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Introduction
toc Ilegal immigration has become a major issue in America today. The issue of illegal immigration first came to a head in 1998 due to a spike in illegal immigration that year and the issue has been gaining steam ever since. The topic has become very controversial, as it is easy to racially profile due to the ethnicity of many of the illegal aliens. Since, by definition, illegal immigrants are undocumented, it is difficult to determine how many illegal immigrants there. However, enough information is available to develop an informed opinion and more people should be better informed about this pressing issue. ==Where do illegal immigrants come from and where do they go? == Illegal immigrants come from many different ethnicities, countries, and backgrounds. The majority travel here from Mexico, Latin America, and Asia. Illegal aliens come to this country for job opportunities, and to create a situation better than the one they left behind. Once here, they tend to head to major cities such as Los Angeles, Houston, New York, and Chicago, and that is why California, Texas, New York, and Illinois have the most illegal immigrants. The ones that are not drawn to major cities tend to head to Florida, Arizona, and Georgia, and the rest disperse among the remaining forty-three states.

How do illegal immigrants get here?
One of the more popular ways immigrants cross the border is by making a boat or tube and floating across the rivers and bays that serve as borders to American soil. Another way is to fly from South America to Mexico and then meet up with a "coyote", or smuggler, who helps them cross the border illegally. For illegal immigrants in Mexico, it may be as simple as climbing a fence or even running across the border. However with improved technology, these methods are not the easiest anymore. Many times, people will hide in boxes or ride in the backs of trucks to avoid detection. Finally, some of the wealthier ones can pay off corrupt Americans and use their help to cross. An illegal immigrant from Asia could buy a visa for a short amount of time in America and simply stay once it expires. There are many ways to cross the border, and it has become much more difficult for America to stop the illegal immigrants.

What do they do when they get here?
Once the illegal immigrants safely cross the border into America, they have to find a job quickly to support their families. Illegal immigrants tend to look for low skilled jobs, or ones that require a lot of physical labor. Landscaping and construction are two popular lines of work to which many illegal immigrants are drawn. Such jobs tend to require a lot of physical labor and they often do not require the ability to speak fluent English. Illegal Immigrants also work as restaurant employees, store employees, and domestic workers, or housekeepers. Illegal immigrants will sometimes take any job they can find to make money, and often the jobs they take do not attract American-born citizens. They are not picky, and will do anything, regardless of safety, working conditions, or low wages, to make the money necessary to support their families.

Immigrants use of welfare
A benefit of legal citizenship, of which illegal immigrants take advantage, is welfare. Welfare is help given by the government that includes money, a place to live, or health care. It is for American citizens, yet a higher percentage of illegal immigrants use welfare. In 2009, fifty-seven percent of households led by immigrants, both legal and illegal, with children used at least one of the country's many welfare programs, while only thirty-nine percent of American-born citizens with childern used welfare. Abuse of welfare by immigrants is worst in Arizona, Texas, and New York, three states densely populated with immigrants. Welfare is taken advantage of because many of the illegals, it is believed to be over half, do not have a high school diploma. Welfare has begun to be illegal immigrants' method of staying afloat in this country, and it needs to be controlled. We can take care of this issue by placing a limit on the amount of time one can be on welfare. In Percentages

Cost of Illegal Immigration
Illegal immigration costs United States tax payers around 113 billion dollars a year. It is the state government, however, that absorbs 84 billon of those dollars, the overwhelming majority.The money is broken up several ways, the largest being 52 billion put towards educating the children of illegal immigrants. It is unfair that the tax payers and the state government are paying for the illegal immigrants, and the average person in America pays $1117 dollars a year to support this group of people. That number varies depending on the tax bracket a person is in, so it could be closer to five or even ten thousand dollars a year. On the flip side, many of the illegal immigrants do not pay income taxes, and those who do often get the bulk of the money back through tax refunds. Illegal immigration costs this country money every single day, and this is money that could be put towards more important things like repaying some of our national debt. =Resources = [|__http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/02/us/02immig.html__] [|__http://www.usimmigrationsupport.org/immigrants-coming-from.html__] [|__http://www.usimmigrationsupport.org/illegal-immigration.html__] <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.33px; vertical-align: baseline;">[|__http://www.cis.org/immigrant-welfare-use-2011__] <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; vertical-align: baseline;">[|__http://www.fairus.org/site/News2/1026578677?page=NewsArticle&id=23190&security=1601&news_iv_ctrl=1761__]

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 24px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Self-Check
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">This is an interesting program that allows a person to check their eligibility for a job in the United States. If there are any discrepancies,this program can help correct them. By checking to see their job eligibility, they would also be checking to see if they are legal, as illegal aliens are not technically allowed to be employed in this country. Your browser does not support iframes. media type="custom" key="10381844"

=<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 32px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Conclusion = <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Illegal immigration is a problem that this country can no longer afford to ignore. It costs money, takes jobs away from American citizens, and is a detriment to the country as a whole. It is time to stop being passive towards illegal immigration, and pretending that is not a problem. Hopefully, once enlightened by the severity of the issue, more people will begin to care about illegal immigration and how much it is hurting our country. The more people involved, the better, and if everyone works together, we can come up with a solution for illegal immigration.