every American citizen lives their life under a set of laws that everyone equally abides to. Undocumented citizens should not be able to have permanent residence in the U.S. because they can not fully fulfill the responsibilities of being a citizen. Undocumented citizens do not have the right to permanent residence in America because they are not paying the same amount of taxes as native citizens, they do not have the same amount of background and upbringing as native born Americans, and they have a much lower chance of going far in life and living the American dream.

Undocumented citizens have betrayed the laws and rules that are our very foundation. Undocumented citizens should not have permanent residence because they are not achieving the same benchmark normal citizens are.  Illegal immigrants pay only 28 percent as much in taxes as non-illegal households . “As a result, the estimated net cost per illegal household is $2,736. 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 (benefits received minus taxes paid) of around $14,387 per household. This cost had to be borne by U.S. taxpayers,” quote of Robert Rector, MA, and Jason Richwine, Ph D (3). Undocumented citizens do not have the same amount of education as most citizens who live in America, and therefore are not as educated. Undocumented citizens are much less likely to go to college. 49% of immigrants drop out of high school as supposed to the 11% of native born Americans (1). In addition, only 10% Latinos fight in the military. This lack of service is unfair because America needs service members. The median household income of unauthorized immigrants is around $36,000, well below the $50,000 median household income for U.S.-born residents (2). This difference in salaries will affect U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) poorly and will weaken the American government.  It is apparent that undocumented immigrants can not accomplish to criteria necessary to have permanent residence in the U.S.

It costs 680 dollars to apply for a citizenship. If one can’t scrape that money together like the 39 million people who have and instead they has to cheat, there is not a right for them to reap the benefits of being a US citizen. Undocumented citizens shouldn’t be able to receive the same benefits as those who immigrate legally uphold a citizenship. Around 25% of illegal immigrants end up in jail. Therefore, 5% of the population of America is doing a quarter of the crime of the whole nation (4). On top of this, if the U.S. is more lenient over the ways they handle immigrants, the floodgates will be opened and increasing numbers of immigrants will seek permanent refuge in the country. This can not be good for the nation. Permanent residence for illegal immigrants must not occur.

There are 11 million undocumented immigrants in America, and approximately 49% of their youth will drop out of high school. There are around 2.5 million undocumented youths living currently in the U.S., and only 5-10 percent of them go to college (5). At face value there is a much lower chance of these people going on to do great things because such a small portion are going to college, even with affirmative action. Out of the 11. million illegal immigrant in the U.S., few will go into a field of work that requires education. In fact, immigrants are 20 percent of low-wage workers but only are 11 percent of America’s population (6). Undocumented immigrants should not be allowed to become American citizens because they do not have the same education.

There are many reasons why undocumented citizens should not be allowed to live in the US permanently. They are not playing the same role financially as their native born counterparts and they do not try play by the rules. Illegal immigrants are not investing in education the way legal citizens do. It is realized that financially illegal immigrants are not coming from the same background as native born citizens. However, this does not mean that people who come to this country illegally should be able to have the same rights as those who play by the rules and fairly.  Illegal immigrants all have the right to become citizens as long as they play by the same rules that everyone else does. Until then, America is just a vacation.

"Closing The Gap | Statistics on Undocumented Students." Closing The Gap | Statistics on Undocumented Students. Golden Door Scholars, n.d. Web. 03 Dec. 2014. (1)

Passel, Jeffrey S. "A Portrait of Unauthorized Immigrants in the United States." Pew Research Centers Hispanic Trends Project RSS. PewResearch, 4 Apr. 2009. Web. 02 Dec. 2014.(2)

"Are a "Fair Share" of Taxes Being Paid by Immigrants Who Are in the United States Illegally? - Illegal Immigration Solutions - ProCon.org."ProCon.org Headlines. N.p., 29 Oct. 2013. Web. 05 Dec. 2014.(3)

"Illegal Immigration Facts." Illegal Immigration Facts. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Dec. 2014. CILE (4)

Anderson, Lane. "A Chance at College for Dreamers." Deseret News National. Desert National News, 24 Feb. 2014. Web. 05 Dec. 2014(5)

Randy Capps, Michael Fix, Jeffrey S. Passel, Jason Ost, Dan Perez-Lopez. A Profile of the Low-Wage Immigrant Workforce (n.d.): n. pag.Urban.org. Web. (6)